''Under Cover'' is the ninth solo studio album by English heavy metal vocalist

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

. The album consists entirely of

cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

, with an emphasis on rock music from the 1960s and 1970s. This is Osbourne's first and only album to feature cover songs from various artists, although in 1982, Osbourne released the live album '' Speak of the Devil'' featuring renditions of songs from his time with

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped def ...

. All but four songs were originally released in the box set '' Prince of Darkness'', released earlier the same year. The additional songs are "

Rocky Mountain Way "Rocky Mountain Way" is a 1973 song by rock guitarist Joe Walsh and his band Barnstorm, with writing credits given to all four band members: Walsh, Rocke Grace, Kenny Passarelli, and Joe Vitale. The song was originally released on the album ''T ...

", "

Sunshine of Your Love "Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream. With elements of hard rock, psychedelia, and pop, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce based it on a distinctive ...

", "

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

" and " Go Now". Whilst he cites The Beatles as his favourite band, his favourite song of all time is Procol Harum's "

A Whiter Shade of Pale "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song by the English rock band Procol Harum that was issued as their debut record on 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, i ...

". He had wished to cover this song but was advised against it since it had recently been covered by a "close musical associate" (then-former guitarist

Zakk Wylde Zachary Phillip Wylde (born Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt; January 14, 1967) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and as the founder, lead guitarist, lead singer, songwriter and producer of the heavy meta ...

covered the song with his band

Black Label Society Black Label Society is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde. To date, the band has released eleven studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, one EP, and three vid ...

on their 2004 album ''

Hangover Music Vol. VI ''Hangover Music Vol. VI'' is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Black Label Society, released April 20, 2004. This album is a much more mellow affair than any other Black Label Society album, and some fans have recognized it as ...

''). ''Under Cover'' is the only Osbourne album to feature the work of

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

' guitarist

Jerry Cantrell Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internation ...

or bassist

Chris Wyse Chris Wyse (born 15 July 1969) is an American bassist and vocalist. He is best known for his performances with Hollywood Vampires, Ace Frehley, The Cult and Ozzy Osbourne. He is the vocalist and bassist for Owl, a band he founded in 2007. Early ...

. The album is also available in

DualDisc The DualDisc is a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including Michael Jackson, MJJ Productions Inc., EMI, EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, ...

format. This version contains the bonus track "

Changes Changes may refer to: Books * ''Changes'', the 12th novel in Jim Butcher's ''The Dresden Files'' Series * ''Changes'', a novel by Danielle Steel * ''Changes'', a trilogy of novels on which the BBC TV series was based, written by Peter Dickinson ...

" (originally by Black Sabbath), performed by Osbourne and his daughter

Kelly Osbourne Kelly Michelle Lee Osbourne (born 27 October 1984) is an English television personality, singer, actress, model, and fashion designer. The daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, she appeared on the reality show '' The Osbournes'' (2002–2005) w ...

. The DVD side contains all the songs in enhanced stereo, a documentary entitled ''Dinner with Ozzy and Friends'', and a video for the song "In My Life". "

Mississippi Queen "Mississippi Queen" is a song by the American rock band Mountain. Considered a rock classic, it was their most successful single, reaching number 21 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1970. The song is included on the group's debut album and se ...

" was released as a promo single and peaked at number 10 on the

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitars *

– bass * Mike Bordin – drums ;Guest musicians * Ian Hunter – vocals on "All the Young Dudes" *

Leslie West Leslie West (born Leslie Abel Weinstein; October 22, 1945 – December 23, 2020) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain. Life and career Early years: 1 ...

–

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular ...

on "Mississippi Queen" * Robert Randolph –

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

on "Sympathy for the Devil", guitar solo on "21st Century Schizoid Man" ;Additional musicians *

Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette (born June 9, 1959) is an American jazz and rock drummer and vocalist. He is the brother of bassist Matt Bissonette, with whom he frequently collaborates. He has played on albums by dozens of recording artists, including David ...

, Joe Bonamassa, Bogie Bowles,

Tabby Callaghan Tabby Callaghan (born Trevor John O'Callaghan; 22 April 1981, County Sligo, Ireland) is an Irish musician. He finished third on the first series of ''The X Factor'' in 2004. Early career Callaghan played in many collectives and groups as a t ...

, Louis Conte, Jim Cox, Madison Derek, Steve Dudas, Molly Foote, Mark Hudson, Sarah Hudson,

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mit ...

, James Mastro, Paul Santo, Bruce Sugar ;Production *Produced by Mark Hudson *Arrangements by Steve Dudas *

Engineered Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

and mixed by Bruce Sugar *Additional engineering –

Kevin Churko Kevin Gregory Churko (born 19 January 1968) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician best known for his work with artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Papa Roach, Hinder, Modern Science, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, In This ...

and David Frangioni *Assistant engineers – Jimmy Hoyson, Ghian Wright, Peter Doris, Charlie Paakkari, Jason Agel, Geoff Rice, Andy Brohard, Devin Workman, Alex Scannell *

Mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

by George Marino * A&R – Kaz Utsunomiya *Art direction – David Coleman *Cover photo – Kevin Westenberg *Tray photo – Dennis Keeley *Back cover photo – Myriam Santos-Kayda *Interior photos – Myriam Santos-Kayda, Sam Taylor Wood, Bil Zelman

Charts

Album

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ozzy Osbourne albums Covers albums 2005 compilation albums Epic Records compilation albums Albums produced by Mark Hudson (musician) Albums recorded at Capitol Studios