Rocking return to form for the Prince of Darkness
THE closing ceremony of last month’ s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham was an emotional tribute to the musical heritage of the West Midlands.
Among those flying the flag were Dexys Midnight Runners, UB40, Musical Youth and Beverley Knight . . . but it was a surprise appearance from one of the city’s favourite sons that stole the show.
Draped in a wizard’s cape and flashing a demonic grin, Ozzy Osbourne, onstage for the first time in three years, was joined at the Alexander Stadium by his former Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi for an explosive medley of Iron Man and Paranoid, two of the rock classics that made Sabbath such an unstoppable force in the 1970s.
Given the health problems Ozzy, 73, has faced in recent years, it was a heartening return. The singer has been laid low by flu, bronchitis and Covid. He has undergone surgery for neck injuries dating back to a 2003 quad-biking accident and, in 2020, revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
But the Prince Of Darkness, who has also overcome drug and alcohol issues, is an indefatigable performer.
Two years ago, he released Ordinary Man, his first solo album for a decade. And now he’s showing his fangs again, on Patient Number 9: a star-studded set of collaborations that suggest his hunger for hard- rocking riffs remains undimmed.
The album, the 13th of his solo career, was made with New Yorker Andrew Watt, who also produced its predecessor, and it’s a rambunctious affair. If Ordinary Man cast him in an unfamiliar light, featuring softer duets with Elton John and Post Malone amid the anthems, this is a full-blooded return to rock.
There are songs about breakdowns, vampires and a world ravaged by ‘disarray and burning nations’. With Osbourne and his wife Sharon having put their Californian mansion on the market ahead of a permanent move back to the UK, it could be seen as a farewell to the craziness of LA — were it not for that fact that Ozzy has been singing about hell on earth for decades.
‘Bury me down below, but I’ll never die,’ he growls on Immortal, his voice thickened with studio effects. On Nothing Feels Right, he’s ‘trapped inside this spider web, scared of life and scared of death’. Evil Shuffle finds him facing ‘blood on the ceiling, voices from below’. And yet with Ozzy’s humour never far from the surface, the mood is one of Hammer Horror, rather than anything seriously sinister.
HISguests bring their ‘A’ games, too. Eric Clapton delivers a superb solo on One Of Those Days. Jeff Beck cranks it up on A Thousand Shades (. . . of darkness, naturally). Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready adds a skittish feel to Immortal. And Iommi, playing for the first time on an Ozzy solo album, is the star of No Escape From Now, an epic that switches between heavy riffs and gentler moments.
There are touching cameos from late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins (whose life was celebrated with a concert at Wembley last weekend). Hawkins, in one of his final studio appearances, is a powerful presence on Parasite and Mr Darkness. He’s also credited as co-writer on God Only Knows, an Oasis-like arena anthem.
There is the odd misstep (the juvenile Degradation Rules, for one), but on the whole, this is a swashbuckling return. It ends, on Darkside Blues, with a characteristically evil cackle. Sounds like the patient is on the mend. n KT TUNSTALL’S ‘mind, body and soul’ trilogy has kept the Scottish singer occupied for the past seven years. She began work on the project after moving to LA in 2015, and has persevered with it while grappling with divorce, the death of her father and hearing problems that led to the cancellation of a tour in 2021.
She’s now unveiling Nut, her third and final instalment. After singing of the soul (on 2016’s Kin) and the body (on 2018’s Wax), she’s turning to matters of the mind, and explains the title thus: ‘Growing up in Scotland, if someone was losing their temper you’d say: “Dinny lose yer nut!” But I love that the word also means a seed.’
With Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows on board, the album plays to Tunstall’s rhythmic strengths. Beats- driven rockers Out Of Touch and Private Eyes es hark back to the ‘stompy, sensitive sim, girl-blues’ of her debut album, Eye To The Telescope. Demigod od salutes Stevie Nicks, just as 2004’ s Suddenly I See paid id tribute to Patti Smith.
Californian life has left its mark, k, and there’s a dash of new age- -y nonsense about forging fresh h paths through life. I Am The e Pilot is an ‘instruction manual to o mindfulness for myself’. But t there are rewarding artistic c detours, too: the percussive e electronic chimes of Demigod; ; hints of Laurel Canyon folk on n sweet love song All The Time. nA HEAD of next m on th’ ss arena tour, Robbie Williams celebrates 25 years as a solo artist by giving his biggest songs an orchestral makeover on XXV.
The re-recorded versions put the onus predominantly on the hits — Angels, Let Me Entertain You, Millennium, Rock DJ — that shaped British pop in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Williams remains a charismatic personality, and the Metropole Orkest’s arrangements ge- are classy and brassy, but XXV doesn’t really add much to these well-loved songs. The original version of Millennium already had lavish strings, and 2012’s Candy is too slight for the symphonic treatment.
No Regrets fares better with Bond-like stylings adding a fresh dimension, and new track Lost suggests Robbie’s voice is still in great shape. shape But, But like his bloated 2019 Christmas album, this is a stop-gap. For the best of Robbie, fans should hold on for the tour.
All albums out today. KT Tunstall starts a tour on February 23, 2023, at Buxton Opera House (seetickets.com). Robbie Williams starts his tour on October 9 at The O2, london (livenation.co.uk).