OZZY OSBOURNE: il 30° anniversario di 'No More Tears'

A 30 anni dalla sua uscita, il sesto album solista di OZZY OSBOURNE, sua Top 10 (n. 7) e quadruplo disco di platino, NO MORE TEARS viene celebrato con una speciale edizione digitale dell'audio in uscita il 17 settembre. Inoltre, verranno pubblicate anche due edizioni speciali del vinile: una versione in vinile nero 2LP e una versione in vinile 2LP giallo e rosso con un libretto appositamente creato ed in vendita solo su www.towerrecords.com.

Al momento della sua pubblicazione, NO MORE TEARS aveva prodotto quattro singoli da top ten nella classifica Billboard Rock Tracks: "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (#2), "Road To Nowhere" (#3), "Time After Time" (# 6) e la title track (#10). Inoltre, il brano "I Don't Want to Change the World" ha fatto guadagnare a OZZY il suo primo Grammy per la versione live inclusa nell'album LIVE AND LOUD del 1993. La traccia vincitrice del Grammy era una delle quattro canzoni dell'album scritte insieme all'amico e collega di lunga data di OZZY, Lemmy Kilmister (oltre a "Mama, I'm Coming Home”, "Desire” ed "Hellraiser"). L'album è rimasto un classico di OZZY, guadagnandosi un posto (n. 22) nella "Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Album" di Loudwire con Ultimate Classic Rock che include No More Tears nella propria "Top 100 '90s Rock Albums".

“I have a lot of great memories of making the album” dice OZZY. "We worked hard on the record with John Purdell and Duane Baron, who became extra two members of the band.  Before we went into the studio, we discussed what we were going to do--everything was planned.  It's so nice when you get a producer who's more like a part of the band than them saying, ’nah, you do it this way.’  Because we write them and when you write the songs, you have a mental picture of how you think you want it to sound.  Sometimes you’re surprised for the better, but other times you're disappointed, but John and Duane did an extraordinary job on the album. It was really, really well done.  Every song was worked on for a long time and we spent extra time trying to get things right.  But there was also lots of goofing around and we had a good time making it.  And Zakk’s playing on it is spectacular”.

Zakk Wylde aggiunge: “On the first record, ‘It was like I can't believe I'm here.  I had definitely crawled into the fire and kept thinking. ‘You gotta produce. You got to come up with some cool stuff.’  On NO MORE TEARS, I guess I was more relaxed.  With OZZY, whenever we're playing riffs, he would be like ‘keep playing that riff.’ Pretty much every time he just gets up there and starts singing what comes to him naturally, he knocks it out of the park all the time. I mean, there's very, very few times where he's actually said, ‘No, let me come back to that. I don't like what I'm singing. I'll come up with something better.’ Whatever you're hearing on the record is pretty much first thing he started singing that naturally came out of him, that he started hearing in his head. Which is amazing. My love for him and admiration for him has just gotten even stronger and bigger over the years. It’s bigger than the music.  It’s always a good time whenever we're together, it's always like it's a laugh fest, and then making the records is beyond hilarious as well”.

"Mama, I'm Coming Home", il più grande successo dell'album di OZZY scritto insieme a Kilmister, che inizia con Zakk al pianoforte, è diventato non solo un inno rock, ma una classico tra i soldati dell'esercito.

“At that time, a lot of people were going to Iraq war” ricorda OZZY.“We heard that the GIs were sending that song to their wives.  Soldiers still love that song”.

“I remember when we were working on the album, I originally wrote ‘Mama, I'm Coming Home’ on a piano”  afferma Zakk. “I had the music, and then when we got to the studio, I transposed it to the 12-string guitar. I was like ‘oh let me try it on the 12-string and see what it sounds like.’ That's how it evolved into the song, originally it was just me and Ozz noodling on the piano”.

NO MORE TEARS expanded digital audio album

1. Mr. Tinkertrain
2. I Don’t Want to Change the World
3. Mama, I’m Coming Home
4. Desire
5. No More Tears
6. Won't Be Coming Home (S.I.N)
7. Hellraiser
8. Time After Time
9. Zombie Stomp
10. A.V.H.
11. Road to Nowhere
12. Don’t Blame Me*
13. Party With the Animals*
14. I Don't Want To Change The World (demo)**
15. Mama, I'm Coming Home (demo)**
16. Desire (demo)**
17. Time After Time (demo)**
18. Won't Be Coming Home (S.I.N) (demo)**
19. Mrs  J. (demo)**
20. I Don't Want to Change the World (live)†
21. Road to Nowhere (live)†
22. No More Tears (live)†
23. Desire (live)†
24. Mama, I'm Coming Home (live)††

• *bonus tracks 
• ** demos from the 1991 promo CD The No More Tears Demo Sessions (also the Prince of Darkness box set)
• † live audio from Memoirs of a Madman DVD, San Diego 1992
• †† live audio from Memoirs of a Madman DVD, MTV 1992