The 2002 remastered "Bark at the Moon" CD is actually more of a remix than a remaster. Needless to say, a side by side comparison will show that the music itself (not just the tonal quality) sounds different from all previous releases of this album. If you're a young fan who's brand new to Ozzy's music and thus have never really heard the "Bark at the Moon" album, you might like this somewhat modern-sounding remix. Otherwise, if you're a long-time fan who knows the original album inside and out, you may be totally repulsed by the difference in the CD's music.

Ozzy re-re-released his first two solo albums on CD in 2002, but without any mention on the outside packaging that they were actually RE-RECORDINGS done with different musicians! In an attempt to get out of paying royalties to the musicians who played on the original album, Ozzy had the original bass and drum tracks re-recorded by his current band mates. (Quite an insulting way to treat the remaining band who not only made the late Randy Rhodes' a legend, but also helped bring Ozzy out of Black Sabbath's shadow -- if not reverse that situation entirely.)

The 2002 "Bark at the Moon" CD is essentially a remix of the 1983 original, not a re-recording. But you'd have no way of knowing from reading the outside packaging or even the CD booklet. In and of itself, the remixed album admittedly sounds rather good in places. Although in a few other places it sounds like Ozzy's singing behind a wall (which is not an uncommon side effect found on badly produced metal albums). Overall the CD music is very cohesive sounding, unlike what you get when you, oh say, try to re-record drums. Here there's a little more boominess, different guitar and drum fills, more rhythm guitar and less keyboards. It's now a somewhat modern-sounding metal album.

But is this what people expect when they buy a "remaster"? For the long-time Ozzy fans: please be aware that this simply isn't the same "Bark at the Moon" you bought in the 80s! If, like me, you've become very familiar with "Bark at the Moon" after years of listening, then listening to the remixed album might come as a shock. Not that it's been remixed as a dance album or anything extreme like that, but gone are all those little fills and solos your ears have come to learn. The bell tolling at the start of "Center of Eternity" sounds like it's been shifted down an octave, like somebody throwing a rock at a pot of water.

If you still need a replacement for your scratchy vinyl or warbled cassette copy of "Bark At The Moon", try to get the 1995 remaster instead. It will sound like what a remastered CD should sound like: just as you remembered it musically, but with superior audio quality.

This review is of the second Bark At The Moon remaster, released in 2002 along side the rest of Ozzy's catalog predating Down To Earth. Though Blizzard and Diary feature new drum and bass parts, Bark At The Moon was completely remastered using the original session tapes.

Or was it...?

I bought Bark At The Moon when it came out, and it was a great recording and very influential in it's time. But Bruce Dickerson's remix is missing major signature solos in Rock N' Roll Rebel, both in the opening licks, and in the breaks. This is one of the most renowned tracks from Bark, delivered in an incomplete state on this "remaster!" The only explanation is that Jake E. Lee recorded his solos over the stereo master in the final hour, and they couldn't be extracted.

But it gets worse: You're No Different" was full of keyboards on the original recording, but they are super loud on this CD, drowning out the drums and guitar. It's as if Dickerson just ran the session tapes without checking the volume of individual instruments. It defies explanation, truly.

If you haven't heard Bark At The Moon before, you may not notice these omissions. You'll just think it's a record made on the rebound of Randy's death by a weaker band.

But Jake E. Lee held his own with Ozzy, and if you dig for earlier releases of this recording, you'll discover an album that stands up to Blizzard and Diary.

This is sonething else...

Ozzy and Sony have done it again. Another 5-star album has been ruined! This reissue was remixed with some guitar parts deleted (for example, the first half of the intro solo to "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel" has been eliminated.) The keyboards in the beginning of "Waiting for Darkness" have been boosted up so loud that you can barely hear the churning guitar riff below. These are just two of the things that have been changed. "Bark at the Moon" has been drastically altered. "Centre of Eternity" has been drastically altered. I can't believe they would have done this after the fiasco with the Blizzard and Diary reissues. Once again, there has been no mention of the altering on the CD's sticker or advertising. No, Sir, I don't like it.

Yoko Ono multiplied by a thousand? Meet Sharon Osbourne. Was the TV show amusing? Sure, make Ozzy the Al Bundy of heavy metal music. What comes next? Removing drum and bass tracks so you don't have to pay the original musicians? A new low and a new lame. Sharon Osbourne pulling the plug on Iron Maiden during the Ozzfest, or staging hecklers? May Eddie sodomize Sharon in hell, where she'll assuredly be headed. She's turned Ozzy into a joke. Tell her to take all these "reissues" and stuff them. By the way, the Ultimate Sin album still exists, no matter how much you try to ignore it, Sharon. What, was Ozzy coked out and cheating on you then, so you want to bury that material, or is it simply you want to stiff a whole other set of musicians?

This is correct, Sharon and Epic have done it again with putting new drum and bass parts in the album. All of the songs have different drum patterns in certain parts of the songs they are Not remixed. "Now you see it now you dont","Rock n roll rebel" have different drum sounds or altering of the beigining of a song, not like the original re-issues back in 95' which sounded normal. "Centre of eternity" the bells are not the ones on the original album. The title track is also different. Ozzy's vocals also echoed alot on the original album but not this one. Also in the booklet of credits it says all songs written by Ozzy. Nope.
That's not true other people helped him. Its in the original album credits. Sharon and epic Ruined a heavy metal classic. Disgraceful to ruin a legend's work...