In a Paris studio, Ozzy Osbourne watched his seventh solo album fall apart. The heavy metal singer had already recorded seven songs with producer Michael Wagener, who had mixed his previous record No More Tears, and Epic Records was not happy. The label wanted a different production style, so Wagener was out and Michael Beinhorn was in. The rebuilt album finally appeared as Ozzmosis on October 23, 1995.
A comeback with new faces
Osbourne had announced he was quitting music after No More Tears came out, so this record was never supposed to exist. Instead, he returned with a band that mixed old and new faces: guitarist Zakk Wylde stayed from his regular lineup, but the bass parts went to Geezer Butler, the former Black Sabbath bassist, and Deen Castronovo took over the drums. The only album Osbourne made with Butler, Castronovo and keyboardist Rick Wakeman was Ozzmosis.
The only album Osbourne made with Butler, Castronovo and keyboardist Rick Wakeman was Ozzmosis.
The sessions stretched across Paris and New York, and the label's demand for a new production style meant starting over on key material. Four songs from the Wagener era, including "Perry Mason" and "See You on the Other Side," were re-recorded with Beinhorn. Two others, "Aimee" and "Living with the Enemy," survived only as B-sides, while a track called "Slow Burn" stayed unreleased. The Wagener version of "See You on the Other Side" resurfaced years later on a box set.
Perry Mason and the radio run
The first single, "Perry Mason," arrived on November 13, 1995, and gave Osbourne a strong radio run. It reached number 23 on the UK Singles Chart and climbed to number 3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The second single, "See You on the Other Side," went to American radio and hit number 5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, while climbing to 59 in Sweden.
The album itself marked a new commercial peak for Osbourne. Ozzmosis reached number 22 in the UK, but in the United States it rose to number 4 on the Billboard 200, his highest position on that chart at the time. Sales followed the radio play: by the end of 1995 the record had earned a platinum certification from the RIAA, and Billboard later reported total sales of more than 3 million copies. The record also found an audience beyond the English-speaking world. It reached the top ten in Finland and Sweden, and landed in the top thirty in Germany, New Zealand and Norway. Ozzmosis was later reissued with a remaster and bonus tracks including "Whole World's Fallin' Down" and "Aimee." The album also entered the top ten in Finland and Sweden. It reached the top thirty in Germany, New Zealand and Norway.
The tour behind Ozzmosis leaned into the singer's reputation for goodbyes that never stick. Called the Retirement Sucks! Tour, it started in Monterrey and Mexico City on August 26–28, a direct joke on the No More Tours Tour that had supposedly been his farewell years earlier. The title made the point: Osbourne had walked away from music once, and now he was back with his most commercially successful American album.
Ozzmosis also marked a strange detour in the singer's circle of collaborators. Rick Wakeman, the former Yes keyboardist, played Mellotron on "Perry Mason" and "I Just Want You," while producer Michael Beinhorn handled most of the other keyboard parts himself. The record pulled together a one-off combination of Sabbath history, Osbourne's solo band and a prog-rock legend, all held together by a producer the label had forced into the project. The album's circle of collaborators had one more near-miss. Guitarist Steve Vai was originally set to play on Ozzmosis and wrote songs with Osbourne in 1994, though only "My Little Man" survived from that partnership. Years later, Vai said he still had a whole unreleased album recorded with Osbourne from that period. In 1999, Osbourne appeared as a guest vocalist on Rick Wakeman's album Return to the Centre of the Earth.