Nothing makes me feel older than seeing that some iconic hard rock and metal albums turn 30 years old this year. Dangerous Toys, Alice Cooper, Motorhead, Saigon Kick, Saraya, and Guns N’ Roses (to name a few) all have albums turning 30 in 2021. It has been fun revisiting these albums this year, and I find it interesting that my outlook on some of them has changed both slightly and dramatically. I found myself liking some of these releases even more than I did back in the day while finding some to sound dated, unexciting, and honestly not very good.
In 1991, it was a big fucking deal that Ozzy Osbourne was releasing a new album. No More Tears was released almost three years exactly after No Rest for the Wicked, which, in my opinion at the time, was his best album since Diary of a Madman. I was excited about No More Tears, especially after hearing the debut single “No More Tears.” It was such a fantastic, different direction for Ozzy with a cool arrangement and one of the best guitar solos I’d ever heard. I couldn’t wait to pick up the album.
When the album was released on September 17, 1991, I was at Turtles Records and Tapes as soon as I could get my mom to drive me there to pick up the CD. After that, I couldn’t wait to get it home. Looking back, I remember thinking that this album was perfect, and I loved EVERY song on it. I thought Ozzy had hit his peak with this album, and I played it non-stop until the end of 1992 or so.
Listening to No More Tears now, 30 years later, how did this album fair? Let’s break it down and see.
Mr. Tinkertrain
This is a great way to open the album musically, but honestly, this song is pretty silly. Musically it’s a pretty cool song. It has some pretty cool changes to it, but I pretty much forgot I’d even heard it by the time it was over. At the time, I thought it was awesome, but now it just sounds corny.
I Don’t Wanna Change the World
This song is the first of four songs on this album co-written with Motorhead leader Lemmy Kilmister. First off, I love the opening riff. It is so fucking good, and honestly, this is an enjoyable song. This is the anthem of the album. This is a song that young me connected with because I didn’t want to change the world, and I didn’t want the world to change me. I just wanted to be myself and to be left alone. Older me wants many things to change in our world. Way too much needs to be changed, and yes, the world has changed me, but in many ways for the better. While things have changed, the message reminds me that being young was just about music and being myself regardless of the outcome.
Mama, I’m Coming Home
I have loved this song ever since I heard it for the first time. I didn’t know until I purchased the album that Lemmy co-wrote this song from Motorhead. Of course, as we all know at this point, Ozzy was not a lyricist. Even though he wrote melodies and came up with titles, the words usually belonged to someone else. When I hear this song 30 years later, it still makes the hair on my arms stand up. It’s a glimpse into that side of Lemmy that we didn’t get to see with Motorhead. Ozzy’s delivery of the song is fantastic, though. There is a vulnerability to his voice and a passionate push that took him to another level. This song is a classic and always will be. Absolutely beautiful.
Desire
Ok, here we go again with another Lemmy collaboration. It’s hard not to hear Lemmy’s voice singing this one once you know he wrote it. Zakk Wylde’s guitar playing is so heavy and thick sounding, and Ozzy’s vocals are pushed to the limit, which gives this song so much energy. It’s another kind of anthem song that has so much good energy to it. I can’t help myself from nodding my head, tapping my feet to the drums, and just smiling when Ozzy sings the line, “I can’t’ stop cuz it drives them crazy.” This was a showstopper when played live, and I remember the place erupting during this song. A powerful number indeed, and it still sounds great.
No More Tears
This song is easily one of Ozzy’s greatest moments up to this point. This song was so unlike anything he had ever done up to this point, and it was mesmerizing. The bass intro, Zakk Wylde playing slide guitar, the obscure, weird as fuck lyrics, and groove were all things that made this song, unlike anything. Not only was it unique for Ozzy, but unique overall. The changes in this song are so dramatic, and Zakk Wylde’s guitar solo section is, to me, one of the greatest moments in metal. Zakk delivered all he had on this, and I don’t think he ever did anything this good again, ever. It is another timeless song that I still love hearing, and I even appreciate and enjoy it more than before.
S.I.N
If memory serves me correctly, I liked this song back in the day but now, not so much. S.I.N apparently stands for “Shadows in the Night” and addresses ones inner demons. Again, knowing that Ozzy didn’t write lyrics makes me wonder who many of these songs were born from. Except for the Lemmy contributions and “Time After Time,” the songs are credited to Ozzy, Zakk Wylde, and drummer Randy Castillo. So this means that either Wylde or Castillo are writing these lyrics? Or maybe they had a paid-off outside writer? Either way, knowing this now makes the lyrical content of these songs mean something completely different, knowing that they don’t relate to Ozzy on any emotionally personal level.
Hellraiser
This song fucking rules. I wonder why? Oh yeah, because this is the fourth and final Lemmy contribution to this album. Motorhead recorded their own version of this song for the March or Die album in 1992, and the song was also used in the Hellraiser III movie. While I find the Motorhead version of this song superior, it’s another great Ozzy song. When people wrote songs for Ozzy to sing, they had a way of sculpting it to fit his personality. Ozzy is a very convincing singer on this song and owning it like it was his creation. It’s a great, heavy song with an amazing chorus. Love it!
Time After Time
At this point, No More Tears as a whole starts losing steam. I hated this song then, and I hate it even more now. This sounds even less than a b-side filler. I don’t think this song was ever played live, and I can totally see why. It’s a ballad and not a good one. Nothing about this song is memorable or interesting. It’s just there. I don’t know how to put this, but I have NEVER heard any Ozzy fan that even mentions this song.
Zombie Stomp
I found myself digging this song a lot more than I remembered in the past. The tribal intro was a cool way to ease into the song, and it created a level of anticipation for what was to follow. This is a strong song, but it feels just a bit out of place on this album. This song sounds like it would’ve been more at home with the more edgy album No Rest For the Wicked. However, it’s a nice pick-me-up following that dud of a song “Time After Time.” This is also a song I’m surprised didn’t make the cut as a live song.
A.V.H
Ozzy sure had a thing for initials, didn’t he? “N.I.B”, “S.A.T.O”, and now “A.V.H.” In an interview, Osbourne stated that “A.V.H” stands for “Aston Villa Highway,” an homage to the football team he and his Black Sabbath band mates followed as young men growing up in Birmingham. “A.V.H. is a bit too bi-polar sounding for me. At first, I’m like, “I dig this,” and then I’m like, “I don’t like this. Wait, I like this.” The song is all over the place in it sounds like a mishmash of songs that are already on this album. It’s not horrible, but it’s just another in a long line of forgettable Ozzy songs that nobody seems to care about.
Road to Nowhere
Unfortunately, this was chosen to close the album out because it has it going out with a flutter instead of a bang. Lyrically, it feels like it was done already on this album as “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” It’s not a bad song, but it’s also not a very good one. It’s uninsulting, uninteresting, and un-exciting. The lyrical message reminds me a little bit of “Mama I’m Coming Home” and “Goodbye to Romance” mixed with Sabbath’s “Changes.” It’s got a great melody and some of Zakk Wylde’s best playing. I feel like this is a song that I should like. I love what the lyrics are trying to convey, but they just get lost in translation for me.
BONUS TRACKS:
Don’t Blame Me
This is a great fucking song. Why did this song not make the album? It’s got a great groove to it, the lyrics are outstanding, and the performance is outstanding. Much like “Zombie Stomp,” it sounds like it would’ve had a perfect home on No Rest For The Wicked, and maybe that’s why it got left off? This song is way too good to have been a mere B-Side. They should have had this one on the album instead of “Time After Time,” without a doubt. This is a great song.
Party With the Animals
Aside from the stupid title, this is a pretty cool song. I don’t find that this song is album-worthy so being a B-Side was a good choice. While not a great song, it’s far better than a song like “A.V.H.” and “Road to Nowhere.” This is a fun song, and like “Road to Nowhere,” it sounds like a goulash of previous Ozzy songs. It isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. It’s not entirely forgettable, but it’s just far from perfect. It’s just goofy fun, but hey, that’s ok. I enjoy that sometimes.
Conclusion:
No More Tears, as a whole, is not a very strong album at all. Thirty years later, I find that the quality of the songs severely lacks in the weaker spots. The quality varies across the board, with “Time After Time” being the only complete dude. There are some fantastic, unforgettable moments, there are tolerable, forgetful moments, and then there is the “what the fuck is this crap” moment.
The production of No More Tears is fantastic. It doesn’t sound dated, and sonically it sounds even better now than I remembered. In a time where so much recorded music is compressed and mixed as loud as possible, No More Tears’ overall sound has a great balance.
Ozzy’s vocals on this album are the best they’d ever been to this point and would never be this good again. I’m sure there was some studio magic in the studio to correct pitch issues, but Ozzy sounds natural and passionate for the most part. Even though Ozzy didn’t write much more than melodies and a line or two lyrically, he connects with these songs personally and emotionally and delivers them as if they came from him.
No More Tears is a classic Ozzy album, and I guess I could say that it is worth owning. Just don’t be prepared to be mind blown by much of it. I do like this album more than Bark at the Moon and even The Ultimate Sin. I don’t regret spending time with this album again, and it wasn’t painful or miserable. The good far outweighed the bad, and those are the songs I would find myself revisiting more than I have in the past.
About The Author
