An odd one this...the majority of the tracks here originally appeared on "The Prince Of Darkness" box-set last year and presumably as a result it was considered such a successful/good fun/lucrative idea (delete as applicable) that the Ozzy camp decided to add another couple of tunes and release a full album of covers, just in time for Christmas, oh joy.

Ozzy as a vocalist is synonymous with either Black Sabbath or his solo work, providing an integral and unique element to the sound overall. Looked at from this perspective Ozzy is almost peerless (something the vocalists who followed him in Sabbath found out to their cost). The kindest thing you can say about his voice however is that it is distinctive, as it lacks both range and power and therein lies the problem. The majority of the songs chosen to be covered here are already regarded as classics and it could almost be construed as criminal for what is, essentially, a lesser able vocalist to try and do them justice although he's not the first to attempt this sort of thing and doubtless he won't be the last.

In all fairness to the prince of darkness himself, he probably approached these recordings with the earnest notion of paying homage to people whose work he admires and has been, at least partly, inspired by. The reality however is that, outside of the box-set which would offer fans other incentives to purchase the music, there is little of any merit here and if this disc had been put together by an unknown artist it would be virtually unmarketable and would never have seen the light of day.

That's not to say its all bad though, "Rocky Mountain Way", "Fire" (the Arthur Brown version, not the Hendrix one) and "Working Class Hero" are all passable. I was especially worried for "Working Class Hero" after having to endure the interpretations of "In My Life" and "Woman" earlier in the disc, I know Ozzy admires John Lennon greatly but a better tribute would have been to have left these tunes alone. Some of it however is truly terrible, "Woman" being particularly mawkish and "Sunshine Of Your Love" being mawled both musically and vocally.

The remaining tunes sort of sit in a middle ground somewhere in-between these extremes with occasional moments of mediocrity interspersed with some truly cringeworthy episodes, the lyrics to "Good Times" for instance may strike a chord with his Ozz-ness, all about things that could have been better if he hadn't been drinking and fighting a lot, but they would be fairly ludicrous in their original setting, when coupled with the unintentional comedy intonation that Ozzy gives them here it really is laughably bad, and lord only knows what they must have done to Ian Hunter because it sounds like they got him to reprise the Phil Daniels role on Blurs "Parklife" as all he contributes is random cockneyisms during "All The Young Dudes".

It's clear that I didn't enjoy this much but as I said before I could just about understand the rationale of the covers being included as part of the box-set as it would give fans something else new for their money, in this setting however the whole thing reeks of a cash in and has little to recommend it musically either

Let us know your views on 'Under Cover'

Track List

Rocky Mountain Way
In My Life
Mississippi Queen
Go Now
Woman
21st Century Schizoid Man
All the Young Dudes
For What It's Worth
Good Times
Sunshine of Your Love
Fire
Working Class Hero
Sympathy for the Devil