Just got it. No photos, no credits, nothing. Just a cardboard sleeve. Horrible. Hope there is another edition with a jewel case and a booklet. This is the one with the ticket offer (isn't Ozzfest free anyway this year?) that I won't use. Already on eBay.

wow......I wonder if you have to go to an official Ozzy website to get liner notes.

This is probably the cheapest packaging of any major release I've seen. Horrible. Very difficult to even remove the disc without getting a thumbprint on it. I'll have to transfer this to a new package.

After hearing the new song and reading about the crappy packaging, I'm glad I wasn't planning to buy this in the first place.

I picked this up at one of my local stores for $8 today and was discussing the crappy packaging as well. The owner said he read the jewel case version with the cool Ozzy photo was canceled. That blows because that is the version I wanted. Worse than the recent Neil Young ones and those are just as bad.

I've listened to it twice now on my iPod while jogging and I actually like it. Like I said, I was pretty pissed that I could only find that crappy cardboard version everywhere. So I sold it and got the Japanese version with the cool cover and 2 bonus tracks.

'Rama gave me a free copy of the promo CD single, in a jewel box w/ front insert. I think I'll double up the full CD with the single.

Not only do you have to do that, you have to REGISTER first! F-that.

I was refering to Fillmore and Massy Hall, with the basic cardboard sleeves so the CD gets scratched up easier. And he is one that loves analog and a good sonicaly sounding record-so his crappy pkg doesn't make sense; at least to me.

I know, I was just raising an eyebrow at the sentence.
Just being a little bratty...

(I hate the Neil Young packaging too!)

LOL now that made me laugh. Of course since we all have to be perfect in the business world and this system doesn't have spell check, then my typing does get out of hand sometimes and my sentences can get a little "bad". Sorry 'bout that.

Rich

Maybe I've won! I refused to buy the new Ozzy due to the dreadful packaging, and if you read this article from Blabbermouth.net, it seems the CD with jewek case, lyrics, etc. has been released.
My question is when? Has anyone seen this? It has the real cover and a bonus that I could care less about (surprised there's no bonus music to scam people). Why was this not released this way at first? Seriously, why?


OZZY OSBOURNE will embark on a short tour of Australia in March. Confirmed dates are as follows:

March 15 - Melbourne, AUS @ Rod Laver Arena
March 18 - Sydney, AUS @ Acer Arena
March 20 - Brisbane, AUS @ Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets go on sale on Thursday, November 1.

As previously reported, Ozzy Osbourne's official web site is currently hosting a poll for fans to vote on what song should be the next single from his "Black Rain" CD. There are three tracks to choose from: "Black Rain" (currently with 51% of the votes), "Civilize the Universe" (12%) and "Here for You" (37%).

"Black Rain" was reissued in August by Epic in a new jewel-case package containing the full booklet with lyrics and new color cover art and photos. It also contains CD extra bonus content featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the "Black Rain" photo shoot.

"Black Rain", which originally came out on May 22, was released in "eco-friendly" packaging, with the CD sleeve made out of recycled paper. In addition, the record came out without a booklet to further save paper, with the lyrics, credits and other inside material available to buyers of the CD at SonyMusic.com.

"Black Rain" features several songs based on current events and the state of the world in general. But Osbourne told The Pulse of Radio that he hasn't turned into an "issues-oriented" artist. "Believe me, I've not suddenly woken up and I'm sane," he said. "But I'm not one of these guys that can write about boy-meets-girl and, I mean, it's got to mean something to me. I don't write all the lyrics, but I have to say, 'Well, you know, isn't that strange that that happened when this happened,' you know, and I'll get going, you know."

"Black Rain" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart, with first-week sales of 152,000 copies.

I have seen the jewel box version and while I think it's about time they came out with a properly packaged release, the first single ("I Don't Wanna Stop") wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement for getting this album in the first place.

I kind of stopped buying Ozzy's stuff in the nineties. Just lost interest, I guess.

It seems that if you buy new releases off the bat these days, you get screwed. McCartney adds the bonus tracks to the main CD (Memory Almost Full) only a few months after the released and Ozzy's CD gets liners and an actual cover.

And the music business wonders why it's floundering.

I couldn't believe the horrible packaging of this, too. You have to go to Ozzy's site, put the cd in your CD-ROM drive and then download it off of the site. Pathetic.

I wound up selling this disaster on Ebay and buying the jewel-cased 2 disc version. It only wound up costing me about $3 or $4 to upgrade after all was said and done.