Bark at Moon Vs Ultimate Sin

Bark or Sin ?

  • Bark at Moon (1983)

    Votes: 10 41.7%

  • The Ultimate Sin (1986)

    Votes: 14 58.3%
  • Total voters
    24
Sin, i like most of the songs on the album, bark at the moon only has about 4 songs i like.
 
I always felt like Jake had an axe to grind with ULTIMATE SIN... his technique, songwriting, and performance was just incredible... although the solo on "Journey to the Center of Eternity" on BATM is outrageously good. But the solo for "Killer of Giants" is peak Jake to me... brilliantly put together...
 
Bark definitely has some fillers, so I'm going with TUS.
I sure love a few off of Bark though,,,, especially Now You See It.
 
Ultimate Sin for me. Bark is okay with a couple good songs, Ultimate is pretty good throughout.
 
Hmm...

I actually like Bark better but I like Jake's solo work on Sin better.

Bark is a little keyboard heavy but I like the overall feel and darker tone of that album. For me it's more in line with what Ozzy was doing with RR.

In general I think the songs are consistent on Sin but didn't particularly like his tone. In fact tone wise Jake isn't very high up there with me but again, his playing is fantastic on Sin. Sin to me is Ozzy doing the LA Hair Metal thing.

Btw/ not a fan of the mix on either album. Bark is a bit dark whereas TUS is very Ron Nevison, almost flat sounding. Put on anything at that time with Nevison and it has that sound i.e. Survivor, Heart, Ozzy, Kiss, Europe etc... Some not bad by any means just very Nevison, especially Sin with that flat sound. Now with Bark they had issue's with the mix but Sharon was in a rush to get the album to the label and wouldn't let Norman, Daisley and Lee remix it. Jake would sign over all his rights soon after.

Overall I think the highs outweigh the negative on Bark whereas TUS never reaches those highs but maybe more consistent albeit weaker in general. Still the highs of Bark outweigh TUS for me.
 
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Funny - I saw some of those hilarious interviews/drinking sessions Friedman did with Jake a few months ago and it spurred me to dust off my 40 year-old vinyl Bark at the Moon album. Jake spoke reverently about many of the deeper cuts and felt they should have gotten more airtime in the concerts. They only hit on 2-3 BATM songs max, leaning heavily on RR material. He despised the keyboards too, which were added after his sessions.

Revisiting it, I liked it much more than I remembered and completely forgot most of the songs.

So, for album I'll go with BATM. For song I'll go Ultimate Sin. That tone is flat out brutal.
 
There's a few killer songs on Bark at the Moon, but Ultimate Sin is awesome front to back imo
 
Bark at the Moon is one of my favorite songs ever.. but I like the songs better on Ultimate Sin vs the songs on Bark at the Moon as a whole.
 
Driving down the road as a whole, Ultimate Sin.... For the title track alone, voted Bark... LOVE everything about that vibe.
 
I was pretty young during this era, and kind of went back and discovered them both at the same time time. As a body of work, I think that maybe Bark has slightly stronger song writing and composition. That said, I do no like the production on Bark, at all. I tend to listen to records "as a guitar player" and I feel like JEL's playing and tone was superior on Ultimate. And, I feel like Ultimate Sin is one of the heaviest riffs ever associated with pre-Zakk era Ozzy. All things considered, Ultimate Sin takes it by a tight margin for me.
 
I will go with the grain here.. like both albums but Sin is stronger. Jake is great on both though.
 
sandman said:
I like both albums but The Ultimate Sin is the best guitarwork to me
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jabps said:
Hmm...

I actually like Bark better but I like Jake's solo work on Sin better.

Bark is a little keyboard heavy but I like the overall feel and darker tone of that album. For me it's more in line with what Ozzy was doing with RR.

In general I think the songs are consistent on Sin and but didn't particularly like his tone. In fact tone wise Jake isn't very high up there with me but again, his playing is fantastic on Sin. Sin to me is Ozzy doing the LA Hair Metal thing.

Btw/ not a fan of the mix on either album. Bark is a bit dark whereas TUS is very Ron Nevison, almost flat sounding. Put on anything at that time with Nevison and it has that sound i.e. Survivor, Heart, Ozzy, Kiss, Europe etc... Some not bad by any means just very Nevison, especially Sin with that flat sound. Now with Bark they had issue's with the mix but Sharon was in a rush to get the album to the label and wouldn't let Norman, Daisley and Lee remix it. Jake would sign over all his rights soon after.

Overall I think the highs outweigh the negative on Bark whereas TUS never reaches those highs but maybe more consistent albeit weaker in general. Still the highs of Bark outweigh TUS for me.
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I have to agree... I think Jake really came into his own style and evolved it on TUS. IMHO Jake is not a structured player, he really was in the vein of emotional, off the cuff, groove and feel playing much like EVH, Dime and Schenker. I think that's why I gravitate to to these guys playing styles so much more over technical players.
 
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Definitely Ultimate Sin for me. Not a song on it I don’t like. Production is not the greatest but the material makes up for it. Love that harmonic intro on Fool Like You.
Also a fantastic album cover.
 
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