OZZY OSBOURNE Says He Has Co-Written 'About Three Songs So Far' For His Next Solo Release

Ozzy Osbourne says that his recently released compilation, "Memoirs Of A Madman", was meant to remind fans that he hasn't put an end to his solo career after spending much of the last couple of years recording and touring with BLACK SABBATH.

"Memoirs Of A Madman" serves as a career-spanning audio release, featuring 17 of Ozzy's greatest hit singles compiled in one place for the first time in his career and is available in a single CD, two-LP set and two-LP picture disc set configurations.

Speaking to GMI Rock, Ozzy stated about the new collection (hear audio below): "'Memoirs Of A Madman' was, because I've been not doing my solo stuff for quite awhile now, I've been touring with BLACK SABBATH, I just wanted to let everybody know I haven't stopped doing my solo stuff. It's like a bridge thing... So I'm gonna do one more BLACK SABBATH tour, one more album with BLACK SABBATH, and I'm in the process, as we go along, [of] collecting stuff that I'm writing. I've co-written about three songs so far for my own solo thing...It'll take about two or three years before I release solo stuff again, so 'Memoirs Of The Madman' is just to say to the fans that I haven't stopped, y'know?"

Ozzy's touring guitarist, Gus G., told Noisefull in a recent interview, "Ozzy wants to do another solo album, that's for sure. As far as I know, he has a contract for three more solo albums, so I don't know when he will finish them, if he'll do them and if I'm going to be a part in it, but I certainly know that he wants to do one more solo album."

Ozzy's last solo studio effort was 2010's "Scream".

In a May 2011 interview with Planet Rock, Ozzy revealed that he would go back to basics on his forthcoming CD. "On my next album, I can assure you it's going to be back to balls to the wall," he said. "I have already been writing some stuff, [working on] some ideas with my band."

Speaking to Metal Messiah Radio's "Heavy Metal Thunder" show, Ozzy stated about his planned follow-up to 2010's "Scream", "I wanna get more back down to basics with this next album.

"I haven't got a title. I've written a couple of ideas down. But I can't really give you much more information. It's not gonna take a long time, I don't think. All I can say to you is I've got a few ideas for songs, but I don't wanna say when it's going to be released because I don't know myself.

"I don't stick to a formula. I just try and experiment a lot. 'Scream' was more like an experimental album because I didn't have a band at the time. Gus came along and the guys played on the album after I'd done a lot of the work myself and my producer, Kevin Churko, in my studio."

Ozzy Osbourne's current touring drummer, Tommy Clufetos, told the "Talking Metal" podcast in 2011 that early work was already underway for a follow-up to "Scream" and that he thought Ozzy was "going to return to a classic rock band record." Clufetos added, "What he has expressed is that he wants to make it the band playing live in a room so wherever that takes us. Less technology and more amps and drums."

Ozzy recorded much of "Scream" in a studio at his home in Los Angeles with producer Kevin Churko, doing most of the writing and recording on computers. He told The Pulse Of Radio he liked working that way but wanted to do something different next time out. "At the end of the day, the end result was pretty cool, but I don't know whether I want to continue to do it that way," he said. "I like to — like the earlier albums, I'd go rehearse and jam out with the band, get some, like, vibe going, you know. I want to incorporate that and this new technology thing, next album."

His first album under the SABBATH banner in 35 years, "13", came out in June 2013 and topped both the U.S. and U.K. album charts, later winning a Grammy Award as well.