Tuesday, June 28, 2011

OZZY OSBOURNE "BLIZZARD OF OZZ" AND "DIARY OF A MADMAN" REISSUES

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about how Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums - 1980's Blizzard Of Ozz and 1981's Diary Of A Madman (both classics) - were going to be reissued.

Both were recorded with the late, great Randy Rhoads on guitar, bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake. Daisley and Kerslake were beefin' with Ozzy over royalties in the '90s, and Sharon Osbourne smacked them down by reissuing the albums with new bass and drum tracks recorded by the guys who were in Ozzy's band at that time (Robert Trujilio and Mike Bordin). Sharon doesn't play around! She is definitely not someone you want to mess with. On the other hand, I hated that she did that, she was messing with two seriously classic albums, that should be more important than personal beefs.

Whatever.  The two albums are now back out in their original form, with remastered sound (which was definitely needed, I still have the original CD releases, which don't sound great). The albums are total classics.

Blizzard  features a few bonus tracks, including a song I hadn't heard before, "You Looking At Me, Me Looking At You."  It's fine. But the real deal is you're hearing these incredible songs by the guys who played them with incredible sound. Period.  Diary is a bit more bonus-riffic.   It's two discs: the first disc is the original album, the second disc is a concert from the tour (the band featured Ozzy, Randy, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Adlridge on drums) which features songs from both albums and a few Black Sabbath classics. Both of these albums, in this form, are essential to hard rock, heavy metal and classic rock fans.  They also make a great argument for Randy Rhoads being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a sideman.

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