Ozzy Osbourne Lot(2) Blizzard of Oz & Diary Of A Madman First Press EX/EX

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Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard Of Ozz
Label: Jet Records – JZ 36812 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: US Released: 1981 Genre: Rock Style: Heavy Metal A1 I Don't Know 5:14 A2 Crazy Train 4:50 A3 Goodbye To Romance 5:33 A4 Dee 0:49 A5 Suicide Solution 4:17 B1 Mr. Crowley 5:02 B2 No Bone Movies 3:53 B3 Revelation (Mother Earth) 6:10 B4 Steal Away (The Night) 3:27 Mastered At – Allen Zentz Mastering Bass – Bob Daisley Drums, Percussion – Lee Kerslake Guitar – Randy Rhoads Lacquer Cut By [Runout Etching ❀] – Brian Gardner Producer – Daisley*, Kerslake*, Osbourne*, Rhoads* Vocals – Ozzy Osbourne

Label: Jet Records – FZ 37492 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Pitman Pressing Country: US Released: 1981 Genre: Rock Style: Heavy Metal A1 Over The Mountain Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Lee Kerslake, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 4:32 A2 Flying High Again Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Lee Kerslake, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 4:44 A3 You Can't Kill Rock And Roll Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 7:00 A4 Believer Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 5:15 B1 Little Dolls Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Lee Kerslake, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 5:40 B2 Tonight Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Lee Kerslake, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 5:51 B3 S.A.T.O Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Lee Kerslake, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 4:08 B4 Diary Of A Madman Arranged By [Strings] – Louis Clark Written-By – Robert Daisley*, Lee Kerslake, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads 6:14 Record Company – CBS Inc. Distributed By – CBS Records Phonographic Copyright ℗ – CBS Inc. Copyright © – CBS Inc. Copyright © – Blizzard Music Ltd. Recorded At – Ridge Farm Studios Mastered At – Columbia Recording Studios Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Pitman Mastered At – Customatrix Bass – Rudy Sarzo Design – Steve "Skull" Joule* Drums – Tommy Aldridge Photography By – Fin Costello, Ross Halfin, Tony Harrison (6) Producer – Max Norman, Ozzy Osbourne Producer, Guitar – Randy Rhoads Vocals – Ozzy Osbourne
Blizzard of Ozz is the debut studio album by the English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 12 September 1980 in the UK and on 27 March 1981 in the US. The album was Osbourne's first release following his firing from Black Sabbath in 1979.[3] Blizzard of Ozz is the first of two studio albums Osbourne recorded with guitarist Randy Rhoads prior to Rhoads' death in 1982. In 2017, it was ranked 9th on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[4]
Composition and recording Much of the album was written by guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist Bob Daisley, and Ozzy Osbourne while staying at the Monnow Valley Studio near Monmouth, Wales,[5] with a friend of Osbourne's named Barry Scrannage temporarily filling in on drums.[5] As Scrannage was never considered a candidate to be the group's permanent drummer, he was not involved in the songwriting process at all.[5] The band recorded demos of the songs "I Don't Know" (which became Osbourne's second most-performed song[6]), "Crazy Train" (the most performed one[6]), "Goodbye to Romance", and "You Looking at Me Looking at You" in Birmingham in early 1980 with ex-Lone Star drummer Dixie Lee. They had hoped Lee would be a permanent member but "he wasn't the final piece of the puzzle", bassist Daisley recalls.[5] After auditioning several drummers, ex-Uriah Heep member Lee Kerslake was hired as the permanent drummer. The completed lineup retreated to Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire for six days to rehearse and give Kerslake an opportunity to learn the new songs.[5] A week later, they travelled to Ridge Farm Studio to commence recording.
The first track written for the album was "Goodbye to Romance". Osbourne has stated that the song was his way of saying goodbye to his former band Black Sabbath, as he had thought his career was over after leaving the band.[7] After performing a show in Birmingham, the band hastily returned to Ridge Farm to remix "Goodbye to Romance" for a single. The next morning they were informed that their label Jet Records instead wanted a brand new song to release as a single.[5] Rhoads, Daisley, and Kerslake quickly put together the song "You Said It All", with drummer Kerslake performing the guide vocal at soundcheck while a drunken Osbourne slept under the drum riser.[5] The song was ultimately never recorded, though a live version was released on Ozzy Osbourne Live EP in 1980.
The final track written was "No Bone Movies", which was originally intended to be used only as a B-side but was added to the album in order to give Kerslake a writing credit, as all the other material had been written before he joined the band.[8] Its lyrics were written by Daisley to express his dislike for porn films.[6] Keyboardist Don Airey claims that parts of "Revelation (Mother Earth)" as well as the intro to "Mr. Crowley" were written by him in the studio, though he never received writing credit for these contributions.[9] "Revelation" discusses climate change, using biblical imagery to criticize humankind's damage towards the planet.[6] The instrumental "Dee" was written by Rhoads as a tribute to his mother, Delores.[6] "Steal Away (The Night)" was left as the closing track because, according to Osbourne, "I've always liked the idea of ending the album with an uptempo song, like ending the live set with 'Paranoid'."[6]
Chris Tsangarides was originally hired to produce the album, with Max Norman to serve as studio engineer. Osbourne and the band were very unhappy with Tsangarides' production and he was fired and replaced with Norman, who stepped in to complete producing and engineering.[10] Norman's production work on Blizzard of Ozz is uncredited, though he did go on to produce all of Osbourne's albums prior to 1986's The Ultimate Sin.[11]
At the time of the album's recording, the band itself was billed as "The Blizzard of Ozz".[5] The band members were expecting the album to be credited to the band with Osbourne's name in smaller print, just as it appeared on the "Crazy Train" single released several days prior. The back cover of the first pressing of the "Crazy Train" single stated that the track came from a forthcoming Jet Records album entitled Ozzy Osbourne/ Blizzard of Ozz Vol. 1.[12] In fact, when the band appeared at the Reading Festival in 1980 they were billed simply as "Ossie Osborne's [sic] New Band".[13] According to Daisley, "When the album was released the words 'Ozzy Osbourne' were in bigger print than 'The Blizzard of Ozz' which made it look like an Ozzy Osbourne album called The Blizzard of Ozz. Randy [Rhoads] was never one to rock the boat. He knew he was in a situation which was a good opportunity for him being relatively unknown, so when Lee [Kerslake] and I were ousted, Randy had no allies and the act became 'Ozzy Osbourne' and no longer a band."[14] Rhoads felt that he and Daisley were contributing the vast majority of the songwriting and arranging, and he had little interest in performing in a backing band for someone he felt wasn't contributing as much.[8] Drummer Kerslake has maintained that Rhoads almost left the band in late 1981, due to this displeasure. "He didn't want to go [on tour with Osbourne]. We told him we were thrown out. He said he was going to leave the band as he did not want to leave us behind. I told him not to be stupid but thanks for the sentiment", the drummer later recalled.[15] Entertainment attorney Steven Machat, who was involved in the deal Osbourne signed with Jet Records, said in his 2011 book Gods, Gangsters and Honour: A Rock 'n' Roll Odyssey that Osbourne's soon-to-be manager and wife Sharon Levy was not happy with the level of creative input that Rhoads, Daisley, and Kerslake had in the Blizzard of Ozz album and did not want them to share the credit.[16] Album producer Max Norman concurs that Daisley and Kerslake made considerable songwriting contributions during their time in the band, while also noting that the Osbourne camp "might want to dispute that now."[10]
Although Sharon has said that the recording of Blizzard of Ozz was one of the best experiences of her life, she was in Los Angeles during recording and not yet involved with the band. Osbourne's then-wife Thelma was present at Ridge Farms Studios for much of the recording.
Diary of a Madman is the second studio album by the English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released in October 1981. This is the last Osbourne studio album to feature guitarist Randy Rhoads and drummer Lee Kerslake. An altered version appeared in 2002 with the original bass and drum parts removed and re-recorded. In 2011, a Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition was released with all original parts restored. To date, the album has sold over three million copies worldwide.[4]
Diary of a Madman was supported by the Diary of a Madman Tour, which began on November 5, 1981, and ended August 8, 1982, spanning Europe, North America, and Asia. On March 19, 1982, during the North American leg of the tour, Rhoads died in a plane crash in Leesburg, Florida; after a two-week break, the tour continued with guitarist Bernie Tormé performing several shows in place of Rhoads before in turn being replaced by Brad Gillis.
Composition and recording
Osbourne performing during the Diary of a Madman tour, 1982 Diary of a Madman is the final album recorded with late guitarist Randy Rhoads. Although bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge are credited in the liner notes and pictured on the inner sleeve for the vinyl and cassette release and later CD re-issues, it was bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake who performed all bass and drum parts on the original release. Aldridge has stated of the album, "I think it's pretty obvious that it's not my drumming on that album. I have never taken credit for that recording and have always given Lee Kerslake, whenever asked or interviewed, the credit he rightly deserves."[5]
Daisley provided significant contributions to the album's songwriting, having written some of the music and most of the lyrics. Kerslake claims to have also had a hand in the writing of the album, even performing lead vocals on some of the original demo recordings. "'Flying High Again' was one of my ideas, 'Over the Mountain' was another. The basic (demo) tracks were just Bob's words, my vocals—though some of the words I wrote—and Randy's playing. It was unreal. And then we got Don Airey to come in and do the keyboards", he stated in 2009. Kerslake says he used a piano in the studio to write many of the songs with guitarist Randy Rhoads.[6] Daisley and Kerslake were not given credit for their performance or songwriting contributions, a situation which resulted in a later lawsuit.
During the album's recording, Kerslake says the band members were given no money to live on, prompting them to approach management. Shortly after, both Kerslake and Daisley were fired. "Everything was working fine," said Kerslake. "It was only when Sharon [Osbourne] came in that we had a problem. When she started managing—taking over—she wasn't the manager until Diary of a Madman. Before that was her brother, David [Arden]. He didn't really want to handle it. He had too much to do for Don [Arden] in the office. So she came in and it started to get edgy. But we never suspected a thing until we went away on holiday. Next minute, they're rehearsing with Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo, and going to America."[7]
Although Don Airey is credited as keyboardist on the album, it was in fact a musician named Johnny Cook (who had worked with Daisley in Mungo Jerry in the 1970s) who actually recorded the keyboard parts. Airey was on tour as a member of Rainbow at the time of recording and was thus unavailable.