Diary of a Madman (Legacy Edition) [Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

Buy the original mix of these early Ozzy albums, not these 2002 remixes/remasters. So the story goes, Sharon was a little ticked when bassist Bob Daisley, and drummer Lee Kerslake, wanted royalties for the songs they wrote. For shame! Casual Oz-fans don't know this, but the diehards do: Daisley and Kerslake (especially Daisley) were major songwriters for this band. Sharon had then-current Ozzy members Mike Bordin (Faith No More) and Rob Trujillo (Suicidal Tendencies) re-record the bass and drums.

Sharon's pettiness has gone as far as purposely mis-spelling names of musicians she has disputes with. Witness "Bob Daisy" (Daisley) and "Phil Susan" (Soussan) appearing on Ozzy reissues. Pathetic, Sharon.

The original versions and the 1995 remasters do contain the original bass and drum parts. They are not hard to find. They are not even hard to find at good prices. They are also easy to spot. The original issue CDs on Sony have a white spine with red text. The 1995 remasters have a little tiny picture of the cover within a coloured square that says OZZY. Both sound fine and are superior to the 2002 remix.

Take a stand. Don't buy this. There's no reason to. Yeah, there's the live bonus track. Rather than buy this, just pick up a copy of the original 12" single. They too are not hard to find. If you buy this CD, you don't own the real Diary of a Madman.

Some people will say, "Oh come on, this album doesn't sound bad, it sounds fine to me." Sure, casual Oz-fans might not notice the difference because they don't know how it's supposed to sound. You can tell the difference. It doesn't sound right. And let's face it, there's just something creepy about Sharon having two guys re-record the parts, who were just highschool kids when this album was first made. These guys never met Randy Rhoads. Daisley and Kerslake have been consistently snubbed and put down by the Oz-camp for almost 20 years now. If you care at all about integrity, then you need to buy the original mix, the version that contains performances by the guys who actually wrote the songs and were in the studio when the magic was happening.

As an added insult, Sharon said, "Because of Daisley and Kerslake's abusive and unjust behaviour, Ozzy wanted to remove them from these recordings. We turned a negative into a positive by adding a fresh sound to the original albums." Fresh sound? Isn't that like George Lucas claiming that Star Wars was better when Greedo shot first?

Avoid. Besides, as a collector, it's way more fun tracking down something that's a little more scarce.

No stars.

When Ozzy and Sharon first reissued this album (and Blizzard) with bonus tracks back 'round the turn of the millenium, it was a travesty. Y'see folks, Sharon's a great manager, there is no doubt out that. But she also holds legendary grudges. So when original band members Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley had the audacity to sue the Osbournes for unpaid royalties, they responded by erasing their bass and drum parts on the last reissue, and having them replaced by Rob Trujillo and Mike Bordin. See my scathing review for details.

You can't mess with a classic (cough cough George Lucas) so I'm pleased to report that Ozz and Sharon have done the right thing, and reissued the original Diary of a Madman. It didn't sound right otherwise.

Diary and Blizzard are my favourite two Ozzy albums, with Diary getting the edge for being less overplayed and a tad on the heavier side. Riffmongers will fall to their knees upon hearing the monstrous "Over The Mountain". "You Can't Kill Rock And Roll" displays some of Randy's most impressive fretwork alongside a melody that simply kills. "Tonight" is possible my favourite song, a beautiful dramatic ballad-like piece anchored by Daisley's catchy bass work. You can't go wrong with the adrenaline pounding "S.A.T.O.". And the closing title track looms ominously over the end of a life cut tragically short.

As far as bonus material goes, that's the meat & potatos to this edition of Diary. A live concert featuring the lineup of Osbourne/Rhoads/Sarzo/Alridge. Remember when Randy Rhoads Tribute came out, and Ozzy claimed in the liner notes that they were the "only recordings" of he and Randy live? I knew he was lying!

This 11 song live album is incredible. More raw than Randy Rhoads Tribute, this sounds untouched with studio fixes. Nonetheless, every song here is duplicated on Tribute. It also has some great Ozzy moments, such as the opening to Iron Man. Trying to get the crowd to say "Yeah" at the count of 3, Ozzy proclaims, "What the ****'s the matter with you dummies?"

Listening to there recordings, it reminds me of when I first heard Randy Rhoads. I couldn't imagine a guy playing that great, somehow merging classical and rock music the way he did. The guy's musical vocabulary was all but unrivaled. A tragic loss, and the release of additional Randy Rhoads live material is a treasure to us Ozzy fans.

There are a handful of nice photos, but no liner notes. Shame, that.

5 stars!

I have to admit that ever since I heard about the 30th Anniversary special editions of Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman that were to be released shortly the release of Ozzy's tenth studio album, Scream, I've been anxious to see what would happen with those "special editions". The little note insert in the Scream album advertising Blizzard and Diary special editions claimed that the original musical performances had been restored, I could only hope so. I'm a huge Ozzy fan and feel that those two albums are sacred rock/metal albums, therefore the 2002 remasters sounded to me like someone butchered two of my favorite albums. Well friends, now that these new editions of those metal classics have been released I can safely say that these editions are actually worth buying. These editions sound great and I feel that one of the biggest travesty in rock n roll has been corrected at last, and maybe fans can forget all about the awful 2002 re-recorded tracks.

Diary might be my favorite Ozzy album; I can't tell you how many times I've played this one. "Over the Mountain", "Flying High Again", the title track and others are true metal classics. I figure I'd be wasting time if I were to go into details with the songs; the true Ozzy fans are probably very familiar with this album already. The original performances have been restored and the sound quality is great, this special edition was done properly. The 2002 remasters are now only collector's items, in the future people may wonder about those remasters wanting to know why people were so upset with them in the first place (that's the only good thing I can say about owning them, oh and the liner notes were very nice).

The Diary remaster gets 5 stars because it includes something extra, the second disc of unreleased live content which is a very welcome addition. In case you are wondering the live disc is NOT Tribute, I admit that I was skeptic myself when I looked at the track listing but after hearing it all the way through I can confirm that it's a different show. I'm not sure exactly which musician played on this live album but I'll have to admit that it sounds terrific and much better than I anticipated it would, not as good as Tribute but still very good! Ozzy's songs are excellent live versions and the Sabbath material is just as good, the band delivered and offered quite a performance. Ozzy sounds very energetic and his interaction with the crowd works, Randy is amazing as always. If you're wondering if this is worth the purchase, I'd say yes. The sound quality, the original tracks and the bonus 11 songs live disc makes it all worth it (I really hoped for something more out of the Blizzard special edition, like the Mr.Crowley Ep with You Said It All or something like that).

It's hard to believe that 30 years have passed since this metal classic was first released. This is the version of Diary that should have been released in 2002; the restored performances and the included live disc almost make up for the 2002 disasters. The 30th Anniversary special editions are nice upgrades but Diary even more so because of the extra content which justifies the purchase. While Blizzard comes in a jewel case CD, Diary is in a digipack format and looks neat along with nice pictures (some unseen). 5/5 stars for this edition of an absolute classic, it does justice to not only Ozzy but also Randy Rhoads.