Having outlined the backstory to the Legacy Edition remasters and offered some comments on the alternative \u2018deluxe\u2019 package in my review of Blizzard Of Ozz<\/i>, I will refrain from repeating them here.\u00a0 And rightfully so: Diary Of A Madman <\/i>is far and away Ozzy\u2019s best solo album, and deserves more than a few words of praise.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Released within a year of Ozzy\u2019s solo debut, Diary Of A Madman <\/i>is a significant step forward in every way.\u00a0 While Blizzard <\/i>was a bit loose around the edges and had the jammier feel of a new band finding its roots, Diary <\/i>is a more complex and engaging affair: half the songs run over five minutes in length, Rhoads, Daisley, and Kerslake have a tighter chemistry, and Ozzy turns in his best vocal performance since 1975\u2019s Sabotage<\/i> during his time with Black Sabbath.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
There is a remarkable diversity of tracks here for an Ozzy Osbourne record.\u00a0 \u201cOver The Mountain\u201d kicks things off with a bang. Rhoads offers some furious riffing on this one, yet has the musical sensibility to back off and allow for a poppier, melodic chorus.\u00a0 \u201cFlying High Again\u201d features some of his best soloing, and the enhanced, freshly-restored drumming from Lee Kerslake adds a new dimension of heaviness to things, decorating each verse with a flurry of hits.\u00a0 \u201cTonight\u201d remains Ozzy\u2019s best ballad, far superior to the overplayed \u201cGoodbye To Romance\u201d in this reviewer\u2019s opinion. \u201cDiary Of A Madman\u201d meanwhile, represents the<\/i> artistic peak of what Ozzy would achieve in his solo career. Rhoads switches seamlessly from a now trademark eerie acoustic phrase, to an evil, distorted riff, with things winding down in an epic conclusion featuring strings and a full-blown choir. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The question is, what has changed with this latest 2011 release?<\/p>\n
As far as the studio album goes, not much.\u00a0 Much like the Legacy Edition of Blizzard<\/i>, it\u2019s got a bit more bite than the 1995 remasters, with the rhythm section being the greatest beneficiary.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Dolls\u201d is especially nice. Daisley travels around the fretboard with subtle but clever fills, and Kerslake adds his own touch to things while holding down a nice groove. Likewise, I hadn\u2019t remembered \u201cS.A.T.O.\u201d being so driven by the drums and bass.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pity that Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge are still credited in the liners (Daisley and Kerslake were fired shortly after the album\u2019s recording, before its release), but hardly surprising, given the icy business relationship between Sharon Osbourne and her husband\u2019s former bandmates. <\/p>\n
In terms of extras, it\u2019s a slightly better deal than the Blizzard <\/i>one.\u00a0 Although there aren\u2019t any studio outtakes or the like, you do get a bonus disc simply entitled Ozzy Live<\/i>. No info is given regarding the date or location of its recording, save for its being in the later stages of the Blizzard Of Ozz tour (the rhythm section was composed of Aldridge and Sarzo by this point).\u00a0 Rhoads is fantastic, as one would expect \u2013 did the man ever have an off night during his short time in the spotlight?? <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a solid performance by the band, and yet there\u2019s something unsatisfying about the live disc.\u00a0 In addition to being quite \u2018cleaned up\u2019 (the audience is rather distant in the mix, almost as if on a backing track) the show\u2019s inclusion seems a bit lazy and redundant. Ozzy\u2019s classic live album with Rhoads, Tribute<\/i> (1987) has a much better vibe and features the same setlist as Ozzy Live. <\/i>In fact, Tribute <\/i>has the same setlist and then some, with three more tracks. \u00a0Ozzy Live<\/i> will be mere a footnote in the man\u2019s discography, as even the six-song live EP Just Say Ozzy <\/i>(1990) had a greater punch and atmosphere to it. <\/p>\n
As with the Legacy Edition of Blizzard Of Ozz<\/i>, I have mixed feelings assigning a grade to this latest packaging of Diary Of A Madman. <\/i>The original is an A- in my books, and with the slightly improved sound, I have no qualms giving the album a solid A rating as it is Ozzy\u2019s best solo effort.\u00a0 As for the value of the package, though, I have trouble recommending the Legacy Edition to anyone who already has the original recording or the 1995 release. The lack of bonus tracks and the humdrum Ozzy Live<\/i> disc just aren\u2019t worth the price of admission for longtime fans. \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":30756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5775],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-42430","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ozzy-osbourne","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42430"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42430"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}