Randy Rhoads ~ Blizzard/Diary recordings

[RR2772]

Bob and Lee was fired just after the recordings of Diary. You can go to Bob's website and get the full load down of the early Ozzy/Rhoads years.

They did Blizzard, then a UK tour and then Diary then went to US where Rudy and Tommy got hired instead.

Rudy's book is also a very good informative read for the pre Diary tour to the end of the second Ozzy solo lineup.

[VitaminG]

Daisley and Kerslake were hired for the studio and tour, then kicked for the first tour when they wanted more money, then re-hired for the 2nd album studio work, and replaced by Sarzo and Aldridge for the tour.

That bassist sure did a lot of writing for a hired gun though

Funny I just watched God Bless Ozzy Osbourne on HBO or Showtime last week, covers entire career of Oz. It was pretty cool.

I saw that at the store the other day. Debated whether to get it. So it's worth a viewing then?

[xenophobe]

Same here. However, I saw Cheap Trick in '82, not Ozzy

At the time, I heard that Ozzy left Sabbath. I figured it was the worst career move he could make.
Only found out years later that they booted him. Such was the state of "reporting" at the time, I guess.

Yeah, I remember hearing everyone say that too. News at that time? MTV was born.

[Rsmacker]

That bassist sure did a lot of writing for a hired gun though

Too right, he was even writing stuff for No More Tears. I hope he didn't get fucked over for ALL the work he did for Ozzy.

[MartinBarre]

I would never have guessed they were recorded at the same time. They sound completely different to me - Blizzard sounds very much like straight ahead hard rock, in the style of AC/DC or Def Leppard's "High n dry", whereas Diary is a bit more complex and varied. Both are great, but not that similar IMO.

I don't know about Randy's tone, but his playing on "Tribute" is pretty bad. He sounds out of tune most of the time.

[xenophobe]

I don't know about Randy's tone, but his playing on "Tribute" is pretty bad. He sounds out of tune most of the time.

That always kinda bugged me. v-trem for the win.

And Brad sounded so awesome on Speak of the Devil.

[VitaminG]

I would never have guessed they were recorded at the same time.

they weren't. Read the rest of the thread

[Mr Metal]

I remember hearing the opening riff on "I don't know", the opening track on the Blizzard, in a friend's car when it first came out, without knowing that it is Ozzy's solo album. My immediate reaction was "Wow, who is this?" Had never heard of Randy Rhoads. Before long I was of the opinion that he is the next revelation after EVH. Too bad he passed away so soon. He had a lot of potential.

Anyway......I do like DOAM better than the Blizzard. It is darker and more uniform. The last 2 tracks "SATO" and "DOAM" are the best possible ending climax of any album.

[RacerX]

[javert]

Every time Ozzy or Lemmy say something I'm like "wtf is he saying??"

[DonP]

Damn, I was too young then....bummer. I did see Ozzy/Metallica in '84 though.

I was there too. The Forum? Ultimate Sin tour?

[pro-fusion]

Yeah, they toured for Blizzard, but I thought that they made it to the US for that, too.... Wasn't that NYC Palladium show the Blizzard tour?

They did tour the U.S. for Blizzard, but it was after they'd already recorded Diary, which came out a fair bit later.

Interestingly, Blizzard was released earlier in Europe than in the U.S. Ozzy basically recorded Blizzard "on spec", meaning he didn't have major deals for it until after it was finished. It took longer to get a deal in the U.S. As a result, the U.S. releases of Blizzard and Diary were pretty close together, especially by today's standards.

Too right, he was even writing stuff for No More Tears. I hope he didn't get fucked over for ALL the work he did for Ozzy.

After his initial firing, Daisley insisted on cash up front for all of his subsequent work for Ozzy, so I suspect he did just fine--though he gave up any royalties on those later albums in return for getting paid up front. His litigation with Ozzy/Sharon was over performance royalties for Blizzard and Diary, I believe. It's complicated. Sharon's father, Don Arden, was Ozzy's manager prior to Sharon, and it was his responsibility to pay Daisley and Kerslake. He stopped paying for some reason I can't remember, and Ozzy and Sharon neglected to continue paying Daisley/Kerslake when they fired Don and took over responsibility.

[hmtwin]

The still shot of that youTube video (the tapping during the Crazy Train solo) brings a smile from old memories. I remember him talking about the show and telling us that he had to do a lot of the Eddie Van Halen tapping and stuff "for the kids" because everyone expected him to solo that way. I guess some of the wanking/noodling is imposed upon you when you're the new hot shredder in town. lol

[horns666]

ALERT: Sharon and Ozzy are going to erase ALL Randy Rhoads tracks. Gus G was paid $100 to re-do them.

[Rupe]

It's easy to look back and say Randy's tone sucked. Having "been there" however when Blizzard and Diary were released, I can clearly remember how shocked all my friends and fellow players (and myself) were with those tones. Nobody had ever heard anything that "evil" and aggressive sounding...and nobody was complaining that those tones sucked. His sound was new, different, and powerful. I can't imagine songs like "Flying High Again" and "Mr. Crowley" sounding better with a different tone...it worked for that material at that time.

In retrospect, it hasn't stood the test of time for many people like, say, EVH, but back in the day it was cutting edge and players were trying hard to cop it.

That said, I don't think the album tones were representative of his "in the room" live tone. Max Norman really screwed with his sound in post production. Randy himself said in a seminar that he could never cop the sounds on the albums. Listen to one of the many live bootlegs or listen to the After Hours tracks to get a better idea of what he really sounded like. Tribute sounds good but Max messed with it as well...compare the album to other recordings of that show and you'll hear it immediately.


*Edited for spelling before Ron jumped me