Ozzy Osbourne

Diary of a Madman

Ozzy and Sharon: petty criminals

Review Score:

(2/10)
I first bought this album on vinyl in 1985, then on tape in 1988 after my record became unplayable. I lost track of the tape until recently and decided to spring for the CD version of it... whoa.

The performances on the CD were so bad it made me think that I had been carrying around a really flawed impression of the record. So I popped in my old beat-up cassette, which definitely had lost a lot of its sound quality but it proved that the new CD's don't have the same performances on them.

Simply put, this is not the Diary of a Madman which cemented Ozzy's comeback from oblivion (after getting fired from Black Sabbath for being a tone-deaf boozer). Rather, it is an attempt by Oz and Sharon to usurp justice to the original rhythm section, an insult to the fans by duping them into buying an inferior remaster and finally a sorry diss to the memory of Randy Rhoads and the interplay that existed in the original Blizzard of Ozz.

I feel bad even trying to sell this CD to someone becasue it doesn't do the original recording any justice. Avoid.

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