Ozzy Osbourne

Diary of a Madman

Diary of a Swindler

Review Score:

(2/10)
You don't even have to be an Ozzy fan to be offended by this rerelease.

I hate when artists overproduce remasters or simply overdub and doctor old live tracks, but this is a new low. Seems that due to a royalty dispute over the years between Ozzy's bassist and drummer on this album, instead of settling whatever the problem was, the Osbourne camp take a radical stance. Ozzy takes the original masters, takes his vocals and Randy Rhodes' guitar and lays them over NEW bass and drum parts by members of his current band(!!!) He cut out his old bandmates so that now they can never claim royalties on the album because they technically aren't on it anymore. This was done for both this gem and for Ozzy's first solo (Blizzard of Oz). Unbelievably shameless and disgusting. Imagine your favorite band reissuing their albums tomorrow...with half the band gone.

I bought this without even knowing, and I have NEVER felt so gyped in my life as when I logged onto here afterwards and read the truth. It was the first Ozzy album purchase, and a total waste.

But...can you tell the difference? Actually, yes. The original sounds better, period. I'm not a huge Ozzy fan at all--I've heard him over the years and simply purchased an album. But the word is that his regular fans universally pan the rerelease, claiming it simply...[stinks]. The mix is off, the timing is off, and this I've noticed--certain songs fade out sooner and are shorter. And Ozzy even doctored his voice and Rhodes' guitar sound.

After watching Ozzy in everyday life on The Osbournes, I have to wonder how much say Ozzy even had in this. The man goes on and on about how he misses Randy Rhodes, eulogizes the guy in the liner notes, and then goes and pulls this on Rhodes' 2 albums?!? What kind of royalty dispute could he have had with the old players? How much money, Ozz? Couldn't have amounted to much with the bucks he's got.

So yes, I noticed a sound difference. I'm not a regular Ozz fan, but I love this album now. It rocks, plain and simple. Over the Mountain, Flyin' High Again (which Poison totally ripped off with Nothin' But a Good Time), and then the ballad-turned-crunching rocker with You Can't Kill Rock 'N' Roll, then more gems, including S.A.T.O. All good stuff. You'll like Rhode's guitar.

Of course, I'm totally, 100% NOT recommending this RELEASE of the album. Get the nice remasters from 1995 while they're still out there!

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