Ozzy Osbourne

Diary of a Madman

A sonic mess.

Review Score:

(2/10)
What bothers me about this new reissue of Diary of a Madman? There is absolutely no indication on the outside of the CD that THE ENTIRE RHYTHM SECTION HAS BEEN RE-RECORDED.

I am not going to speculate why these albums were re-recorded. I could care less if Sharon thought Kerslake was a jerk. It seems it would have been simpler to credit Daisley and Kerslake in the first place.

But anyway, what's done is done, and we are now left with an album that is sonically equivalent to the Mona Lisa, if the bottom half were done completely in crayolas. No offense meant towards the new rhythm section. For the most part, they do a fine job mimicking the original tracks. The problem is the recording of the new tracks, and the subsequent mixdown are a mess. The new drums are tuned and processed completely differently and sound very dry and sterile when compared to the originals. The bass guitar sounds boomy and intrusive at times and the songs seem to increase and decrease in fidelity as the guitars/vocals come in or go out.

If for whatever reason you must buy this new version of Diary, or you receive it as a gift, be sure to check out the clunky new drum intro to "Little Dolls". It's the icing on the cake of this jaw dropping, head shaking extravaganza.

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