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Diary of a Madman

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman Audio CD

A fair review of the Ozzy Osbourne "Diary of a Madman" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Ozzy Osbourne reviews here, or go back to the Ozzy Osbourne tabs.

Band: Ozzy Osbourne
Title: Diary of a Madman
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Over the Mountain 2: Flying High Again 3: You Can't Kill Rock & Roll 4: Believer 5: Little Dolls 6: Tonight 7: S.A.T.O. 8: Diary of a Madman

exactly what was advertised, love it!!!
I am very pleased with the quality and the quickness in which it was shipped to me. this CD was exactly what the seller told me it was. . . would definitely buy from this person again.

Ozzy and Randy Rhoads second, and lastly final, masterpiece still holds up 27 years on

When Ozzy Osbourne released his first album after his Black Sabbath ouster called Blizzard Of Ozz (which included a stellar band including bass player Bob Daisley, drummer Lee Kerslake and the late great guitarist Randy Rhoads), he proved he could survive without Sabbath with great success. Ozzy Osbourne's second solo album Diary of a Madman was released in November of 1981.
In early 1981, Ozzy (plus Rhoads, Kerslake and Daisley) re-entered the recording studio to record his second solo album and pressure was on to deliver an album that was either as good as his debut or better. Would Ozzy and company deliver or would they be written off. Read ahead and find out (as I did when I first acquired the cassette in March of 1984 on recommendation after liking Bark at the Moon so much as a just turned 8 year old).
We kick things off with one of Ozzy's best rockers "Over the Mountain" which had one of the best rock drumming intros and a great solo work from Rhoads. Next was the album's rock radio staple "Flying High Again" which is a great number. Next is the other rock radio staple and the truth about rock music in general "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll". This near seven minute epic is about Ozzy's true love (Rock and Roll). Randy Rhoads' guitar work here was unreal. The first side closed with a great rocker out of "Believer". Great musicianship and vocal work from Ozzy.
The album's second half kicks off with "Little Dolls" which had another stellar Kerslake drum intro which went into a great rocker. Next is another ballad "Tonight" which slows things down a bit but still a stellar song. We follow with the rocker "S. A. T. O. " and is another winner. We close with the epic haunting title cut which featured some of Rhoads' best guitar work and superb musicianship from Kerslake and Daisley plus haunting choir and strings.
Diary of a Madman was yet another Top 20 smash for The Ozzman and his first Platinum seller in the US (now at four million in US sales).
This album was sadly the last with Ozzy's first (and best) solo band as Messieurs Kerslake and Daisley were fired upon the album's completion and sadly Randy Rhoads whom would tragically die in a plane crash in March of 1982 whilst touring with Ozzy en route to a show in Orlando, Fla (to play a show with Foreigner).
If you buy this album, make sure you buy the 1980s CD issue or the 1995 remaster (with green border on cover as this review is for) superbly remastered by Bob Ludwig and do not, I REPEAT DO NOT, buy the atrocitious 2002 re-issues which saw Sharon spitefully and coldly delete Daisley and Kerslake's parts and replace them with Robert Trujillo (now Metallica's bass player) and current Ozzy and ex-Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin who slaughtered this masterpiece because she would not pay Daisley and Kerslake their owed royalties for their hard work on the album.
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The greatest heavy metal album I've ever heard, bar none
Why? Because this is the fullest extent of the heavy metal experiment, an experiment started in the late 1950s to today. That's right folks, this album not Master of Puppets, not Paranoid, not ZOSO, not Machine Head, not Back in Black, is the greatest metal album I've ever heard in my life. It isn't about how heavy the album is, how ridiculously virtuosic the guitar solos are: it is about mood. This album is the epitome of metal; it has both crazy thrash your head metal music and dark oh my I think I'm insane music. The definition of the heavy metal album.

Punked

Tired of having sucky bad-compressed mp3s in my PC, I decided to order them both by Amazon. First of all, I had both vinyls (blizzard of ozz, diary of a madman) in the eighties, but sadly I sold, trade and/or lost them. Let's have both CDs! I saw that these were the 95 reissues (with Lee Kerslake & Bob Daisley in the rythm section). I says here: original CD reissues from 1995. Good deal because you can't find them anywhere.

But - alas! - I received those goddamned 2002 versions with Sharon & Kelly on bass and drums!

Like we say in my good ol'town: Punked! .

(4.5 stars) ESSENTIAL OZZY ! (his last album with Randy Rhoads, Dairy Of A Madman includes some of Ozzy's greatest songs)
Flying High Again, Believer, You Can't Kill Rock And Roll, and Dairy Of A Madman are all top of the line Ozzy, some of the best work he's ever done. While not quite the heavy-metal monument that Blizzard Of Ozz is, Dairy Of A Madman (1981) is a great album that includes some great songs, and several of them are Ozzy's best. Drugs and insanity are major themes on the album, and Flying High Again is Ozzy's anthem to chemical exploration.

I can see through mountains, watch me disappear
I can even touch the sky
Swallowing the colors of the sound I hear
Or am I just a crazy guy (you bet)

Over The Mountain, Little Dolls, Tonight, and S. A. T. O. are all good songs, too, and they make up the rest of the album, so there really isn't anything to complain about here. This is Ozzy is at the peak of his career as a singer, and with Randy Rhoads providing the electric guitar fireworks, you can bet this one's a winner. Of the two Osbourne/Rhoads collaborations, Dairy is possibly a little more decadent, and sometimes a little more atmospheric (Believer, Dairy Of A Madman) than Blizzard, but Blizzard is probably more consistent. Either way, both are essential Ozzy, and both belong in any heavy-metal music collection.

*Beware of the newer 2002 re-issue of Dairy Of A Madman: Different bass and drum tracks have been dubbed in over the original recording. .

You can see a complete list of all Ozzy Osbourne discography, or go back to the Ozzy Osbourne tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.