Bloody Diary (Calm and Storm 003)
Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, Japan July 14, 1982
Disc 1 (58:00) Opening, Diary Of A Madman, Over The Mountain, Mr. Crowley, Crazy Train, Revelation (Mother Earth), Steal Away (The Night), Suicide Solution, Guitar Solo, Drum Solo, Keyboard Solo, Goodbye To Romance, I Don’t Know
Disc 2 (25:28) No Bone Movies, Believer, Flying High Again, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Paranoid
When I saw a new label sprouting up and would be releasing a Ozzy show from his summer 1982 tour of Japan I knew it would be on my get list. This is not collectors first taste of this tour, Tarantura released Paranoid in Nagoya 1982 (Tarantura TCDOZ – 2 – 1,2) featuring the July 11 date earlier this year and was a fantastic Mr Peach recording.
This is not a Mr Peach recording but a slightly distant very good recording that borders on excellent, very little crowd noise near the taper but enough to provide atmosphere. All instruments and vocals are well balanced and is virtually complete, it must be listened to at loud volumes. Of course the line up is a classic, Brad Gillis on lead guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass, Tommy Aldridge on drums, and Don Airey on keys and Ozzy is in excellent vocal form and when all is mixed the results are one hell of a concert.
According to the Rudy Sarzo Off The Rails book, the Japanese tour was promoted by the legendary Mr Udo and consisted of four dates, Osaka on July 9, Nagoya on July 11, Kyoto on July 13, and lists the final date in Tokyo as being on the 15th so there is a discrepancy on the date.
The intro is nothing at all, just brief crowd noise and Diary is the abbreviated music the band used as an introduction and of course they hit the stage with Over The Mountain. The song is great live and is a perfect opener for tonight’s proceedings and is quickly followed by Mr Crowley and a blistering Crazy Train, to note there is a minor drop out at 4:21 in the latter but is brief and does not really interrupt. Brad Gillis is firmly entrenched in the band and his contribution is huge as he plays the songs Randy Rhoads wrote with perfection.
They slow down the show with a beautiful Revelation (Mother Earth) featuring some excellent keyboard by the maestro himself, Don Airey, his solo spot prior to the heavy riff finally is a thing of perfection, simply put he is the best keyboard player Ozzy ever used. The song is linked, as usual, with Steal Away (The Night) and this make both pieces much more effective in my opinion, you can hear a couple punters going “Whhhoooo” as the music blows them over.
Suicide Solution is the bands vehicle for solo improvisation and also a chance for Ozzy to take a vocal break, Ozzy introduces the song as “a number from our first album” and Gillis breaks into a heavy sounding version of the classic tale of misadventure due to alcohol, he does take a few small liberties and establishes his own personality on the song be it ever so subtle. His solo spot is a mix of notes but also contains a lot of his vibrato hammer on style he is famous for, it of course leads to the full band jam of the familiar movement before evolving into a Tommy Aldridge drum solo and of course the master proceed to give a lesson on pummeling the audience. His solo is well received by the audience who give him a loud ovation at its conclusion. Don gets his chance to twiddle ivories and play a solo that goes through classical to swing style hoedown to his futuristic theme and everything in between, it must be heard ! of course it serves as a prelude to the ballad of Goodbye To Romance, Ozzy’s bittersweet take on his departure from Black Sabbath and is a song that evokes both hands in the air swaying back in for, Ozzy certainly is working the crowd, they clap in time throughout.
Mellow only lasts for so long, the band rip into I Don’t Know and the song gets the crowd back into a crazy state of mind, they will need it for the rest of the concert. The second disc starts with No Bone Movies, joined in progress and probably missing about the first minute of the song, no worries the band is jamming and the crowd is grooving.
Ozzy shouts “COME ON” and the forcibly reserved audience answers. Two new songs follow, a fantastic Believer and a the bands literally soars during Flying High Again. Ozzy introduction for the old Black Sabbath numbers is well received and he gets them even more crazy by repeatedly doing a “1…2…3….YEAH” that leads into a nice heavy Iron Man, I love the way that the song segues into Children Of The Grave. The crowd is on their feet and rocking out by this time and the band seem to turn it up a notch, Gillis rips into a fanatic solo to bring the main set to its end. Paranoid is the frenzied encore, simple but very effective with the band and audience at a fevered high, a great concert.
The packaging is full color inserts with pictures of Ozzy and Brad from the Diary / Speak of The Devil era in a slim line jewel case. I must say that this is my first Calm and Storm label release and am very impressed by the packaging and sound quality, a big two thumbs Up !
There are some great looking Ozzy titles being released, I hope to review them over the next month and Ozzy fans don’t forget that his classic Speak Of The Devil concert is finally being released on DVD very soon, All Hail The OZZMAN !
