Tokyo 1982 Final Night Definitive Master (Zodiac 453)
Nakano Sun Plaza Hall, Tokyo, Japan – July 15, 1982
Disc 1 (62:14) Intro, Diary Of A Madman, Over The Mountain, Mr. Crowley, Crazy Train, Revelation (Mother Earth), Steal Away (The Night), Suicide Solution, Guitar Solo & Jam, Drum Solo, Keyboard Solo, Goodbye To Romance, I Don’t Know
Disc 2 (30:11) No Bone Movies, Believer, Flying High Again, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Paranoid
Ozzy Osbourne’s first visit to Japan took place in the Summer of 1982 playing five concerts in the country, Osaka July 9, Nagoya July 11, Kyoto July 13, and two nights in Tokyo July 14 and 15. The tour was well documented as recordings exist for four of the concerts, the final concert in Tokyo being the latest to be released on this new title from the Zodiac label leaving Kyoto the only concert not circulating. The trip to the Far East was a memorable one, the band stopped in Hawaii and played a gig in Honolulu on June 28 before island hopping to Maui where Ozzy and Sharon Arden were married on July 4. The band had a couple days of relaxation on the island before heading to Japan on July 6th, in his book Off The Rails, Rudy Sarzo says how well the famed promoter Mr Udo treated the band and what a well organized trip it had been, and like many musicians who visit Japan, spoke to how wonderful the fans were.
The recording used for this new release of the July 15 Tokyo concert is a very good to excellent audience source, the taper was close to the stage and captured a well balanced capture with all instruments and vocals perfectly mixed. The acoustics of the intimate 2,200 seat Nakano Sun Plaza Hall certainly lends itself to this recording, the audience is enthusiastic but not overbearing and the atmosphere is perfectly captured. Two minutes into the opening number, Over The Mountain, you get the urge to turn this up, the devil on your shoulder so to speak, this is definitely one that lends itself to louder volumes.
The taper captured a very complete document beginning with a near silent hall as the announcers warns to keep out of the isles, once the house lights go down and the Diary Of A Madman intro is played over the P.A, the audience comes alive shouting, cheering, and clapping in anticipation. The power of Tommy Aldridge is felt as he pummels the crowd with the opening of Over The Mountain, the crowd is into it clapping and singing along letting the music take them. 80’s Ozzy is my bread and butter, I love it and can’t get enough, this line up in particular is a favorite thanks to the Speak Of The Devil record, Tommy on Drums, Brad Gillis on guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass, and Don Airey on keyboards was just an incredible band for Ozzy. Brad was well settled by this point and his unique style shines through while sticking to much of what Randy Rhoads had begun, the perfect homage to the fallen six string God. Just listen to his incredible soloing on Mr. Crowley, playing the Rhoads licks while adding a lot of his tremolo style in to absolute perfection.
Crazy Train is a crowd pleasing monster, the audience claps the entire time, thankfully not overpowering but accenting the electric atmosphere. There is an air of excitement and energy that is clear on this recording. The audience respectfully quiet down for the always excellent Revelation (Mother Earth), my love of this song is deep and I never tire of it, excellent heavy riff played in contrast to the classical arrangements. Don Airey plays beautifully, he switches from Keyboard to a piano tone for his solo playing all the beautiful runs. During the heavy part, the audience erupt clapping in time in total unison with the band, the song segues into the high energy of Steal Away (The Night). Ozzy introduces his band as a prelude to Suicide Solution, the song is a vehicle for solos and a nice band jam, Ozzy stays out while Brad plays some suedo Hendrix bombs enticing the audience with repeated shouts of “Come On…”. The jam evolves into solo spots for Brad first followed by a pummeling drum solo by Tommy both featuring enthusiastic responses from the audience. Don takes the last spot, his is a mix of musical with the Gothic and evolves into the always wonderful Goodbye To Romance.
The tranquility is short lived, Romance gives way to the metallic as the song segues into I Don’t Know complete with the audience helping on the chorus. The Blizzard Of Ozz deep cut No Bone Movies is back in the set, it’s just good time Rock and Roll and livens up the energy perfectly. Ozzy drops a rare F-bomb while getting the crowd into the beginning of Believer, it’s always interesting to hear this song later in the set, so Sabbathy it works well as we get into the final stretch. Flying High Again gets the audience back vocally and physically as they clap along, something that Ozzy leads them in as the band go into the Sabbath two-fer beginning with Iron Man, Tommy rejuvenates this war horse, just hitting his drums so hard and adding all these killer fills shaking the rust from its bones. Ozzy enlists the audience to “Go Crazy” as the band plow into the set ending Children Of The Grave and the energy goes up a notch. The audience cheer and clap for more, the encore as usual is Paranoid, Ozzy thanks the Tokyo audience and also confirms the date plus a promise to return the next year. Paranoid is the classic Ozzy (and Black Sabbath) closer, it leaves the audience exhausted yet satisfied.
The packaging by Zodiac is nice featuring Speak Of The Devil graphics and a nice mix of live shots featuring Ozzy and the entire band. The CDs have Ozzy and Brad on them and we get the bonus numbered sticker, mine being 288. This is an excellent release, there are not enough Ozzy titles being released for me, there are some really good recordings from 1980-1982 that circulate that would make great releases. I am very grateful for this new title and this is very much recommended.
