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Episode 306 – Ozzy Osbourne – Speak of the Devil

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Lead up to the Album:

  • Ozzy’s management decided to record this album in February of 1982.
  • Sabbath’s publishing deal had just expired so all the songwriters would not benefit by re-recording these songs with new publishing royalties.
  • Sabbath was planning on releasing a live album (“Live Evil”) at the same time.
  • Geezer: “We couldn’t afford not to release Live Evil and Ozzy was forced into making Speak of the Devil.”
  • Randy Rhoads and Tommy Aldridge refused to do the album feeling that they’d established themselves as something separate from Black Sabbath.
  • While Sarzo wasn’t as upset about it he stood with the other two and told Sharon that they didn’t want to do it.
  • Sharon was not upset but it was reported that Ozzy was very upset and descended into what Rudy Sarzo called one of “the worst drinking binges I had ever witnessed.
  • It was during this binge that Ozzy was famously arrested for peeing on the Alamo.
  • In a drunken stupor he fired everyone in the band but later had no memory that he had done it.
  • It’s reported that Ozzy had confronted Randy on the tour bus telling him that he would replace him with Frank Zappa or Gary Moore for the live album.
  • Rhoads agreed to do this album and one more studio album to fulfill his contractual obligation to Jet Records but would leave the band after the next tour.
  • Originally it was planned to be “the greatest rock spectacle ever” according to Sharon Osbourne.  The show was planned to be video taped as well as recorded.
  • Everything changed a few weeks later when Randy died in a plane crash.
  • Bernie Torme took over guitar duties in the band for a short time until both parties decided to part ways.
  • Vito Bratta was the next guitarist considered as he was playing in a New York Black Sabbath cover band at the time.  However, he and Sharon did not get along.
  • Brad Gillis met with Rudy Sarzo to learn the songs as he was completely unfamiliar with Black Sabbath.  During his audition he nailed Rhoads’ parts and got the job.
  • On April 12, Gillis played his first show ith the band.  It’s said that Torme stayed on during these first few shows to help through the transition in case he was needed.  Gillis had traveled with them and learned the songs by watching Torme.
  • The band got together in September of 1982 to rehearse the songs but Ozzy was not around for the rehearsals.  Sharon had told them that he would not be around much.
  • The record company told Sharon that they planned to include previous live recordings of Rhoads doing “Iron Man,” “Children of the Grave”, and “Paranoid.”  Sharon told the band not to bother with those songs.
  • During this time morale was very poor and Sarzo was secretly recording the Metal Health album with Quiet Riot then finally made the decision to leave Ozzy’s band after this recording.
  • They only really saw Ozzy when he showed up for sound check on September 26, 1982.
  • Ozzy didn’t seem to remember the lyrics and during the shows he put a notebook with a lamp on a chair so he could read them during the concerts.
  • The audience at the was under 1,000 people at The Ritz.  Sarzo described the crowd as “rowdy.”
  • The Ritz had a smaller stage than they were used to and they weren’t able to use the same monitor setup leading to Gillis and Sarzo spending most of the shows directly in front of Aldridge so they could hear.
  • They used a mobile studio parked outside to record the show.
  • They were all dressed casually. Ozzy, showed up bald having shaved his head a few days before the gig.
  • The shows ended with “Iron Man” “Children of the Grave” and “Paranoid” and the band played a little looser, not keeping it as tight as they’d been informed that these performances wouldn’t be used.

Core Band:

Technical:

  • Producer, Engineer – Max Norman
  • Technician [Live Sound] – Chuck Weisner
    • Only other credit on Discogs is Van Halen’s “Live Without a Net.”
  • Mastered By – Joe Brescio

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • Design [Cover], Artwork – Steve Joule
    • https://krusher.co.uk/
    • Designed the cover for Diary of a Madman, Bark at the Moon and Black Sabbath’s Born Again.
    • Was art director for Kerrang!
  • Photography By – Neal Preston
  • The gatefold features a picture of John Edward Allen, Ozzy’s crew member who provided entertainment and comic relief on stage, as well as getting Ozzy drinks. Allen was also an actor appearing in Buck Rodgers and the film Bladerunner among many other stage performances. John also played one of the seven dwarves at the White House for President Jimmy Carter.
  • UK release was called “Talk of the Devil” as that is the more common phrase there.
  • There was also a Laserdisc release in Japan called “Speak of the Devil” which was a video of this band performing during the Diary of a Madman tour in June of 1982.

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The Venue:

Setlist

  1. Symptom of the Universe
  2. Snowblind
  3. Black Sabbath
  4. Fairies Wear Boots
  5. War Pigs
  6. The Wizard
  7. N.I.B.
  8. Sweet Leaf
    • This song was not included on the original CD release but was added back to the 1995 re-release.
  9. Never Say Die
  10. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
    • Confirmed by Max Norman to be one of potentially three songs performed the afternoon prior to one of the shows in an empty venue. Crowd noise would have been added in post production.
  11. Iron Man / Children of the Grave
  12. Paranoid

Japanese Release Featured Two Bonus Tracks recorded at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on June 12, 1982 with the same lineup. Released as “Speak of the Devil” in Japan on Laserdisc.

Full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDy0B8sbVNc

Bonus tracks included on the Japanese release:

  1. Mr. Crowley
  2. I Don’t Know

Bootlegs of Shows Pre-Production:

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Speak of the Devil Laserdisc release from later in the 1982 tour.

Reception and Charts:

  • Sarzo and Gillis departed shortly after these recordings with Sarzo returning to Quiet Riot and Gillis returning to Night Ranger.
  • Ozzy was very upset with Sarzo and even assaulted him backstage at the US Festival in 1983.
  • Producer Max Norman said in an interview that due to budget constraints  the band had performed an entire extra show with no audience before the show on either the 26th or the 27th.  This was recorded as a safety.
  • Norman said that the final album contains three songs from that performance but does not remember which three.
  • Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was believed to have been from this performance as it isn’t listed on the set list of either show at The Ritz.
  • The live versions of the three songs with Rhoads eventually found their release on the 1987 album Tribute.
  • Osbourne was critical of the album. It filled a contractual obligation but he was not a big fan of the project.

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