• AllMyVinyl #69
• Band: Ozzy Osbourne
• Album Title: Diary of a Madman
• Release Date: 7 Nov 1981
• Date purchased: N/A
• Location purchased: Record Label
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

When I wrote about Blizzard of Ozz I said this..  “This album is a fucking masterpiece.  The end.”  I believe that.  However… Diary is an even bigger masterpiece.  The End.

Dear Diary, I’m here to stay…..

I got this album originally first before Blizzard. At the time I got into Sabbath in late 1981 originally, this album was BRAND new, and just out so I picked it up first.  I didn’t have any special allegiance or anything – just happened to be the new one, so I got it.  And wow – hit me really hard.  In fact, my extremely positive reaction to this album has a lot to do with what I felt about the first two Quiet Riot albums – I remember being disappointed in those after I found out Randy was on them as well.  But I’ll have more to say about those when I get to the entires for those albums.

I never bought this on vinyl back in the day, I bought it on cassette tape.  What I don’t recall now is what I used as a deciding factor to buy something on cassette or vinyl at this time. CD’s weren’t yet a thing, and I was buying vinyl as late as 1987, so I don’t know why I wouldn’t have bought this on vinyl, as all the Sabbath albums I bought on vinyl at this time.  Perhaps because I viewed it as “Oh, just a solo album, not as important as an actual Sabbath album”.  That seems like something I’d think back in 81/82, but in 2024, I can’t be sure either way.  I long ago lost that cassette tape from 1981 – I only have it on CD and vinyl now.  I did buy it on CD in the late 80’s somewhere, and had that for a long time.  By the time 2002 rolled around, I got the uh “bastard re-recording” version from the record label, and then in 2011 when it came out again, the label sent me the 30th anniversary “Blizzard & Diary” box set. Inside that were vinyl copies of the 2011 re-masters (which restored Bob &* Lee), and that vinyl is what I’m playing today.  It’s my only vinyl copy.   The vinyl is physically different than a standard.  The sleeve is a gatefold like you’d get for a double vinyl, except that disc 2’s “side” is where they hold the CD’s for Diary – it’s a package I quite like, and I haven’t seen elsewhere, to be honest.

As I got this in 1981, and didn’t know any better, I did think this was Rudy Sarzo & Tommy Aldridge on the album – that’s the way it’s presented.  In 1981 you didn’t have the entire internet on a phone in your pocket to find things out, so I just took it as read that’s who was on the album.  I can’t remember where along the line I found out that was fake, and it was really Bob Daisley & Lee Kerslake on the album – same lineup as the first album on bass & drums.  But it would have been somewhere along the line, just don’t remember where.  That picture on the inside sleeve has always been reprinted since.  I know it’s part of the original release packaging, but I always wished they put a proper picture in there.  It’s for that reason I’m not including that picture in my review.  It’s actually the SECOND time that exact same shit happened to Rudy Sarzo on an album with Randy Rhoads on it.  Quiet Riot II’s cover has Rudy Sarzo on it, but he didn’t play on the album – OG Quiet Riot bassist Kelly Gharni did – but left the band before it came out.  Randy has four albums in his life, and the same thing with Rudy Sarzo happened on two of them.  To complete that, Don Airey is credited with keyboards, but he didn’t play on the album – it was actually Johnny Cook who plays keys on the album (he was with Daisley in Mungo Jerry in the past).

Fun facts: That’s Louis Osbourne on the cover with Oz, one of the children Oz had with his first wife Thelma.  The cover was also designed by Krusher Joule, who did a few other albums in this area – including Sabbath’s Born Again.

Before I get to the individual songs, I wanted to say a quick word about the 2002 version.  I won’t spend much time on it – if you’re bothering to read this, you know what happened.  If for some reason you don’t – you can read about it on Wikipedia.  While that  version is pretty universally derided, it isn’t *AS* awful as its reputation has it to be.  Don’t get me wrong, from a conceptual standpoint – Fuck Sharon and Ozzy for doing that.  But as the MUSIC goes – it’s not as awful as you remember.  Having said that there’s moments that are really off – the opening drum bit for Little Dolls feels odd. The bass intro for Believer doesn’t sound right either.  But it’s not all like that – SATO doesn’t sound too different – although the bass is mixed a bit higher than the original (which seems to be a theme overall here).  Bottom line – I listened to parts of that version today for this piece.  It’s the first time I can remember intentionally listening to that version in over a decade.  It might be that long before I do so again.

Anyway, back to the good shit.  In 2011, Bob & Lee were restored to the album, and reminded everyone of the majesty of this album after the collective vomiting in our throats that the 2002 version brought.

Over the Mountain – What a banger of an opening track.  From the initial drum intro, this hits you in the face from the start.  While the second track was the single, I felt this song was a far better intro.  It’s another statement song.  If you went from Blizzard to Diary, you can hear immediately the band is far more tight, and the songwriting is immediately superior to Blizzard – and that’s all due to Mountain.  Grabs you from the start and never lets go.  Ozzy’s voice is great here too.  There’s no part of this song that is bad, or weak, or anything like that.  It’s perfect.  If the title track didn’t exist, this would probably be my favorite song off the album.

Flying High Again – In 1981 I thought this was about getting high – something that hadn’t yet happened to me in life.  It’s not as fast and in your face as Mountain.  It’s got a catchy chorus for sure.  As I sat here listening to it, I couldn’t think of a ton of words to add to it.  Doesn’t mean I don’t like it, but I just sat there and enjoyed it, and didn’t try to think about it like I normally do for these articles.

You Can’t Kill Rock & Roll – Starts off slower, and builds into a power song.  The kind of trick you usually get with Dio, but it works well with Oz here.  I always liked the lyrics to this one more than the song.   “Rock and Roll is my religion and my law”.  The music here is a little more subdued than some of the tracks on this album, but that’s not bad either.  I just tend to gravitate to the lyrics more here (hello Bob!).  The music tends to flow a bit more smoothly here than other tracks – perhaps because it isn’t in your face so much. Song doesn’t get the attention it should.

Believer – A song with a massive fat bottom end.  Love Bob’s bass intro here.  While that intro goes away fairly quickly, the overall vibe of the song leans in that direction.  You can hear that bass line through the song, but when it’s mixed in with other tracks, it’s not as noticeable.  Still, the song that goes around it is pretty cool.  I love the “echo” sound some of the words get as background vocals – hard to describe.  I also like the way the lyrics “Imagination like a bird on the wring flying free for you to use (ok baby)” are delivered by Ozzy.  Then there’s Randy’s guitar sound which actually sounds like the word “Believer” leading into the guitar solo.  Great stuff here.

Little Dolls – Lee Kerslake’s most in your face moment on the album is the intro to this song.  Love me a good drum intro (hello Cozy Powell), but Lee’s drums here are great.  Never quite figured out what the lyrics are actually ABOUT though – but then that’s a common theme with me over the years across many MANY bands.  While for me the drums are the big focus here, there’s a lot great bass work going on by Bob to go with it.  A song that shows what a brilliant rhythm section they had here before it was blown up by ShOzzy.  There’s of course Randy here who is damn good, but this one I like for Bob & Lee.

Tonight – The slower song on the album.  In some ways the song “So Tired” from the next album reminds me of this one – especially at the start.  I was about to write there’s no blistering Randy solo on this one, but then we go and get a Randy Rhoads solo anyway.  Another great bass section by Bob that’s repeated a few times.  Nice change of pace song.

S.A.T.O. – Which leads us back to the fast stuff, with SATO.  This is another track that gets overlooked in the catalog – much like “No Bone Movies” – it’s a great album track that when you ask about songs from this album hardly ever gets mentioned.  The band is on fire here, great performances all around.  There’s also the title of the song which has garnered much talk over the years as to the meaning, since the letters have periods.  There’s been many ideas over the years, but a few of the more oft mentioned ones are “Sailing Across The Ocean”, “Sailing Away To Oblivion”, but the one that most people tend to ascribe to is that it stands for “Sharon Arden Thelma Osbourne” – Ozzy’s two wives. At the time this was recorded, he was still married to Thelma.  I know the answer is in Bob Daisley’s book, but I went looking for it as I write this and I remembered I loaned it to someone – bugger. :)

Diary of a Madman – We close out the album, and Randy’s recorded career with this absolute complete fucking masterpiece of a song.  It’s the single best individual track that bears Ozzy’s name, and of the four studio albums Randy is on – clearly the best thing he ever played on in his short life.  As good as this song is, I won’t say a ton about it because it’s just perfect.  If you’re read this far, you know the song – and nothing I can say will make you think any better of it anyway. :)  Music, lyrics, vocal delivery  – even the fucking orchestration – there’s nothing wrong about this at all.  It’s an absolute perfect end to the album as well – I’ve be hard pressed to come up with a song on ANY album that’s better than this one at ending the album it appeared on originally.

We all know what happened after this.  Bob & Lee were fired, replaced by Tommy Aldridge & Rudy Sarzo.  I hold no ill will against those two men, they were just doing a job, but the original band shouldn’t have been broken up.  It was one of the most tight quartets I’d ever heard, and that ego and money got in the way of all that is sad.  Then of course Randy died once they got out on tour, and that was well fucking shit too.  I always wondered what would have come AFTER Diary – as Randy was on such a progression in his playing.  It’s my understanding there was nothing left over that  could have been reconstructed.  I just wish that ShOzzy and Bob could make peace as I’d love to hear the holy grail archives that Bob holds.

But….  This album is clearly the best album that Ozzy has put out of the 13 studio albums he’s recorded under his own name.  Not Black Sabbath mind you, but as “Ozzy Osbourne” albums go – this is the peak, of that there is no doubt.

Monday to Sunday in stages…  set me free..