Ozzy Osbourne - "Diary of a Madman" Legacy Edition CD Review

I’m somewhat conflicted on how to review the “legacy edition” of Ozzy Osbourne’s Diary of a Madman as this release left me disappointed as I was expecting “more”. The challenge is that I haven’t yet been able to put my finger on what it is that I was expecting.

To dive into this release, this is a double CD that contains the original recording of Diary of a Madman along with a bonus live CD from the Blizzard of Ozz tour. The Osbournes caused quite a stink when, due to royalty disputes, they replaced Bob Daisley’s bass parts and Lee Kerslake’s drum parts on the 2002 reissue of Diary with new recordings done by Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin. While I think there are serious ethical issues here, numerous bands have added and deleted various (ex-)members parts for as long as I can remember. Some of the ones that come immediately to mind are:

- Black Sabbath: Tony Martin was brought in to sing over Ray Gillen’s parts on Eternal Idol after Ray had left the band
- Dave Wakeling: His solo disc was “built” by the record company using session demos and hired musician long after Dave had abandoned the project
- Kiss: The greatest hits disc in Sonic Boom was re-recorded without Ace and Peter (hmmm…I bet the Gene and Paul wanted to “[add] a fresh sound to the original [tracks]” rather than this having anything to do with royalties)

Disc One of Diary is a straightforward reissue of the eight track / 44-minute CD. Disc Two is a complete live concert (unlisted location – some sites have cited this show as being from The Palladium, NYC on 5/2/81) from the second leg of the Blizzard of Ozz tour. The show sounds great and the disc’s eleven tracks runs just over sixty minutes. The challenge here is that this show has the exact same set list as Tribute (which was recorded in Cleveland in 5/11/81) and covers no new ground.

The good point of this set is that it is selling for $10 used on Amazon, which isn’t a bad price to pay for a full-length live CD. The negative is that I expected something “new” from this reissue – perhaps bonus tracks on the studio CD or, at minimum, the inclusion of the “Mr Crowley” EP so that I don’t have to worry about hooking up my turntable when I want to hear these songs. I also would have expected the live show to be from the Diary of a Madman tour as the Blizzard tour was already documented on Tribute. (Note: The difference between the Blizzard and Diary set lists was the addition of “Over the Mountain” and “Goodbye to Romance” to the set.)

Unless you have to have everything Ozzy does (or you have only the 2002 issue of Diary), I’d pass on this deluxe edition. Inevitably, there will be “super-deluxe” re-reissue that comes out sometime in the next few years.

Links:
Ozzy Osbourne

Iggy & The Stooges - "Raw Power" Legacy Edition CD Review

I've been a bit suspicious of this release after having acquired a large number of 'lost' live shows and outtakes from Raw Power era of The Stooges over the last twenty years. After finally sitting down to give this 2CD a listen (and then a second listen), I was pleasantly surprised.

The first disc of this set restores the original David Bowie mix of Raw Power. While this may not be a big deal for long-time fans, the original mix has been hard to find since Columbia issued Iggy's red-lining, guitar-heavy remix in 1997. The original mix wasn't without its fault - it was trebly with Iggy and guitarist James Williamson grossly dominating the mix, leaving the Asheton brothers no where to be heard - but the '97 remix didn't solve any problems by turning the volume up to "11". Interestingly, both James Williamson and Ron Asheton individually stated in interviews over the years that they liked the Bowie mix better than Iggy's later version.

"Bowie's not my favorite guy, but I have to say that overall, I think he did a pretty good job." -- James Williamson



The real gem, and counterpoint to the Bowie mix of Raw Power, is on Disc 2 - which is a complete live show from the Raw Power tour recorded at Richard's in Atlanta, GA. The surprise with this show is that it captures The Stooges, both tight and coherent and James Williamson's guitar is buried in the mix so Ron Asheton's fluid bass playing and Scott Thurston's bar room piano rise to the top of the mix. The set list is pretty standard for this era/tour which consists of five tracks from Raw Power plus "Head On", "Cock In My Pocket" and "Open Up & Bleed".

The second disc wraps up with "Doojiman" which is an outtake from the session for Raw Power. The sound on this track is perfect (unlike some of the Bomp and Revenge releases) but this is a track that will only appeal to die-hard fans. While the band lays down a voodoo groove, Iggy scats and jabbers over the four minute track leaving him sounding somewhat like Gibby Haynes. The last track, "Head On", is from a rehearsal performance and sounds like something that could have (and may have?) been included in the massive series of outtakes and reissues that Bomp, Revenge and Easy Action have issued over the years.

Given the $13.99 price point for this set (new from Amazon), the live show on the second disc more than makes this set worthwhile.

Links:
Iggy and the Stooges

Iggy Pop - Raw Power Legacy Edition Released on April 13th

DOWNLOAD: Iggy & the Stooges - "Raw Power" Podcast

As much as I've tried to break away from being a record collector, I still have way too many legit, semi-legit and bootleg Iggy Pop CDs, LPs, etc. As I started trading tapes twenty years ago and recently bought both Iggy Pop live box sets from Easy Action, I'm pleasantly surprised that this new reissue of Raw Power contains a number of tracks that I don't already have.

There is both a 2-disc (the first two discs listed below) and 4-disc version of the Raw Power Legacy Edition. Here is the track listing:

Disc 1 - Raw Power (original David Bowie mix)
01. Search and Destroy
02. Gimme Danger
03. Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell
04. Penetration
05. Raw Power
06. I Need Somebody
07. Shake Appeal
08. Death Trip

Disc 2 - "Georgia Peaches"
01. Introduction *
02. Raw Power *
03. Head On *
04. Gimme Danger *
05. Search and Destroy *
06. I Need Somebody *
07. Heavy Liquid *
08. Cock in My Pocket *
09. Open Up and Bleed *
10. Doojiman [outtake]
11. Head On [CBS Studio rehearsal performance]
* Live in Atlanta, 1973

Disc 3 - Rarities, Outtakes, & Alternates from the Raw Power Era
01. I'm Hungry [outtake]
02. I Got a Right [outtake]
03. I'm Sick of You [outtake]
04. Hey, Peter [outtake]
05. Shake Appeal [alternate mix]
06. Death Trip [alternate mix]
07. Gimme Danger [alternate mix from the 1996 Iggy "violent" remixes]
08. Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell [alternate mix from the 1996 Iggy "violent" remixes]

Disc 4 (DVD)
The Making of Raw Power - documentary by Morgan Neville featuring new interviews with Iggy Pop, James Williamson, Scott Asheton, Mike Watt, Johnny Marr, and Henry Rollins + live performance footage of James Williamson’s first reunion gig with Iggy and the Stooges shot at Festival Planeta Terra, São Paulo, Brazil, November 2009

Links:
Iggy Pop