Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

The greatest heavy metal album I've ever heard, bar none

That's right folks, this album not Master of Puppets, not Paranoid, not ZOSO, not Machine Head, not Back in Black, is the greatest metal album I've ever heard in my life. Why? Because this is the fullest extent of the heavy metal experiment, an experiment started in the late 1950s to today. It isn't about how heavy the album is, how ridiculously virtuosic the guitar solos are: it is about mood. This album is the epitome of metal; it has both crazy thrash your head metal music and dark oh my I think I'm insane music. The definition of the heavy metal album. May 7, 2008

Punked

First of all, I had both vinyls (blizzard of ozz, diary of a madman) in the eighties, but sadly I sold, trade and/or lost them.

Tired of having sucky bad-compressed mp3s in my PC, I decided to order them both by Amazon. Let's have both CDs! I saw that these were the 95 reissues (with Lee Kerslake & Bob Daisley in the rythm section). I says here: original CD reissues from 1995. Good deal because you can't find them anywhere.

But - alas! - I received those goddamned 2002 versions with Sharon & Kelly on bass and drums!

Like we say in my good ol'town: Punked! April 9, 2008

(4.5 stars) ESSENTIAL OZZY ! (his last album with Randy Rhoads, Dairy Of A Madman includes some of Ozzy's greatest songs)

While not quite the heavy-metal monument that Blizzard Of Ozz is, Dairy Of A Madman (1981) is a great album that includes some great songs, and several of them are Ozzy's best. Flying High Again, Believer, You Can't Kill Rock And Roll, and Dairy Of A Madman are all top of the line Ozzy, some of the best work he's ever done. Drugs and insanity are major themes on the album, and Flying High Again is Ozzy's anthem to chemical exploration.

I can see through mountains, watch me disappear
I can even touch the sky
Swallowing the colors of the sound I hear
Or am I just a crazy guy (you bet)

Over The Mountain, Little Dolls, Tonight, and S.A.T.O. are all good songs, too, and they make up the rest of the album, so there really isn't anything to complain about here. This is Ozzy is at the peak of his career as a singer, and with Randy Rhoads providing the electric guitar fireworks, you can bet this one's a winner. Of the two Osbourne/Rhoads collaborations, Dairy is possibly a little more decadent, and sometimes a little more atmospheric (Believer, Dairy Of A Madman) than Blizzard, but Blizzard is probably more consistent. Either way, both are essential Ozzy, and both belong in any heavy-metal music collection.

*Beware of the newer 2002 re-issue of Dairy Of A Madman: Different bass and drum tracks have been dubbed in over the original recording. February 11, 2008

Not His Best, but Still Strong

Ozzy Osbourne's second "solo" effort after leaving Black Sabbath, and it starts off with a bang! "Over the Mountain" chugs along to lead off, before the albums primary radio hit "Flying High Again," which is really a great track. "You Can't Kill Rock 'n' Roll" is a slow rocker, until the chorus picks up the speed, but this is the first indication that this album isn't quite up to the glory of its predecessor, Blizzard of Ozz, as this material hasn't aged quite so gracefully, and sounds a bit dated. Not bad, mind you...just dated, and very reminiscent of the early/mid 80s, whereas Blizzard just sounds like rock n' roll and metal, without regard for decade. "Believer" returns to form, however, and "Little Dolls" sounds like vintage (non-dated) Ozzy. "Tonight" is a nice ballad, but Ozzy's voice doesn't sound all that great, on this one. The album closes on hard rocker "S.A.T.O." and eerie, somewhat atmospheric title track "Diary of a Madman."

All in all, this is a good album, but it really doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor. Some of the material hasn't aged well, and Ozzy doesn't seem to be at the top of his game (as he was on Blizzard, and would be again in the future). But, still, a good album.

On another note:

DO NOT BUY THE 2002 OZZY REMASTERS of his first two albums (Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman)! They are NOT the originals, and have been rerecorded by newer members of Ozzy's band, as a way to screw over the old members who are owed $$$ for the work they did. Seek out the 1995 remasters, instead. Reward the musicians who actually made the music! February 3, 2008

Why can't record companies leave good things alone?

Muddy Moe, I thought it was just me that noticed all that extra instrumentation in the "remastered" mess. I noticed it here and with "Blizzard of Ozz," too.

I don't understand what's so wrong with the original? "Diary of a Madman" was the second Ozzy album I fell in love with (the first being "Bark At the Moon"), and I don't think any of the instrumentation was amiss to go playing with it.

The quality of "Diary..." is outstanding to this day. I can't help it to listen to this from start to finish this rocks so much. This is truly Ozzy - when he was a true rebel and outcast, not the establishment rebel that he's become today (sorry, I'm irked that after being teased for being an Ozzy fan in the 80s - when it mattered - that those same people are riding his bandwagon 20 years later).

Anyway, the songs that made up "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Diary of A Madman" (both released in 1981) were supposed to be Black Sabbath material. Whichever way it really is and was, I'm glad they wound up on Ozzy's first two solo albums because, perhaps, they wouldn't have sounded as good being Sabbath material.

"You can't kill rock and roll - it's here to stay!" Indeed, Ozzy. We (your fans that have stuck with you through the lean times) will love and adore you forever. - Donna Di Giacomo December 8, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...