Customer Reviews

Diary Of A Madman/Bark At The Moon/The Ultimate Sin

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First of all i think the set should've had "Blizzard of Ozz", "No Rest for the Wicked", "Diary of a Madman", and "Bark at the Moon". Also i thought it need something other than just a few cd's. it should've had some kind of book with pictures and information about Ozzy(like the Jimi hendrix box set). I still find that for the price the set isn't bad so i gave it four stars.

I ordered a set and these are NOT the 1995 22-bit SBC Remasters. They are also NOT the 2002 Remasters. These are (to the best I can tell) Australian-manufactured copies of the original CDs. Don't let the artwork on the 123 box fool you (as it did me) - these CDs are NOT the desirable original remasters, and the actual CDs do not look like what is on the box.

go to Discogs web site and search for Ozzy Osbourne
From My CDs in 123 BoxSet (Cat#4926552):
The Ultimate Sin = Cat#CDEPC26404 (Australian)
Diary of a Madman = Cat#CDJET237 (not listed at discogs, but labeled made in Australia on disk itself)
Bark At the Moon = Cat#4680752 (Australian)

None of these are listed as remasters

On 3CD sleeve, Bark At the Moon track list shows "Siders in the Night" as track 9 - but CD does not have this track (note mis-spelling of track title). Could this be a Chinese knockoff?? Spiders In The Night present without second bonus track implies 1995 22-bit SBC remaster, and this is why I bought this set. I'm quite disappointed.

Unless you want a cheap way to get what appears to be original CDs or possible knockoffs - then leave this set alone.

these three albums are all brilliant! diary of a madman is ozzy's last album with randy before his tragic end, bark at the moon is an indicator of his future style without randy and the ultimate sin has the feel of a concept album from the 60s based as it is around the theme of nuclear war. Diary is a great album although not quite as good as blizzard of ozz (4th CD?) and includes classics like @flying high again', the atmospheric 'you cant kill rock n' roll' and the anthemic title track. bark at the moon is the first ozzy album i bought and 1 of the best as it has 'bark at the moon' 'rock n' roll rebel' and the explosive 'waiting for darkness'. ultimate sin is perhaps the weakest of the 3 but it still has classics such as the title track, 'secret loser' in which ozzy confesses the pressures of his image' and the touching 'killer of giants' which deals with nuclear holocaust with remarkable sensitivity 9yes sensitivity!). possibly improved by blizzard as a 4th cd!

Getting these 3 CDs separetaly seems pointless knowing that theres only like 8 or 9 songs on each CD. Having all 3 as 1 pack is plenty of music to listen to for a while. It only contains 3 hits from the ozzman cometh, but those aren't even the highligts. They are Bark, over the mt., and shot in the dark. The lesser known songs are the best.

Some of you are missing the point. This isn't really a box set. It's an opportunity to get 3 classic albums for the price of 2. Think about it. Any hardcore Ozzy fan is going to get all that they can, right? Well, here you go! It's like getting a free Ozzy! All three albums ROCK!

If these are the orignal recordings with Daisley, Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, etc. I'm NOT interested in purchasing junk "remasters" with the original artists deleted and "improved" solos and backing tracks recorded...I already wasted money on one of the remastered series, and had to wonder why the bass was dragging, the solos sounded as if they had been recorded in Ozzy's basement by those crazy kids from N'Sync, etc. Can anyone shed some light on this dilemma. If these are the originals, then they all rate 5 stars...if not, better save your money for the next (ha, ha) Van Halen album, to be released in 2012!

By this time, most people should probably be familiar enough with the man that they don't need me to tell them whether they'll want these albums or not. Since you're here, though, it's a reasonably safe assumption that you do like Ozzy, and that the important question isn't so much how good these albums are, but are they the original albums? To which, I can happily say, yeah, they are.

For anyone just straggling in, most of Ozzy's albums were remastered back in 2002. Unfortunately, due to legal litigations and issues with royalties, the decision was made to rerecord the original bass and drum tracks from Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman with Ozzy's newer bandmembers. If George Lucas has taught us anything over the past ten years, it's that purists tend to get upset when you mess around with their beloved classics. Though nothing was rerecorded for Bark at the Moon, many feel the remixing was botched and some of the guitar fills and such seem to be missing from parts of the album. The Ultimate Sin, on the other hand, wasn't even rereleased with the other albums. Apparently Ozzy just doesn't like it very much.

However, rejoice, MetalHeads, for this here three-disc set contains the 1995 editions of Diary, Bark, and Sin. The sound quality is as good as you'd expect and none of music you like so much has been tampered with. And, as an extra added bonus, Amazon is currently selling it for about what you could pay for a single CD in some music stores. Since these albums are out of print now, you might want to go ahead and snatch this up if you don't want to make do with the 2002 discs. If only it included Blizzard of Ozz as well, this would be perfect.

And since I should probably say something about the actual albums, here, okay ...

Diary of a Madman is an honest-to-goodness metal classic and the last album recorded by guitar hero Randy Rhoads before his death in a bizarre plane crash. Flying High Again is one of Ozzy's most famous songs. You've heard it. It's on here.

With Bark at the Moon, Ozzy started using more keyboards and synthesizers, a trend that continued in later albums, and that, in itself may turn some people off, but it's still a fine album with some good songs. The title track, in particular, is great.

Ultimate Sin is the one Ozz seems to hate so much, nowadays. Some of his fans agree, though I don't quite see why. Not his finest moment, perhaps, but still a solid album with a few standout songs, even if some of the nuclear war pondering is a bit heavy-handed. Ozzy was never really about subtlety.

If you're an Ozzy fan and you don't already have these albums, chances are you want this. If you're not an Ozzy fan, what the heck are you reading this for? You're wasting your time. Get out of here.

This is everything Ozzy fans want. They should have made it four CD's so we could have Crazy Train also. Without Crazy Train it is like having KISS without Rock n Roll all Night... You can get the CD cheaper at the AOL "Shopping" Channel so shop around.

This are three great cd's. All of the songs are great. You absolutely get your money's worth.

...

Diary of a Madman: Ozzy's last album with Randy Rhoads (R.I.P.). A very scary booklet, but the music is fantastic! I loved this album I give it 9.5/10!

Bark at the Moon: I am listening to this as I write the review. Okay, but it's kind of slow. 7.5/10

The Ultimate Sin: Ozzy redeemed himself with this CD! 9/10!

So altogether for the box set I give it 10/10! ...