Why does the Blizzard of Ozz album sound...

[Mr. Willy]

I need to re-buy Blizzard on CD. Is the only version available still the 'Sharon made the drums get re-done because she's the devil' version?...or can is it easy to get the original? (yea I know...I can Google it, but..)

PS: I've always liked Diary way more, and not just the tones.

The one in Apple Music is the original. I don’t think the reissues with the replacement tracks are available anymore. There was a widespread outcry by the fans over that sacrilege, so much that even Satan...oops, Sharon couldn’t ignore it.

 

[Racerxrated]

I love Blizzard but DOAMM is my favorite by far

This.

 

[romanianreaper]

Wow, blows my mind that so many people like "Diary" more. It is crazy with Ozzy's stuff, I almost can't pick a favorite album because of loving all of his stuff over the years with different guitarists. Almost like I have a favorite album from each guitarist. LOL

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Call me crazy but I dig the sound and production on Ultimate Sin. A bit too much chorus but it sounds big and I love the song writing and riffage BATM is great too. I really don't have a definitive " this is it" album from Ozzy. No More Tears is awesome too and has a huge guitar sound.

 

[jabps]

I love them both equally.

In the past there are times I would favor one over the other but at the end of the day, I love them both. And the amazing thing is when you come back to Randy and those albums, it's sometimes like you are rediscovering him again.

No doubt the production is better on Diary which is odd in itself as Randy felt that album was rushed. As was pointed out above, the difference IMO was the switch in producers on Blizzard. I actually think Max saved what he could.

Randy's last show was in Knoxville, I was supposed to go but friends backed out and well, the rest is history. Oddly enough a friend and fellow guitarist I met in college attended that show and said his live tone was the most massive guitar sound he had ever heard.

Also agree that several of Ozzy's albums suffer production issue's. Sin, No Rest etc...

 

[alan67]

Production aside and based on strength of songs - for me - No Bone Movies and Goodbye to Romance bring Blizzard down a little vs. DOAMM. I consider Tonight the weakest track on DOAMM but the rest are solid AF.

Still that doesn't mean I don't like NBM or GTR. When I listen to these albums - I'm not comparing shit, I'm just enjoying all of it

 

[JackBootedThug]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6ejlCB-tkQ

 

[Mr. Willy]

I do love both albums. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a comparison between BOO and DOAMM. I know Randy considered DOAMM rushed. I didn’t know the first album was rushed as well. I thought those guys had plenty of time on that album. Actually lived together on the studio grounds and house and wrote and recorded the album. Seems the first producer is the issue. But, you guys who know recording techniques, what’s up with the sound? Is it the EQing on the mixing board, poor mic placement, post production? What’s up with the sound from a sound engineering point of view? I don’t know a lot about recording techniques is why I’m asking.

 

[romanianreaper]

Call me crazy but I dig the sound and production on Ultimate Sin. A bit too much chorus but it sounds big and I love the song writing and riffage BATM is great too. I really don't have a definitive " this is it" album from Ozzy. No More Tears is awesome too and has a huge guitar sound.

I will say that I was actually a fan of the 80s tones on albums that had some reverb, chorus, etc. in there. I'm not a fan of an album that is just dry (Metallica - Death Magnetic as an example). Gotta have some some effects to help the vibe.

 

[Mr. Willy]

Doing a little digging. Here’s some interesting info on BOO:

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/ ... le.352052/

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list? ... ard+of+ozz

 

[romanianreaper]

I do love both albums. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a comparison between BOO and DOAMM. I know Randy considered DOAMM rushed. I didn’t know the first album was rushed as well. I thought those guys had plenty of time on that album. Actually lived together on the studio grounds and house and wrote and recorded the album. Seems the first producer is the issue. But, you guys who know recording techniques, what’s up with the sound? Is it the EQing on the mixing board, poor mic placement, post production? What’s up with the sound from a sound engineering point of view? I don’t know a lot about recording techniques is why I’m asking.

I'll throw my two cents in here on the overall tone and Randy's tone. To me, it sounds like the higher mids are pushed forward on everything and like Ozzy's voice and Randy's guitar are living in the same space. I'm strictly talking about Blizzard. There also is a lack of good low end. That was fixed on DOAM thankfully.

Randy's tone always sounded thin to me. His technique, feel, etc. isn't properly captured IMO. A part of me wonders if his tone would have benefitted from great bass tones. For example, EVH's tone sounds thin on recordings by themselves, but when you hear it in there with Michael Anthony's bass, it fits perfect on those old VH albums.

If I remember right, Randy's parts were doubled? I thought we all discussed this before but can't remember. I think a bit of a dip in the mids would have helped. Ozzy probably told the engineer to shoot Randy's tone to the top of the recording so he could rub it in Iommi's face. Haha!

 

[Mr. Willy]

Call me crazy but I dig the sound and production on Ultimate Sin. A bit too much chorus but it sounds big and I love the song writing and riffage BATM is great too. I really don't have a definitive " this is it" album from Ozzy. No More Tears is awesome too and has a huge guitar sound.

I will say that I was actually a fan of the 80s tones on albums that had some reverb, chorus, etc. in there. I'm not a fan of an album that is just dry (Metallica - Death Magnetic as an example). Gotta have some some effects to help the vibe.

I dig the guitar tones on TUS, but the drums and bass sound like cardboard, really flat. Jake’s playing in that album is phenomenal.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I do love both albums. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a comparison between BOO and DOAMM. I know Randy considered DOAMM rushed. I didn’t know the first album was rushed as well. I thought those guys had plenty of time on that album. Actually lived together on the studio grounds and house and wrote and recorded the album. Seems the first producer is the issue. But, you guys who know recording techniques, what’s up with the sound? Is it the EQing on the mixing board, poor mic placement, post production? What’s up with the sound from a sound engineering point of view? I don’t know a lot about recording techniques is why I’m asking.

I'll throw my two cents in here on the overall tone and Randy's tone. To me, it sounds like the higher mids are pushed forward on everything and like Ozzy's voice and Randy's guitar are living in the same space. I'm strictly talking about Blizzard. There also is a lack of good low end. That was fixed on DOAM thankfully.

Randy's tone always sounded thin to me. His technique, feel, etc. isn't properly captured IMO. A part of me wonders if his tone would have benefitted from great bass tones. For example, EVH's tone sounds thin on recordings by themselves, but when you hear it in there with Michael Anthony's bass, it fits perfect on those old VH albums.

If I remember right, Randy's parts were doubled? I thought we all discussed this before but can't remember. I think a bit of a dip in the mids would have helped. Ozzy probably told the engineer to shoot Randy's tone to the top of the recording so he could rub it in Iommi's face. Haha!

Agree totally that is sounds like Randy’s guitar and Ozzy’s voice are living in the same frequency, all upper mids. The drums are pushed way back as well, no depth. Just kinda there. The whole album sounds like listening to someone over an old phone landline.

 

[GreatRedDragon]

I just think it was a combination of fast and cheap. Sometimes it works (look no further than Sabbath's debut), sometimes it doesn't.

Doesn't really matter to me. Every song on Blizzard is on Tribute, and Tribute sounds fantastic (though Randy's track was re-amped and Ozzy's vocals were re-recorded). Ozzy Live is a great album as well that has most of the Blizzard album, and without all of the studio interference on Tribute.

I think Ozzy has quite rarely had very good production. No More Tears is the only studio album of his that I think really sounds great, at least in the time before Ozzy went from being a singer in a band to a piece of corporate product.

 

[RockyStar]

Another thing is I think we forget or take for granted just how good modern gear, technology, etc sounds. I would love to hear some of the 80's records remade on todays gear. Testament comes to mind...

 

[Beyond Black]

IMO Ozzy’s best sounding album is hands down “Speak of the Devil.” Gillis’ tone is unfuckingreal on that album.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

IMO Ozzy’s best sounding album is hands down “Speak of the Devil.” Gillis’ tone is unfuckingreal on that album.

His tone and the mix is really good and Gillis always did a better job on the Sabbath stuff than he did the Ozzy stuff.

As for DOAM being rushed, I think that quote is in relation to Randy feeling rushed to come up and track the lead guitars. There are a few tunes on there where you can tell he just sort of threw in a place holder lead and in the end they went with that. I think he liked to take his time and "compose" leads. Then live, he could improvise around the basic shapes. That's what it sounds like to me when I listen to the countless hours of bootlegs on youtube from the tours. Some nights the tone is too chorus heavy or mushy but a lot of that is the recorder and venue. Overall I will say it again like a broken record, when you listen to those bootlegs, his sound is anything but thin. It is a massive wall that cuts through and he plays really aggressively on some nights, some of those shows give me goosebumps. The audience was lucky, most nights he was in fact "on" and even when he is having an off night, it is still a killer show. Ozzy however, sucks pretty hard on a lot of the shows but I imagine a lot of that was due to how rough his afternoons and nights were .

 

[Mailman1971]

Ya Diary for me all day.
Can’t kill rock n roll
Tonight
Flying high again????
Just gold nugget after nugget.
One of my top 5 albums to this day.

 

[paulyc]

Another thing is I think we forget or take for granted just how good modern gear, technology, etc sounds. I would love to hear some of the 80's records remade on todays gear. Testament comes to mind...

You’d need today’s gear but yesterday’s studios and producers and budgets,

 

[Mr. Willy]

I like the sound of older analog gear, honestly. Some of the best sounding albums came out on the 70’s and 80’s. Listen to the albums that came out of Sound Studios. What was that board? A Nieve, or something like that. Only a few exist.