OZZY OSBOURNE – Sunderland, UK 1980 (1CD)

Audience 8.4 – This tape starts off rough but gradually opens up and ends up quite listenable especially considering this originates from an early tour stop in England 1980. These tapes are few and far between, so grab it is my advice. One thing I noticed, the sound timbre is rather eerie, a spooky kind of effect I can’t explain and it is magnified by the fact that Randy’s guitar is clearest in the mix. I could not help myself while listening to ponder what may have been, such an advanced musical sensibility that would have only gotten better.

OZZY OSBOURNE – “1980 Sunderland”
Mayfair Theater, Sunderland, England
October 28th, 1980

Ozzy Osbourne – Vocals
Randy Rhoads – Guitar
Bob Daisley – Bass
Lee Kerslake – Drums

01 -Intro
02 -I Don’t Know
03 -You Lookin’ at Me
04 -Crazy Train
05 -Goodbye to Romance
06 -No Bone Movies
07 -Mr. Crowley
08 -Revelation (Mother Earth)
09 -Suicide Solution
10 -Randys Solo
11 -Lees Drum Solo
12 -Iron Man
13 -Children of the Grave
14 -Steal Away
15 -Paranoid

Notes:
When Ozzy left Black Sabbath in 1979 I honestly thought it could be the last we saw of him. Sure, he was a great, mad front man in Sabbath, but I really didn’t see him as a solo act. Ozzy always struck me as crazy, fearless, yet almost child-like. He fitted well within the Sabbath context, and as part of a group; but on his own? How wrong I was.
Nobody could have predicted just how successful his career would turn out to be. But it was obvious from the first time I saw him in concert and heard him play his new songs that Ozzy was going to be OK, more than OK in fact. The new album had some great tracks in “Crazy Train”, “Goodbye to Romance”, and “Mr. Crowley”, and he included Sabbath favorites “Iron Man”, “Children of the Grave”, and “Paranoid” in the live show, so how could he not be great?
Oh, and Randy Rhoads was simply an incredible guitarist, just as good as his legend suggests. The tour called at Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle Mayfair and Sunderland Mayfair.  The line-up of Blizzard of Ozz was Ozzy (of course) on vocals, the late and truly great guitarist Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley (Rainbow) on bass, Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep) on drums and local lad Don Airey on keyboards (replaced by Lindsey Bridgewater for the tour). Support came from those excellent Welsh rock heroes Budgie.