A while back I had read on Blabbermouth how Ozzy would be rereleasing Blizzard Of Oz and Diary Of A Madman, and my first thought was here we go again! Would this rerelease contain Trujillo and Borden? Or Daisley and Kerslake? The other thing to come to mind was an old VH1 special where Ozzy bashes Kiss and Gene Simmons, when they’ve had the dignity to only rerelease their albums once, while this is the fourth release on CD of these two albums.

I’m happy to say that Ozzy and his team have gone out of their way to make this release special. I purchased the 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition, it contains the following items:

Blizzard Of Ozz (expanded edition)
Diary Of A Madman (2 CD- Legacy Edition)
Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman (Vinyl Edition)
DVD – Thirty Years After The Blizzard
100 Page Coffee Book
Poster and replica of Ozzy’s cross

The tracks are remastered with Daisley and Kerslake being featured on both studio albums. This boxed set also features the first vinyl I’ve purchased in twenty years. The vinyl looks exactly like the original vinyls that came out in the 80s on Jet Records. The Diary Of A Madman CD is exactly the same as the original album, while Blizzard of Ozz contains the tracks “You Looking At Me, Looking At You”, and a 2010 remix of “Goodbye To Romance” which only features Ozzy and RANDY RHOADS. The one thing that is confusing is the live CD, it is listed as Ozzy Live on the back of the boxed set, and when I pop it into my system, iTunes detects it as Diary Of A Madman CD 2.

That aside, the real gems here are the live CD and DVD. Listening and watching both of these brought me right back to when I bought the Tribute album on vinyl as a kid. I remember getting home, going over to my neighbor’s house and reading him the notes, and checking out the pictures with him. Playing the album was mind blowing. I was too young to see Randy live (I was 9 when he died), and hearing him play so many classic songs live was just amazing.

RUDY SARZO’s book Off The Rails makes reference to the show that was used on the Tribute album, and alludes to the fact that one other show was recorded for WESTWOOD ONE. I am assuming that this is the show included in the boxed set. On a side note the track “No Bone Movies” that appears on Tribute actually comes from this other show. Randy’s playing is just amazing on the new CD. Although some of the licks are the same on these tracks, most are not. How many bands do you see nowadays that do this? Normally they’re playing everything identically the same no matter when you see them on tour. If you’re not familiar with his playing, he doesn’t get to the point where his playing is over the top, he’s tastefully accenting the songs.

What really blew me away was the DVD. It is great to see people like LEMMY talk about Randy and OZZY, ROB HALFORD. But what about STEVE VAI who mention something to the effect of Blizzard Of Ozz being the first album in a long time to offer something new guitarwise. The live footage is what makes this all worth wild, seeing Randy play live makes it all worth wild. Of course we’ve all seen bits and pieces of the band on AFTERHOURS. This footage is on YouTube and was heavily featured in the “Crazy Train” video that came out along with the Tribute album. Seeing him live at the Palladium in New York, in San Antonio during the Diary Of A Madman Tour is just way beyond cool. He shreds so effortlessly, and conveys emotion through his playing in a way that we haven’t felt and heard before on the studio albums, or in countless pictures that we’ve seen over the years. It almost makes his loss even greater.

Rounding out the live band is the aforementioned SARZO on bass and ever so influential TOMMY ALDRIDGE. All you have to do is compare his playing on the live tracks to KERSLAKE’s on the studio albums to see what I’m referring to (can you say double bass).

I would recommend this boxed set to any die hard OZZY or RANDY RHOADS fans. The live components alone make this boxed set worth its wild. Throw in the coffee book which features a lot of obscure pictures from that era, the poster, the cross (will anyone actually wear this?), and some classic vinyls and CDs, and you’ve got one of the best boxed sets that has been released in the past few years.

Grade: A+

During the latest episode of the Mars Attacks Podcast we have the pleasure of interviewing Erik Barath of INC, or Indestructible Noise Command. During the episode he explains why now was the right time to put INC back together, what it was like to record Heaven Sent…Hellbound, how it varies from the Bleed The Line EP, and why Bumblefoot got involved in the project.

Select cuts from the band’s new album are played throughout the show.

The podcast can be streamed or downloaded from here:

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Ron Scalzo, AKA Q*Ball of Return To Earth, Bald Freak Music, and Q*Ball Fame is featured during the latest episode of Mars Attacks Podcast.

During the episode we discuss all of the bands mentioned above, his label Bald Freak Music, his relationship with Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, his desire to score a movie soundtrack and more.

During the episode you’ll hear snippets of the following songs:

Return To Earth – Get Your Knife
Wayne – Let Us Kill Ourselves
Return To Earth – Automata
Return To Earth – The Altercation Of Man
Bumblefoot – Invisible
Return To Earth – Night Of Exploding Razors

Other items discussed:

Ron Scalzo, Ron Thal, Bumblefoot, Guns N Roses, Return To Earth, Q*Ball, Trent Reznor, Pretty Hate Machine, How To Destroy Angels, Inception, Nothing, Interscope, Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga, Danny Elfman, Oingo Boingo, Ennio Morricone, Ministry, Meshuggah, Chris Pennie, Brett Aveni, Devin Townsen, Tom Araya, Slayer, Bono, Dave Gahan, Depeche Mode, Steve Vai, Ki, Ziltoid, Jason Flom, Kid Rock, Back Street Boys, Creed, Three Doors Down, Nickleback, Kevin Richardson, Beastie Boys, Andy Carp, Caddy Shack, Sigur Ros, Peter Gabriel, Coheed & Cambria, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Billy Preston, Abby Road, Rubber Soul

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Van Halen – Romeo Delight
David Lee Roth – The Bottom Line
Living Colour – Pride
Lamb Of God – Pathetic
Anthrax – Inside Out
Trivium – Rain
Badlands – Silver Horses
Dokken – Night By Night
Shotgun Messiah – Don’t Care About Nothin
Spread Eagle – Suzy Suicide
Steve Stevens – Soul On Ice
Ozzy Osbourne – Soul Sucker

This episode features an interview with Bruce Kulick. This episode can actually be considered the pilot for Ten, a show in which artists will pick ten songs that they feel define their legacy, or an episode can be based on a specific top, or in the case of this episode discuss a new album at great length. What we did with Bruce is discuss five tracks off of BK3 (sort of, more on this in a sec), and five classic Kiss tracks. I say sort of, because during the heat of the interview we only discussed four tracks off of BK3, but what I did was take a piece from the previous interview I did with him, and splice it into the episode. This way there are five tracks from BK3 discussed! I could give all types of excuses, but I dropped the ball. Oh well, I think the episode came out pretty good, regardless. Hope you the listeners feel the same!

Songs discussed are as follows:

Hand Of The King
Ain’t Gonna Die
I’m The Animal
Between The Lines
No Friend Of Mine
I Walk Alone
Tears Are Falling
Crazy Crazy Nights
Forever
Unholy

You’ll also hear Master & Slave and Dogs Of Morrison played in the background during the episode.

Items touched upon during the episode:

Grand Funk Railroad, Gene Simmons, Family Jewels, Nick Simmons, Eric Singer, Tobias Sammet, Brent Fritz, Union, Edguy, Avantasia, John Corabi, Steve Lukather, Kenny Aronoff, Steak House Studios, A&M Studios, Van Halen, Toby Wright, Paul Stanley, Animalize, Ron Nevison, Michael Bolton, Led Zepplin, Vinnie Vincent, Motown, Steve Vai, Jeremy Rubolino, Keith Moon, Queen, Pink Floyd, Adam Mitchell, Doug Fieger.

Download MP3

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Podcast: Embed

This episode features an interview with Bruce Kulick. This episode can actually be considered the pilot for Ten, a show in which artists will pick ten songs that they feel define their legacy, or an episode can be based on a specific top, or in the case of this episode discuss a new album at great length. What we did with Bruce is discuss five tracks off of BK3 (sort of, more on this in a sec), and five classic Kiss tracks. I say sort of, because during the heat of the interview we only discussed four tracks off of BK3, but what I did was take a piece from the previous interview I did with him, and splice it into the episode. This way there are five tracks from BK3 discussed! I could give all types of excuses, but I dropped the ball. Oh well, I think the episode came out pretty good, regardless. Hope you the listeners feel the same!

Songs discussed are as follows:

Hand Of The King
Ain’t Gonna Die
I’m The Animal
Between The Lines
No Friend Of Mine
I Walk Alone
Tears Are Falling
Crazy Crazy Nights
Forever
Unholy

Items touched upon during the episode:

Grand Funk Railroad, Gene Simmons, Family Jewels, Nick Simmons, Eric Singer, Tobias Sammet, Brent Fritz, Union, Edguy, Avantasia, John Corabi, Steve Lukather, Kenny Aronoff, Steak House Studios, A&M Studios, Van Halen, Toby Wright, Paul Stanley, Animalize, Ron Nevison, Michael Bolton, Led Zepplin, Vinnie Vincent, Motown, Steve Vai, Jeremy Rubolino, Keith Moon, Queen, Pink Floyd, Adam Mitchell, Doug Fieger.

We also play King of the Mountain in the back ground, and wrap things up with Master & Slave off of Carnival of Souls.

New all music episode of Mars Attacks including a mini-tribute to Dimebag Darrel, and Dio. A few cover songs, some obscure tracks, a do over if you will, and a new song from an old union!

Groups features are:

Faith No More – The Cowboy Song
The Cult – Wild Flower
City of Fire – Gravity
Fear Factory – Power Shifter
Black Sabbath – Country Girl
Dog Eat Dog – Games
Heathen – Kill The King
Sacred Reich W/ Rob Halford – Rapid Fire
Armored Saint – March Of The Saint 2009
Anthrax – Killing Box
Pantera – Becoming
Bruce Kulick – No Friend Of Mine

Behind my banter you will hear:

Marilyn Manson – I Have To Look Up To See Hell
The Devin Townsend Project – Super Crush
H.I.M. – Heart Killer
Killing Bird – Beat The Bullet
Racer X – Heart Of A Lion
The Almighty – Jonestown Mind
Life Of Agony – River Runs Red
Van Halen – Dirty Movies
God Forbid – Stockholm Syndrome
Ace Frehley – Pain In The Neck
Hell’s Fire – Devil’s Ground

The following items are discussed during the episode:

The Real Thing, Live At Brixton Academy, Electric, AC/DC, Sonic Temple, Rick Rubin, Arkaea, Divine Heresy, Burton C. Bell, Byron Stroud, Transgression, Archetype, Gene Hogland, Dio, Live At Hammersmith Odean, Black Sabbath The Dio Years, Rainbow, John Bush, Bushthrax, Dimebag Darrell, Steve Vai, Phil Anselmo, John Carpenter, Ghost Of Mars, Floods, Guitar World, Rebel Meets Rebel, Damageplan, Tres Diablos, John Corabi, Union, Motley Crue, The Scream, Ratt

During this episode we feature an interview with former Vinnie Vincent and Journey lead singer Robert Fleischman.  He discusses his new band The Sky among other items mentioned below.

Speaking of the Sky here are a few videos by the band:

The following tracks are played during this episode:

Vinnie Vincent – I Want To Be Your Victim
Robert Fleischman – Circles
Impellitteri – Perfect Crime
The Cult – The Saint
Annihilator – Couple Suicide

Songs played behind my banter:

Vinnie Vincent’s Invasion – Wild Child
Aerosmith – Walk On Down
Warrior Soul – Rocket 88

Topics covered during this episode are the following:

Vinnie Vincent, Journey, Cheep Trick, Clive Davis, Arista, U2, John Lennon, Jimmy Iovine, Steve Perry, Tom Petty, Van Halen, Boston, Sammy Hagar, Barry Manilow, Depeche Mode, Poe, The Verve, Oasis, The Killers, The Cult, Whitney Houston, Chrysalis Records, Dana Strum, Bobby Rock, Kiss, Andre LaBelle, Kelly Hanson, Serafino, Foreigner, Look At The Dream, System X, Graham Bonet, Alcatraz, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Rainbow, Down To Earth, Beyond Good & Evil, Electric, Danko Jones, Angela Grossow, Jeff Waters, Sponge Bob Square Pants