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List Price: $15.98 | | Label: Sony
Salesrank: 258183
Released: October 25, 1990 |
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| Used Price: $3.95 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Speak of the Devil Track Listing:
1. Symptom of the Universe
2. Snowblind
3. Black Sabbath
4. Fairies Wear Boots
5. War Pigs
6. Wizard
7. N.I.B.
8. Sweet Leaf
9. Never Say Die
10. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath
11. Iron Man/Children of the Grave
12. Paranoid
Speak of the Devil Reviews:
Attn Musicians: The story behind the album 
2005-03-14 - Ozzy has often credited much of his early success as a solo artist to his first guitarist and beloved friend, Randy Rhoads. While his future wife and manager, Sharon, provided the personal motivation, Randy and his unique blend of Classical and Metal guitar provided the musical inspiration. Their efforts resulted in two studio albums considered by many to be among the best Metal albums of all time: "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Diary of a Madman". On March 19, 1982 in the middle of the "Diary" tour, a tragic plane crash took the life of Randy Rhoads and a few other members of the troupe. It is a loss that Ozzy still mourns to this day.
Ozzy was forced to finish the tour, but his personal pain prevented him from even listening to any of Randy's songs. He chose to finish the tour with Black Sabbath material. The band tried a few different guitarists before settling on Brad Gillis, one of the two guitarists from the then undiscovered band, Night Ranger.
After the tour the record company pressured Ozzy to meet his contractual agreement by releasing another album. Ozzy, still mourning the loss of his friend, could not find the desire to search for a new guitarist or write new songs. Fortunately several of the shows on the "Diary" tour were recorded. The tapes were pulled, the material was mixed and mastered, and "Shout at the Devil" was released as Ozzy's third solo album.
Now that you know the story behind the album you may expect me to use it to excuse a mediocre and uninspiring effort that sounds like it was rushed out to the public. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ozzy had assembled a top-notch band from some of the finest Metal musicians of the day. These warriors were true professionals and despite their pain and loss continued to play their hearts out night after night. Randy would not have wanted it any other way, and they knew that.
The musicians stayed close enough to the original tunes to satisfy the most ardent Sabbath fans, yet they added enough of their own individual styles to make the songs fresh and unique. Brad Gillis did an excellent job modifying his style to suit a one-guitar band. His rhythm parts were full, and his solos were surprisingly moving and tasteful for being mostly improvised. However drummer Tommy Aldridge and bassist Rudy Sarzo combined to make the best rhythm section I had ever heard in a Metal band. They were incredibly tight, punchy, and just flat out awesome. By no means is this a statement against Brad Gillis, but during solos I found myself concentrating on the bass and drums more often than the guitar. I was a fledgling bassist when this album was released. Rudy Sarzo's playing on this album has influenced me more than any other bassist on any other album, and the quality of the Aldridge/Sarzo combo is the level I strived to reach with every drummer in every band I've been in.
As for the quality of the sound I must give this five stars again. It is very difficult to get a clear sound in a live performance, but the engineers succeeded with this one. Your can clearly hear the vocals and each individual instrument, and they are mixed to provide a heavy yet tight, loud sound.
This album is often compared to "Live Evil" a live album released by Black Sabbath (with Ronnie James Dio on vocals) around the same time as "Speak". Understand that I am also a very big Sabbath & Dio fan, and I will say nothing against them. "Live Evil" is very good and worth buying, but due to the sound quality and powerful rhythm section "Speak of the Devil" is hands down the better album.
This is a must buy for all true Heavy Metal fans. And if you are a Metal musician this album is required listening because this is what world-class Metal musicians should sound like live.
Ozzy Rises From Tragedy With This Love-Letter To His Fans!!!
2004-07-10 - First, I need to correct something on my recent review of Ozzy's DIARY OF A MADMAN. I just read a website interview with bassist Rudy Sarzo, who replaced Bob Daisley in 1981 and recieved credit on this album alongside drummer Tommy Aldridge (who replaced Lee Kerslake the same year); Rudy admits that DIARY "was already in the can by the time Tommy and I came aboard." Here I was in my review of this great album, giving credit to Rudy Sarzo for his great & prominent role on bass guitar, when it was actually Daisley's playing that was recorded! Also, Rudy Sarzo was not born in Italy like I had thought (his accent sure sounds Italian to me!); instead, he's from Cuba. Oh, well...just proves that I, like other reviewers, are just fallible human beings and occasionally make mistakes like everybody else! ;-)
I still think that Rudy Sarzo is one of the best bass guitarists to come out of the 1970's-'80's Heavy Metal scene. He proves it here on Ozzy's 1982 live album, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL---on which he actually *does* play! Recorded at the famous Manhattan rock club The Ritz on September 27th, 1982---just a few months after Ozzy (and the rock world) was devasted by the untimely and, let's face it, completely avoidable death of 26-year-old guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads, Ozzy had to quickly scrap plans for a live album of his solo recordings, which of course would have prominently featured Randy. Instead, with Rhoads' sudden and shocking death and with his former bandmates in Black Sabbath releasing a double-live album with Ozzy's replacement Ronnie James Dio---something they never did in the 10 years Ozzy sang for them---Ozzy set about to show them up by recording his *own* live set of Black Sabbath tunes! With gifted bassist Rudy Sarzo in the Geezer Butler role, and---believe it or not---Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis in the must-have-been-high-pressure-filled Tony Iommi role, Ozzy played The Ritz to a surprised and packed house. I can sum up this performance in one word: wow!
I like the stylistic difference between the raw, powerful, pure blasting Black Sabbath original sound and this lineup's smoother, rumbling take---it makes this dynamic live performance not a retread but a fun reinterpretation that somehow still remains true to the classic original versions. Ozzy and Gillis/Sarzo/Aldridge really walked a fine line here, and they come through brilliantly. SPEAK OF THE DEVIL is one of the most fun live albums to listen to!
Now, you may ask, which live album is better: Ozzy's SPEAK OF THE DEVIL or Black Sabbath's LIVE EVIL? The answer, in my humble opinion, is without a doubt SPEAK OF THE DEVIL. Most versions on this album are far better than the Dio-led ones on Black Sabbath's LIVE EVIL, with very few exceptions. But LIVE EVIL's my next review...for now, enjoy Ozzy in all his nostalgic splendor!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
