Lucky for me, when I walked into A&B Sound yesterday, that had Ozzy's third solo album; "Speak Of The Devil". Unfortunatly, it was $21.99.

"Speak Of The Devil" became available in the US and Canada in the year of 1982, the year after "Diary Of A Madman" and a few months after Randy Rhoads' tragic death...

On the Diary Of A Madman tour, Randy Rhoads and Ozzy's make-up lady decided that they wanted to rent an airplane while in Florida, on tour. Randy payed the pilot some extra money to fake dive-bomb the tour bus in which Ozzy was sleeping in at the time. As the plane was coming down, the wing hit the top of the bus and the whole plane smashed into a tree before crashing into a house. Most likely, all three died instantly. There are rumours that Ozzy went into the wreck and found Randy still alive, but then died in the ambulence.

As usual, Ozzy Osbourne does a great job singing and keeping the audience happy. Brad Gillis fills in for Randy Rhoads, he does it well. Tommy Aldridge is probably the best drummer I have ever heard. On the Randy Rhoads Tribute album, Aldridge does a great solo on the "Steal Away The Night" track. Rudy Sarzo plays the bass, I do not know if he plays it well or not, what does a bass sound like?

This album is a total of one hour and ten minutes with twelve songs. The following is a list of the songs with their lenghts.
1. Symptom Of The Universe- 5:40
2. Snowblind- 4:56
3. Black Sabbath- 6:04
4. Fairies Wear Boots- 6:32
5. War Pigs- 8:35
6. The Wizard- 4:42
7. NIB- 5:35
8. Sweet Leaf- 5:54
9. Never Say Die- 4:18
10. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath- 5:33
11. Iron Man/Children Of The Grave- 9:12
12. Paranoid- 3:09

As you may already know, "Speak Of The Devil" is a live album and only contains Black Sabbath songs. These songs are quite dark and "scary". If you have never listened to Black Sabbath before (but you have listened to Ozzy) then you will find a big difference between two. You may ask, why is Ozzy playing someone elses work? The answer; Ozzy used to be the lead singer in Black Sabbath, and either wrote or helped to write these songs.

The following twelve paragraphs will describe the songs with what I do and dont like about them.

This album starts with the awesome "Symptom of the Universe" which was originally on Sabbath's Sabotage album. A bit fast paced for a Sabbath song, which I like. I cannot see anything that is wrong with this song. This song tells how the world is doomed and how we must follow some hero or we will all die. 9/10

Here's an album favourite. The great song about cocaine, "Snowblind". Not too fast and not too slow, greatly paced. Ozzy's voice is a bit weak, but that is because he is live. 10/10

"Black Sabbath" rocks! Probably the slowest song on the album, but it is still good. About a man who is about to die and go to hell. this was the first song that Ozzy ever wrote. 10/10

"Fairies Wear Boots" was written by the band after some people beat them up. Quite slow, but still good. 10/10

Ahhh, "War Pigs". Probably the best Sabbath song ever! Slow and dark, but filled with excellent lyrics about how politicians start wars and then make innocent citizens fight.

This next song, "The Wizard", starts with Ozzy playing the harmonica. A great fast-paced song about a wizard who protects a small village.

Satan falls in love in the song "N.I.B". Ozzy's voice is mystically swell in this song, dark, but fact-paced. The letters do not stand for Nativity In Black. "NIB" was named after Bill Ward's (the drummer) pointy beard.

Another song about drugs. "Sweet Leaf" is an okay song, "but not sensational"(taken from the commercial for soy milk).

"Never Say Die" is a fun song which tells ua all to never give up. Not much else to say. I have not listened to this song for a while, sorry.

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is not a favourite, in fact it is probably the worst song on the album (in my opinion, of course). About the execution of a soul.

"Iron Man/Children Of The Grave" is another great song. I wish that the songs were put on to two tracks instead of one. "Iron Man" is about an apocalypse. "Children of the Grave" is about what happens to children when their parents do not change the way they live.

For a great finale, Ozzy plays his trademark song, "Paranoid". A fun, short song really ends a great night with Ozzy Osbourne.

I was really mad when I found out that this CD was NOT remastered. All the previous albums I had bought (No More Tears, Diary of a Madman, etc.)were all almost identical because the whole set of Ozzy albums were remastered in 2000 (or 2001 or 2002). That is except for "Speak of the Devil" and "The Ultimate Sin". Now my collection is all mangled (not literally). The track list on the back of the case looked horrible so I typed an printed a new back on the computer. I should also say that this is the 1995 remastered edition that I am talking about. If you are lucky enough to find an original style of the CD, buy it.

One thing that I like about this album, is that it is live. You can just close your eyes and be swept away to an Ozzy concert and be blown away by an imagined crowd.





Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends