OZZY OSBOURNE’S SPEAK OF THE DEVIL: THE COMPLETE SOUNDBOARD RECORDINGS FROM BOTH 1982 NEW YORK SHOWS
On September 26 and 27, 1982, Ozzy Osbourne took the stage at The Ritz in New York City for two extraordinary concerts recorded for what would become Speak of the Devil. Complete soundboard recordings survive from both nights, preserving far more of these historic performances than appeared on the official live album.
SEPTEMBER 26, 1982 — THE RITZ, NEW YORK
The two concerts came at one of the most difficult moments of Ozzy’s career. Randy Rhoads had died in a plane crash on March 19, 1982, barely six months earlier. By September, Brad Gillis was handling guitar duties alongside bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge.
For these special New York performances, Ozzy returned entirely to his Black Sabbath years. The set featured “Symptom of the Universe,” “Snowblind,” “Black Sabbath,” “Fairies Wear Boots,” “War Pigs,” “The Wizard,” “N.I.B.,” “Sweet Leaf,” “Never Say Die,” “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,” “Iron Man,” “Children of the Grave” and “Paranoid.”
The shows were professionally recorded for the planned live album, with Max Norman involved in the recording and production. Material from the performances — particularly the second night — would form the basis of Speak of the Devil, released in November 1982 and titled Talk of the Devil in the UK.
SEPTEMBER 27, 1982 — THE RITZ, NEW YORK
Hearing the two complete performances offers a much broader document of those nights than the finished album alone. Gillis faced the formidable task of playing Tony Iommi’s Black Sabbath material while performing in a band still dealing with the loss of Rhoads. Sarzo and Aldridge supplied the rhythm section as Ozzy revisited the songs that had established his reputation more than a decade earlier.
The recordings presented here are soundboard recordings from the two concerts recorded for Speak of the Devil. They should not be confused with the professional multitrack masters used in producing the official album.
Together, the September 26 and 27 recordings preserve two complete nights from a remarkable and turbulent moment in Ozzy Osbourne’s history — the performances behind Speak of the Devil, heard far beyond the confines of the record that eventually emerged from them.
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