Just Say Ozzy (Click here for a complete album download)
As I write this, it’s been a little over a week since Ozzy Osbourne left us, and it still doesn’t seem real. Ozzy just felt like someone who would always be here. And it’s not just because he was a seemingly invincible madman powered by liquor and cocaine. He was just an overpowering presence in the world, as both a musician and a media personality. I was born in 1979, so I have only known a world where Ozzy was a goddamn motherfucking superstar; the biggest name in metal for over 40 years. No one name will forever be more synonymous with “fucking metal” than “Ozzy.” Even if you removed the entirety of his work with Black Sabbath, the band that literally invented the genre, Ozzy would still be one of the most important people in heavy metal music who ever lived thanks to some of the best popular heavy metal tracks of the 80s and 90s, and even in to the 21st century; and his last two albums were fantastic.
I’ll be mourning the Prince of Darkness for a long time. Thankfully I have a lot of his music to remember him by. So far I’ve been listening to a lot of Sabbath as well as his last two albums, as well as Ozzmosis. However, I haven’t really touched most of his 80s output after his second album. Shockingly, I didn’t own any of it. I owned it at one point, but I must have sold all of it for some reason, and before I was ripping all my CDs to my computer.
Well, thankfully I fixed that problem today. I went out and bought Speak of the Devil, The Ultimate Sin, and No Rest for the Wicked. I can’t wait to dive back into them. It’s been literal decades since I gave any of them a proper listen, so it will be like discovering them all over again.
I know that Ozzy’s mid-80s output isn’t considered a highlight by most people. Metal went pop/glam in the 1980s and Ozzy went along with it for a while, that’s for sure. His hair sure as shit got big for a few videos, and the man wasn’t afraid to don the sequins when on tour with the likes of Motley Crue.But I dig this shit. In the past few years I’ve gotten really into metal, to the point where I started buying 80s glam metal albums I previously scoffed at. And it’s just so fun. So upbeat. It’s hard to hate on it too much now. Besides, it just fucking sounds great. If you’re a fan of well-produced rock music, you can’t get much sleeker than this shit. And for some that might be a negative, but I ain’t too good for pop in my heavy metal, and you shouldn’t be either.
Just Say Ozzy is a live EP that came out in 1990. I read some (all negative) contemporaneous reviews of the release, and many of them juxtapose that the album was quickly hobbled together as a way to keep Ozzy’s name in the spotlight as he took a break for rehab. I don’t think Ozzy’s ever said much about the release, so it’s hard to say what the real motivations behind the EP were. In the album liner notes, he just says that it was the label’s decision to release the mini-album and that he was initially against it; but he changed his mind because he was happy with the performance and his band.
But there’s a bit of mystery behind this one, a lot of speculation online about when this album was recorded and just how “live” it actually is. In the original US and UK releases, the back cover claims that the album was recorded at Brixton Academy in 1989, but Ozzy didn’t play Brixton Academy in 1989, so…what gives? I’ve read some discussions online that suggest it was recorded almost entirely in the studio with the audience added in post. To be honest, it does kind of sound like that’s the case. I own a lot of live albums from this era, very few sound as crisp and clean as this one.
However, in my late-90s Japanese CD re-issue there are liner notes by legendary Japanese rock journalist Masa-Itoh, and he claims that the songs were taken from a concert at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia (which is really in Upper Darby). He also says that this concert was “streamed to home TV screens using the groundbreaking pay-per-view system.” (according to Google translate, but my Japanese boyfriend confirms this translation), and that’s just crazy. Late-80s/early-90s PPV was nuts, man.
Well, that concert has been preserved in its entirety on YouTube, so it’s easy to compare and contrast the versions here with that footage. They definitely sound different, at the very least, it’s a different mix of the same recording. Crowd noise has been damped drastically during the tracks, and fake crowd noise has been added between songs, most likely to ease the transitions between the songs. Ozzy’s banter has also been removed or changed too. In the video, you can hear Ozzy saying things like “c’mon clap you hands!” during the intro, those interjections have been removed for the CD, with the intros to many songs being shortened as well.
But it roughly sounds like the same performance to me. Zakk’s first solo on “A Shot In The Dark” sounds nearly identical on both versions. I bet there were substantial overdubs done, especially to Ozzy’s vocals, but this is probably more live than not. Also, I’ve read some reviews of this online that criticize Zakk Wylde’s playing, citing various mistakes he makes during solos. My ear is not good enough to pick those up, but if those mistakes do exist, I doubt Zakk would’ve made mistakes like them during a tight studio recording.
Regardless of the album’s authenticity, it still captures Ozzy’s live energy, and I feel it’s worth a listen if for no other reason than the line-up that’s supporting Ozzy on it. Just Say Ozzy is the first live Ozzy release to feature Zakk Wylde on lead guitar, who of course would stay as Ozzy’s guitarist for most of his career from this point on. The EP is also the live debut of Randy Castillo, who played on most of Ozzy’s 80s output and on 1991’s No More Tears (he’s also on the 1993 live album, LIve & Loud, alongside Wylde).
Most notably, however, is that this is the only official live Ozzy solo release that features Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath on bass (save for one track on Live & Loud as part of a Black Sabbath reunion set). Butler would later play again with Ozzy on Ozzzmosis, but didn’t join him for the tour.
Just Say Ozzy has been out-of-print for the majority of this century. The same goes for The Ultimate Sin and Live & Loud. There’s been no official reason as to why this is, but a lot of people contribute it to a songwriting dispute over “A Shot in the Dark.” Gonna guess it involves Sharon being Sharon.
However, while The Ultimate Sin and Live & Loud are available on most streaming services; Just Say Ozzy has completely vanished from the digital realm. I’m sure there are bootleg streams on YouTube and such, but if you’re like most people who aren’t me in the year 2025 and consuming your music entirely via streaming services, you aren’t going to find this one on any of them – which is why I feel fairly safe in sharing it here.
Again, this isn’t essential Ozzy by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a solid little release. Wylde’s solo for War Pigs slaps pretty hard. The drumming is super-aggressive and gives the show a lot of energy, and I think that the live versions of “Miracle Man” and “A Shot in the Dark” surpass their studio rivals. I hope that more live releases from this era (and others, I’d love a Retirement Sucks live album) get released.
RIP Ozzy. Fuckin’ metal.