Speak of the Devil is a live album by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 19 November 1982 by Jet Records in the United Kingdom and on 22 November in the US. It is a double album consisting entirely of live renditions of songs originally recorded by Osbourne's previous band Black Sabbath. The album was entitled Talk of the Devil in the UK, that being the more commonly expressed idiom there.
In the UK, it was the second of four Osbourne albums to attain Silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in January 1983.
Background
Planned album with Rhoads
In early February 1982, a decision was made by Osbourne's management and record label to record a live album consisting entirely of songs he had recorded in the 1970s with Black Sabbath. Several factors led to this decision. Sabbath's publishing deal with their previous management had recently expired; by re-recording these songs all the songwriters (including Osbourne) would benefit from the publishing royalties. Additionally, Jet Records had cut a distribution deal with CBS Records which saw the small label stand to make a sizeable profit from the release. Business decisions aside, Black Sabbath was also readying its own live album release and Osbourne wanted his album in stores first. "We were both going through our own miseries," recalled Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler. "We couldn't afford not to release Live Evil and Ozzy was forced into making Speak of the Devil."
The plan to record an album of Black Sabbath covers was not met with enthusiasm by Osbourne's band. Guitarist Randy Rhoads and drummer Tommy Aldridge refused to participate, feeling that they had established themselves as recording artists and such an album would be a step backwards professionally. They shared their feelings with bassist Rudy Sarzo; although Sarzo was not completely comfortable refusing to participate, he chose to stand with his bandmates and the trio informed manager Sharon Arden of their decision.
Although Sharon took the news reasonably well, Ozzy was furious. He responded by going on what Sarzo described as "the worst drinking binges I had ever witnessed" and his relationship with Rhoads never fully recovered. It was during this tumultuous period that Osbourne was infamously arrested for drunkenly urinating on the Alamo. Several hours before the Alamo incident, he drunkenly fired the entire band (including Rhoads), although he later had no memory of doing so. Osbourne frequently confronted Rhoads on the tour bus and taunted him with claims that the likes of Frank Zappa and Gary Moore were willing to replace him for the live album. Osbourne's unstable and confrontational behavior soon convinced Rhoads to leave the band. He grudgingly agreed to perform on the live album but would depart after fulfilling his contractual obligations to Jet Records, which consisted of one more studio album and subsequent tour. Guitarist Brad Gillis arrived in New York City from California on April 5, 1982, to audition for Osbourne's band. Sharon dispatched Sarzo to Gillis' hotel room to teach him the songs. Though Gillis was vaguely familiar with Osbourne's music after seeing the band perform live the previous summer at the Day on the Green in Oakland, he was completely unfamiliar with Black Sabbath's music. He borrowed a friend's old Black Sabbath albums to become more familiar with the songs before leaving for New York City. His ability to faithfully reproduce Rhoads' parts earned Gillis the job, and he subsequently traveled with the band and became familiar with the material as Bernie Tormé played his last few shows before leaving. On April 12, 1982, Gillis performed with the band during soundcheck before a show in Binghamton, New York, and played his first show with the band later that evening. Tormé was described as "the consummate professional" during this period, staying with the band until Gillis was ready to step in, even waiting backstage during Gillis' first few shows in case he was needed. Soundboard recordings of both night's performances exist and both have appeared on bootleg releases. However all of the tracks appearing on Speak of the Devil, with the exception of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", were recorded at the 27 September show. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" was not played at either of the Ritz concerts and the recorded version included on Speak of the Devil is believed to have come from the afternoon recording referenced by Norman.
Other
A double album, Speak of the Devil represents the fulfillment of a contractual obligation, as Osbourne owed Jet Records two more records. The live versions of "Iron Man", "Children of the Grave" and "Paranoid" featuring Randy Rhoads which were originally intended to be part of Speak of the Devil were eventually released in 1987 on Tribute, an album dedicated to the memory of the deceased guitarist.
Though they had been full-time members of Osbourne's band for some time, this is Osbourne's first album to feature bassist Sarzo and drummer Aldridge. The duo had been credited on the 1981 Diary of a Madman album but did not actually perform on it. Speak of the Devils gatefold photo includes a member of Osbourne's road crew (who took part in the stage show by bringing the vocalist drinks between songs) who suffered from dwarfism and who Osbourne nicknamed "Ronnie", a joke aimed at Ronnie James Dio. Dio had replaced Osbourne as Black Sabbath's lead vocalist and stood only 5' 4" tall.
Speak of the Devil was released around two months before Osbourne's former band, Black Sabbath, released their own live album entitled Live Evil, a situation which contributed to a growing rivalry between the two camps. In the US, sales of Speak of the Devil were much better than those of Live Evil, while in the UK it was Live Evil which attained the higher chart-placing: figures on ultimate sales are not widely available.
The original CD release of Speak of the Devil omitted the song "Sweet Leaf", presumably due to time constraints. It was, however, reinstated for the 1995 reissue of the album.
Track listing
All songs written by Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.
Video
A Japan-only official release video also entitled Speak of the Devil has been available since the early 1980s. This video release has no relation to the album of the same name, consisting of Osbourne's early solo material rounded out by three Black Sabbath numbers. This video release features an outdoor live performance recorded on 12 June 1982, at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre with the same backing band as the album of the same name. The recording was done by MTV and originally broadcast on the cable network on 31 October 1982, under the title "MTV Halloween Live from Irvine".
Being an outdoor show, wind resulted in insufficient haze from the fog machines to reflect the laser light show, and thus they weren't used; the lasers seen in the final edit were added later in post-production. On 16 July 1982, the band members gathered at Jet Records' offices in Los Angeles to watch the final edit. Osbourne was unhappy with the laser show and stormed out of the room. Bassist Rudy Sarzo later observed him in the parking lot, drunkenly letting the air out of the producer's tires in protest. Following its US release, this DVD has been met with positive responses. William Clark of Guitar International said, "Everything from the stage sets, to the action on stage and the powerful Ozzy persona make this live performance, in a word, fantastic".
Personnel
Band members
- Ozzy Osbourne - vocals, harmonica on "The Wizard"
- Brad Gillis - guitar
- Rudy Sarzo - bass
- Tommy Aldridge - drums
Production
- Max Norman - producer, engineer, mixing at Record Plant Studios, New York
- Chuck Weisner - live sound
- Tim Young - mastering
Charts
Album
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col"| Chart (1982–1983)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Single
!Chart
!Position
|-
|align="center" rowspan="3"|1983
|align="center"| "Paranoid"
|align="center"| Mainstream Rock (USA)
| style="text-align:center;"|25
|-
|align="center"|"Iron Man"/"Children of the Grave"
|align="center"| Mainstream Rock (USA)
|align="center"|100
|}