I recently heard that two of my all-time favorite albums, Ozzy Osbourne's "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Diary of a Madman," had undergone a 24-bit remastering process, and were to be re-released on CD. I couldn't wait to check them out, and I purchased them the moment they became available.

The first clue that something was wrong came while I was leafing through the booklet for "Blizzard." The old back cover photo of Ozzy on stage with guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist (and lyricist) Bob Daisley, and drummer Lee Kerslake had been doctored so that only Ozzy was now visible. Strange, I thought.

Then I sat down to listen. My first reaction to "Blizzard" was that the drumming sounded sloppier than I remembered. Skipping from track to track, I noticed some things were sounding very different, and that the album seemed to have not only been remastered, but had been completely remixed from the original multi-track tapes.

Giving the liner notes a closer look, I discoved that all of the bass and drum tracks for both albums have been re-recorded by current Ozzy sidemen Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin, respectively.

I'm not kidding.

At this point I began to get pretty upset. The bass and drum tracks have been re-recorded in such a way as to mimic the original sound of the albums, but it doesn't work: Trujillo's bass is actually noticeably out-of-tune on a couple of numbers, and Bordin's drumming never matches the feel of the original tracks. Of course, "Blizzard of Ozz" was a somewhat lo-fi album to begin with. What about "Diary of a Madman," the album I've long characterized as the "Sgt. Pepper" of Heavy Metal?

In my opinion, "Diary" has been ruined. From the opening drum triplets of "Over the Mountain" everything is wrong, wrong, wrong. Every ounce of magic the album had has been sucked out of it. Randy's guitar tones are completely messed up. Some of his solos and fills are barely audible, and his various effects and textures have been replaced with a dry, shrill tone in many spots. The new mix retains none of the charm, atmosphere, or detail of the original. Even "Flying High Again" sounds awful. Why on earth would Ozzy tamper with one of the greatest sounding albums in hard rock history?

Well, according to Sharon Osbourne, Daisley and Kerslake have been removed from the albums because they have been "harassing" the Osbourne family. The truth is that Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake are suing Ozzy for non-payment of royalties and for crediting others (Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge) for their work on "Diary of a Madman." By removing them from the recordings, Ozzy can ensure that Daisley and Kerslake will receive no future mechanical royalties from his back catalog. This is simply an act of monumental greed and arrogance, and I implore you not to support Ozzy in this shameful endeavor.

These CD's are being promoted as "original recording remastered," with no outward indication to the buyer that they have been re-recorded with sidemen Randy Rhoads never even met. It is an unforgivable affront to Randy's memory, and it is deliberately misleading to Ozzy's longtime fans. Unfortunately, these will soon be the only versions of these albums you can buy, so get the 1995 22-bit remasters while you still can: They sound fantastic and are the only authentic versions of these hard rock masterpieces.

Ozzy has managed, in a single stroke, to ruin two classic albums, trash his artistic integrity, and destroy the legacy of his late guitarist, Randy Rhodes. Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman are seminal recordings, but these reissues have re-recorded drum and bass tracks, and are therefore NOT the remasters that Epic and Ozzy have advertised. And that these abominations should have been produced because of a royalty dispute with the original bassist and drummer reeks of Sharon Obourne's petulance. That Ozzy would let Randy's memory be soiled like this floors me. If you do not already own the 1995 remasters of these albums, then you better get them quick. They may be the last available original versions of these two that we'll ever see. Bottom line on the new reissues, absolute garbage!

Yoko Ono multiplied by a thousand? Meet Sharon Osbourne. Was the TV show amusing? Sure, make Ozzy the Al Bundy of heavy metal music. What comes next? Removing drum and bass tracks so you don't have to pay the original musicians? A new low and a new lame. Sharon Osbourne pulling the plug on Iron Maiden during the Ozzfest, or staging hecklers? May Eddie sodomize Sharon in hell, where she'll assuredly be headed. She's turned Ozzy into a joke. Tell her to take all these "reissues" and stuff them. By the way, the Ultimate Sin album still exists, no matter how much you try to ignore it, Sharon. What, was Ozzy coked out and cheating on you then, so you want to bury that material, or is it simply you want to stiff a whole other set of musicians?

Why? Its bad enough that Sharon had to pelt the almighty Iron Maiden (whom in my opinion are far superior to Ozzy) but ruin the music of Randy Rhoads and Ozzy? WTF is next? I know that in actuality this was ruined before Iron Maiden were pelted on Ozzfest, but I feel that ruining one of the landmark metal albums is a bit worse than physically harming the greatest metal band (although both are WRONG!). Something is telling me that Sharon was the final death knell in Ozzy's coffin, and I honestly dont think that the founder of metal himself has the balls anymore to fix this mess. Every song on this album sounds twisted (and not in a good way), except for maybe 'Dee'. Rob Trujillo is an okay bassist, but was never as good as Daisley and therefore does a poor job of mimicking him, especially on the once flawless 'Crazy Train'. The drums are equally as poor, I bet Lee must be vomitting every time he listens to this de-master (Thats right DE-master). Randy Rhoads must be spinning in his grave, I hope Sharon Osbourne and that corporate show of hers(I dont consider Ozzy to have any part in The Osbournes, considering it WASNT HIS CHOICE TO BE IN THAT SHOW!) burn in hell for eternity. Overall, things like this make me hope for the end of the world...

Rest in Peace Randy Rhoads <:'(

DIE SHARON OSBOURNE! >: )

It's been said before, it will be said again: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME listening to this re-recorded trash. The original is, in my opinion, a work of the greatest brilliance, full of energy and spirit and perhaps one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

Too bad it's been discontinued and replaced by this garbage. The re-recorded bass and drums sound awful, thick, ridiculous. Blizzard and Diary of a Madman have been ruined, and all that is left of their memory is the 1995 remaster. Hope somebody gets the clue and brings it back. This is no longer music. Removing Daisley and Kerslake from the CD is an offence to the fans, the art, and the ears. It's kind of like if Black Sabbath went back and changed all of Ozzy's vocals for Ronnie James Dio's. Why?!?!?

Ozzy, your music was the best. Please give it back.