To have a concert film of this tour is a good thing. Randy Rhoads had just died and Ozzy was emotionally at a low point in his life, but career wise he was on fire. Brad Gillis was playing guitar in the band and these guys were being filmed professionally for release. With that combination this should have been a real winner. Well, that’s not quite the case. Sure, this is good and sure it’s worth having. But it seems like Ozzy can take something that should be a slam dunk and turn it into something that’s just good. First off, this is an old video. That means it’s not up to modern standards by any means. The lasers that certainly looked great in 1983 look pretty hokey today. That would have been fine, though. In fact, the lack of any bonus material (you get just the concert video) could have been easily overlooked, too. The real issue here, though, is that the sound isn’t live. It’s most obvious on Osbourne’s vocals. I mean, he pulls the microphone from his mouth and the vocals don’t even fade a little. I can’t decide for sure if the instruments were done in the studio, but the vocals are certainly overdubbed and badly. Whether it was like this on the original release or remastered for this DVD, I don’t know. Whether there was some kind of contractual issue leaving them not wanting to use the real audio (think the reissues of the first couple Ozzy albums) or whether the recording quality was bad or Ozzy just didn’t like his performance, I don’t know. I do know it’s rather annoying to watch. For that reason, this could have been great, but is just good.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2012  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.