boilermaker wrote: Sun May 14, 2023 4:20 pm Why does Ozzy have two mics in that Paris concert?

This was common in those days and I believe it has to do with noise handling on a very loud stage. Seen pics of Zep, Otis Redding, lots of singers using the dual vocal mic setup live in the 60s and 70s. Something to do with having the two mics feeding the same input, but the polarity of one is flipped to create almost like a humbucking situation to reject stage noise. Somebody school me in case I'm fucking that up. I know this was covered in the tech room in the old forum but I'm not sure if it survived. Can't find it. I was actually going to bring this up again in the tech room in response to Owen's guitar bleed problem.

Ozzy apparently hates southern rock, and lit Zakkk Wylde's rebel flag Les Paul on fire. That atones for some of the terrible music he's made.

The Classical wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 10:43 am Probably Vol.4, though Sabotage and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath are close

My favorite Sabbath record though is Never Say Die and it isn't even close

Are you having a laugh?

Krev wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 12:39 pm Ozzy ... lit Zakkk Wylde's rebel flag Les Paul on fire.

I knew I liked this man.

Wood Goblin wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 8:35 am Those early Ozzy records are strange to me. The Ozzy-era Sabbath records sound great, but the first two solo records might be the worst-sounding records by a major artist ever released. Everything sounds muffled and limp. When we were kids, my brother and I listened to the live Tribute album far more, because it sounded loud and alive, not like cotton had been stuffed into the microphones.

Listening to it now. That's a good one. Thanks.

Wood Goblin wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 8:35 am Those early Ozzy records are strange to me. The Ozzy-era Sabbath records sound great, but the first two solo records might be the worst-sounding records by a major artist ever released. Everything sounds muffled and limp. When we were kids, my brother and I listened to the live Tribute album far more, because it sounded loud and alive, not like cotton had been stuffed into the microphones.

There's a whole can of worms there.

The band essentially co-produced those albums with a staff engineer at a residential studio(thinking barn/farm in the UK...) Seems like the studio had not even been open for all that long.

Usually with records from that era, interviews will include the console that the record was recorded on.

I've read a few interviews on them, and I don't think that I've ever come across that in those interviews. Seems like a Lexicon 240 was the big "Gear..." leap between the two albums.

Pretty clearly recall Norman saying that since Ozzy was paying for the recordings out of his own pocket, there was only about a month of recording and a really short window to mix.

boilermaker wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 2:07 pm

The Classical wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 10:43 am Probably Vol.4, though Sabotage and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath are close

My favorite Sabbath record though is Never Say Die and it isn't even close

Are you having a laugh?

No

I haven't listened to anything off the first album except the title track in at least 20 years, so hearing "The Wizard" in the latest Barry (when the band was still in Yardbirds/Zep mode) was a pleasant surprise.

That makes sense re: the conditions in which they recorded Blizzard.

I’d also guess that doing mountains of cocaine also impaired their judgment and maybe even their hearing. (I recall listening to a podcast that suggested that really bad 1980s drum sounds predominated because they sounded good while on coke.)

Master of Reality wins on the strength of Into The Void, the king of all metal riffs.