Sold Date: October 6, 2020
Start Date: September 27, 2020
Final Price: $59.99 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 35879
Buyer Feedback: 91

Ozzy Osbourne ‎– Blizzard Of Ozz Label: Jet Records ‎– JZ 36812 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Santa Maria Press  Country: US Released: 27 Mar 1981 Genre: Rock Style: Heavy Metal Tracklist  A1I Don't Know5:14 A2Crazy Train4:50 A3Goodbye To Romance5:33 A4Dee0:49 A5Suicide Solution4:17 B1Mr. Crowley5:02 B2No Bone Movies3:53 B3Revelation (Mother Earth)6:10 B4Steal Away (The Night)3:27 Companies, etc. Recorded At – Ridge Farm Studios Mixed At – Ridge Farm Studios Lacquer Cut At – Allen Zentz Mastering Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Santa Maria Manufactured By – CBS Records Distributed By – CBS Records Published By – Essex Music International Ltd. Phonographic Copyright (p) – CBS Inc. Copyright (c) – CBS Inc. Credits Bass Guitar, Harmony Vocals, Gong – Bob Daisley Drums, Percussion, Tubular Bells, Timpani – Lee Kerslake Engineer – Max Norman Guitar [All] – Randy Rhoads Keyboards – Don Airey Lacquer Cut By [Runout Etching ❀] – Brian Gardner Lead Vocals, Harmony Vocals – Ozzy Osbourne Photography By – Fin Costello Producer – Daisley*, Osbourne*, Kerslake*, Rhoads*  Written-By – Daisley* (tracks: A1 to A3, A5 to B4), Osbourne* (tracks: A1 to A3, A5 to B4), Kerslake* (tracks: B2), Rhoads* (tracks: A1 to B4)  Notes ℗© 1981 CBS Inc. Santa Maria Pressing on Jet label without the later SONY (triangle) symbol as on this U.S. vinyl by same catalog #. Recorded March 22-April 19, 1980 Mixed May 5-20, At Ridge Farm Studios Custom inner sleeve contains lyrics.

Blizzard of Ozz is the debut solo album by British heavy metal vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, began recording on March 22, 1980 at Ridge Farm Studios in rural Surrey, a residential facility based around a 17th-century farmhouse and released on 20 September 1980 in the UK and on 27 March 1981 in the US.  The initial producer, Chris Tsangarides, was relieved of his duties after a week, and the four band members would co-produce the album, with Ridge Farm staffer Max Norman as engineer, recording in the converted barn that served as the main studio.  Witnessing the singer’s self-destructive binges, Daisley was inspired to write the lyrics to what became one of the album’s most famous songs, Suicide Solution. Ozzy wrote the opening line – ‘Wine is fine but whisky’s quicker’ – after Ogden Nash’s ‘Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker’ – and claims it was about AC/DC singer Bon Scott (who had died of acute alcohol poisoning on February 19, 1980). But Daisley says: “Bon Scott was a mate of mine, and he happened to die around about that time, but the lyrics were about Ozzy, because he was always getting out of it.” This much, Ozzy does not deny. “I was going the same way as Bon Scott,” he admits.  In 1983, less than a year after Sharon fired him, Daisley worked on Ozzy’s album Bark At The Moon. It resulted, Daisley says, from Sharon assisting him and Kerslake in a lawsuit against her father Don Arden and Jet Records. Daisley would also play bass on Ozzy’s 1991 album No More Tears. But in 1997 he and Kerslake would sue the Osbournes for alleged non-payment of performance royalties. Sharon responded by having both Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman remixed in 2002, with Daisley and Kerslake’s contributions replaced with new recordings from Ozzy’s then-rhythm section bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin.  

USA FIRST PRESSING ORGINAL MIX/MUSICIANS VINYL ALBUM WITH ORIGINAL PRINTED INNER SLEEVE.

MATRIX: PAL-36812-1A o ❀ MASTERED AT ALLEN ZENTZ, L.A., CALIF. A3 2S / 1S PBL-36812-1A ❀ MASTERED AT ALLEN ZENTZ L.A., CALIF. A2

SLEEVE: VERY GOOD+, JUST LIGHT SHELF, CORNER, EDGE AND RING WEAR. HAS MIDDLE BOTTOM SEAM SPLIT.

DISC: EXCELLENT MINUS. NO SCRATCHES, JUST A FEW LIGHT HAIRLINES. CLEAN LABELS.

Why buy a first or early pressing and not a re-issue or a ‘re-mastered’ vinyl album?

First and early pressings are pressed from the first generation lacquers and stampers. They usually sound vastly superior to later issues/re-issues (which, in recent times, are often pressed from whatever 'best' tapes or digital sources are currently available) - many so-called 'audiophile' new 180g pressings are cut from hi-res digital sources…essentially an expensive CD pressed on vinyl.  Why  experience the worse elements of both formats?  These are just High Maintenance CDs, with mid-ranges so cloaked with a veil as to sound smeared.  They are nearly always compressed with murky transients and a general lifelessness in the overall sound.  There are exceptions where re-masters/re-presses outshine the original issues, but they are exceptions and not the norm.

First or early pressings nearly always have more immediacy, presence and dynamics. The sound staging is wider.  Subtle instrument nuances are better placed with more spacious textures. Balances are firmer in the bottom end with a far-tighter bass. Upper-mid ranges shine without harshness, and the overall depth is more immersive.  Inner details are  clearer.

On first and early pressings, the music tends to sound more ‘alive’ and vibrant.  The physics of sound energy is hard to clarify and write about from a listening perspective, but the best we can describe it is to say that you can 'hear' what the mixing and mastering engineers wanted you to hear when they first recorded the music.