Ozzy Osbourne vs. Ronnie James Dio

Ozzy Cometh!

Dio was technically a better vocalist.
But Ozzy just had that weird trippy vibe that for me IS Sabbath.
Yes Sabbath with Dio made good albums but I wish they just called it something else.

BikerDude said:

Dio was technically a better vocalist.
But Ozzy just had that weird trippy vibe that for me IS Sabbath.
Yes Sabbath with Dio made good albums but I wish they just called it something else.

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They should have been Heaven and Hell from the H&H album, without the later contractual necessity. Deep Purple should also have changed their name by the time Bolin joined.

Big Ears said:

They should have been Heaven and Hell from the H&H album, without the later contractual necessity. Deep Purple should also have changed their name by the time Bolin joined.

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You well maybe right Big Ears but after Ozzy left Black Sabbath in 1978/79 the three founding members were still entitled to retain the name Black Sabbath plus I guess there management and concert promoters would want them to as well.

As for Deep Purple Mk.IV with Tommy Bolin replacing Ritchie Blackmore there one and only studio album Come Taste The Band is in my humble opinion a very good album and an enjoyable listen with a mid 1970s American funky rock sound running through some of the tracks.

"It's rock & roll man!!."

E-Z

Vader said:

Ozzy doesn't write very many lyrics at all. In Sabbath almost all the lyrics were written by Geezer Bulter. Solo, lyrics fell to whoever else who was in the band at the time who had a perchance for wordsmithery.

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Ozzy is credited for almost all his solo writing....especially the BEST albums with Randy Rhoades.


Dio did very little song writing until his solo albums....

Don't misunderstand me. I love both Dio and Ozzy. Dio had a beautiful voice with incredible vocal range. However, I listen to Ozzy, whether it be Black Sabbath or solo, more often than Dio. I prefer Dio in his Rainbow years.

I don't doubt Iommi's entitlement to the name, E-Z, but with Dio, they became a different band. In his biography, Iommi says that several albums began as solo work, but were released by the record company under the Sabbath name. I suppose the band name was also signed to the company and was part of Iommi's contract. He seems to have had a very poor business sense and been a poor judge of character regarding managers.

In at least one of the Ozzy Osbourne biographies or in Iommi's Iron Man book (I cannot remember which, it could be both), we are told that Osbourne gave ideas for songs to Geezer Butler and also sang scat for the latter to turn into lyrics. Tony Iommi, in his biography, reveals that he often worked on material with Gerald Woodroffe, but whether this included lyrics I am not sure.

I do not know who came up with the lyrics on the Osbourne solo albums as I do not know much about them. Bob Daisley wrote a lot of them, and Lemmy contributed some credited with others uncredited(?). With the final passing of the Daisley era, there seems to have been a revolving door of 'writers'. Bob Daisley has an autobiography and I would love to get my hands on a copy.

Big Ears said:

In at least one of the Ozzy Osbourne biographies or in Iommi's Iron Man book (I cannot remember which, it could be both), we are told that Osbourne gave ideas for songs to Geezer Butler and also sang scat for the latter to turn into lyrics. Tony Iommi, in his biography, reveals that he often worked on material with Gerald Woodroffe, but whether this included lyrics I am not sure.

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Thank you.. Ozzy's contributions went way beyond being a vocalist.

Big Ears said:

I don't doubt Iommi's entitlement to the name, E-Z, but with Dio, they became a different band. In his biography, Iommi says that several albums began as solo work, but were released by the record company under the Sabbath name. I suppose the band name was also signed to the company and was part of Iommi's contract. He seems to have had a very poor business sense and been a poor judge of character regarding managers.

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I remember hearing a BBC radio interview with Tony many years ago possibly back in the 1990s but I can't honestly remember what year it was now but when Tony was asked by the radio interviewer why the Black Sabbath Seventh Star album had 'and featuring Tony Iommi' added to it I vaguely recall Tony saying that the Seventh Star album shouldn't have gone out as a Black Sabbath album and as for them adding 'and featuring Tony Iommi' he didn't know why??.

I think Tony said that the Seventh Star album was meant to be a Tony Iommi solo album and NOT a Black Sabbath album.

E-Z