Being a collector of music often times means picking up some stuff other than records or CD’s. For me, reading books about my favorite artists is a great way to get an insight into some of my favorite music that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to get. When it comes to Ozzy and Black Sabbath, I have read all the popular books, as well as some that are more obscure. The book I’m about to take a look at here would certainly be considered one of these more obscure titles. It’s called Off The Rails by Rudy Sarzo, and I’ll start by telling you I found it to get a really great pickup.
Off The Rails is published by a company called ChromaCast. I got mine in the “Collector’s Pack”, which includes an autographed copy of the book, as well as a signed full-color photograph of the author. You can pick up a copy at the link below:
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinions are my own.
Off The Rails by Rudy Sarzo – Collector’s Pack
Who is Rudy Sarzo? If you don’t already know, Rudy is a well renowned bass guitar player who’s known for his work with Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, Dio and perhaps most of all, Ozzy Osbourne. Sarzo never played on a single Ozzy studio album (although he is pictured on the inner sleeve of one… for that story you need to read the book). During his two years with the band, he did appear on two live albums though, those being Speak of the Devil and Tribute, which are some of the greatest live heavy metal/rock records of all time. During his two years with the band, which at that time was referred to as either the Ozzy Osbourne Band or Blizzard of Ozz, Sarzo completed tours for both the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman albums.
All of these experiences alone would be more than enough reason to write a book. Quiet Riot also became hugely successful after Rudy returned to the band, so I’m sure there are a ton of stories associated with his time there and with other acts he’s played with that could probably fill another entire volume. But in Off The Rails, he’s got an extra special story to tell. Why? Well, Rudy was an very close friend of guitar legend Randy Rhoads, and completed the only two tours Randy ever did before his untimely and tragic death in 1982. Rudy says he always has young fans come up to him and ask what it was really like to play with Randy. In this book, he answers that question and does a great job doing so.
Rudy and Randy ended up playing together in the early days Quiet Riot and became close friends during that time. As most people know, Randy taught guitar at a music school called Musonia that was owned by his parents. He thought so highly of Rudy, that he got him a job there as well teaching bass guitar. Quiet Riot had a big following of local fans and supporters, but they never became commercially successful in those early days. Eventually, Randy Rhoads got a call that would change his life entirely. He auditioned for Ozzy and immediately got the job. Rudy stayed on with Quiet Riot for a while, but things still weren’t going anywhere, and he took on some other jobs. When Bob Daisley was eventually kicked out of Ozzy’s band (for the first time), Randy didn’t hesitate to recommend Rudy. Sharon made the call, Rudy auditioned, and he got the job.
Off The Rails does a great job detailing what playing with a huge metal band must have really been like at one of the most fascinating times in rock and metal history. These are stories of what really happened on these now legendary tours. As someone who has read almost everything available on this subject, I can tell you that you aren’t going to get stories like this anywhere else. Part of that is because Randy and Rudy were close friends, and part of it is because Rudy is probably the only living person who wasn’t so drunk or high on drugs constantly at that time to where he can actually remember what happened.
One of the first things that stuck out to me while reading this book are all of the fine details. I don’t remember if he explicitly says it, but Rudy obviously kept a diary and a scrapbook of these events. He tells of how he was gifted a lavish tour book by Ozzy and Sharon, so many some of these things are drawn from there. He’s got all the show dates and details of what happened at each performance, as well as write-ups from the local rock reviewers. Most of these “reviews” are absurd, and the people who wrote them were obviously hardly ever in attendance at the shows. Much like Black Sabbath, the reviewers hated Ozzy and his band. Looking back 40 years ago to right now, these guys just look like idiots. They had no idea they were witnessing rock history in the making.
Not all the stories told here and fun and happy. They range from hilarious and charming to sad and absolutely tragic. You’ll get a good look at not only who Rudy and Randy were at that time, but also Ozzy and Sharon which adds a fascinating element to the book. Rudy is obviously grateful for his time with the Osbournes and looks back on these memories fondly. As a drummer myself, I was also excited to hear about Tommy Aldrige and what it was like to tour with this legendary player. In fact, many other great players and their stories of involvement with Ozzy are told here. I was always curious what exactly the situation with Brad Gillis was (the eventual guitarist for Night Ranger who stepped in for Randy Rhoads on Speak of the Devil and a few other tour dates) and why he didn’t continue with the band. That story is in here.
If you are a musician yourself, you will be fascinated at the detail laid out in this book in terms of what gear was used, what sound setups were used when, and why they were used. Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to play on a stage with the giant Diary of a Madman castle as a set? Have you wondered how Randy Rhoads dealt with that situation and what the challenges were? You’ll find those answers here, plus a lot more.
Rudy Sarzo is obviously a very humble guy who doesn’t like to talk himself up. Thankfully though, in addition to stories about all these other people, Rudy also tells stories about himself and how he ended up in the US in the first place. As a native of Cuba, how he became a bass player in the first place and what his family situation was when he left Cuba is fascinating. As you probably can guess, things weren’t always easy for him, and he had to endure his share of adversity before he made it to where he is today.
As far as the technical aspects of Off The Rails go, to my knowledge, the book is only available in paperback. Both the front and back cover images are grainy, and the description on the back of the book is a little hard to read due to some blurriness. It’s a good size book at about 316 pages, not counting photographs. The binding is good and is standard as far as what you would expect to find for a shorter run paperback book these days. It’s well put together and won’t fall apart on you.
Rudy is a gifted storyteller and writer. However, this book needed someone to proofread it and someone to format it better. That’s nothing at all against Rudy, since as an author, these things should not be his job. Some of the spacing in the book is very off, and there are indentations and blank spaces where there shouldn’t be any. There are also some spelling and grammatical errors that a proofreader would have caught and fixed.
If you have any interest in Rudy, Randy or Ozzy, don’t let these errors and formatting issues put you off from picking up a copy of this book. None of it detracted from my enjoyment of this volume, and in many ways it’s a better book than the other Ozzy and Sabbath titles that are available from much more well-known personalities. With Off The Rails, you’ll get an honest look at life on the road with Rudy Sarzo, Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne and perhaps most fascinatingly, Randy Rhoads. This is a solid 9/10 and would be a 10/10 with the above-mentioned technical issues addressed. I hope that eventually the book gets re-released from a bigger publisher and gets a better-quality release all around. It deserves it.
I bought my copy of Off The Rails on Amazon. At the time of this writing, they still have the deal going on where you not only get a signed copy of the book, but also the full color 8.5×11” autographed photo of Rudy. The shipping of the book and the photo together could have been a little better as to minimize the risk of damage to the photo, but everything still arrived in good condition. Copies of both the Collector’s and Standard editions are available below.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinions are my own.
Off The Rails by Rudy Sarzo – Collector’s Pack