Today, in honor of Ozzy Osbourne finally getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist (long overdue), I’m going to take a look at a newer unofficial Ozzy live release. I briefly mentioned this one in another article when I was discussing bad AI album artwork. Well, this is the album I was referring to, and boy is the artwork bad. I think maybe it’s supposed to look kind of similar to No Rest for the Wicked with the addition of a werewolf, but I’m not really sure. In any case, it’s the worst looking sleeve currently in my collection, and it’s not even close.
Besides the artwork, we have an excellent pressing of one of the best broadcast recordings Ozzy ever did. To top it all off, this one is during the Bark at the Moon era, so it has Jake E. Lee on guitar. I think it’s absolutely crazy that Jake is sort of a forgotten player in Ozzy history, rarely ever getting mentioned when people talk about legendary Ozzy guitar players. In my opinion, Jake was just as good, or maybe even better than Randy Rhoads. No other Ozzy guitar player ever came as close as Jake did to reproducing the Randy Rhoads composed solos of the first two albums. No one since Jake has ever come close to recreating any of Jake’s solos either.
This is another release by Fallen Angel, which seems to be quite a successful new brand on the bootleg block. So far, their titles have been inexpensive and very widely available, but also well made and with great sound quality. This particular pressing is no exception. This is a double LP complete with a full color gatefold. It also has some credits and a few notes on the inside of the jacket, which is always cool to see. This one is available on black or white vinyl, and one or two other labels have put the show out on CD in the last few years. I got the white copy and am really pleased with it. Both discs are flat and pressed on high quality vinyl. The labels are full color and well made, and everything was clean right out of the wrapper.
As far as the show goes, I probably don’t need to go into too much detail, but there were some definite highlights for me. First of all, it’s just great to hear any show with Jake E. Lee playing the guitar. It seems we get the same Randy Rhoads shows released on some different color vinyl or with a different name every week, but by comparison, the Jake stuff is hard to find. Since Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin are two of my favorite albums, this release is extra special for me. Since The Ultimate Sin was just coming out, a lot of tracks were included on here that otherwise probably wouldn’t have been. Of course, the most popular song from that album was “Shot in the Dark”, and I think this version is probably the best live version I have ever heard.
Live FM Broadcast – Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri – 1st April 1986
A1 Intro
A2 Bark At The Moon
A3 Suicide Solution
A4 Never Know Why
B5 Mr. Crowley
B6 Shot In The Dark
B7 I Don’t Know
C8 Killer Of Giants
C9 Thank God For The Bomb
C10 Flyin’ High Again
D11 Ultimate Sin
D12 Iron Man
D13 Crazy Train
D14 Paranoid
All throughout this album, every musician is absolutely on top of their game. The guitar feature piece here is “Killer of Giants”, and Jake has an extended solo afterwards. If you are a fan, this track is unmissable. Also, Ozzy’s performance is on another level here. In contrast to most of the recordings with Randy Rhoads, his vocals during this show are top notch. It’s also really incredible to listen to Ozzy work the crowd. If anyone was ever born to be a Rock and Roll frontman, it’s Ozzy Osbourne. You can tell he’s having a lot of fun here, and he came to the show prepared. To me, it doesn’t sound like he’s intoxicated here in the slightest. A rare occurrence, indeed.
The audio for the show itself is incredible. Everything is crystal clear, probably since this was used for a radio broadcast. Also, Ozzy is on his best behavior to avoid swearing (as much), but he lets a few things slip every once and a while. Thankfully, unlike other FM broadcasts, the station didn’t put any obnoxious beeps into the music to censor it. Instead, they just kind of silenced or blurred out a word or two in a few places, and it really is hardly noticeable. The only other oddity here is what sounds like canon fire. I haven’t seen a video for this show, so I don’t know what was actually going on. There are certainly some explosions, but funny enough, they actually add to the music. Everything is timed properly, and they fit right into the mix.
Honestly, there isn’t too much more to say about this one. Kansas City 1986, The Classic Missouri Broadcast is totally worth tracking down if you are into Ozzy. Unlike other bootleg recordings, this one is top notch. Unless I told you it was unofficial, you probably wouldn’t even notice. Also, this one is way easier to find than almost anything else I usually mention on this site. A ton of online record shops carry this one, and it won’t take you long to find it on eBay either. If you are wondering how much it should cost, I would expect to pay around 40.00 US, which is a great deal considering it’s a double album. If you look around, I bet you can even find a copy for less than that, including shipping. Like always, it’s hard to tell how long it will be available, so if you want one, pick it up soon. If you can get around the hideous artwork, this one is a 10/10.