The same foursome who recorded that album, Ozzy, guitarist Zakk Wylde, bass guitarist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin all toured on this album, and subsequently ended up on the live gig that makes up this album. It was an interesting idea to release a live album and DVD from this tour. Ozzy’s first two live albums had been the Black Sabbath-induced “Speak of the Devil” and was followed by the “Tribute” album in 1987. Then came the “Live and Loud” double live album from that “No More Tours” era, which tied up all the strings nicely. This one, just two albums later, seemed like a marketing decision rather than an opportunity to showcase the band in their element, but then again, Iron Maiden seem to release a live album after every studio effort, so certainly in comparison now, it isn't such a bad decision.
As always, live albums can be split and categorised with the following denominators – the songs from the latest studio album, songs that have not appeared on a live album prior to the one being released, and the old favourites that appear on practically every live album the band or artist releases. And in this way, you can get a feel for just how unique or stock standard the live album is.
Here on “Live at Budokan”, there are three songs that come from the “Down to Earth” album, and it is probably fair to say that they all sound better here in the live environment than they do on the studio album. Those songs are “That I Never Had”, “Junkie” and “Gets Me Through”. Not only does the band sound great playing these live, the songs are enhanced by having Zakk singing on back up vocals. It especially sounds great in “That I Never Had”, a song that would have been the lesser without him helping Ozzy out.
Interestingly, there are four songs from “No More Tears” played here, more songs than from the album they are promoting, and from any other Ozzy album as well. There is no problem with that. “No More Tears” the song is a no brainer, and “Mama I’m Coming Home” given its commercial success is also one that was played a lot on tours following its release. “Road to Nowhere” and “I Don’t Want to Change the World” are probably strange selections, though again Zakk’s backing vocals on “I Don’t Want to Change the World” enhances this version of the song immensely. “I Don’t Know”, “Believer” and “Mr Crowley” pepper the first half of the album, while you Can’t finish an Ozzy gig without “Crazy Train”, “Bark at the Moon” and “Paranoid” now, can you? And perhaps it is a small point, and a bit of a nit-picking point, but “Believer” for instance had appeared on “Tribute”, and while this version is also terrific, wasn’t there an opportunity to play a different track, maybe from the “Ultimate Sin” or “No Rest for the Wicked” era? Because neither of those albums had a song from them in this set list, and it would have been great to have had them represented. On the other hand perhaps, maybe Ozzy was already moving into his habit of playing the same songs and rarely diverging to give other great songs from his past an opportunity, because of the difficulty of representing them live in a fashion that they deserved. I don’t know for sure, but it would have been great to have.
I first heard this album several months after its release. I didn’t rush out to buy it, at the time I was at a stage where I was listening to other music, and having heard the “Down to Earth” album I was at an ambivalent stage. I eventually saw the DVD on a trip out west to a mates house, where we discussed how great most of the songs were, and how average the new ones were, and that maybe if Zakk Wylde had been involved in the writing process it would have been a whole lot better. First impressions are always interesting.
I now own a copy of this album but not the DVD. I have been listening to it through streaming services for the purpose of this episode, and I can find the video online if I feel the need. But I really don’t. No, this isn’t a bad live album. Bordin and Trujillo are brilliant musicians, and they are great here. Ozzy sings well, and Zakk is still at a peak as a guitarist. But the problem here is that there isn’t anything special brought to the table to inspire you to either purchase it or listen to it. I’ve enjoyed listening to this album again over the last couple of weeks. And I believe that if you put it on, you’ll enjoy it too. The problem is, much like the plethora of Iron Maiden live albums, if you want to listen to an Ozzy live album, then you are either going to reach for “Tribute” to listen to those early songs and Randy Rhoads shred, or you are going to reach for “Live and Loud” that has every great Ozzy song on the two discs and perfectly performed. There hasn’t been as need for me to own this, because apart from this reviewing of the album, I’m just not likely to reach for it on the shelves. And that will always be the conundrum of a live album – no matter how good it sounds and the songs that are on it, if it isn’t one of the better one or two released by the band or artist, it is going to get ignored.
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