Description

Double picture disc set. Limited 200 copies

This beautiful picture disc set features a mixing desk recording of a show at the Koseinenkin Kaikan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on the 29th of June 1984, during their Japanese leg of the Bark At The Moon tour. For the Bark At The Moon tour Tommy Aldridge had been exchanged for Carmine Appice but mid tour Appice was sacked and Aldridge was back in and would finish the tour, his last with Ozzy. This is superbly mixed with all instruments being well balanced but is what people refer to as bare bones, the audience is far in the background and barley heard, in fact if it were not for the second part of the recording you would presume it to be a rather low key affair. The audience recording is very good, slightly distant but clear and very enjoyable and gives the feeling of being in the heart of the crowd. There is shouting and clapping but does not interfere and overall has great vibe and ambiance as the crowd is rowdy and rambunctious and ready to go …..Crazy! The band is in suburb form and give a tight and professional performance, The crowd is with them from the get go, after the Carmina intro the band hit the stage with a fast and furious I Don’t Know, the audience is in a singing mood and help Ozzy with the chorus, hard to hear on the recording but sounds great on the audience recording, the sound improves greatly during the song and is consistent throughout the set. The band waste no time and follow with Mr. Crowley, Jake E Lee is a great guitar player, he has no problems playing the songs Randy Rhoads made poplar maintaining the familiar theme but adding his own flair to them and the song is perfect vehicle to do so, he plain smokes on the outro solo (just as Randy had). The band play two songs from the new record, the first being a autobiographical anthem Rock N Rebel. The song feature some nice fast riffing that was a Jake trademark, again the crowd handles the backing vocals, he rips up the fret board and garners cheers from the audience. Again there is little fan fare between songs, there must be a curfew as the band seems to be all business and the version of Bark At The Moon is played to the delight of the crowd, it is great to hear members of the audience scream Bark At The Moon, they are fanatical about the Ozzman. The crowd gets to catch their breath as the band go into the solemn Revelation (Mother Earth), It is easy to picture the scene during the slow prelude as Don Airey plays his beautiful solo before the heavy part, the crowd just starts clapping and you can envision Ozzy leading them on, Jake nails the riff, the solo, the entire thing with his superb playing. Of course the go right into Steal Away and the fans are rested and ready to go and by this time are the like the sixth member of the band. Ozzy takes a minute to introduce each member of his band, Jake gets loud applause, and they play a signature Ozzy classic Suicide Solution. Of course it features a solo spot for Jake but not before Ozzy does some major crowd…..calisthenics should we say. He has them clap and shout and clap and shout….a true master of his craft. Jake’s solo is short and consists of him playing leads over the rhythm section, I would have loved to hear a longer solo, his playing is unique and interesting and although it is short it satisfies none the less. Up next is probably the fastest version i have heard of Journey To The Centre Of Eternity (called Forever on the European pressings), I love to keyboard intro superbly played by Don Airey, again the song features Jake’s strengths which is lightning fast riffs. The song finishes with a drum solo by Tommy before Flying High Again. Iron Man is played, the truncated version of course, and has a great demonic sound vocal effect for the I Am Iron Man line at the beginning. The song has a nice slow tempo and sounds really heavy but just where they usually break into Children Of The Grave Ozzy shouts out for Crazy Train and Jake lays waste with a killer solo. Again the crowd is right there for Ozzy signature tune, the clap and sing and by now the whole thing is like a party of old friends. The band returns for the encore of Paranoid and again it is Jake who really shines. I love his interpretation of the song and he just rips during the solo.

Track listing:
1. Carl Orff Carmina Burana
2. I Dont Know
3. Mr. Crowley
4. Rock n Roll Rebel
5. Bark At The Moon
6. Revelation (Mother Earth)
7. Steal Away (The Night)
8. Band Introduction
9. Suicide Solution (Including Guitar Solo)
10. Keyboard Solo – Don Airey
11. Centre Of Eternity
12. Drum Solo – Tommy Aldridge
13. Flying High Again
14. Iron Man
15. Crazy Train
16. Paranoid