Ultimate Rhoads

hi people

i found out something cool, i was watching a bob daisley interview for the first time and he mentions that lee kerslake and himself were at clearwell castle the forest of dean uk , ( about 5 mins drive from my house) ...

i knew zeppelin rehearsed there just before john bonhams death and i heard locally years ago that ozzy and randy had been in the area i did some investigating and it seems that the original blizzard band had rehearsed there at some point...

also just 20 mins drive from here is rockfield studios where queen recorded Bohemian rhapsody -

heres some info about the castle

Clearwell Castle is a mock Gothic mansion located in Clearwell, Gloucestershire. First known as Clearwell Court, it was built for Thomas Wyndham in 1728 to replace an older house which occupied same site.[1][2] Its name was changed to Clearwell Castle in 1908.

The building was constructed of local stone in Gothic style with battlements, terraced gardens and a hall enclosed within a courtyard. It has an imposing gateway formed by two three-storey towers.

For a time after 1947 it lay empty and deserted but in the 1960s it was bought and restored by the son of the former estate gardener.

In the 1970s Clearwell Castle was used regularly as a rehearsal and recording studio by bands including Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Sweet, Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. Deep Purple wrote their album Burn there in 1973. Peter Frampton recorded his 1975 album "Frampton" there. Led Zeppelin composed and rehearsed some of their album In Through the Out Door there in 1978. Black Sabbath came to the castle in 1973 seeking inspiration after a series of fruitless writing sessions in California. The band found what they were looking for (including "the riff that saved Black Sabbath") in an underground "dungeon" there, writing the critically acclaimed album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Clearwell Castle is now a nationally known wedding venue.

to think while i was tucked up in bed as a kid ozzy and randy were rehearsing just down the road!

peace

Thnx for sharing that!

This is a pic of Randy and Bob outside Clearwell castles grounds.

no way!...so it is true thanks for that photo dude....that is clearwell yes ive driven past there so many times!

Randy was wearing a Members only jacket.

Cool photo, i never knew they went there.

Thats awsome info man!! Ive heard Ozzy say that the Melody from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was inspired by some OSMONDs song from the time that he couldnt get outta his head:) I can Totally hear that

hansolo wrote:Randy was wearing a Members only jacket.

That's the first thing that popped into my mind, too... how eighties!

hi people after whoopiecat suggested asking bob daisley himself about the truth around clearwell , i went to facebook and within 2 days he answered and finally laid to rest this curiosity that has been around for years: ( modern technology has its good points sometimes) imagine trying to get bobs contact details in the 80s and bob replying by posted letter or something..

Bob Daisley
Hi mojo, Yes, The Blizzard of Ozz - Ozzy, Lee, Randy and me - rehearsed at Clearwell Castle for a week just after we completed the band with Lee. Ozzy, Randy and I had been together for about four months and had written and rehearsed the songs but we needed to familiarise Lee with everything before we started recording at Ridge Farm Studios a week later. The whole story is in my forthcoming book, which should be out later in the year. Cheers, Bob.

Yeah, the books still on, nice one.

Good job, Nick!

Bob seems to be on track to hand the book over to the publisher by mid-year. It'll be up to them when it is released, but Bob is hoping it should be out by the holidays.
Not knocking anyone else's efforts, but this is the book I've been waiting for, as no outside influence will be able to edit this one