Ultimate Rhoads

BraveWords.com: So what happened with Uriah Heep? How did you end up leaving?

Bob Daisley: "I just did the album Head First and Ozzy had called me again and asked me to come back and work with him. I was supposed to go back and write and record but was asked to join the band full time. Although I loved Uriah Heep and all those guys and it was working very very well, I wasn't really sold on the management and the record company and the way we were being promoted. It just felt a bit, you know, wasted. It was a good band and I remember Ozzy phoning me from LA and it was just after Abominog came out and he said he was going to have a sandwich board made and he was going to wear it up and down Sunset Blvd. to tell people to buy this album as he said it was fucking great. He loved it so much. (laughs). I mean it sounds a little dated now, but it was a good album and we all liked it and Ozzy loved it. The only drawback was the single, even though it went into the charts in America, and the video was being shown on MTV, nobody got behind it, you know? It should have got the shit promoted out of it but it didn't. Things weren't taking off as they should have. I was getting a bit frustrated with that side of things. When Ozzy said to come back - well, the full story is in my book, but not a lot of people know that - but you see Ozzy and Sharon were trying to get me to agree to get rid of Lee and get Tommy Aldridge in the band. I kept on saying no, it's not broken, so let's not fix it. Lee was working fine. So they got rid of both of us. But a few months later, Sharon phoned me and asked me to meet her in London for a chat. I met with her and talked about stuff. She said that Randy wanted me to come back and that they wanted to do a third album and we want you to be involved. So I was supposed to do an album with Randy, Ozzy and Tommy Aldridge."

BraveWords.com: You read it here first folks. I did not know that. (laughs)

Bob Daisley: "Not many people do and I have all the dates and stuff in my diary. It was all planned that I was supposed to do the third album, which I did but that was in 1983 but was supposed to be in 1982. Obviously Randy was not a part of it and it ended up being Jake E Lee. Everything was postponed when Randy left us."

BraveWords.com: When you came back, did you start off doing the European tour for Diary / Speak Of The Devil? Was it with Tommy Aldridge or Carmine Appice?

Bob Daisley: "It was with Carmine for the Bark At The Moon European tour. Tommy recorded the album though, Bark At The Moon. The first thing I did was the US Festival in May of '83. From there we went to New York and started writing. Then to London and continued writing. Then to Ridge Farms to record. The ridiculous thing about that was Tommy's forte was playing live. He was not so good in the studio. I think he used to get a little intimidated or whatever it was, but he didn't shine as much in the studio as he did live. Anyway, he was asked to do the album but Sharon got on his case saying it was taking too long to do his drum parts so what did they do? He recorded the album and when it was time to go tour they fired him then! Just when it was time for him to shine. (laughs) Kind of like shutting the gate after the horse got out." (laughs).

BraveWords.com: But he came back right?

Bob Daisley: "Oh yeah, they brought Carmine Appice in, treated him like a dog. He was there for the tour of Europe. At the beginning of the first break of the American tour, Carmine got fired and Tommy was asked to come back."

BraveWords.com: Then who played bass on the '82 winter/spring European tour if your first gig was in May of '83?

Bob Daisley: "That was probably Don Costa. He had the cheese grater on the bass that made his knuckles bleed."

BraveWords.com: He came and went very quickly.

Bob Daisley: "Ozzy called me and asked me to come do the US Festival as he had just punched his bass player in the face, broke his nose and then fired him. I think it cost Ozzy something like $5000 dollars for Costa to go away because he was going to sue. It wasn't planned for me to do the US Festival. I was supposed to come in and write and record the album and then go back to Uriah Heep. He then asked me to join permanently."

BraveWords.com: Ozzy knows he had a great writer with you. Did you play on the album The Ultimate Sin?

Bob Daisley: "No, that was Phil Soussan. I did write the album with Jake and then Ozzy and I had a falling out and fired me and he was going to fire Jake as well. I've never been a 'yes' man. Anyway, Ozzy was acting like an idiot and there was a build-up and well, it's a big long story and I go into the whole thing in my book. He fired me anyway but yeah, it's all in my book. There's a lot of great stuff in this book. So a few weeks later, he called me and he had Phil Soussan on bass but I'd already written a lot of the music with Jake so they knew they had to credit me on the songs anyway so I guess he thought he may as well get his moneys worth and asked me to come back and write the lyrics also. I did that as sort of a paid job. I write it, you pay me and take it and go. So I spent a few weeks writing the lyrics for the whole album. Then they recorded it. In a way, I am glad I am not on that album. It's the one album I didn't really like and it's the one album Ozzy didn't really like. He called The Ultimate Sin - the Ultimate Bin. 'Killer Of Giants' is good and there are a couple of songs that are good. I didn't like the production. And I didn't really like some of the playing either. I thought the bass playing was weak, that was Phil Soussan. And I didn't really like a lot of the drumming which was Randy Castillo. It didn't groove, it didn't fit. It didn't make the right musical statement. They were good players and that but album just didn't happen. I don't think Ron Nevison was the right producer for it either. I didn't like the production or the sonics."

I certainly find that credible. They all must've been thinking 'who's going to write the lyrics, and the bass lines, for the 3rd album?' If only it could've been....

Bob Daisley was the writer of the first 4 Ozzy albums, but didn't play on the 4th.

He wrote most of the lyrics and worked closely with Randy and later Jake E Lee to develop the songs.
Since he was the only one with tapes of rehearsals with Randy, I wonder how much of Randy's ideas, riffs were used for "Bark at the Moon".

Man, just two days ago I wrote on this board (see the topic "Think About It") that there had to have been songs in the works for a third album, and Bob just confirmed this. I knew it! The band was firing on all cylinders and really had their poop together.

As far as Bob's opinion about Ultimate Sin, I kinda like that album. Kinda funny that the biggest hit on that album was written by Soussan (Shot in the Dark).

I can't wait to get Bob's book. Does anyone know when it's coming out? Also, can it only be purchased via web?

AndrewT1976 wrote:I can't wait to get Bob's book. Does anyone know when it's coming out? Also, can it only be purchased via web?

Bob Daisley: "It's almost finished. I am just working on final stages, such as photo placement et cetera. It should be out towards the end of the year.

Great, thanks!

I've never heard much Uriah Heep, but can somebody tell me about those albums they put out with Bob? Assuming they are around the same time period as DOAMM, are they somewhat Ozzy-sounding? With Bob being such a big factor in the songwriting department, I'm wondering if I should grab those albums too.

metalrockx wrote:I wonder how much of Randy's ideas, riffs were used for "Bark at the Moon".

Bob has stated in other interviews that BATM was all him and Jake.
Hell, Jake even had the titletrack cut out before he joined,
as well as Rock'n'Roll Rebel

metalrockx wrote:Bob Daisley was the writer of the first 4 Ozzy albums, but didn't play on the 4th.

He wrote most of the lyrics and worked closely with Randy and later Jake E Lee to develop the songs.
Since he was the only one with tapes of rehearsals with Randy, I wonder how much of Randy's ideas, riffs were used for "Bark at the Moon".

He also helped write the majority of "No Rest for the Wicked"......

AndrewT1976 wrote:Great, thanks!

I've never heard much Uriah Heep, but can somebody tell me about those albums they put out with Bob? Assuming they are around the same time period as DOAMM, are they somewhat Ozzy-sounding? With Bob being such a big factor in the songwriting department, I'm wondering if I should grab those albums too.

I have both albums "Abominog" and "Head First" and these are the only ones I bought from Uriah Heep. I was fond of the singer on these cds Pete Goalby. I saw them live in 1983 at the Heavy Sound Festival in Bruges (Belgium).

Uriah Heep is melodic hardrock with the keyboards in more important role. They have a nice balance between ballads and (mostly) heavy rockers; Mick Box is an excellent guitarplayer, but no shredder. Excellent musicians like Lee Kerslake on drums and like I said great singer. They're no Foreigner, no commercial rock, but first rate British hardrock and these 2 albums are worth having.

It's no surprise that Bob is the reason why the compositions on these cds are that good. He's really Goldfinger. If you don't know Rainbow "Long live rock 'n roll", then I urge you to get that all time classic!

metalrockx wrote:

AndrewT1976 wrote:Great, thanks!

I've never heard much Uriah Heep, but can somebody tell me about those albums they put out with Bob? Assuming they are around the same time period as DOAMM, are they somewhat Ozzy-sounding? With Bob being such a big factor in the songwriting department, I'm wondering if I should grab those albums too.

I have both albums "Abominog" and "Head First" and these are the only ones I bought from Uriah Heep. I was fond of the singer on these cds Pete Goalby. I saw them live in 1983 at the Heavy Sound Festival in Bruges (Belgium).

Uriah Heep is melodic hardrock with the keyboards in more important role. They have a nice balance between ballads and (mostly) heavy rockers; Mick Box is an excellent guitarplayer, but no shredder. Excellent musicians like Lee Kerslake on drums and like I said great singer. They're no Foreigner, no commercial rock, but first rate British hardrock and these 2 albums are worth having.

It's no surprise that Bob is the reason why the compositions on these cds are that good. He's really Goldfinger. If you don't know Rainbow "Long live rock 'n roll", then I urge you to get that all time classic!

true. Instead of people like Ozzy and Sharon trying to "cover him up", they should instead be kissing his A** for a good (GIANT) chunk of their success.

Wow. Just had a flashback. Anyone remember the video for "That's the way that it is" from Abominog? It was filmed in '82 just after Randy passed. Cool to see (a beardless) Lee and Bob jamming shortly after being fired. There's even a moment where they show somewhat of a "fallen comrade" on the ground wearing a polka dot vest. Looked almost like they were trying to revive him or something. Creepy.
Gonna replace my Abominog tape with a cd now.

I'm going out a limb here concerning the title cut "Bark at the Moon". It has been inferred the song sounds like something RR may have or could have written. Some of you may think I am nuts or that I have a tin ear for what I am about to suggest.

I don't know if any of you have this happen, but often I will hear songs that really remind me of other songs. Sometimes it's slight, and sometimes it seems to my ear more obvious. Anyway these two songs are like polar opposites when it comes to their respected genres but to my ear "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits and the song BATM sound very similar. Listen to both songs after you get up off the floor and get your laughter under control. Do they sound similar?

Point I'm making here is it's really easy to speculate about songs on BATM that RR could have had a part in writing since he was supposed to make another album. Just because something sounds similar may lead to speculation, but does not mean the speculation is founded.

I don't think Randy had time to even think about writing anything for the next album (if there would even be one....he may very well have left the band). They had zero time and "little dolls" was put together very hastily.
No speculation here. Jake wrote that Bark at the Moon riff himself.

Efrum wrote:Wow. Just had a flashback. Anyone remember the video for "That's the way that it is" from Abominog? It was filmed in '82 just after Randy passed. Cool to see (a beardless) Lee and Bob jamming shortly after being fired. There's even a moment where they show somewhat of a "fallen comrade" on the ground wearing a polka dot vest. Looked almost like they were trying to revive him or something. Creepy.
Gonna replace my Abominog tape with a cd now.

Well, "Abominog" was the comeback lp from this dinosaurus of hardrock, with a new line up, heavier, riding on the NWOBHM, but never became part of it, because too melodic.

The second album "Head First" however is a superior work, from a mature band and recieved great critics from Kerrang!, Martin Popoff. But the album got little promotion due to the bankruptcy of label Bronze. That's why it didn't get appreciated in the States.

distortionplus wrote:I'm going out a limb here concerning the title cut "Bark at the Moon". It has been inferred the song sounds like something RR may have or could have written. Some of you may think I am nuts or that I have a tin ear for what I am about to suggest.

I don't know if any of you have this happen, but often I will hear songs that really remind me of other songs. Sometimes it's slight, and sometimes it seems to my ear more obvious. Anyway these two songs are like polar opposites when it comes to their respected genres but to my ear "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits and the song BATM sound very similar. Listen to both songs after you get up off the floor and get your laughter under control. Do they sound similar?

Point I'm making here is it's really easy to speculate about songs on BATM that RR could have had a part in writing since he was supposed to make another album. Just because something sounds similar may lead to speculation, but does not mean the speculation is founded.

I don't think "Sultans of swing" and "Bark at the moon" have anything in common.
By the time the 3rd album was recorded, they had a blue print of how Ozzy's band should sound like. And since Bob Daisley was the keeper of that legacy and main song writer, he only had to show Jake how they used to do it. Until Bob releases his tapes, we can't rule out that some of the Randy rehearsals may have inspired songs on BATM.

I hope that soon these tapes find their way onto the internet, for us to hear them. Ozzy won't be able to release them officially without the permission of Bob and viceversa, so a bootleg could solve this for us...