Did Joe record any demos while he was with Ozzy? I have always wondered as he spent years with him with little to show for it.

I have never heard of any but all those years with Ozzy and no recordings of him seems odd to me

Didn't he write something for DTE ?
Or was that Steve Vai ?

Zakk recorded it anyway.

I can't claim to know about his writing credits but I really thought Joe was great when I saw him play a small club with Ozzy. I was really excited to see him, convinced he'd not be convincing on the Randy work. It was a pleasure to be proved wrong, he was note perfect but not clinical, with plenty of soul and feeling in the solos and I was disappointed that he didn't last longer. I heard Zakk talking about the standard of guitarists and how on the then current Ozzfest tour there was only (in his humble...wel perhaps not humble opinion) himself, Dimebag and Joe Holmes on the tour that knew there way properly around the fretboard.

[quote="damonk"]I can't claim to know about his writing credits but I really thought Joe was great when I saw him play a small club with Ozzy.
quote]

Where and when?

In my opinion, Zakk is an average guitarist. While many will argue this, i believe zakk could have been replaced by many. Hes very overrated and is easily replacable. Jake E Lee is a much better guitarist, as is Brad Gillis, Alex Skolnick and in this situation Dime and Joe Holmes. tbh, I only really rate Bernie Torme lower because he had no time to learn the solos, had bernie worked a little longer he probably could have also proved zakk an average guitarist. there is no way i will support zakk in BLS, but i am an ozzy fan therefore i have to say that i hope zakk will release a gr8 new album with the ozz

So why hasn't he been replaced yet ?

I'll argue against you here and say that Zakk is more than
an average guitarist. He probably has more musical knowledge
and diversity(sp?) than any of us ?

I feel that Zakk is a little like Yngwie

I don't dig Joe Holmes.
Why ? Well he's great on doing other peoples stuff
and he played very close to the original recordings of
Ozzy and Randy/Jake/Zakk, but I did get the feeling that
he had no feeling ... I don't know, there was something about
his sound that didn't appeal to me and I don't understand
why he got the job instead of Alex Skolnick

Dimebag would've been a great fit though

Did you know that the mainreason George Lynch didn't get
the Ozzy gig the 2nd time was because of his hair
Jake had bigger and longer hair so that was an advantage to him.
It has later been stated that George was the better player

I like them both though

I thought it was because Tommy liked Jake better.

it was all about the looks

i've read that when Joe Holmes audtioned(and stole the gig from Alex )
he had hair down to his ass, almost.
when he came back a few days later he had cut his hair quite a bit
and Sharon was apparently furious

I agree with Skezza, Zakk isn't that great. He uses waaay too much wah and too many pinch harmonics in my opinion. I think that any of the other Ozzy guitarists are better than him, I've never heard Joe Holmes so I can't include him though. George Lynch would make a very good Ozzy guitarist.

George Lynch would have made a fantastic guitarist. I wouldnt have minded hearing George back in 83, seeing how bark at the moon was like. instead of widdling it would be sweep picking

Well since you ask, it was a gig at, Rock City in Nottingham,UK. It was a strange situation as Ozzy pulled out of a gig there in the late 80's early 90's and there was a very unhappy group of fans who were listening to an extended set by the support band then being told Oz was unwell and wouldn't be performing. So eventually heplays a secret gig there which was great and then returned very shortly afterwards(within the year) with Joe Holmes to do a scheduled gig, that's the one I'm talking about; I'm ashamed to say I can't remember who the guitarist was for the first show!

I really like Zakk, and he can be an arse but I think he's extremely well tutored in his guitarwork, the only thing is , I don't really like alot of his technique and playing. Yes this does sound like a crock but he seems a bit one dimensional. I can always tell it's him playing as he returns to his favourite themes and licks, it's very much a personal thing, and no doubt I'm always thinking, Randy would've done that differently which is unfair. I don't think there's anything average about his playing, just lacking a certain something or an over reliance on a comparatively limited set of tricks. Just my opinion, but I still rate him.

you guys need to check out Zakks work on Book of Shadows

He can handle Randy solos, blues, country and a number of other genres
aswell. Not to mention he can sweep pick

I was litening to Joe Holmes last week and was amazed at how cool he was. He really played Randy well and I think he deserves praise

Joe Holmes appears to be a very capable guitarist, but needs to cut back on the squeal.