I don't know if bored is the correct term. Randy was a wonderful musician, a seemingly good person, but I've always got the impression he was also a real professional. When you read stories about him barely drinking and not doing drugs on tour, he seemed to buck the trend, in-so-far that he was very much dedicated to both the guitar and 'work' so to speak. By the time Randy died, he had been touring professionally for several years and had been doing the club scene for longer before that. He was no rookie and therefore, what we consider our dream, he may have begun to view more as a normal day-job. In that sense, he may well have just been 'plodding along' so to speak. Getting up, spending hours practicing his classical guitar before going out on stage and doing 'the job that pays the bills'. That might sound incredibly harsh but certainly all facts seem to point to Randy desperately wanting to move away from his current occupation and continue his classical education.Shockwave wrote:The Flying Dutchman wrote:+1skezza wrote:My favourite performance of Children is the Tribute show. That solo is fucking outstanding.
It's probably just me, but I do not really enjoy Randy's '82 live playing. The sound and fire he had in spring/summer '81 was all gone in '82. (to me at least) Lots of times it sounded like he was just bored and not inspired anymore. And what was done to his '82 rig that destroyed his wonderful '81 sound is still a mystery to me.... So yes, Cleveland '81 (Tribute) for sure is one of my favorite shows!
I have always said this also. Randy just really sounded bored on the diary tour and a lot of his fills were really rushed and felt like he was going overboard on a lot of them, although they still sounded cool as hell. There is a boatload of times where he was a half a beat late or a full beat late getting back to the riff. Just trying to fit to much in and didn't really care, maybe it was his way of pissing Ozzy off?
I think he was moderately enjoying himself all the way up to around the Chicago show as he still felt like he had life him on all the previous diary shows. The energy is definitely there on the official opening of the tour for New Year's Eve.
One thing I don't understand and maybe I would if i read any of the books released over the years, but wasn't he home for a week or two on break before the accident? He surely would have told Delores that he couldn't stand Ozzy or at least say they was huge tension between them. But Delores has always treated Ozzy as if he was Randy's best friend and always spoke highly of him. Maybe randy just didn't relay any of the details and just said he was unhappy and wanted to go back to school?
From many discussions I've had with Frank Santa Cruz who was of course, a very good friend of Randy, including many a phone call from a few years back, it would be absolutely right to say Randy and Ozzy's relationship was strained. Perhaps Frank can explain further as I don't want to say anything that Frank may prefer I didn't, but it was certainly known that things had become difficult. I don't know how much Randy spoke to Delores about it. Can you blame him though? He wasn't particularly well and was probably just enjoying being away. The last thing you want to do, when you're on holiday, is talk about work.
For the first time in years, I had a listen to the Kalamazoo bootleg the other day from start to finish. A number of things went through my head:
1. Who the fuck was the sound engineer and why was Randy's tone so so bad? I remember reading at the start of the Diary tour that Randy was really concerned and unhappy about sticking everything through the PA, something they didn't do on the Blizzard tour it seems. Perhaps this was the result? I don't know but Randy's tone on Tribute and other Blizzard shows was absolutely fantastic. A truly terrific hard rock tone and timeless in the sense that it still stands out as one of the best, even today. His tone on the Kalamazoo show, and others around that time, was very middly and mushy and almost buzzy at times.
2. Randy was uncharacteristically sloppy, had he simply lost interest by this point or was he just having an off day? Randy was always a perfectionist so I doubt it was anything intentional, but perhaps he was also not feeling as driven to put on a show.
3. A couple of his solos, in particular Children of the Grave, really did sound as though his heart wasn't in it. Compare the Tribute solo, where it was possibly one of the finest improvised solos you'll hear on a live album, to the one on Kalamazoo, which seemed a little bit directionless and as if he was just trying to get through it.
4. Mix wise, the keyboards were far too loud and made the rhythm section in some songs really harsh to listen to. I wonder how Randy saw his guitar parts being layered with unnecessary keyboards.
5. If Randy was genuinely unhappy by this point, which I've always got the impression of, why have other band members really not talked about this? Only Rudy Sarzo has spoken briefly about the tension in the band. Nothing from Tommy or Don I believe, and nothing from anyone else associated with the band. Again, Frank may be able to enlighten us all a bit on this one.