Live and Loud

The very release of this double elpee is something of a mystery. After all, it's only been two studio albums (No Rest For The Wicked and No More Tears) since the double live Tribute and the mini-live Just Say Ozzy came out. In face, astonishingly enough, this is Ozzy's fourth live release with the material culled from only half-a-dozen original platters.

Notwithstanding pronouncements about his imminent retirement from the stage (suffice to say that Ozzy's conversion to Christianity could miraculously resurrect any discarded live ambitions), I suspect this opus appears mainly because the shows on his 1991-92 World Tour were captured on tape anyway for a video cassette presentation. Transferring some of the material onto a disc wasn't cost prohibitive and the band was in such red hot form that there's obviously artistic credibility in making the performances readily available.

Produced by Michael Wagener, Live And Loud has doubtless been 'doctored' in the studio, but not to the point where calling it a 'live' product contravenes the trade descriptions act. Inevitably, most of the cuts here are already available in an onstage format, but the level of dynamic tension delivered by the quartet gives a fresh cutting edge to numbers such as 'Paranoid', 'Bark At The Moon' and 'Suicide Solution'.

Material from the much-maligned No More Tears elpee (like 'Goodbye To Romance' and the title track) is delivered here with the sort of verve and clout missing from the studio versions. That such sparkle is very much in evidence, proves - as I've maintained all along - that it was never the quality of the songs which was at fault with the album, but rather the lamentably lame production. And as if all this wasn't enough to satiate most Osbourne-starved appetites, there's the inevitable 'Black Sabbath', given added spice by the presence of Sabbath mainstays Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. During the course of this song Iommi totally annihilates Zack Wylde in the guitar stakes, although the latter does have his moments elsewhere in the set.

Unfortunately, there is the odd lowlight to report, not least the imaginatively-titled 'Guitar Solo' and 'Drum Solo', such are infuriating remnants of a bygone era. None of that, though, should be allowed to spoil your enjoyment of some fine live cuts on a thoroughly entertaining album.

• Johnny Lyons