For decades, rumors have swirled regarding a stash of cassette tapes in the possession of veteran bassist Bob Daisley. Often referred to as the “Holy Grail” for Randy Rhoads purists, these recordings reportedly capture roughly seven hours of raw, unreleased material from the earliest days of Ozzy Osbourne‘s solo career.
In a new interview with Scott Penfold of “Loaded Radio,” the 75-year-old songwriter—who penned the lyrics and co-wrote the music for much of the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman albums—addressed the status of these legendary recordings. While fans have clamored for years to hear the sessions, Daisley explained that legal red tape has kept the tapes collecting dust.
“Well, you see, the copyright on those songs and on those performances is not owned outright by me,” Daisley clarified. “They’re my tapes and I made them. They’re only really reference tapes of when we were writing stuff in the rehearsal room and I had a big portable cassette player and had a condenser mic on it, so I just recorded everything on the tape, just as our reference so we wouldn’t forget parts. So if we had new bits or were adding bits or changing bits or whatever, we’d have a record of it the next day so we didn’t forget. That’s the only reason I [recorded them].”
According to the bassist, the tapes offer a candid look at the chemistry between Rhoads, Osbourne, drummer Lee Kerslake, and himself. The recordings document everything from the band’s initial arrival at the studio to drunken antics.
“But looking back now, I’ve got about seven or eight hours’ worth of that stuff,” Daisley continued. “And I know there is a lot of interesting stuff on there. Some of it’s us just clowning about and being silly and talking daft and messing about, having a laugh, sometimes half drunk, but it’s all there as the band. And there’s even some bits of us jamming at Ridge Farm [studio in Rusper, England, where both Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman were recorded] the day we got to Ridge Farm, which was the 22nd of March, 1980. And we were just getting sounds and getting used to the studio. And Max Norman, he was the house engineer. He was just getting used to miking us. So there’s some jam stuff and us clowning about, so I’ve got all that on tape.”
Despite possessing the physical masters, Daisley made it clear that he cannot unilaterally release the material. However, he emphasized that if the decision were solely up to him, the recordings would have been shared with the public long ago.
“Look, if I’d had my way, I would’ve had it out there and released years ago,” Daisley stated. “It’s really out of my hands.”
