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Barnes in a Rage

From page 10 of Classic Rock Magazine Christmas 2003

Cover of Christmas 2003 issue.

Supergroup stoke the feud with Ozzy.

DEEP PURPLE’S STEVE MORSE AND Don Airey have played on an all-star album that was recorded recently in secret in Florida and London. Joining the guitarist and keyboard player on the project are Aussie singer Jimmy Barnes, ex-Ozzy Osbourne/Rainbow bassist Bob Daisley and Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake.

The Rage, as they are called, were born when Barnes jammed with Jon Lord in Sydney and hit it off with Daisley, who was playing alongside the ex-Purple keyboardist. Under a shroud of secrecy an album, was recorded in 15 days flat. Titled ‘Relentless’, it will be released in February via Liberation Records.

Its contents – half original material, the rest songs with lyrics written by Daisley for Ozzy’s first two solo albums – are certain to infuriate Ozzy

and manager/wife Sharon, especially as the pair recently won what seems likely to be the final bout of a lengthy court case against Daisley and Kerslake. A dispute over royalties led to the playing of Ozzy’s original rhythm section to be replaced on his ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’ and ‘Diary Of A Madman’ albums.

Last month Ozzy crowed: “The truth always prevails” when a US court of appeal upheld his right to have made the changes, ruling that Kerslake and Daisley were session musicians and not band members at the time of their contributions.

Apparently in retaliation, ‘Mr Crowley’, ‘I Don’t Know’ and ‘Crazy Train’ (from ‘Blizzard...’) and ‘Over The Mountain’, ‘Flying High Again’ and ‘Tonight’ (from ‘...Madman’) have been re-recorded by The Rage. The band are even considering touring, although Barnes has commitments to an ongoing reunion with his band Cold Chisel, and is also the subject of a new double live album called ‘Ride The Night Away’, due in late January.