As usual, this past week's New Releases included a few old albums. In this case, it was the re-release of a couple of old Ozzy Osbourne records. Fully remastered, blah blah blah, like the countless re-releases before them.

Normally, news like this wouldn't make me flinch. Heck, the first of these Ozzy re-releases came out months ago, and it flew completely under my radar.

What was so noteworthy, and what so surprised me, was what "remixed" meant. No, I'm not talking about dance remixes or anything that horrible. On paper, you'd think they simply went back to the original masters and made new mixes. It's been done before. The Knack's "My Sharona" was remixed for the Reality Bites soundtrack in 1994, and it made it sound like a brand new song. And the remix of "Eleanor Rigby" for the Yellow Submarine re-release finally exposed the beauty of the orchestral parts as they were recorded. (The technological limits of the recording equipment the Beatles were using in 1966 prevented them from being able to mix the orchestral part in stereo with the rest of the song.)

In the case of these Ozzy Osbourne releases, though, they did more than just remix the original tapes. They completely re-recorded the bass and drum parts.

Yes, you read that correctly. The bass player and the drummer in Ozzy's current band went into the studio and re-recorded their parts alongside the original vocals and guitar parts.

I can't say I'm much of an Ozzy fan. I don't own any of his records, and I only really care for a couple of the songs in his catalog. That's probably why I didn't notice when the first batch of re-releases came out. But the thought of doctoring the original recordings and passing them off as "improved" just appalls me.

Then I found out the reason. Apparently, the original bass player and drummer sued Ozzy for lack of credit and royalties on the original releases. Rather than deal with it, Sharon Osbourne (Ozzy's wife and manager of his life) chose to eliminate the questionable recordings from the albums, thereby eliminating their right to performance royalties from the record.

Now, I can understand a band getting together and re-recording old songs if they feel like they didn't work the first time around. Pearl Jam did that with "Even Flow" after Dave Abbruzzesse joined the band and improved the song dramatically. But they didn't just take the Ten version and have Dave A. replace Dave Krusen's old parts. (Truthfully, I probably wouldn't have a problem with that if Dave Krusen didn't mind. But it's otherwise unimaginable.)

But in this case, the goal wasn't to improve the song. It was to remove recordings by people who have fallen out of favor with the Osbourne clan. It was done for financial reasons.

I can't think of a case like this whatsoever. And it's not like there weren't opportunities. Oasis had a serious falling-out with their original drummer, and he eventually sued them. They had every reason to go into the studio and re-record the parts he played on Definitely Maybe. But they didn't.

And why not? I assume the Brothers Gallagher agreed with my own personal feelings - that albums, once completed, are finished. Done. It's okay to remix what was recorded during those sessions, but what's released should still reflect the original recordings.

In this case, they're taking twenty-year-old masters and adding brand new elements. Randy Rhoads didn't play to Mike Bordin's drumming when he recorded "Crazy Train". And, as great a drummer as Mike Bordin is, his drumming doesn't belong there. Unless he's playing alongside Ozzy in the year 2002.

I don't know. At first, I thought Sharon Osbourne was just a shrewd entrepreneur, taking good opportunities where they fell. But the farther we get under the deluge of Ozzy-mania, the less I think of her. Kelly's cover of "Papa Don't Preach" just seems crass. It's performed as if Sharon chose the song solely by its title - it respects none of the story of the original. (Not that I liked the original in the first place, though.)

And this episode just smacks of revenge, and little else.

I will admit that I really enjoyed the Osbournes tv show. But all of what follows just makes Ozzy look more and more like he's completely handed her the reins and walked away. While I'm not a fan, he's still a legend of metal. Yet, the farther we get, the more tarnished that image looks.

Maybe this wouldn't bother me as much if the new re-issues were simply options for the consumer. But, sadly, that's not the case. The original versions have been deleted and replaced by these re-issues. Fortunately, these albums are so commonplace that there should be enough used copies floating around for anyone still interested. But it's sad that a fan would have to go through this to hear a classic record.

As a side note, I can't imagine what a pain-in-the-ass this re-recording process must have been. They didn't use metronomes or click-tracks twenty years ago, so Mike would have had to freehand it against the original drumming. I once tried to add drum parts to a freehanded piano part, and it was unbelieveably hard. And that was just for fun - I can't imagine doing a whole album like that.