Overview
The album was released in memory of Rhoads, guitarist for Osbourne's band between 1979 and 1982 who died in a plane crash while on tour in Florida in 1982. It showcases Rhoads' outstanding technical ability on lead guitar. Particularly notable is the song "Suicide Solution", which features an unaccompanied guitar solo by Rhoads. The album also includes studio outtakes of Rhoads recording the classical-influenced acoustic guitar piece, "Dee", which Rhoads wrote for his mother Delores, and which was originally included on Osbourne's debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz. These outtakes include Rhoads talking.
The songs from "I Don't Know" through to "Paranoid" were recorded live in Cleveland, Ohio on May 11, 1981, though Osbourne stated upon the album's release in 1987 that the performance had been recorded "somewhere in Canada". "Goodbye to Romance" and "No Bone Movies" are taken from the very first Blizzard tour, possibly from Southampton on October 2, 1980. These two tracks feature bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake. Rhoads' guitar solo is from Montreal on July 28, 1981.
The album was originally to be released in 1982, but was shelved indefinitely when Rhoads died suddenly. Instead, another live album, Speak of the Devil (consisting entirely of Black Sabbath songs and featuring future Night Ranger guitarist Brad Gillis) was recorded and released later that same year.
The recording of "Crazy Train" that appears on this album was also released as the album's only single on February 10, 1987, along with a music video.
The music which opens Tribute and all of Osbourne's live shows of the era is "O Fortuna" from the Carmina Burana ‘scenic cantata’ by Carl Orff.
Regarding the European vinyl-release, although a 2LP set, the sleeve was single, rather than the more traditional gatefold. However, it did come with a photo-montage poster.
"I Don't Know" of this release was originally released un-overdubbed on the "Over The Mountain" single.
Throughout the song "Paranoid" (and most of Ozzy's performances onstage while he was his guitar player) Randy chose to play the main bass riff with his guitar. It is the only official version of the song that has been played live by this method and to date remains the only guitar player ever to have done this with Ozzy making this version a favorite amongst rock listeners. Other bootleg recordings exist, respectively.
Its most recent North American reissue was the 2002 remastered CD.
Read more about this topic: Tribute (Ozzy Osbourne album)