It is a double album consisting entirely of live renditions of songs originally recorded by Osbourne's previous band Black Sabbath.

Guitarist Randy Rhoads and drummer Tommy Aldridge refused to participate, feeling that they had established themselves as recording artists and such an album would be a step backwards professionally.

Osbourne frequently confronted Rhoads on the tour bus and taunted him with claims that the likes of Frank Zappa and Gary Moore were willing to replace him for the live album.

The show, complete with half-naked girls on the stage in what manager Sharon anticipated would be "the greatest rock spectacle ever," would also be videotaped and released for the burgeoning home video market.

After the death of Rhoads, the band carried on for a short time with guitarist Bernie Tormé, until both parties agreed that the arrangement was not working out.

Guitarist Vito Bratta, who was playing in a New York area Black Sabbath cover band at the time, was considered as his replacement but he clashed with Sharon and later lamented that he had blown his big break.

His ability to faithfully reproduce Rhoads' parts earned Gillis the job, and he subsequently traveled with the band and became familiar with the material as Bernie Torme played his last few shows before leaving.

[7] On September 19, 1982, the band and crew arrived in New York City to begin rehearsals for the two shows that would be recorded to comprise the Speak of the Devil album.

It was during this period that Sarzo, who was already recording the Metal Health sessions in secret with Quiet Riot, made his final decision to leave Osbourne's band.

The band members dressed down, not wearing their usual stage clothes, with Osbourne himself sporting sweatpants and a bald head after drunkenly shaving off his familiar long hair a few days prior.

[7] Near the ends of the shows, as "Iron Man", "Children of the Grave" and "Paranoid" came up in the setlist, the band let loose and made less effort to play tight, as they had been told by management that these performances would not be included on Speak of the Devil; previously recorded live versions of those songs featuring Rhoads on guitar were to be used instead.

Sarzo recalled listening to the final mixes of those songs and being appalled at how sloppy his playing was on those three tracks, as they had only run through them a couple of times in rehearsal.

Album producer Max Norman stated in 2007 that due to a limited budget, he had Osbourne and the band perform an entire extra show with no audience in the afternoon of either the 26th or 27 September.

Though Norman did not specifically identify which tracks he was referring to, he said "If you got nothing to do for a couple of days you could just lie there and listen to them in the headphones and figure out which songs had the real audience and which ones didn't.

[10] Though the album has long been a fan favorite, Osbourne himself has publicly renounced Speak of the Devil, stating that it was only released to satisfy a contractual obligation.

[15] The live versions of "Iron Man", "Children of the Grave" and "Paranoid" featuring Randy Rhoads which were originally intended to be part of Speak of the Devil were eventually released in 1987 on Tribute, an album dedicated to the memory of the deceased guitarist.

This video release has no relation to the album of the same name, consisting of Osbourne's early solo material rounded out by three Black Sabbath numbers.

This video release features an outdoor live performance recorded on 23 June 1982, at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre with the same backing band as the album of the same name.