The way Dave tells it, they hired him to scare Ozzy back to the band.  
Dave was in SF at the time. He'd played with John Cipollina in a band 
called Raven... one gig actually. Then he formed a great combo, Mistress 
with Greg "Jungle Love" Douglass. He was told there was an album ready 
to go, so he flew back from SF. He said when he got to the studio, there 
was a stack of reels "with no complete ideas at all"! Did one TV gig on 
the BBC and that was it. Dave does a killer imitation of Oz, who he's 
known since the dawn of time.

When he went back to Cali, Mistress had gotten a deal and fired both 
Dave and Greg. They did a crappy album for RSO. The demos I've heard are 
much better. I used to go see them all the time, which is how I got to 
know Dave. I'd met him when he was in Fleetwood Mac, but that was just 
post gig chat. He ended up in Montana a few years ago, much to my 
surprise. Even more surprising was he recognized me twenty years down 
the road.

As for Penguin, he got one song, the Derelict and sang that version of 
Road Runner, the Jr Walker tune. He said most of his time was spent in 
the pub. They'd hired Welch, and realized Dave was one singer too many. 
After that he formed a band with Danny Kirwin, but I think they only did 
a gig or two before Danny wigged out.

For all you Bare Trees Future Games fans, you should look out for a 
double cd called Madison Blues. Sutliff turned me on to it. I went out 
and bought one, as there is an interview with Jeremy Spencer. A real 
treat. The two discs are culled from a radio show, Seattle I think, and 
some studio tracks. Lot of Kiln House, and Future Games stuff.

If I didn't emphasize the point: go get the Rock And Roll Trio cd from 
Hip-0-Select. It's a limited edition. It tells the whole story behind 
those records and beyond.

DethRokrX@aol.com wrote:

>Nice to see Dave Walker and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio getting some shout-outs 
>here.  If I remember correctly, Walker briefly replaced Ozzy Osbourne in a Black 
>Sabbath lineup that never recorded (as I recall, they fired Ozzy but then 
>brought him back).  
>
>And it can't be emphasized enough that the Trio's Paul Burlison (who passed 
>away in September 2003) is owed a debt of gratitude by multiple generations of 
>electric guitarists, having pioneered the use of feedback and distortion, most 
>famously on the Trio's 1956 version of "Train Kept A-Rollin."  
>
>  
>