Customer Reviews

The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's great that someone would love hard rock and heavy metal so much that they'd do a guide like this, and include obscure groups. But this guide also falls short on a number of levels.

Number one, Popoff is not a top-flight rock critic or writer, and these reviews offer little insight into how any of these albums actually SOUND. More often, they're his attempts at creative writing -- usually trying to be clever but sounding contrived. A good rock critic, like say Nick Tosches, Lester Bangs, Dave Thompson, or even Robert Christgau (who I almost never agree with), will be able to not only divulge his opinion, but tell you if you'll like the record. Popoff is not in their league at all.

But from a more selfish standpoint, I have to wonder if this guy likes '70s hard rock much. He implies that Captain Beyond (debut album = classic) is overrated, but praises corporate wimps like Foreigner (yeah, they rock REALLY hard). He underrates cool bands like Earth Quake, Toad, Coloured Balls, Marcus, and Blue Cheer. He leaves out some great hard rock bands, like Damnation and Chicken Shack and others (too many to list, actually), saying they're "not heavy," yet includes pop like Artful Dodger and Nick Gilder, Coven (a terrible Midwest bar band), plus more AOR crap.

But on a more positive note, he knows his stuff, and this book could be useful as a discography for beginners. And indeed, a project like this is a difficult task given the breadth of material to cover. It's WAY better than that egocentric waste of pulp by Chuck "I'm Smarter than You" Eddy, 'Stairway to Hell.' If Popoff proves anything in the long run, however, it's that knowledge and fandom will only get you so far. You also have to have something compelling to say, and too often, he doesn't.

Given its subject matter, I wanted to like this book more, but unlike Dave Thompson's guide to funk (highly recommended), this doesn't really offer a lot of insight or tell me much that I don't already know. There are just too many undigested opinions and unresolved tangents.

A few years back Martin compiled all the reviews that he'd written (and could still find) and published them under the title "The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal". And while he may have missed a few items he hit all the essentials and more, all the while earning himself a somewhat ambiguous reputation due to his praised inclusions of various grunge and punk albums not to mention his unabashed distaste for entire sub-genres of heavy metal.

After a few "fluff" books over the years ("The 500 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs"? Talk about dragging a magazine article out for far too long) he's finally back to update what may be his only seminal work in the genre. This time "The Collector's Guide" is being broken down by decade to allow for the inclusion of more obscure groups Taking full advantage of this, Popoff is now including anything remotely connected with hard rock, let alone heavy metal. I'm not sure this is such a bad idea on the evidence of "Coll. Guide: 70's", but then there was a much more blurry line between plain vanilla hard rock and dyed in the wool heavy metal in those halcyon days. To his credit, Popoff does trot out some true obscurities, but as per his previous volume these obscurities lean heavily toward Canadian artists. But, when you have to rely on the efforts of one man to get the job done no one out there has done a finer job for the genre than Martin Popoff (I may have to amend this statement when AMG finally puts out their own metal guide). His musical prejudices notwithstanding, I've always felt that musical criticism should be taken with a grain of salt, and assuming you're one of the wise ones who consults more than one critic before rushing out to buy an album you should be able to enjoy "The Collector's Guide..." for exactly what it is: one very informed man's opinion.

This is the definitive guide on the 70's Heavy Metal scene. Popoff's reviews (altough you might not agree) are well written with an excellent sense of humor & sarcasm, as well as expert knowledge of the genre. If you are a collector, this is a excellent reference book listing original release dates as well as the original record label for all the albums. Throw in a free 12 track cd featuring some ot the obscure 70's metal bands Popoff reviews and you have a can't miss affair. All killer, no filler.

This is by far the worst of three "The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal" books. Even so, it's good to get a great list of albums from the seventies.

This is the worst, in my opinion, simply because Popoff's writing is at its most obnoxious ever. Incredible how the guy improved with the years. Almost each review here is a pain to read, the phrase construction is annoying, the words used so full of rubbish that readin a single entry is a real pain.

Get it only for completist reasons. I bought it hoping it was as good as the ohter two, but I was terribly wrong.

Martin Popoff is the only kind of writer or reviewer worth a damn -- the kind with a writing style all his own, and opinions out the a$$. You will either love him or hate him, and I for one think he's one of the best descriptive writers ever produced by the human race. I read his reviews whenever I'm about to do some writing of my own, in the vain hope that he'll rub off on me. He knows more about metal than anyone else alive (although he certainly doesn't know everything about it) and has a distinct, historical authenticity backing up his choices of what's metal and not, and what's good or not, with a heavy dose of personal opinion of course. This is his best book, perhaps, because it's about the decade of his metal love genesis, the time period he knows the most. When you read this book (as you must if you care at all about metal), you will be full of adoration, fury, disgust, surprise, and above all curiosity about the tons of bands you never knew you needed to check out.

This is basically a cut and paste from his previous books, a Collectors Guide and Riffs Rule, which I prefer as they cover the artist's entire catalogue up until publication date.

I love his delightful descriptions, certainly not boring to read.

Please note, the man has no love for live albums, likes greatest hits, he loves punk ala the Stooges, but hates progressive metal like Hawkwind, Fates Warning, Rush, Queensyche etc.

His exclusion of bands then considered heavy metal like Wishbone Ash, Savoy Brown, Sensational Alex Harvey band etc are a major disappointment, especially when he includes other bands no longer considered metal like Mountain, or includes bands like Sonic Youth, which no one in the 1980's considered Heavy Metal.

Likewise, Progressive Rock was loved equally by heavy metal fans where bands like ELP, Jethro Tull and Yes were featured in other heavy metal reviews, but excluded here, yet he includes progressive rock bands like It Bites.

Similarly, southern rock ala Black Oak Arkansas and Lynyrd Skynrd were then considered metal, yet left out, but Blackfoot is left in.

You can't please everyone, but the questionable inclusions and exclusions and too many holes that don't justify such inclusions and exclusions result in a less than possitive review.

For the aficionado of "traditional" heavy metal and heavy guitar driven music, (I never liked the term "hard rock") amongst whose number I am firmly ensconced, this book is a great read. The author rates a large number of albums from that much underrated decade, musically speaking, on two scales, heaviness, and personal taste. I don't necessarily agree with his rating of some albums on both counts, and given some obvious omissions, I struggle a little with inclusion of some bands. But that's the beauty of criticism, you won't always agree, but it gets you thinking. I must admit I took a punt on several albums I had never heard of before, based on the author's rating, and I have not been disappointed. I am still struggling with the absence of reviews of any Wishbone Ash albums. They rate a mention in one of the many indices, where the author sort of apologises for the absence of what were, and still are, one of the all time great guitar bands. But like I say, you are never going to agree with everything a critic says. All in all I highly recommend this book, which is the first of three enlarged volumes pulled from the original "Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal". The only question is, how much longer `til we see Volume 2, the 80's?

This is THE book to buy for fans of hard rock before it became the big hair, MTV 80s music identified with Bon Jovi, Warrant etc. This book reviews the early roots of this musical genre and brings to light its evolution from psychedelic fuzz and distortion. Martin Popoff provides insight into some totally obscure and impossible to find (or at least afford) rarities such as Leaf Hound and Euclid. One may not agree with his reviews always, or his heaviness/overall ratings, but the author definitely succeeds in dispelling myths but more importantly, identifying some excellent and obscure music for us to seek.

I am a HUGE fan of Martin Popoff's work, having purchased several of his books, all of which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. This latest tome features all the hallmarks of Martin's work, detailed reviews of records both well-known and obscure, all delivered with a style that is both conversational and comprehensive. Martin has a true love and respect for the heavy metal genre, yet he's not afraid to poke a little fun at it when warranted, which is more often than you'd think. Once again, Martin treats his reviews with loving care, none seem slapped together, even reviews for recordings he doesn't care for. Chances are, this book will help you discover an unknown band (or twenty) that you didn't know you needed to love. Then again, you may be forced to reasses a sacred cow or two. I can't wait for the future installments (80s, 90s, 00s), because I know Martin is one of the only people (besides myself) who found some good in Motley Crue's "Generation Swine" from 1997.

I'm an old rocker... born in the late 50's. Most of the LP's listed in this magnum opus were released during my teenage impressionable years. Not so say that Martin's "Collector Guides" for the '80s, '90s and '00s aren't good. It's just that the 70's will always hold a special place in my heart for rock n' roll and all things heavy. Therefore, it is with a biased opinion that I deem this the Bible for all things heavy in the '70s. There are soooo many lost treasuers in here I don't know where to begin. Thank God for the internet, Martin Popoff, Amazon and a few other on-line stores because they have all allowed me to expand my music collection into one revered by all those who love(d) 70's hard rock! Thanks Martin.