Customer Reviews

How Black Was Our Sabbath: An Unauthorized View from the Crew

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an absolutely wonderful book written by David Tangye & Graham Wright. There's been plenty of books on Black Sabbath before. Some good. Some not so good. This one falls in the category of being EXTREMELY GOOD. The difference between this book and the others on the Ozzy history of the band is the fact that this one was written by folks who were there. A lot of these things are written by people who retell stories, regurgitating things that are already out there. Not this one. David was Ozzy's personal assistant, and Graham was Bill Ward's assistant. So these stories are told from folks who lived them. There are some other stories by other folks who were involved with Sabbath directly as well.

This book goes into some areas of the band's history that have never been talked much about before. Specifically the days when they were known as Polka Tulk, as well as Earth. There's tons of stories about life on the road, the legendary "Satanist attacks Tony Iommi on stage with a knife" story, to one their hotel room doors being painted with a bloody red Cross, to the story about the band blowing out the candles of a group of Satanists in the hallway by singing "Happy Birthday" to 'em. There's other things, like Ozzy's first wife Thelma, and the kids Oz had with her. That's something that's almost never talked about. Graham tells stories about Bill's drive over the Australian Outback in 1974 for about 500 miles to avoid flying. And a few about how some vehicles ended up in swimming pools.

What's best about this book to me is that it's an easy free flowing style. I've read many books, and some are hard reads, but this was one that I could quite easily have read in one sitting, had I had that much time available when I read it. David & Graham are to be applauded for their work on the book, both in content and in style.

The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it's not the easiest book to get in the US. There's no direct US publisher that I'm aware of, and as such, it can be a bit expensive to get it here in the States. In fact, if you're in the US, it might be cheaper to buy it from the Amazon UK site. That issue aside, I feel it's well worth it due to the quality of the stories and the writing in the book. You can't go wrong reading this if you're a fan of Black Sabbath.

Joe Siegler
www.black-sabbath.com

This is quite a fascinating book about Black Sabbath written from the insider view of two roadies.
Actually these two authors were more then just roadies for Black Sabbath, which is one reason
they are so knowledgeable on the subject.
This book is well written, enjoyable to read and I have to say I didn't find any mistakes.
The book covers Black Sabbath from the pre Sabbath days to shortly after Ozzy's leaving.
A much clearer picture of Black Sabbath is shown through this book, then most previous efforts.
This book also includes an additional 28 pages of photographs not counted throughout the book.

I generally say get every book about Sabbath you can but this one is at the top of the list.

If you are a fan of Black Sabbath or if you just like a good read then you must get this book.

Fantastic view of the band as real people from the very beginnings before even the Polka Tulk Blues Band until the fateful year Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath went their separate ways. Anecdotes abound! Some hilarious and some just plain strange. Another positive thing is the roadies that wrote it were straight forward and upfront about their role. They didn't try to overgrandize or endulge their egos at all. The facts are written as they are. And done quite nicely. A real blast from the past.

This book will give you a new appreciation for up and coming musicians to with the touring/recording stories from Earth/Black Sabbath's earliest days.
No matter how die hard you are there are things in this extremely well-written book you do not know.
5 stars only because there aren't 10.

This book is a most intriguing and fascinating insight into the world of rock music, a concise interpretation into one of the most sucessful and highly original bands on the planet today.
The book covers Black Sabbath from their inception in 1968 through to the departure of their lead singer Ozzy Osbourne in 1979.

The authors manage to cover in great detail the incarnation of Black Sabbath, their tours and recording sessions, at home and at play.
This book is unputdownable, The photographs (of which there are many) are incredibly candid, from the authors own private collection.

If you would like to re-visit this historic period in time, and also read some very funny stories.
I most certainly recommend.

I heard the hype, so I HAD to get this book. I will say that it lived up to most of the hype, but there were a few things I wished they would have gotten into more depth about and a few things left out, I think, to protect the band members. But, in all it was very well written and well researched. The very early years prior to the band being signed to a major record deal was well covered and the band's personal lives with fun to read about as well. I enjoyed reading it and I would read it again. Well done!

There seems to be quite a few publications around now relating to Black Sabbath in all their varying line-ups. I must admit I have not had chance to read them all. The main ones I have read are Gary Sharpe Young's 'Never Say Die' a fantastic account mainly of Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne had made his exit, also Martin Popoffs great 'Doom Let Loose' which is penned in Popoff's own inimitable style.

But as for "How Black Was Our Sabbath; An unauthorised view from the crew", this is clearly in a different dimension altogether from all the rest, and covers the one and only original band line-up.

Here we have a couple of old school roadies, obviously not too burned out as the excesses of the 1970's that have claimed many before them.
I found the book a real eye-opener and a real page turner, in style, content, and delivery.

The book somehow transports you back to the 1960's thru to 1970's and in the reading, you get to feel and taste the sense of adventure that the band as a whole were experiencing at the time.

From their early humble beginnings, through to their sell out stadium tours. The anecdotal evidence of just what it was like in the golden age of 'ROCK'; when the now superstar icons of today were just a wild bunch of young lads, with a burning ambition to succeed and play their way out of the mundane, and the shackles of poverty.

I most certainly recommend this book, as not only a history book to Black Sabbath, but also a history book on the development of the whole genre of 'Rock Music' as we have come to know it today.

First off - this book is a must read for fans of Ozzy era Sabbath. But I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with the lack of detail or 'dirt' that was uncovered. For example the book writes something about a night of 'drinking and trouble'. Well I wanna know what happened, who was there, what sex acts were performed etc. Maybe I am expecting too much after reading Motley Crue's 'The Dirt'.

In any event, the book definitely shows that Sabbath were a regular blue-collar bunch who never took themselves too seriously. Some cool photos and cool stories. One comment - Bill Ward quickly goes from looking healthy to looking sickly in the band photos. Man - he needed someone to help him back in the day. He looks like the walking dead or something

what's up with the paperback release of this?? - was supposed to be released in March - now it "ships in 1 to two months"?? - where is it shipped from - hell?

This book grabs you and won't let go. I never found it to be boring or slow at any point. A great read for any Black Sabbath fan unless you prefer the post Ozzy years. Are there really any of you out there?

This is an entertaining book,but I would mainly recommend it for Black Sabbath fans only.As it states on the cover it is unauthorized.Although there are some good early photos of the band the text is made up of personal reminiscences and therefore is not very objective.All in all,it's a good book,but just don't purchase it for the teenage Ozzy fanatic.I happen to be a major Black Sabbath fanatic in my late thirties and the reason I got this was because I want all the information that I can get on the group.I love Black Sabbath in all its incarnations and am offended by those who say that the "Ozzy years" were the best.I'm really looking forward to seeing the Ronnie James Dio line-up on the road next year.'Nuff said.