Product Description

In the world of heavy metal, no other band have lived life to the fullest, stared death in the face so many times, battled addiction, warred within themselves and still emerged, unscathed, unbowed with as much bloody-minded persistence as Black Sabbath. Joel McIver has conducted dozens of interviews with the musicians and those within the industry who witnessed the rollercoaster ride of the band, as well as many other Sabbath musicians who have been and gone over the years. This is the ultimate guide to the Black Sabbath legend.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #755888 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Review
"It can't be easy to chronicle the entire hisotry of Black Sabbath. But Joel McIver has managed the seeming impossible. This is a thoroughly researched, well writted, balanced book that's neither afraid to criticise legends when necessary, nor fearful of praising eras many others dismiss. Unless everyone who's ever been involved with Sabbath decides to contribute to a massive book on the band, this will remain definitive." - Malcolm Dome, Total Rock

About the Author
Joel McIver is the Production Editor at Record Collector and contributes to a number of magazines as well as compiling albums, writing liner notes and appearing on TV and radio. He has written books on Extreme Metal, Slipknot, Metallica and Queens of the Stone AGe, all published by Omnibus Press.

Customer Reviews

Very impressive!
There are a few Sabbath books around and I've read them all, but this is the one that has impressed me most. the author has interviewed everybody -- ok, not ozzy, but what did you expect? - and the things that bill, tony, geezer, glenn, ronnie and others like rob halford and even a whole bunch of thrash and death metal musicians say about the Sabs make it worth buying on their own. but even with that, the book goes into massive detail about every aspect of sabbath's career. The pics are awesome and this is one solid hardback too, i recommend it 100%.

THE Black Sabbath Book
Black Sabbath defined and continue to define the shape of the metal genre, four decades since they came to be. Every heavy band (and even some not-so-heavy) has at least a trace of an Iommi riff, a Ward drum beat, a Butler bassline, or even a similar vocal to Ozzy Osbourne.

In this book, Joel McIver starts right from the very beginning, four guys growing up in poverty in Aston, and works his way through to the Sabbath reunion of the late 90s/Early 00s. The book is divided into three main sections: Invoking The Demon 1948-1978, Snowblind And Surrounded 1979-1992, and Resurrecting The Beast 1993-2006. Topics covered include the early (and in many cases troubled) years of Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill growing up together in Aston, UK, writing and recording of albums, the rise to fame and run-ins with various managerial problems and excesses, Ozzy's departure, Ozzy's solo career, Sabbath's dogmatic efforts to continue without him (sometimes Tony was the only member remaining of the original four), many battles with drink and drugs, deaths, arrests, deaths, reunions and, of course, Ozzy biting the head off a bat. You see, this is not JUST a book about the band Black Sabbath, it chronicles everything surrounding the band in brilliant and honest detail, from a fan's perspective, from Ozzy's own career, other member's side projects, the state of music through the various eras, Sharon's involvement, the rise of the Ozzfest, and even a mention of Kelly Osbourne's music attempts.(Though not in as much detail you may be glad to hear!)

McIver makes use of a great many interviews, some conducted by himself, many taken from magazines and TV archive footage. They reveal a great deal about the inner workings of the band, and by the end it almost feels as if the reader knows the people in the book personally. He also analyses every Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne record track-by-track, giving very honest opinions on the material. This is clear when he is less-than-kind to some of the band's lesser material. Not all fans of the band will agree with his opinions, but he examines the music well, and even manages to explain, with the help of interviews, what the inspiration behind them was.

The book isn't perfect, however. There's the odd spelling error every couple of chapters, which won't bother too many, and occassionally he unintentionally uses the wrong name or song. (In one instance he refers to a Randy Rhoads riff, from an album he was not even alive to record on.) But it is clear that the author does know his Sabbath onions, he just maybe needs to be a bit more careful with them, and these gripes are hardly significant enough to spoil the enjoyment of the book.

This IS the best book on Black Sabbath in the book shops now. My main hope is that in maybe a year's time he will release an updated version to include the recent Heaven & Hell activity and album, as well as Ozzy's recent activites and strong 2007 effort Black Rain. Until that happens, this is an exhaustively detailed, highly readable, honest, sad and funny book that documents the story of the best darn heavy metal band ever, Black Sabbath.

"Bloody" Good!
This is the only Sabbath book on the market that tracks the band's history in such sharp detail. Insights from the band members and heaps of other metal musicians make you feel like you are up close and personal. The book also delves into the evolution of their unique sound, describes their ups and downs with accuracy and honesty, and puts the whole experience that is Black Sabbath into context. Another outstanding metal book from Joel McIver, a must have for all Sabbath fans!