HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH

A SABBATHLIVE book review by Robert Dwyer

September 12th, 2004

I first received this book back in March 2004 and wrote only a brief review of the book.  I've had several months to really examine this one and have decided to offer a greatly expanded review, especially for those who are still on the fence about picking this one up. 

Having obsessed over the details of Sabbath's history for many years now, I'm especially critical of anyone who tries to retell their story - especially since I've been disappointed so many times before.  

Chris Welch's BLACK SABBATH from the early 80's was a confusing hodge podge of newspaper quotes and interviews with Jim Simpson (the band's 1st manager) that jumped back and forth through the timeline.  Now out of print, the Welch book was one of the first Sabbath biographies to hit the shelves.

Stephen Rosen's WHEELS OF CONFUSION benefited from Bill Ward's insights on the early years, but quickly lost direction once the story reached the 80's.  The whole bit with the faked Dio interview was a bit too much for me to stomach, even if it was slightly humorous...

NEVER SAY DIE!: 1979-1997 went a long ways towards filling in the blanks of those long neglected "lost years" of the Sabbath history.  It contained some very interesting insights from various ex-Black Sabbath members from that era, plus a heavy dose of trivia.  Overall, I did find this to be an interesting read, especially since I cannot remember anyone having covered this era in such detail before.  Similar in form to his book about The Ozzy Osbourne Band, Garry Sharpe Young is particularly adept at noting the various lineup changes and endless musical chairs that have been played out in various rock bands.

But to be more critical, I often found the narrative to be a bit too intrusive and opinionated at times (the Jeff Fenholt section, for instance).  A strange irony here was that the author felt it necessary to be dismissive towards the original lineup in order to affirm the other lineups?!  By the end of the book, it feels like a somewhat fawning (but deserved) tribute to perseverance of Tony Iommi.

It's a daunting task to crystallize the history of Black Sabbath in a single book, so I don't envy anyone who tries.  And here we have yet another tome about the Sabs!  HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH offers us a 1st hand view of what it was like to be on the road with Sabbath from 1968-1980, as well as plenty of interesting factoids about their history.  And while we still may not have the definitive book on the history of Black Sabbath, by far it is my favorite book about them to date!

HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH begins with a recounting of their early history in such pre-Sabbath projects as Mythology, Rare Breed, Polka Tulk and Earth.  This section of the book is constructed largely from the memories of  ex-road crew members Keith Jefferson, Geoff "Luke" Lucas and Spock Wall.  I found this section to be particularly interesting since Sabbath's early years have yet to be adequately discussed elsewhere.  The numerous references to early gig dates have been invaluable to SABBATHLIVE in helping piece together those elusive shows.

Those long, daily drives from show to show gave the band and crew plenty of time to establish the camaraderie that would carry them through countless gigs over the next decade.

While the SABBATHLIVE project has been instrumental in piecing together an accurate timeline of Sabbath's live history, some very important pieces of information have eluded us. No one seemed to know exactly when it was when Polka Tulk began and ended or when the band started calling itself Earth and then finally Black Sabbath. The stories of Mythology and Rare Breed are also covered in some detail as well. 

When the memories and dialogue aren't there to carry the story, there are some interesting milestones and highlights from Sabbath history tossed in to fill in the blanks.  Many of these facts appear to have been culled from various sources. The downside of this technique there is a notable change in the 'tone' of the book when this happens.  My main criticism of the book is that the narrative voice doesn't remain consistent enough.  It's a bit unsettling sometimes to wonder WHO is actually telling the story sometimes.  

The book corrects many often-repeated "myths" about when certain incidents occurred. It does so without even mentioning the "myth", but instead states the new truth in quite succinctly. Their humility is very refreshing when contrasted with the egotism and sensationalism we so often get from rock journalists.  Sadly, books like those simply tarnish the legacy, obscure the truth and waste our money.

For instance, the often told Memphis '71 story about the guy who tried to knife Tony Iommi and the whole business about the bloody inverted cross on the hotel door is covered here. The tale is retold from the perspective of Geoff "Luke" Lucas, who witnessed these things first hand.

First of all, there is no way for us to know that the man who rushed the stage was actually a "Satanist" (as he has been labeled in many texts), but he did in fact approach the stage with a knife. He was disarmed by the late David Hemmings, one of the bands crewmembers, who twisted the mans arm up his back before the venue security arrived to take him away.

Secondly, the band were received by a group wearing black cloaks at their hotel. This was after an already unsettling evening. But there is no mention of candles here and it was Luke's door that was painted with the bloody inverted cross. The whole bit about the cultists having their candles blown out for a rendition of "Happy Birthday" appears later in the book when the band reached Atlanta in 1977 (during the TECHNICAL ECSTASY). And although I've seen Tony take credit for blowing out the candles in a few interviews, the book says it was Ozzy who did the honors. Both of the Memphis '71 and Atlanta '77 tales had melded into one incident over the years and various retellings. Also - we finally have an exact date for the Memphis gig - March 1st, 1971.

Of course, I'm still curious to know why they arrived at certain dates and such, but many of these recollections appear to have come from the diaries and journals of those who were there (such as Spock and Keith).

Once Dave and Graham finally enter the story during the mid-70's, we are blessed with a "cornucopia" of humorous anecdotes and stories about the time they spent with the band. There is definitely a more personal twist in their telling of the Sabbath story, as opposed to the “date dropping” that occurs earlier on in the book.  Instead, we get a more personal glimpse at what it was like to live and travel with Ozzy and Bill on a daily basis.

David Tangye first met the members of Sabbath through his association with Necromandus.  Sabbath scholars will already know that this was a progressive rock/jazz band whom Sabbath toured with in the early 70's.  Tony Iommi also produced an album for them in 1972 which never came to fruition.  

Anyhow, young Dave had the job of a lifetime fall into his lap. After just one gig of toting the band's gear around in 1975, Ozzy handpicked him to be his driver and personal assistant. This would also mean that Mr. Tangye would actually live with Ozzy and his family during this time! From this almost unimaginably privileged (and often burdensome) vantage point, Dave lived with the “original Osbournes” – Thelma, Louis and Jessica. Little has been written about Ozzy’s 1st family, but Dave only seems to have kind words for Thelma. As enviable as it may appear for David to have shared the breakfast table with Ozzy and his family, his job was not! In fact, it was impossible to save Ozzy from himself, especially when he set his mind to making some mayhem.

Graham Wright was blessed with a much more easy going mate in Bill Ward, whom it was his job to look after to some extent. However, Graham’s job wasn’t all that much easier either. Bill’s fear of flying often meant that they would have to share some extremely long road trips in order to make the next gig. During Sabbath’s 1974 Australian tour, Bill opted to drive 500 miles through the Outback (from Sydney to Brisbane) during one of his terror spells!  Graham faithfully worked as Bill's drum tech up through the HEAVEN AND HELL tour.  He opted to leave the employ of the band just 2 weeks after Ward quit the band midway through their U.S. tour.

I would have liked to see more of the same sort of 'facts' that we got in the earlier sections of the book for a bit more 'balance'.  There isn't as much trivia and band history to be found during the later eras as there is in the beginning.  On the flip side, Dave and Graham's tales make the book a bit more endearing to the reader than the trivia bits would have.  I'll never forget such tales as how Bill decided to sell his Range Rover to a local farmer for some pocket money and a few jars of cider!  Or how Ozzy drove his Range Rover into his pond!  What do these guys have against those vehicles anyhow?  Lots of great chuckles in this section for sure.

There are plenty of tasty chestnuts for the hardcore Sabbath fans to savor, but never do the authors try to solicit praise for their fine work. By abiding to Stephen King's axiom "It is the tale, not he who tells it", the book earned a great deal of my respect.