[2002 Cherry Red Books – UK]
An extensive review by Robert Dwyer of
the Black Sabbath Live Project (www.sabbathlive.com)
After hearing some rather complimentary feedback about this
book through the Ozzy/Sabbath grapevine, I became intrigued about this
one. I'm always skeptical of band
biographies, especially about Black Sabbath, since I have yet to find anything
truly definitive written about the band. One of the side products
of Ozzy's newly found "mainstream acceptance" has been a slew of
poorly written and researched books with his name on it. Many
of these books look as if they had borrowed liberally from various Internet
FAQ’s without questioning whether these facts were actually true to begin
with. It would appear quite easy to
cash in on Ozzy's fame in this way, especially when he has suddenly found favor
with an audience he never imagined he'd have on primetime U.S. television!
I've even found Ozzy books in the supermarket check out line! It's still
surreal and amazing to me, but somehow disturbing at the same time.
Refreshingly enough, Garry Sharpe-Young has taken the high road here and his book is definitely above the pack in that respect. While his timing in releasing this book (July 2002) couldn't have been better, it seems more fateful than calculated on his part. Casual fans who have discovered Ozzy through his new hit TV series 'The Osbournes' would probably be disappointed with this book, since it's not really about the man himself. This book is clearly aimed towards the hardcore Ozzyphiles and with these individuals, the book will be a cause for celebration. Finally there is a book isn't looking to capitalize on the hype of his bat-biting or Alamo wetting antics of his toxic years. It's also not a cattle call for the MTV generation. And for this, he has earned my respect.
It is quite evident that countless hours of research have gone into
tracing the most exhaustive Ozzy Osbourne family tree to date.
With an amazing database of rock family trees already in place on his web
site www.rockdetector.com, Garry
fleshes out his highly detailed outline of Ozzy’s career by conducting
exclusive first person interviews with many the musicians that Ozzy has played
with over the past 25 years. It is
these interviews and stories that really make the book such an addictive and
rewarding journey.
For instance, one chapter is dedicated to Bernie Torme’s
brief tenure in the band after the tragic loss of Randy Rhoads in March, 1982.
It is quite fascinating to hear Bernie detail the days after he joined
the band and learn about the inner workings of the Osbourne empire.
While many sideman and associates are interviewed, interviews with Kelly
Garni, Dana
Strum, Lindsay Bridgwater, Don Airey, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake and Phil Soussan
prove to be the most insightful. It
is here that we learn what it was really like to play with Ozzy, for better and
for worse.
As the title clearly states, this book is about the Ozzy Osbourne BAND, not a biography of the man himself. The main objective of the book is to introduce you to the seemingly endless parade of musicians who have played with Ozzy, if even briefly. I was quite amazed to learn that Ozzy had assembled an earlier incarnation of “Blizzard Of Oz” as early as 1976! There are also several musicians whom I had no awareness of that had played with Mr. Osbourne, some whom were key to writing of Ozzy’s hit albums. While it is no secret that Bob Daisley has long been Ozzy’s secret weapon in the studio for lyrics and song ideas, there are other lesser-known and sadly uncredited contributors to his legacy. From their stories, we are able to gain a new perspective that wouldn't be offered by your average rock journalism spin doctors.
Naturally, the skeptic within me was always looking for holes in the book and I did find a few disappointments. The introduction presents a fairly brisk outline of Ozzy’s early years with Black Sabbath. And while there aren't really any new revelations here, it is clear that Young was more interested in building the story of Ozzy's solo career, not retelling Sabbath's history. I did find a few factual errors in this timeline as well. For instance, “N.I.B.” was inspired by Ward’s pointed beard, not Butler’s, as the book states. But really the errors were quite minor and it's my nature to nit pick such things anyhow! I guess either me, Joe Siegler or one of many other Sabbath sages that visit my site will need to write the long awaited definitive Sabbath book that we've been craving for much too long. But I digress....
But it did seem that Young was mainly interested in discussing lineup changes and really didn't have all that much to say about the glory years of Sabbath. Instead, he paused to dwell on Iommi’s association with Necromandus, which was his segue way into Ozzy’s first attempted solo project in 1976. While I did find this discussion interesting and worthwhile, it just seemed to unbalance the story a bit. I’m not sure why Ozzy’s tenure with Sabbath wasn’t explored a bit more here, but one of Garry’s next projects is a book about Black Sabbath from the 80’s to present. And with all of the lineup changes that took place during that time, he’ll have plenty to cover!
The book picks up steam during the Randy years and through the shaky period where Ozzy's lineup changes seemed as frequent as Ritchie Blackmore's axings! It was these sections that made the book a bit hard to put down! And all of my misgivings about the lack of Sabbath content was by then forgiven.
By the end of the book, it also seemed to thin out a bit, since the last interviews had pretty much wrapped up. And with the Ozzy story still being written as we speak, it's tough not to feel like there's still more to tell. Also, the absence of interviews with Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde was quite noticable, but this was more than likely their decision. I’m certain that they would have even more of an inside story to tell. Ozzy always did seem to have a bias toward the opinions of his guitar players, which may stem from the ‘fatherly’ influence that Tony Iommi had upon him in Sabbath. And sadly, we’ll never Randy’s side of the story, even though several people (like Kelly Garni in this book) do their best to relate it second hand.
Also, the book’s length is a bit deceiving, due to a sizable reference section which is nearly a quarter of the book itself! This section includes a complete discography of Ozzy’s official recordings with Sabbath, solo or as simply as a guest on someone else’s album. It also contains complete summary style biographies of every musician who played with Ozzy, as well as every band they ever played with! While this provides a valuable reference for the collector and Ozzyphile, all of the lineup changes here make for some dizzying reading! It is best to chew this section into small pieces before swallowing, because there is a LOT of data here.
The middle of the book has a nice array of original Ozzy photographs from 1973 to present taken by Danish rock photographer Jorgen Angel (www.angel.dk). I’ve never seen any of these photos elsewhere before and they show him during various phases of his career. Not all of them are flattering, but they are quite nice to see!
For more information on Ozzy Osbourne: The Story Of The Ozzy Osbourne Band, visit www.rockdetector.com.
ALSO!!! Be sure read Garry Sharpe-Young's comments on my review here!
Other reviews:
By Joe Siegler: http://black-sabbath.com/books.html (Special thanks to Joe for helping me optimize the background image for this page!)
By Mitch Van Beekum: http://ozzyhead.com/news.htm (see 10/10/2002 news item 'Lost Song With Ozzy On Harmonica")
