BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose is the title of a new Black Sabbath biography by BW&BK Editor In Chief Martin Popoff. Published by ECW Press, the book is similar in format to Martin's smash hit Rush biography, Contents Under Pressure, also published by ECW.

The book is 260 pages and full colour throughout, with many of the photographs leaning toward memorabilia shots versus photos of the band. ECW has issued the following description:

"Containing rare and previously unpublished material culled from Popoff's interviews over the last decade with all the principal members of the band, Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose is an exhaustive song-by-song, album-by-album trek through the Sabs' 37-year history. Numerous one-on-one conversations with Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill, as well as ten interviews with Ronnie James Dio, and additional interviews with supporting musicians such as Tony Martin, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Vinny Appice, and Neil Murray, make this full-colour retrospective a must for any fan.

The drugs, drink, depression, and doom surrounding this band have imbued songs like "The Wizard," "Paranoid," "Iron Man," "War Pigs," "Children of the Grave," and "Heaven and Hell" with an almost supernatural importance among lovers of dark music. In the wider realm, full albums such as Master of Reality, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, and Heaven and Hell show up with regularity on lists of greatest records of all time. Doom Let Loose explains how such classics came to be. It also deals with their tour history, documenting the places rocked, the supporting bands, and most notably, the band's trials and tribulations as they tried to hold it together in the Satan-obsessed, drug-addicted America of the Nixon era. Look for all manner of Sabbath photos and artifacts that make this examination of heavy metal's fearsome foursome a feast for the eyes as well as the enquiring mind."

JOE'S COMMENTS ON BOOK:

I've been a fan of Martin's books for ages.  The man has a knack of covering all the obscure bits that I personally am a fan of.  So when Martin decided to tackle a book on Black Sabbath, you know I'd be interested in it.  In short, this book differs from all the other "history of Black Sabbath" books by taking a different angle.  It's not just a straightforward "story", it's a recreation of the feel of the time.  As I said before, he goes after all the periods of this band, it's not just "The Ozzy Era".  The other eras are treated with equal respect, and that alone should qualify the book as a "must purchase".   It's actually hard to put the distinction between Martin's history and the other books on the history into perspective in just words.   It's one of those "feel" things.  Another bonus is that he gets into the meaning of the songs, and not just "OK, such and such left the band, and they need a replacement".  You need to read the book.    

US Paperback	U.K. Paperback

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BOOK DESCRIPTION:

For over a full decade Black Sabbath had dominated Heavy Metal. As much as Led Zeppelin scorned the term Black Sabbath embraced it. In an age of bona fide supergroups Sabbath were unquestionably the heaviest thing stalking the planet and quite remarkably had remained a solid unit where others around them suffered ongoing membership fall outs and line-up reincarnations. Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward had weathered internal storms just as ferocious as every other band out on the circuit but had remained resolute. They had conquered the globe, sold close to 50 million albums and without concession had not pulled back one iota from delivering absolute, pure Heavy Metal. In 1977 the unthinkable happened. Ozzy Osbourne decamped. He would be lured back for one last album 'Never Say Die' before flying solo, rapidly building a band unit that would equal the repute of the mothership.

Between 1979 and 1997 Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne were pitched against each other in a titanic struggle unprecedented in Rock n' Roll. Both stars would employ the very finest players of the genre in the conflict and produce some of the finest Heavy Metal of the generation in the process. Tony Iommi, the man who without question invented Heavy Metal, fronted up Sabbath with vocal legends such as Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin against Ozzy's awesome arsenal of guitar innovators Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde. Both Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne reinvented their bands time and time again. The huge array of elite players that travelled through the ranks is now a constant source of fascination and rumours for Sabbath fanatics.

'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath' reforges the author's two previous landmark tomes 'Ozzy Osbourne: The Story of the Ozzy Osbourne band' & 'Black Sabbath: Never Say Die!' along with additional material into this one definitive Metal milestone. Complete with over 100 photographs, many never seen before, and unique interviews, including with the late Ray Gillen and Cozy Powell as well as the highly controversial figure of Jeff Fenholt and mysterious Dave Donato, 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' is the definitive account of those years (1979 to 1997) before the reunion.

Additional details: discography appendix detailing 264 career albums and singles from Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Bill Ward, Geezer and Tony Iommi; plus index with 694 entries.

JOE'S COMMENTS ON BOOK:

I've not personally read this edition of the book - however, I have read the two individual copies of the book that form the bulk of the material.  They're both listed below.   My lack of reading is not due to a lack of desire, but more to the fact that having a baby tends to cut into one's leisure time for stuff like this.   However, as I've said, I've read the other books when they were standalone, and they were excellent, so it would stand to reason that these are, too.

US Paperback	U.K. Paperback

JOE'S COMMENTS ON BOOK:

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 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. 

UPDATE Apr 05: The book is now out in paperback in the United States, and is significantly cheaper to obtain in the US now.  Check out the links below.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  Stop reading this page and order it.  Right now.  The authors have an online group available to discuss the book, you can reach that here.

US Hardback	US Paperback	U.K. Hardback	U.K. Paperback

US	U.K.

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[ Read another chapter from the book from the publisher's web site ]

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

For more than a decade Black Sabbath, made up of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward, dominated Heavy Metal, selling close to 50million albums. But in 1977 Ozzy went solo, recording Never Say Die before forming a band that would rival his first. But Black Sabbath carried on, helmed by Tommy Iommi and a succession of vocalists. Despite difficult times, these last two decades are now recognized as some of the finest moments in Sabbath's career. With exclusive interviews and photos, this is the definitive account of those rocky, incredible years.

JOE'S COMMENTS ON BOOK:

As a long time fan of Black Sabbath, and the guy who runs www.black-sabbath.com - there's one thing that I think most folks know about me - I like *ALL* eras of Black Sabbath. There seems to be some recent revisionist history; a movement to ignore any Black Sabbath that doesn't have a certain front man known for complaining about dogs crapping in his house at the mic stand. Outside of the legendary musical period from 1970 through 1978 (and what has turned out to be fairly stagnant years creatively from 1997 onwards), there was a period of time with several other albums, band members producing material under the name Black Sabbath. By my count, it's a total of 10 albums (plus two more live and one greatest hits one), 97 original studio songs, and a total of 24 band members, and while not all of them recorded with the band, that's a lot of folks who were involved whose participation has never really been told. Until now.

Garry Sharpe-Young has interviewed just about everyone involved with the band during the time that Ozzy left/quit/was fired in early 1979 up until the point of the Ozzfest "reunion" shows in 1997. Such wide ranging topics as replacing Ozzy for real in 1979 with someone new, the band's trepidation at continuing to call themselves Black Sabbath through some of the big changes and low points in the career. Having run the Black Sabbath Online website since 1995, I was fortunate enough to know and work with several of the former members of Sabbath. I'm often praised for the comprehensiveness of my website, and the info I portray. There is a lot about Black Sabbath I know, more than the average fan. However, I'm no fool, and I'm not naive - I don't claim to know everything that ever happened with the band. I have to say after reading this book, I learned a good number of things I had NO CLUE even existed or happened. There's several stories in here that big Sabbath fans would have heard before, but there's far more that I'd wager that the book's reader had never known about. I cannot stress strongly enough the quality of detail that the book brings to the various folks who have played with the band over the years. We find out a lot about some of the more obscure members (Joe Burt, Terry Chimes), and some of the more well known (Ronnie Dio, Ian Gillan, Rob Halford).

While there's no stone unturned, there are a few that I would have preferred a longer look under. The closure of the Cross Purposes tour and the recording and start of the Forbidden album was brushed over fairly quickly, while the period with Jeff Fenholt is given what seems like 10 times the space in terms of pages. I realize you can't go into supreme detail about every single bit of minutiae, otherwise you'd have a book for each era of the band (which I personally wouldn't mind, but I digress). I still feel that some periods were glossed over. And speaking of Fenholt, there has been a lot said about his participation and non participation in the band, some of which by myself. This book goes into a level of detail about Fenholt that I've not been aware of before, and may change your mind about Fenholt's place in the band's history (it certainly got me to thinking about that issue). I'm even quoted in the Fenholt section of the book with a quote from the timeline page on my site (in what appears to me anyway to be a negative light regarding my previous thoughts regarding Fenholt & Sabbath). This book isn't for you if you want to find out what the meaning of the actual songs are about (although that is covered a bit here) - this book is geared more towards the people themselves than the actual music as such.

While I don't want to give away the cool details in the book, I will say one thing about the "stuff I didn't know before in this book" - Tony Martin is well known for being the guy that Sabbath brought in to re-record the Ray Gillen vocals from their 1987 album, "Eternal Idol". Something I did not know that this book claims is that the same thing happened twice - on another Sabbath album Tony Martin was brought in to re-record the vocals that were already laid down, but then the decision was made to use the original version anyway - check out the book for which album this is, and other equally surprising revelations.

I cannot say this strong enough. If you are a fan of Black Sabbath, and ESPECIALLY the non Ozzy years of the band, you owe it to yourself to check out this book. Is this the definitive be-all end all of the history of Black Sabbath during these years? No - I don't think any book could ever do that. However, this is by far the best accounting of the non Ozzy Sabbath history that I've yet seen put in print. We've had (far too) many books about "The Osbourne Years". It's about time we have a book that sheds some light on the otherwise mostly ignored years without Mr. Osbourne in front of the mic. If you're a fan of Black Sabbath, buy this. It's an awesome read. It has some behind the scenes photos too (some of which have been seen before), including one of Ray Gillen I rather wished I hadn't seen (no it's nothing morbid like that) - you'll know what I mean when you see it. :) This book should be considered a Sabbath bible for fans of non Ozzy era Sabbath, and for those who claim that Sabbath is "Only Ozzy", read the book! It might change your mind about the validity of the music, because it brings light to the struggle and fight that Mr. Iommi put on to keep the name and the quality music going.

Never Say Die indeed!

US	U.K.

Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years
by Robert Conte

BOOK DESCRIPTION: In 1969 four youths from the factory town of Birmingham, England--Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward--formed a group that would change music forever with their unique style of heavy metal. In 1980, Ozzy began an equally impressive solo career which established milestones in music history. Now, twenty years after Ozzy's departure, Black Sabbath has reformed with a new album and tour with one objective: to claim their rightful place in Rock and Roll history.

But how did these four men reach an unprecedented level of success and influence countless musicians to emulate them for generations to come? Read the true story of Black Sabbath...

The history of Black Sabbath during original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne's tenure in the group is told in Studio Chikara Publications' new release, Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years. (ISBN: 1-890313-99-8). This trade paperback, priced at $12.95, contains 48 pages with over 40 b/w & color photographs chronicling Black Sabbath's early days through their much-heralded, record-setting reunion tour featuring the original lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Tony Iommi.

Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years is available at bookstores, Internet bookstores, music stores, comic-book stores, and directly from the publisher for $12.95 + $4.00 s/h by sending check or money order to: Studio Chikara, 244 Fifth Avenue #2464, New York, NY 10001.