Black Sabbath

Rating:
Summary: Omar junans' wonderful review of Black Sabbath
Review: "Black Sabbath" is a 2002 revision of the 1996 book "Wheels of Confusion" by Steven Rosen. The main difference is the second-to-last chapter, which details the latest solo projects of original four members, plus the latest of the reunion.

This book does the band little justice.

First of all, Rosen is shamelessly pro-Ozzy and the original lineup, so he automatically discredits all other incarnations of the band, culminating with a phony interview with Ronnie James Dio that makes the singer come across as an insensitive jerk. He also tosses out dumb lines like "Black Sabbath with Dio sounds like Rainbow, which sounds like Elf" - I doubt Rosen has ever made the effort to even find the old Elf albums to back up such a statement!

Secondly, a great deal of the book comes from a lengthy interview with percussionist Bill Ward. At least half the quotes must have come from him. While I cannot comment on Bill's character, he was in and out of the band a zillion times and even admits he can hardly remember large portions of the late 1970's and early 80's. Not particularly the best person to talk to to get the real scoop of the many lives of Black Sabbath.

My third gripe is the number of times the phrase "like Led Zeppelin" is tossed around. Who cares? This leads right into my final annoyance with the book, which is the poor editing and fact-checking. First off, Led Zeppelin is NOT from Birmingham. Also, Rosen experiences grave confusion between the 1980's and the 1990's in his new chapter detailing the events that lead to the "Reunion" album. Finally, Glenn Hughes was never in the band Zephyr. Clearly Rosen meant "Trapeze" even though he wrongly lists "Medusa" as their first album. For the record, Zephyr was the original band of another Deep Purple alum, Mr. Tommy Bolin.

The bottom line is that there has to be a better book on Black Sabbath out there...

Rating:
Summary: Great book, a must for any Sabbath fan
Review: Having been an Ozzy fan for many years now, I was introduced to Black Sabbath later rather than sooner. I have to say that this book is an honest account and charts the band's success form the humble start in Birmingham to worldwide recognition. It is very true to say that Sabbath single handedly shaped heavy metal as we know it today.........ROCK ON

Rating:
Summary: I agree with some points...
Review: I agree with some points that you are criticizing, but not with others. For example:

The writer really spend most time dealing with the Ozzy-era Sabbath. Well, any average Sabbath fan knows that Sabbath ceased to be a band after the Mob Rules album (after Dio left), and became a sort of Tony Iommi solo band, beginning a wheel chair dance of countless musicians (all of them highly skilled, but not forming a "band"..!!!)

And another answer: no, there's not a better book about Sabbath out there....

Rating:
Summary: Nothing new here
Review: I bought the 'Wheels of Confusion' book 4 years ago, read the whole thing in one sitting and at the end didn't know a lot more about Black Sabbath than what any good fan would know (and who else would buy the book?). This new edition adds very little, so if you already have 'Wheels of Confusion' you don't really need to buy this. As others have pointed out, the book focuses on the Ozzy era, and I think that's just fine. Black Sabbath is Ozzy+Iommi+Geezer+Ward, no more, no less.