Books about Black Sabbath

[xxxMidgexxx]

'How Black was our Sabbath'.

A man named V. Sound sent it to me years back.

I read it 4 x and gave to Descendents/FLag guitarist S. Egerton. You might know him.


Midge. f. Lightweight

[xxxHunterxxx]

I've got one that has a chapter about each album. It's the best.

[drew]

I prefer books about UFO's....

[yourenotevil]

I've got one that has a chapter about each album. It's the best.

yeah, that was a good read, even though i disagreed with his choices for the best sabbath albums. i recall him really liking technical ecstasy.

[Michele]

I guess Technical ecstasy is one of the few Sabbath albums I never heard, any good?

[yourenotevil]

I guess Technical ecstasy is one of the few Sabbath albums I never heard, any good?

it has a couple of good songs, but there is way too much bad 70s proggy keyboard shit going on. back street kids is a good song. there is one more but i can't remember what it is.

[drew]

I guess Technical ecstasy is one of the few Sabbath albums I never heard, any good?

it has a couple of good songs, but there is way too much bad 70s proggy keyboard shit going on. back street kids is a good song. there is one more but i can't remember what it is.

I like "She's Gone" but not too many good tunes on that album....

[yourenotevil]

I guess Technical ecstasy is one of the few Sabbath albums I never heard, any good?

it has a couple of good songs, but there is way too much bad 70s proggy keyboard shit going on. back street kids is a good song. there is one more but i can't remember what it is.

I like "She's Gone" but not too many good tunes on that album....

i think never say die pretty much sucks except for the title track as well. you hear people make arguments for them , but when you consider the next three albums they put out, there is no contest as to which is better.

[Michele]

coming to black sabbath (one of my all time fave bands) I got and worship everything from Black Sabbath to Sabotage plus the Dio and Gillan ones, I heard but not loved The Seventh Star and The Eternal idol, so looks like I missed Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die plus everything after The Eternal Idol except 13, anything really worthing to buy and check?

[yourenotevil]

coming to black sabbath (one of my all time fave bands) I got and worship everything from Black Sabbath to Sabotage plus the Dio and Gillan ones, I heard but not loved The Seventh Star and The Eternal idol, so looks like I missed Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die plus everything after The Eternal Idol except 13, anything really worthing to buy and check?

i don't know if you know the later dio stuff based on what you posted:


dehumanizer, the 92 album with dio

dio and sabbath did three tracks for the dio years sabbath cd

heaven and hell did a cd that was essentially a black sabbath album(don't know if you heard that)

cross purposes has geezer on it, some of the songs are good but if you don't like eternal idol, you might not like this.

sabbath reunion double cd with ozzy is good if you can find it for cheap.

[Michele]

yeah, got the two 2cd
sabbath reunion with ozzy
the past is alive

[JGJR]

I guess Technical ecstasy is one of the few Sabbath albums I never heard, any good?

it has a couple of good songs, but there is way too much bad 70s proggy keyboard shit going on. back street kids is a good song. there is one more but i can't remember what it is.

I like "She's Gone" but not too many good tunes on that album....

i think never say die pretty much sucks except for the title track as well. you hear people make arguments for them , but when you consider the next three albums they put out, there is no contest as to which is better.

No question that the 1st few albums with Dio are better albums than the last few with Ozzy (not counting the reunion album from last year), but I think Never Say Die is better than you give it credit for and better than Technical Ecstasy (the worst Ozzy era album; great name and cover; shitty album). It's still nowhere near the quality of anything up to and including Sabotage, though. I'm not a fan of Born Again, though. I've tried with that record.

[earthdog70]

The Martin Popoff book is the one I have, it's pretty cool.

I'm probably the only one here that likes all the singers from Sabbath, even some Tony Martin

[Michele]

I like the singer but not with Sabbs, I barely can think of sabbs with Dio....

[version sound]

First two Ozzy solo LPs >>>>>>>>>> Last several Ozzy Sabbath LPs

[xxxHunterxxx]

I love Technical Ecstasy. Don't much care for Dio Sabbath.

[yourenotevil]

The Martin Popoff book is the one I have, it's pretty cool.

I'm probably the only one here that likes all the singers from Sabbath, even some Tony Martin

i like some tony martin era stuff, but tony was the only original member minus geezer for like one album and tour in 94. tony did the dio era stuff pretty well, but the ozzy stuff was not his strong suit. even then, if you saw them in that era they were doing like 2 or 3 martin songs tops. he did have some great musicians in that line up with cozy powell, but he was switching them out so much it was hard to get any consistency going on the albums. eternal idol, tyr and cross purposes all have good songs though.

[yourenotevil]

I love Technical Ecstasy. Don't much care for Dio Sabbath.

you smokin that crack cocaine.

[yourenotevil]

I guess Technical ecstasy is one of the few Sabbath albums I never heard, any good?

it has a couple of good songs, but there is way too much bad 70s proggy keyboard shit going on. back street kids is a good song. there is one more but i can't remember what it is.

I like "She's Gone" but not too many good tunes on that album....

i think never say die pretty much sucks except for the title track as well. you hear people make arguments for them , but when you consider the next three albums they put out, there is no contest as to which is better.

No question that the 1st few albums with Dio are better albums than the last few with Ozzy (not counting the reunion album from last year), but I think Never Say Die is better than you give it credit for and better than Technical Ecstasy (the worst Ozzy era album; great name and cover; shitty album). It's still nowhere near the quality of anything up to and including Sabotage, though. I'm not a fan of Born Again, though. I've tried with that record.

the problem with tech ex is that they hired a keyboardist(i want to say the guy from yes,but i can't remember) and he ended up having a lot of impact on the songwriting, even though i don't think he got credit for most of it. never say die essentially written in the studio and to me they just didn't have many ideas left. maybe some good riffs here and there, but the tony martin era is definitely a lot stronger if you are just looking for an iommi riff fix.

[Michele]

First two Ozzy solo LPs >>>>>>>>>> Last several Ozzy Sabbath LPs

I would say that first three Ozzy solo albums are pure classics.... recently bought all of them on cd as I had only on tape

[xxxMidgexxx]

. i recall him really liking technical ecstasy.

Underrated album.

Some terrific stuff.

[captain2man]

Martin Popoff - 'Doom Let Loose' - if you're more interested in reading about the actual records & tours rather than getting deep into biography.

Popoff has one or two other Sabbath books that are more odds & ends stuff and pretty interesting.

[scannest]

I read Tony's auto-bio. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the effects of cocaine on the human psyche.

[JGJR]

the problem with tech ex is that they hired a keyboardist(i want to say the guy from yes,but i can't remember) and he ended up having a lot of impact on the songwriting, even though i don't think he got credit for most of it. never say die essentially written in the studio and to me they just didn't have many ideas left. maybe some good riffs here and there, but the tony martin era is definitely a lot stronger if you are just looking for an iommi riff fix.

Rick Wakeman was in the band during the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tour and he's on the album, too, AFAIK, he's not on Technical Ecstasy. I never heard the latter album until I got the box set with all the Ozzy albums whereas I grew up listening to the earlier albums, so I'm not 100% sure here re: TE (I am 100% sure about SBS, though).

Yep, not Wakeman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_ ... #Personnel

[xxxMidgexxx]

Don Airy played for them too around Never Say Die.

He was also the writer for Ozzy's early stuff that had a keyboard (Mr Crowley)

[JGJR]

Don Airy played for them too around Never Say Die.

He was also the writer for Ozzy's early stuff that had a keyboard (Mr Crowley)

I always thought Bob Daisley wrote all of that stuff. You learn something new every day.

[tad ghostal]

Don Airy played for them too around Never Say Die.

He was also the writer for Ozzy's early stuff that had a keyboard (Mr Crowley)

I always thought Bob Daisley wrote all of that stuff. You learn something new every day.

Bob Daisley was the primary lyricist. Ozzy usually came up with the vocal melody and maybe a title or subject matter and then possibly some words or a phrase but couldn't complete an entire song, according to Daisley.

[yourenotevil]

Don Airy played for them too around Never Say Die.

He was also the writer for Ozzy's early stuff that had a keyboard (Mr Crowley)

I always thought Bob Daisley wrote all of that stuff. You learn something new every day.

Bob Daisley was the primary lyricist. Ozzy usually came up with the vocal melody and maybe a title or subject matter and then possibly some words or a phrase but couldn't complete an entire song, according to Daisley.

yeah, that was always the knock on ozzy. geezer said that is how it worked in black sabbath as well, even though they all got writing/publishing credit.

[captain2man]

I don't even want to know what a TRUE Ozzy solo record would sound like. He's a charismatic frontman with an interesting voice - but I doubt there's much, if any, songwriting/lyric writing talent going on there.

The fact that Ozzy had any music career whatsoever after Sabbath is most likely a tribute to Sharon and her efforts to make him a brand. It's a crime that she disrespected the actual writers who allowed him to have a career after that (I think she may have done the same thing to Jake E. Lee as she did to Daisley/Kerslake) - but she clearly knew what she was doing if her agenda was to make him a household name.

[yourenotevil]

I don't even want to know what a TRUE Ozzy solo record would sound like. He's a charismatic frontman with an interesting voice - but I doubt there's much, if any, songwriting/lyric writing talent going on there.

The fact that Ozzy had any music career whatsoever after Sabbath is most likely a tribute to Sharon and her efforts to make him a brand. It's a crime that she disrespected the actual writers who allowed him to have a career after that (I think she may have done the same thing to Jake E. Lee as she did to Daisley/Kerslake) - but she clearly knew what she was doing if her agenda was to make him a household name.

geezer said in that popoff book that he was integral to the writing process though, which is why i imagine he got a songwriting credit. but yeah, ozzy is one of the few solo guys is metal that would probably admit he can't write a lick of music to save his life.

[xxxHunterxxx]

I love Technical Ecstasy. Don't much care for Dio Sabbath.

you smokin that crack cocaine.

I've listened to the Dio Years a bunch of times over the last couple of days. It's not bad. It's just not doomy enough for my taste. I think I like the stuff from Dehumanizer the most.

[Michele]

It's just not doomy enough for my taste.

I totally second this, right by now, I click more with Born Again than with the Dio Sabbs

[yourenotevil]

It's just not doomy enough for my taste.

I totally second this, right by now, I click more with Born Again than with the Dio Sabbs

dio don't do doom.

[Michele]

exactly, that's why to me Sabbs with dio are not ont he same level as the ones with ozzy

[neutral knieval]

never say die is underrated. air dance is one of my favorite sabbath songs. i've given technical ecstasy a few tries but what little i can tolerate is ruined by the production. before anyone gives up on born again you should check out the demos. not breathtaking or anything but i think they sound much better.

[tad ghostal]

I don't even want to know what a TRUE Ozzy solo record would sound like. He's a charismatic frontman with an interesting voice - but I doubt there's much, if any, songwriting/lyric writing talent going on there.

The fact that Ozzy had any music career whatsoever after Sabbath is most likely a tribute to Sharon and her efforts to make him a brand. It's a crime that she disrespected the actual writers who allowed him to have a career after that (I think she may have done the same thing to Jake E. Lee as she did to Daisley/Kerslake) - but she clearly knew what she was doing if her agenda was to make him a household name.

geezer said in that popoff book that he was integral to the writing process though, which is why i imagine he got a songwriting credit. but yeah, ozzy is one of the few solo guys is metal that would probably admit he can't write a lick of music to save his life.

There are a couple Sabbath songs that Ozzy is said to have written on his own ("Who Are You?" and "Am I Going Insane") and I believe he is said to have actually written lyrics to a few others but Ozzy is more entertainer than artist. I remember watching one of those VH-1 top 100 whatever specials years ago and it was either Roger Glover or Ritchie Blackmore who said that Ozzy had one of the most appealing voices in hard rock. He's not a spectacular singer and I don't even think his vocal melodies are particularly inventive but that's something really enjoyable about him and his presentation, at least when he was in his prime. It's kind of interesting that after Sabbath dumped him, Iommi continued to pursue more technically gifted singers to diminishing results. Tony Martin supposedly had the best range of any Sabbath singer and very few people outside of hardcore Sabbath fans like those albums.

[captain2man]

The thing with Tony Martin is......unlike Ozzy, Dio or Gillan - he didn't really have his own unique voice. No Sabbath singer sang the other singers' material better than Martin did (Ozzy of course was never asked to do that)....but that also demonstrates that his own voice was less unique than any of the others.

The records he was on also weren't that great - at least not for Sabbath records. The lone exception there is Eternal Idol (vocals originally by Ray Gillen actually) which hangs quite well in the Sabbath catalog (there are good moments on Headless Cross too).....but those records in general are just not up to the Sabbath standard.....not really Martin's fault - he didn't write the riffs.

But I also think the complete dismissal of those records by Iommi himself is the nail in the coffin for Martin's era of the band. If Iommi actually acknowledged their existence and talking about them a little bit from time to time - maybe give Martin credit for some good work - those records might be perceived a bit differently.