How Black Was Our Sabbath: An Unauthorized View From The Crew has been getting rave reviews for the hard cover edition and is likely going to be pressed in paperback soon, with an undetermined edition to appear in North America, where it is currently selling as import (see www.blacksabbath.co.uk for more).
"We're hoping to get the paperback out soon in America," affirms David Tangye, who co-authored the book (a rollicking, good-natured, sometimes riotous read) with Graham Wright. "But it seems to be doing OK in hard back. It seems to be doing OK in Canada as well. We thought it would do OK in Canada anyway because of the interest in the band, basically. So we're quite happy with that. Of course, we've got all the artwork done now for the paperback, which is due for release here in the UK next March. At the end of the day, there's a lot of satisfaction in seeing that book up on the shelf, because it's a big part of your life, isn't it? That's the thing; and I'm pleased with it. The other thing, my mom died in March, and it was great - she saw the book before she went so I was really pleased about that. Because she was hanging on, hanging on; she was 87. So that was another big plus. But apart from that, yeah, everything seems to be going OK."
Now, I understand you and Graham worked with another writer to put it together?
"Yes, Carol Clerk, she helped us a lot with it. But basically, we did the book, we wrote the book. All the words are ours, and they're just there to get a polish, which we're pleased about, really. If you're writing your memoirs, editors can speed things up or slow them down, if you know what I mean. And anyhow, she did a great job, Carol did. That was a plus because it got everything down as really readable. But there was a lot taken out. Oh, about a chapter and a half went (laughs). But we had things to think about. We had to make sure it was right."
David and Graham were right in the thick of it, touring with the band during the golden years, David as Ozzy's personal assistant through the Sabotage tour and the Technical Ecstasy album and tour, Graham on board in a number of capacities for much longer. The stories are mostly previously unheard, almost always humourous and very candid. The rare photos match the positive and truly insider nature of the text.
David is particularly pleased with the meticulous history of the band leading up to the fateful self-titled debut album in 1970.
"We wanted to put the record straight on a lot of things, the confluence of it, the really early Sabbath stuff, how they started, like for example the band Mythology. It had been totally distorted in other publications. And it wasn't fair on guys like Neil Marshall, who started Mythology. He really worked hard to get that band going. And Tony actually came to that band. It was a credited band before he got there, you know what I mean? A lot of people have said, 'Well, Tony did this and Tony did that,' but he basically came up to Cumberland to work and that's how it was. I'm very pleased with the early part. A lot of things like Keith Jefferson and his photographs. And Geoff Lucas was absolutely brilliant, because Geoff was with them from day one basically. So we got everyone in the book we wanted to get into the book. There were a couple people missed out that were a bit miffed about it, but it was our book and we got in what we wanted to get in (laughs), and that was it."
The first edition hard cover is still available through David and Graham at the above-stated website (www.blacksabbath.co.uk) and it comes highly recommended, especially so given the lack of good Sabbath books on the market.
By Martin Popoff
Source: [a href=\'http://www.bravewords.com\' target=\'_blank\']Bravewords.com[/a]
"We're hoping to get the paperback out soon in America," affirms David Tangye, who co-authored the book (a rollicking, good-natured, sometimes riotous read) with Graham Wright. "But it seems to be doing OK in hard back. It seems to be doing OK in Canada as well. We thought it would do OK in Canada anyway because of the interest in the band, basically. So we're quite happy with that. Of course, we've got all the artwork done now for the paperback, which is due for release here in the UK next March. At the end of the day, there's a lot of satisfaction in seeing that book up on the shelf, because it's a big part of your life, isn't it? That's the thing; and I'm pleased with it. The other thing, my mom died in March, and it was great - she saw the book before she went so I was really pleased about that. Because she was hanging on, hanging on; she was 87. So that was another big plus. But apart from that, yeah, everything seems to be going OK."
Now, I understand you and Graham worked with another writer to put it together?
"Yes, Carol Clerk, she helped us a lot with it. But basically, we did the book, we wrote the book. All the words are ours, and they're just there to get a polish, which we're pleased about, really. If you're writing your memoirs, editors can speed things up or slow them down, if you know what I mean. And anyhow, she did a great job, Carol did. That was a plus because it got everything down as really readable. But there was a lot taken out. Oh, about a chapter and a half went (laughs). But we had things to think about. We had to make sure it was right."
David and Graham were right in the thick of it, touring with the band during the golden years, David as Ozzy's personal assistant through the Sabotage tour and the Technical Ecstasy album and tour, Graham on board in a number of capacities for much longer. The stories are mostly previously unheard, almost always humourous and very candid. The rare photos match the positive and truly insider nature of the text.
David is particularly pleased with the meticulous history of the band leading up to the fateful self-titled debut album in 1970.
"We wanted to put the record straight on a lot of things, the confluence of it, the really early Sabbath stuff, how they started, like for example the band Mythology. It had been totally distorted in other publications. And it wasn't fair on guys like Neil Marshall, who started Mythology. He really worked hard to get that band going. And Tony actually came to that band. It was a credited band before he got there, you know what I mean? A lot of people have said, 'Well, Tony did this and Tony did that,' but he basically came up to Cumberland to work and that's how it was. I'm very pleased with the early part. A lot of things like Keith Jefferson and his photographs. And Geoff Lucas was absolutely brilliant, because Geoff was with them from day one basically. So we got everyone in the book we wanted to get into the book. There were a couple people missed out that were a bit miffed about it, but it was our book and we got in what we wanted to get in (laughs), and that was it."
The first edition hard cover is still available through David and Graham at the above-stated website (www.blacksabbath.co.uk) and it comes highly recommended, especially so given the lack of good Sabbath books on the market.
By Martin Popoff
Source: [a href=\'http://www.bravewords.com\' target=\'_blank\']Bravewords.com[/a]