Rockdetector: "Black Sabbath": Never Say Die (Paperback)

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!

The first thing to note is that this book is actually much longer than the Ozzy book (a good portion of which was an enormous discography) and there are lots more photos. Most of these seem to come from the band themselves and it is great to see shots of Ray Gillen and Tony Iommi sharing a pint in an English pub, of Sabbath in South Africa and an amazing picture of a one off band line up that played in Greece. There is also one, unbelievable shot of Ray Gillen I shall just leave for you to wait and see!

The hype for this book promised ‘a revelation on every page’. I’m happy to report that this is very nearly true. (It probably balances out as some pages give you 4 or 5 things you probably never knew about before).
The book is basically chronological. This is important because the other Sabbath books I have read (“Oral History” and Steven Rosen’s dreadful effort) leave a lot of big gaps. This book fills them really well and this made clear as Sharpe-Young covers each album, the line up changes and the tours all in order.

While the behind the scenes material from “Heaven and Hell”, “Mob Rules” and “Live Evil” is great – all made from quotes from band members – it is “Born Again” where things really get interesting. Malcolm Cope on drums? Jamming ELO songs and “Black Night”? Amazing stuff.

By this stage, despite Ronnie, Ian, Geezer and Tony all being quoted, it becomes clear Sharpe-Young has got much of his information from keyboard player Geoff Nicholls. It is fascinating stuff because I, like so many others I guess, always thought of him as an added extra in the Sabbath saga. Sharpe-Young reveals Geoff wrote a lot of the music and a lot more besides.

For me, some of the most incredible new facts came in regard to David Donato and Jeff Fenholt. What is interesting here is that Sharpe-Young does not give his opinion but lets the people involved speak. Some contradict each other so no real solution is reached. For example, Eric Singer disagrees with Fenholt but then Hughes, Nicholls, Rondinelli and Rudy Sarzo back him up. What’s the truth? I don’t know! All I can say though is that these two singers, Donato and Fenholt, went up in my estimation greatly after reading their stories. Ron Keel’s connection shows him up to be nothing more than a complete ass.

I always read that Donato was there for a few weeks at most. Sharpe-Young reveals it was six months! Fenholt too seemed to be much more than just the chancer he is often represented as. The details of demos and rehearsals were unbelievable.

The Glenn Hughes farce is once more explored in great detail. Very interesting stuff. I loved the way the author describes how Glenn found out he was being sacked. Read it and you will really feel sorry for Glenn!! Both Dave “The Beast” Spitz and Eric Singer weigh in here too. Whilst I found Spitz’s life story a bit overlong (I skipped a few pages I admit) his times with Sabbath gave a whole new insight.

Ray’s story is very sad. All the stories about stomach cancer, etc were all a cover for AIDS. Glenn’s story here is very moving. You also get to find out why Ray was sacked from “Eternal Idol”.

Next up is the enormously underrated Tony Martin. As with Geoff Nicholls, Tony tells his full story and it is great to hear. Did you know he did vocals for “Dehumanizer”? Wow! All through this period the band moan about how little money there was. Did you know some Sabbath tours only happened because Tony Iommi got his credit card out? Now that is commitment!

As the story unfolds both Cozy Powell and Neil Murray come into play too. It is obvious Sharpe-Young spent a long time talking to these two. I never knew Cozy hated Dio. Wait until they start talking about the “Forbidedn” album. I always had my suspicions about that record.

Besides the main players you also get the stories of Jo Burt, Terry Chimes and Bobby Rondinelli. Rob Halford’s Costa Mesa experience is expanded upon with new facts too. There are some nice related stories from support bands too. All the players are given adequate space to explain their history before and after Black Sabbath. Sometimes this gets a bit too drawn out but it is worth persevering with as often more Sabbath related connections come to light, as with Fenholt, Rondinelli and Spitz.

Overall a book that every Sabbath fan will find very difficult to put down. The most pleasing thing about the book is that it is obvious Sharpe-Young is a big fan of the band. I just love the detective work and how he gets the details and facts that no one seems to have been able to get before. What I must also point out is that there are some very, very funny stories here too.

Yes, I paid a high import price for it but it was worth it.