Heavy

It's not bad. It's not great, but it's not bad. The book is a collection of quotes from Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham on a variety of subjects ranging from music to their well known problems with the music press to life on the road etc, etc. The topics don't get much heavier than that although that's not a big deal. I mean, does anyone really care what John Bonham has to say about the state of international affairs? I don't think so. At the end are a few sanctimonious quotes from Robert Plant about no man being an island and Jimmy Page saying that he's searching for an angel with a broken wing.

Whatever. Judging by the age of some of his girlfriends I'd say he spent most of his time looking for her at the local Jr. High School.

Anyway, the biggest flaw with this book is that there are no dates accompanying the quotations. So you don't really get a feel for how the band members grew or progressed as people as they got richer, older and supposedly wiser. Bad omission by the editors.

If you love Zep the way I used to love them, buy this. If you're just a casual fan then stick w/the music.

Any fan of the "Green Weenies" will love all the data presented here. There is a complete description of the Euclid numbering system. Pictures of experimental models that will make you wonder "What were they thinking?" Some of the old pictures that have been found in the Euc archives probably didn't reproduce the color as well as one would have hoped. However they are pictures of machines that you will probably never see again. Well worth the effort to produce what was done. Newer color pictures are of the high standard that one would expect from this author.

I have used this book as reference guide so many times that it has become indespensible.

Another fine job by Eric C Orlemann

This book consists of 12 songs: One, Harvester of Sorrow, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Nothing Else Matters, The Unforgiven, Enter Sandman, Until It Sleeps, Fade to Black, Seek and Destroy, The Thing That Should Not Be, Sad But True and Mama Said.

Basically, some of the songs play a lot better than others. The more recent ballads like NEM and Unforgiven are excellent on the piano, but Harvester, Seek and Thing just don't really translate well to the keyboard.

I think you'll enjoy at least half of this collection if you like Metallica and you've played the piano for at least a couple of years. It's not beginner music, but most of it is fairly straightforward to play. I was a bit disappointed at the transcription of some of the solos -- they leave some of them out -- then again, they were meant for guitar and not piano.

While there are plenty of Ozzy, Sabbath and other quotes, they're pretty much the same ones we've been hearing for years. It also only covers Ozzy's hit standards (i.e. Crazy Train, War Pigs, NIB). None of my favorites were covered, but I can't blame the author for that, I suppose. It also covered the infamous (and so, so tired) stories of the bat, the Alamo, the doves.

The saving grace of this book is the photos. It's absolutely overflowing with awesome pics of Ozzy, Sabbath, Randy Rhoades, Zakk Wylde and other band members. A lot of these photos are pretty rare, and I'm sure some of them are never-before-seen.

It's not too shabby in the writing department either. Clerk is a lucid and fun author, and the format of the book is very eye-catching. The pages are multi-colored, the title fonts are trippy, and in every chapter, there's a paragraph that has been written backwards and upside down faintly apparent in the background (a shoutout to all those who believe in subliminal messages). The editors did an outstanding job of making it enjoyable to read, but not silly and overloaded with visuals.

Price is very good, and the book isn't a disappointment for what it is. I'm very pleased with it. An essential for any Ozzy fan.

Based upon the experinces of Washinton insiders, Benson debates that ever-controversial topic of warfare stratagy. As Benson puts the skin on the bones with information that can be found nowhere else, the reader is catapulted into a sea of informative, yet entertaining and thought-provoking.

In one word: Excellence!