"At the moment I'm fine, I dare say. I had stage three lymphoma so I was told not to have illusions, it could return at any time. This is one of the reasons we decided to end our live activity. The problem isn't the concerts, but the long journeys and the schedules we keep. It's a negative thing for me because it affects my health. I love playing with the band and it's really sad that this is the last tour we're doing"; "The Black Sabbath have always been my life and everything, including marriages, has always revolved around them". In these few words there's all of Tony, few complaints and a lot of realism. This man has had cancer since 2012 and went on tour with his Black Sabbath, not for money but for the passion he has, with the desire to take the stage again around the world and, perhaps, to leave everyone with one last great memory. The tour was organized so that he could return every six weeks for necessary treatments.
If Led Zeppelin is Page's creature, Black Sabbath is Tony's; he has given everything for his band. The only member ever-present in all line-ups. Let's be clear, for me, the Sabbath are the originals with all due respect to the great Ronnie Dio and the two well-received albums with him in the line-up. Tony is a simple and reserved person, without frills and with great respect for everyone. Probably the only guitarist who can boast (he knows it, and it pleases him, of course) of having invented a genre, or rather a sound. His riffs, the atmospheres created with the Sabbath, his heavy, slow rhythms, and the oppressive sound will influence all the metal guitarists after him. As someone ignorant on the subject, but having read various things, I think he is the reference point for “Doom” and “Stoner.”
In this beautiful autobiography, Tony tells us his whole life, coincidentally until the arrival of cancer and the recording of the last album with Greezer and Ozzy (unfortunately the absence of Ward would deserve a chapter on its own) and the related world tour. He gives us tons of anecdotes that make you devour the book in no time. The writing style is straightforward, sometimes almost elementary. Tony chooses never to take a stand against people or situations. He tells them the way they happened; the reader can draw their own opinions.
It's impossible to even enumerate the multitude of situations this man with his Sabbath has experienced. Certainly the beginning deserves notable mention. This young boy who finds a permanent place in a band "The Birds & The Bees" with an imminent European tour and immediately quits the factory where he works. On the last day, in the afternoon, he doesn't want to go; but his mother says that one should do the right thing and finish the day. He goes to work, replaces a colleague on a machine, and cuts off two fingertips of his right hand. A general drama, a tragedy for a young left-handed guitarist! In the hospital, destroyed in every sense, he receives a visit from the factory owner who brings him a record by Django Reinhardt telling him "listen, this man plays with two fingers" ... if this isn't a Rock'n'Roll start!!!
Everything is in this book, any adventure that back then could be associated with a successful band of four young "crazies": wonderful records, amazing concerts and not, drugs, alcohol, and total debauchery, managers who screw over everything, collapses and rebirths.
The people: first and foremost the relationships with the other three Sabbath members, Ozzy’s craziness, friendship and heavy pranks on Bill, the strange collaboration with Geezer; the friendship with Glenn Hughes met in his worst moment, the great respect for Rob Halford and Cozy Powell, the friendship never faded (even if they parted after badly arguing) with Ronnie James Dio and the one born after the tour together with Eddie Van Halen. The marriages, the story with Lita Ford, and his beloved daughter Toni-Marie. Friendship and esteem towards Led Zeppelin and the good-natured rivalry with Deep Purple. Plant and Bonham were from the same area and knew each other well especially Bonzo and Tony; among the funniest pages is the bachelor party the night before the wedding just the two of them (with a driver) with John who was his witness the following day. But I don't want to mislead you; loads and loads of music, obviously the true passion of the Mustache. And his prosthetics from artisanal to professional is an epic, just this would deserve the reading.
“I was surprised by the rap artists who have been influenced by the Sabbath. It was a surprise, it is very interesting and I feel honored”.
Well-loved Mustache, you have given so much and you should be proud of it.
Happy reading.
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