Martin Popoff - Steal Away The Night: An Ozzy Osbourne Day-By-Day
http://www.martinpopoff.com/

Rating: B+

Sleep is the enemy! If that isn’t the personal mantra of famed Canuck rock scribe Martin Popoff, then it damn well should be! Having penned nearly fifty, yeah you read that right, fifty books on almost everything hard rock and metal related, Popoff has long since mastered the fine art of balancing quality with quantity, as he churns out sleek looking, top notch rock tomes at a fast and furious pace.

His latest effort Steal Away The Night – An Ozzy Osbourne Day-By-Day is an absolutely gargantuan bible on all things related to the reigning madman of metal. Stylistically laid out much like his glossy coffee table style book 2 minutes to Midnight: An Iron Maiden Day-By-Day, this volume is a veritable behemoth weighing in at almost 3 pounds that takes the reader on the wild and crazy ride of the Prince of Darkness’ four plus decade run in the music business.

All of the bases are covered thoroughly and accurately as Martin presents a high level overview of Ozzy’s time in Black Sabbath (for a more in depth study of these years, I suggest you seek out his comprehensive Sabbath book Doom Let Loose), before diving head first into the madman’s solo career, which is the real meat and potatoes here. Lovingly researched and meticulously crafted Steal Away The Night uncovers and study’s every triumph and tragedy of Ozzy’s storied career. Culled primarily from his own extensive interviews with anyone and everyone who’s ever broken bread, written a note of music or shredded a riff with the Ozz man, this tome provides not only a fascinating amount of insight, but also highlights just how pivotal a role the musicians and support cast have played throughout his career. The pinnacles of success and the valleys of despair are laid bare as Ozzy, along with current and former band-mates, take the reader through the painful death of Randy Rhodes, the infamous bat and dove incidents, the pissing on the Alamo, to the behind the scenes, in studio accounts of how each album was created.

Beautifully laid out and exploding with a plethora of stunning visuals, ranging from vintage concert shots, record sleeves, ads, posters, handbills and every other form of memorabilia imaginable, Steal Away The Night is a lavish and rewarding read from beginning to end. If you’re die-hard Ozzy fanatic, then you’re definitely going to want to snag yourself a copy of this book!           

By Ryan Sparks