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I was late to the party: I had amassed a collection of several thousand albums (vinyl and CD) before I even gave a serious listen to Black Sabbath<\/strong>. An acquaintance who knew of my musical likes and dislikes had wondered aloud why I didn\u2019t listen to the band. He lent me an LP or two, and I dutifully played them. And I quickly experienced an \u201caha\u201d moment; why hadn\u2019t I listened before? In short order I had run down copies of all of their Ozzy Osbourne<\/strong> era albums (up through Never Say Die<\/em>; I did not<\/em> dig the Dio era) on both formats.<\/p>\n Against that backdrop it\u2019s needless to say that — even though it was on the radio quite a bit when I was in high school and college — I gave absolutely no attention to Ozzy\u2019s post-Sabbath recordings. Sure, I heard \u201cCrazy Train\u201d on the radio now and then, and knew that it was somehow different from, say, \u201cIron Man,\u201d but it didn\u2019t pique my interest.<\/p>\n As a result, I was completely unaware of the name \u2013 let alone the work of \u2013 Randy Rhoads<\/strong>. I didn\u2019t know anything about his guitar prowess, and honestly don\u2019t recall hearing of his tragic death in 1982. To quote Darth Vader<\/span> Dick Cheney<\/strong>, I guess I had \u201cother priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n That situation has been partially corrected now, thanks to a read through Joel McIver<\/strong>\u2019s Crazy Train: The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads<\/em>. Across two hundred-plus pages McIver recounts Rhoads\u2019 life, with specific attention given to his electric guitar playing era. First with an early lineup of Quiet Riot<\/strong>, then with Blizzard of Ozz<\/strong> (aka Ozzy Osbourne and other guys), Rhoads made quite a name for himself with his classically-based shredding guitar style. His playing influenced a long line of guitarists, many of whom I\u2019ll admit I have either no interest in (Dave Mustaine<\/strong> of Megadeth<\/strong>) or an active dislike of (Yngwie Malmsteen<\/strong>; I mean\u2026c\u2019mon<\/em>). But as is so often the case, the artist doing the influencing is better than those being influenced. McIver makes the point that Rhoads\u2019 style was equal parts speedy technical brilliance and melody.<\/p>\n The book is a pretty quick read, and as the first comprehensive look at the guitarist\u2019s life and work, it is to be commended. There are some weak points, however: chief among these is the author\u2019s predilection for reproducing interview quotes in (presumably) unedited form. Now, when we speak, we often circle back on ourselves, saying the same thing more than once: \u201cHe was a great guy, I tell ya. Blah blah blah [a couple hundred words]\u2026he was a great guy.\u201d Most authors would hack that down, break it up, contextualize it a bit. McIver chooses to drop the whole thing in. And he does this repeatedly throughout the book.<\/p>\n As a result, Crazy Train<\/em> comes off more as a string of quotes (admittedly, they\u2019re quotes from people who knew Rhoads, not from a parade of so-called experts) with the barest of writing to tie them together. It\u2019s clear that McIver knows his stuff, but Crazy Train<\/em> often fails to follow the \u201cshow, don\u2019t tell\u201d rule of journalism. That said, there\u2019s plenty here in the way of interesting information.<\/p>\n Yet the reader has to wade through some dross to find it. Because of McIver\u2019s no-editing style, at the tail end of a reasonably enlightening quote about Rhoads from Zakk Wylde<\/strong>, we are treated to this gratuitous quote from the axeman: \u201cTalking of which, I gotta go. I\u2019m gonna get a cold beer and stick my tongue up my wife\u2019s ass.\u201d Now, I\u2019m not easily offended, and the quote is (almost) a little funny, but its inclusion in Crazy Train<\/em> adds nothing of value, and interrupts the flow of the story. It, shall we say, leaves a bad taste in the reader\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n Moreover, early on in the book\u2019s pages, McIver goes to some length to warn the reader he is not setting out to paint Rhoads as a saintly figure. With that caveat out of the way, he does just that, highlighting Rhoads\u2019 love of family, fascination with model trains, disinterest in the drug scene, etc. (Randy probably liked kittens, too, one supposes.) Then, when wrapping things up, McIver tells the reader (in so many words) \u201cSee? I told you I wouldn\u2019t make him out to be a saint.\u201d It\u2019s kinda like that.<\/p>\n Those flaws cannot help but detract from an otherwise thorough and clearly well-researched book. The flaws may well be of less notice to non-writers, to those who come to the book to learn more about a musician cut down in the prime of his life and career. (Rhoads\u2019 death has more in common with the fates that met Buddy Holly<\/strong>, Otis Redding<\/strong> and Stevie Ray Vaughn<\/strong> than, say, Jimi Hendrix<\/strong>, Janis Joplin<\/strong> or any number of Spinal Tap<\/strong> drummers.) And it is for those fans that Crazy Train<\/em> has been written.<\/p>\n Taking into consideration the criticisms and warnings herein, Crazy Train: The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads <\/em>still receives a qualified recommendation. It\u2019s primarily for fans of the guitarist and the metal genre, but \u2013 thanks in part to its relative brevity \u2013 is a worthwhile read for casual music fans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was late to the party: I had amassed a collection of several thousand albums (vinyl and CD) before I even gave a serious listen to Black Sabbath. An acquaintance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book","category-review","cat-10-id","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/icon_twitter_small.jpg\"){kind=icon}
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