I was a little skeptical of buying this book for two reasons. Rex Brown had released his own book a couple of months ago and surely his memoir had more substance to it as he’d actually been in the band. I had read some of Neil Daniels books previously and found them wanting big time. There just seemed to be nothing new in them, they just seemed like cut and paste quotes from previous band members interviews backed up by some tales from a roadie or manager. I thought his Journey book was terrible, here was an opportunity to tell a story of a huge band with a revered catalogue and it was just under 200 pages of nothing. They made this album then they toured then another album then Steve Perry left and more and more of nothing I already knew.
What I wanted from this book was a balanced account of the bands music, a look into each band members personalities and an accurate depiction of the environment the band evolved into. Really what I wanted was something as good as Rex’s book. You know what, after reading this I’ve nearly got it. The dreaded word “unauthorized” on the cover can be the kiss of death but authors like Mick Wall prove that without official access but proper research the real story of the band reveals itself. The author did however choose wisely this time with the people he did get. Early band members, old friends, fellow musicians, roadies, former management and record label contacts all flesh out a tale that is well written.
The author did try to get official access to band members and was denied, the powers that be put resistance on some of the people who agreed to be interviewed, one person even retracted everything he’d said for the book after feeling the pinch.
Essentially what you get here is a story of two Abbott brothers with differing personalities loyal to each other sometimes to a fault joined by another Texan Rex Brown who muddle around directionless for a couple of years. Then Phil Anselmo from New Orleans joins the band bringing his upfront, belligerent and combative self to the mix. Plus his love of death, thrash and black metal. The new and classic Pantera sound is born. Each album and tour with Phil is examined in detail although I could have done without all the chart entry stats, is it really necessary to know how high a Pantera album charted in Finland?
What I particularly enjoyed about the book was the depiction of the harsh for metal 90’s era the band flourished. They were successful because they did not break under pressure and change their sound to meet the times. If anything they became even heavier and Far Beyond Driven is easily the heaviest album to top the Billboard charts. They toured and toured and toured some more, old fucking school, lets bring our shit to the masses and get the word out that way. They unashamedly flew the flag for metal in an era where it was uncool to even mention the word. I think it’s fair to say that the genre we love would be a shadow of itself if this band had never existed.
With success came the inevitable fractions amongst band members. The Abbotts did everything together, Phil recorded his vocals in New Orleans and Rex looked on wondering how had the vision of the band come to this. The drug use and the drink. This era of the band and the final break up is well told. The death of Dimebag is handled tastefully and there’s a great story of Eddie Van Halen turning up unannounced before the funeral to give the guitar he played on Van Halen 2 to the family to be buried with him.
All in all this book was a very welcome surprise and a great companion piece to Rex’s book. Nice forward by Jeff Waters and afterword by Brian Slagel tops it off. A Neil Daniels book that I give a big thumbs up to. Got it for under $10 too.
Richie.
