Wymer Publishing

Drummer Cozy Powell, famed for his work with Jeff Beck, Rainbow, MSG, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Bian May, has a CV longer than most could ever wish for, with success and obscure sessions and a family tree that’ll take you down many a rabbit warren. And a book on the dear chap (he was a good friend, back in the day, confiding a lot with me and phoning me a day or so before he died) has been long overdue.

Both of these books are put together by Laura Shenton, the first edition of the Cozy Powell Story appearing a few years back, and has now been updated. I am reliably informed that the first edition made mistakes along the lines of over-glamorising the wrong things, for example that he didn’t excel at school (according to a cousin, he did excel).

The book looks back (briefly) to his childhood, his adoption (understandable that there’s not a lot of information available there), school days and early bands. The Corals (not his first band) are discussed with quotes from Cozy and others associated, form vintage press interviews), and their record breaking show in Cirencester is mentioned, before going through The Sorcerers, Youngblood et al.

A couple of points I noticed, for example mentioning the label the first Sorcerers 45 was released on (SABA) but not mentioning Palatten for their third (featuring Cozy), in the chapter or discography, and material not being available until the 2023 Bedlam box (everything on there bar the remix had been previously available). A fair bit of information around the Big Bertha and Ace Kefford releases, and a chat about the Woodstock appearance with Tony Joe White.

The Jeff Beck period is good but info on the unfinished album of Motown covers (having heard it, it needs exploring further). Cozy’s first marriage is mentioned too.

A nice touch – where there are two sides to how Cozy’s audition with Jeff Beck (Cozy’s and Jeff’s), both are covered.

When a topic is gone into in depth, it is well written, the historic interviews fleshed out (some Amazon reviews criticise the book for being too much of a cut and paste, but there is more to it than that), but some of the topics, starting here with some of the session work, are glossed over too quickly.

One chapter that makes this worth while is one dedicated to Cozy’s mid 70s motor racing with lots of information.

A bonus, as one thing that’s never been clear is the period Cozy did take a break from music, as the dates above are 74/75, which overlaps with several session releases, and Cozy was always adamant that the break came after the 1975 breakdown of Strange Brew.

The Rainbow section is interesting, but could have been covered in more depth (although other Rainbow books are available). But strange to imply that it was alluded to that LA Connection was about Tony Carey quitting during the Long Live Rock’n’Roll sessions when Cozy made it direct and clear (in a publicly available interview) that it definitely was.

Sadly all of Cozy’s solo work is dealt with lightly at best. To say that not much was written about those albums at the time may be the case, but surely there’s an invitation to go do some research (contributors to those albums, and people who HAVE written about them, aren’t all dead yet).

While every chapter does have some interesting information, the approach is a little skewed. For example, late 80s, we get Sharon Osbourne’s petulant name calling as Iommi put together a new line-up of Sabbath, but there’s little mention of Cajo (featuring Cozy and Neil Murray), a track or two used for The Drums Are Back.

There’s a discog overview, many records there that’ll be new to the average fan. One issue is where Cozy only appeared on a single or two (for example Hot Chocolate), or tracks otherwise unreleased (The Arrows), there are several and much better compilations available than those listed. No label information, and a couple of the records, the Plum & Youth and Young & Moody Band 45s good examples, where there’s a good story or two that could have been covered.

The gigography is good too. Well worth a look.

Largely well written, and in the main the paper research is good. But it stops there; there’s quite an archive of historic press cuttings that must have been gone through, although some briefly as you do see the same interviews (Melody Maker, Rhythm, Classic Rock, More Black Than Purple and a couple more) referred to again and again. The interview I ran with Cozy Powell in Record Collector is quoted twice; a shame not more so as a few of the gaps are addressed there for a start. I have also interviewed Don Airey and Glenn Tipton, again both in the public domain,

I have a few more stories too, regaled in person and by phone. The lack of actually talking to people hasn’t helped fill the gaps.

Even so, something here for everyone.

The A Life In Vision book is more a coffee table approach, with text soundbites interspacing pictures, mainly of press cuttings and photos of Cozy. There are many pictures of records too. Lots to really enjoy, the number of press cuttings makes an interesting read.

A rare photo of a US pressing of the Bedlam LP, an early pressing titled Beast, something that should have been made more of in the book. And like all the photos of records, should have been much larger (and most of the colourful worldwide pressings of Dance With The Devil are both small and unlabelled, need a country of origin). Too much space taken up by a number similar and large photos, all clearly from the same photoshoot; make them half or quarter page and make some of the other pictures larger and labelled.

If you’re a fan of Cozy Powell, or any of the artists he played with, or even just have a passing interest, both books are well worth a look. However, in terms of the nitty gritty, some missed opportunities.  ****

Review by Joe Geesin

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