It's not a bad book per se but a combination of its unauthorized nature along with Case's occasionally annoying writing style makes it a little bit disappointing (but certainly not a waste of time). You'll be reading a passage that's mature, balanced and well written but then he'll suddenly throw in some statement that's meant to be a clever remark and it comes across as something like a high school kid's writing assignment, kind of clever for its own sake but not fitting the tone of the overall text you're reading. Stephen Davis did this a lot in Hammer of the Gods. While this book seems far more grounded in reality than the Davis book, these little clever comments can be annoying, sort of like someone who's smart enough to know all the big words but hasn't yet mastered the art of knowing when and where to use them. There are lots of little things that are like references to drug habits, occult worship, etc., that seem as if they're attempts at sharing an "inside joke" with the reader but end up coming across as a writer trying to hard to sound clever.
It's not an authorized biography, so Case has to rely on the various magazine and book accounts of various things. He's done a very commendable job of researching everything. However, when he encountered events with differing accounts, he tried to present them all by qualifying them with "one account has it that..." "another version of this story is that...." In the end, this kind of distracts from the reading and undermines the credibility of what you're reading. To be fair, this isn't Case's fault and he tries to be balanced without sensationalizing, it just hinders the flow of the story. He does mention that he tried to contact Page through his management company to invite him to contribute, but he never heard from Jimmy or the company.
Plus there's a bit of "ga-ga fanaticism" in the text too. When I first received the book in an Amazon order, I thumbed through and found the final chapter entitled "Outrider: Interpreting The Rune Of Zoso." I was intrigued and decided to read this right away. Instead of being a discussion or explanation of the rune, it's simply a personal account by Case of how Page inspired him, etc. It's not a "golly gee, he's so cool" kind of thing, but after seeing the title, you feel somewhat cheated. Nothing wrong with being a dedicated fan; I've been accused of this myself over the years and occasionally even slightly ridiculed my fondness for all things Zeppelin. Still, at some point you have to learn how to reign it all in and show a bit of balance, especially if you're trying to author a credible biography!
Anyway, I'd still recommend the book based on what I've read so far. After that first chapter, I thumbed through the rest and saw that he covered a lot, although the little bit I read on the Unledded and Clarksdale years seemed a bit very scant. Perhaps I didn't look at that section enough. Afterwards, I did start from the beginning of the book and so far I've reached the end of the Neil Christian and the Crusader years. All the annoyances I mentioned above are scattered throughout what I've read but it's still fascinating material if you overlook the "high school writing assignment" flourishes. This morning for instance, I read a part I thought to be a bit cheesy that went something along the lines of "little did he know that up in Liverpool" in reference to the Beatles or a similar comment about the Stones, or Clapton. In fact, now that I think of it, he didn't mention Clapton yet at all as a childhood friend of Page. It's been years since I looked back at the chronology, but didn't Jimmy and Eric hang out before Page was in Neil Christian and the Crusaders. Perhaps not, but if he did, then Case is missing a rather notable friendship from Page's early years.
Don't get my wrong, the book is definitely worth getting, but at times it kind of reminds you of one of those lead guitarists who doesn't realize that the space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves. It also makes you wish Jimmy and the others (if they are involved) would get the official Zeppelin biography completed and published. It will be a tremendous read with the official and authorized versions of the stories.
Steve. Quoting harry p <zennjazz8081@xxxxxxxxx>:
I was at Borders yesterday and saw: Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man: An Unauthorized Biography amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Jimmy-Page-Musician-Unauthorized-Biography/dp/1423404076/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8153837-8853764?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179409367&sr=8-1 Nice slick book, nice pictures. I did not buy it. It is one of those 'unauthorized' biographies. Just wondered if anybody here had read it yet. It is a new release. oh yeah.. I know how to spell Zeppelin.. with a Z.. lol late night the other night looking at 'dead wax' for an hour.. then somehow the e-mail went to Nech.. I cannot figure how I did that one... Harry____________________________________________________________________________________Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase.http://farechase.yahoo.com/