I have mixed feelings about this one. I bought it when it came out a while back, and in some respects I like it a lot. Many of his reviews are fun to read, but I found that so many of them I either agreed with or totally disagreed with, so it became hard to really tell if it was something I'd want to check out or not, if it was one I hadn't heard. Also the heaviness rating is a good idea, but even more subjective seemingly than his 'like it' rating, and to my ears often seemed to be a bit exaggerated with some of the albums he has a particular liking for, and a bit downplayed with albums he didn't.
To be fair I came at this as someone who's been heavily, obsessively delving into late 60's and 70's hard rock/heavy rock/metal for over 20 years, and by the time I got this book the bulk of the stuff that was made then that is up my alley, and a lot that turned out not to be, I'd already sought out and heard, and I found myself getting frustrated at all the bands he left out (a hell of a lot!) or unfairly dismissed to the almost-rans in the appendices whilst including less worthy bands, the dissings of favourite bands, the dissings of bands who don't sing in English for his and the marketplace's benefit, the mistakes I found (regarding years of release, mainly), and his seeming disdain for the psychedelic era, finicky pickiness with much early 70's stuff and fondness for mainstream late-70's hard rock and commercial metal. (I mean, I like Ram Jam for example, but I'm referring to commercial stuff that doesn't have the chops, heaviness or great songs of Ram Jam - who btw are pretty under-rated and forgotten these days except for Black Betty.) I also thought the interview he did in the back made him seem a bit ignorant of the topic despite his apparent long-time love for it in general. Anyway, I know he's incredibly subjective and that's a good thing, because mostly it's nonetheless enjoyable to read (good for the toilet, too, because of the short but still substantial entries!), but here's my chance to be subjective back ;-) Years ago I left a review on Amazon saying pretty much the same thing, but it got removed quickly, I presume because I didn't actually buy my copy from Amazon...
He's also done books on 80's metal and hard rock, and 90's stuff. I think the late-70's and 80's were more his time due to his age group, so I'd be curious to see what he has to say about a lot of 80's thrash and death metal bands like, but I've never seen that book in a shop and I'd be reluctant to mailorder it without first having a look, because of my mixed reaction to his 70's book.
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