Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd (2024)

I have been a Floyd fan since I started listening to rock-n-roll as a pre-teen when The Wall came out, screaming "We don't need no education" when it came on the radio (or MTV), but hardly new anything about the band. When I was in high school, Roger had split with the other three and, yet, I was blown away when I discovered Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals and still have my vinyl and CD copies of The Wall. It wouldn't be until I made friends at university with more eclectic tastes that I would listen to Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Meddle, Obscured by Clouds, Atom Heart Mother, Ummagumma and The Final Cut. By then, most people in my entourage were Roger fans and so I also loved Pros and Cons of Hitch-hiking and Radio K.A.O.S. But still, I was ignorant of the history behind the band besides the legendary replacement of Syd Barrett by David Gilmour.

Comfortably Numb is an exemplary biography of Pink Floyd from their Cambridge origins through the Syd (which the author calls Pink Floyd Mark I), post-Syd (Pink Floyd Mark II), and post-Roget (Pink Floyd Mark III) periods. It gives well-rounded biographies of each member without the fawning of a fan or the bitterness of someone having taken sides in any of the many battles that ultimately split up the band. For my money, it is on par with Spitz's masterful The Beatles biography which I consider to be the benchmark - balancing biography, musical analysis and insight, and some of the backstage shenanigans but without ever taking focus off the band. It saddens me to think of how the clash of egos became more embittered over the years - Dark Side of the Moon was really the last moment that the band members really "liked" each other. Roger took more and more autocratic positions and bullied the other band members on Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall and was almost alone for The Final Cut. I dis not know that none of them aside from Gilmour were truly gifted players of their instruments: Richard Wright actually was fired from the band during The Wall for not contributing musically, Roger's focus was really composition and lyrics, and Nick Mason was unable to play some of the complex pieces.

While I was too young to see Floyd II, I did see Floyd III in San Antonio for The Division Bell tour in San Antonio and Roger Waters on the Amused to Death tour in Paris. Each was good, but Floyd III missed Roger's vocals and Waters was missing Gilmour's guitar. And the author was spot on in describing these shows.

I learned a ton about Pink Floyd thanks to this excellent effort by Mark Blake. With the passing of Richard Wright and Syd Barrett, all hope is lost for a reunion of Pink Floyd. It was a tremendous run though. It will be interesting to see what Roger Water's projected 2017 album sounds like, as David Gilmour's Rattle That Lock from 2015 was OK, but somewhat downkey. The one piece that was mentioned with which I am completely unfamiliar is Roger Water's Ça Ira which was a foray into classical music.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone familiar with Pink Floyd's music to get a backstage view of this truly unique band with an inestimable influence of rock music.

With "Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd, author Mark Blake gives the reader an intelligent biography of the band. Blake, a former editor with Britain’s Q Magazine and longtime contributor to Mojo.

This Biography is being marketed as “published to coincide with [Pink Floyd’s] 40th anniversary"

Lots of good stuff here, some nice Syd stuff, though leaning a bit towards the Roger Waters side of the story.

Pink Floyd revolutionized music and the live concert experience in the 1970s in a manner that compares to the Beatles in the 1960s.

Mark Blake is a renowned author who has written several seminal rock music biographies; in addition to the 'Who' book, he has written about Pink Floyd ("Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd") and Queen ("Is This Real Life: The Untold Story of Queen").

Mark has previously been assistant editor of 'Q Magazine' and is a long-time contributor to 'Mojo Magazine'.

Man, is this one going fast. I've neglected books I was reading just to zip through this one. I'll even be in bed, barely awake, and CANNOT put the f*cker down.

I think I've read just about every book on PINK FLOYD, learning little bits of information along the way, filling in the gaps, sometimes even getting most of the same stuff with every book I read. First it was Miles' PINK FLOYD datebook from the 80's, then Nicholas Schaefer's A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS, then the recent Nick Mason autobio/unmitigated history of the band in INSIDE OUT.

But THIS thing? Jesus. Most comprehensive history of the band, delving into parts of their lives from the early days that I never knew about. I'm not saying don't read the three books from above, but if you start with THIS one, you might not need any of the others.

Iako mi je Pink Flojd omiljeni bend malo sam se mučio sa ovom biografijom.
Mislim da mi više leže autobiografije ili malo 'subjektivnije' napisane biografije kroz koje se provlači neki motiv. Da malo bolje razumem zašto je neko nešto radio, u kakvom je stanju bio i slično.
Takođe sam se iznenadio da su npr. Dark side of the Moon i Animals strpani u isto poglavlje. Kao i The Wall i Final Cut. Pesme na albumima su takođe minimalno komentarisane.

Imam utisak da je preveliki deo knjige otišao na Syda, ali taj deo i mogu da razumem jer postoji određeni deo fanova koji se kune u ta prva dva albuma koji nemaju mnogo toga zajedničkog sa ostatkom. Ono što ne mogu da razumem je da je isto tako ogroman deo knjige otišao na potpuno nebitne podatke i čisto nabrajanje činjenica poput "I onda je '96. umro taj i taj koji je na koncertu u Detroitu 1973. bio zadužen za rasvetu koncerta", "1986. su dva tinejdžera došla do kuće Sida Bareta, pitali su ga da li je svirao gitaru dok je bio u Londonu, a on im je rekao da nije, da je gledao televizor", "Nik Mejson je 2000. ponovo učestvovao u trci oldtajmerima".
Možda bi bolja ideja bila da su se ovakve stvari izdvojile u posebno poglavlje/neki dodatak na kraju, umesto što se time presecaju priče o dešavanjima za vreme snimanja albuma i nekim bitnijim događajima u bendu.

Pink Floyd je bila grupa koja me je decenijama okruživala, dominantno jer su ljudi oko mene, kako bliski tako i novi u mom životu, zagriženi fanovi iste. Budući da nikad nisam bila fan progresivnog roka, davala sam im šansu par puta u toku ranih dvadesetih i svaki put odustajala. Razumljivo, pošto su PF bend u čiju muziku čovek mora da se udubi, a u dvadesetima se često nema strpljenja za takve stvari. Naročito nepodesan bend za slušanje zbrda-zdola. No, kako su čudni putevi Gospodnji, sa Floydima i jesam krenula nekako navrat-nanos - prve pesme koje su me osvojile i nagnale da tražim još bile su "Shine on you crazy diamond" i "High hopes", nastale u dve korenito različite ere. Kockice su se za mene složile tek relativno skoro, na pragu tridesetih. Upustila sam se u rudarski posao upoznavanja sa diskografijom, koja je obimna, često preambiciozna i već spomenuto, radikalno različita od ere do ere (mislim na vremensku eru, ali i na ere prisutnosti/odsutnosti ključnih članova benda). Još uvek ne mogu da kažem da sam sve masterirala, ali se lagano bližim kraju.

Knjiga je za mene bila logičan sledeći korak - želela sam da ono što preslušam smestim u kontekst, da saznam nešto više o članovima benda, šta je dovelo do raspada i kako je ono što su stvarali bilo oblikovano životnim i vremenskim okolnostima. Dobila sam šta sam tražila; u 539 stranica je spakovana kompletna istorija Pink Floyda, od detinjstva članova benda sve do poslednjeg albuma iz 2014. Zanimljivo je da najkrucijalnija era benda (od stvaranja albuma"Dark side of the moon" pa sve do albuma "The endless river" 2014.) počinje tek od 200.stranice; do 200.stranice je najslikovitije obojen lik i delo Sida Barreta, kao i prikaz života šezdesetih godina. U toku čitanja knjige sam opet osetila poriv da se vratim na izvesne albume (naročito na one iz '60-tih) i da isprobam da li će drugačije da mi legnu, sad kad mi je poznat kontekst. Takođe je oblikovala moje mišljenje o određenim članovima benda. Sve u svemu, odlična biografija benda, vrlo brzo i lako čitljiva i dovoljno informativna za jednog PF početnika kao što sam ja.

The bio on Pink Floyd from inception with Syd Barrett forming the band named after blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council to the addition of David Gilmour on guitar after Barrett checks out with inconsistency, major drug use and distraction through a Roger Waters lyrically led group producing such monsters as "Dark Side of the Moon", "Wish You Were Here", "Animals" and "The Wall' this book combs the crevices and hard to reach places with the fall out after "The Final Cut" and how Waters goes solo and Gilmour, Mason, and Wright forge ahead producing two more albums ( this book was written before "The Endless River" in 2014 ).
The 2005 Live 8 in London brings the band back together for a one off performance amidst decades of acrimonious behavior and lawsuits from both the Waters camp and the Gilmour camp, but judging from this book way more from the former than the latter.
The book ends with the Syd Barrett Tribute at Barbican in 2007 in which Waters performs a solo acoustic number he wrote and Gilmour, Mason and Wright performing "Arnold Layne" as the band just cannot get it together enough to perform all on one stage for one night.

If you're a huge Pink Floyd fan, like me, then this will be one of the most interesting books you'll ever read. Mark Blake's well-researched account of rock music's most innovative and timeless band is riveting, poignant and quite sad at moments, especially when recounting the mental deterioration of Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett.

This is a band biography of the kind that dutily explains their story from the beginning to the end (or whenever the author was writing the book) with lots of details and names. I was confused at first that some of reviews said this book focused too much on the band members and little on the music, because I finished this book feeling I didn't know the band members any more than I did before. While it's true that the drama and friction is included, it's written about it a very dry way. It's not a very thrilling book and I can't imagine someone who isn't a fan of Pink Floyd getting anything out of this.

While reading this I also wondered if the members of Pink Floyd really were this dull? I can't imagine they were. Certainly, Syd is not presented this way and Roger gets some character through being described as difficult and horrible to work with. But apart from that, they come across as void of personality. Gosh, they liked sailing and driving expensive cars and buying houses? Thrilling.

I don't regret reading this detailled, at times too detailled, account of the band. I did learn some things about Pink Floyd post-Roger-exit, as I'm not really a fan of the band at that point in time. But this book has been praised as the "definite" book about the band, and I hope that's not true.

I couldn't shake the feeling this book was written by a person who didn't particularly like Pink Floyd's music. Blake placed a distinct emphasis on the interpersonal relationships in the band: Who was insulted by whom, who belittled whom, what an egomanic Roger Waters was, etc... Much of this was rather boring for me. I can imagine that a reader who is not familiar with Pink Floyd would wonder why they ever bothered to record all those albums.

I would have preferred to read some thoughtful reflections on the music, including a great deal more information on their songwriting and recording techniques.

Wow! After reading this book, I've come to the conclusion that Roger Waters was one of the biggest assholes who has ever lived. He was/is a freakin' monster! A bully. A grouch. Never happy. Always has to be right. Always has to win. Always has to have the last word. Confrontational. Critical as hell. A royal dick. To everyone. Especially to David Gilmour. And Richard Wright. He generally spared Nick Mason.

This is one of the most comprehensive rock bios I've ever read, starting out with the group's boyhoods in Cambridge in the 1950s to their forming the band in the mid-60s. Of course, Syd Barret was the singer and guitar player and was charisma personified. This book probably is probably one fourth about Syd, which irritated the hell out of me and nearly knocked it down a star. I've never understood the writer's, fan's, and band's obsession of and love for Syd Barret. Floyd's classic album Wish You Were Here was made as a tribute to Barret and just about every album they produced had songs that were tributes to him. Yet he was only with the band for one f*cking album!!! The first one. The band has been in existence for 50 years and he was with the band for about two, so get the f*ck over him people. Damn! He wasn't even that good. And six months into their first album's existence, he went insane. Too many drugs, mostly pot and LSD. Lots and lots of acid, daily. He burned himself out. He went from being a fun, eccentric, vibrant young man with lots of promise to a basic corpse on stage who couldn't/wouldn't sing and just let his guitar hand around his neck without playing it. So the band hired their friend David Gilmour to come in and back Barret up, to play the guitar for him and even sing the songs, all the while pretending it was Syd. But that didn't last very long. After about six months of that, one night the band decided not to pick Syd up for a show. And then they didn't the next night. And after that, he was gone.

Pink Floyd got their start playing at the UFO, a psychedelic club in London where they were the house band and everyone was tripping. When their first album came out, it generally got decent reviews and made them minor stars. They were doing what was called acid rock or space rock, take your pick. After Syd left, they had to find a new songwriter, so Roger took that role on his shoulders and became the band's de facto leader. He wrote the songs, with minor contributions from the others and Gilmour sang. Gilmour was apparently an excellent guitar player, while Waters was a mediocre bassist, but he was an ideas man and felt good about that.

Their next few albums got decent reviews, but weren't huge sellers and their record company was begging them for a hit single. Finally, they produced the all time classic, Dark Side of the Moon, which stayed on the charts for an amazing 14 straight years. That changed everything. It went to number one in many countries, made them superstars, and made them rich. And they went on tours. Big tours. Expensive tours. Tours that Waters became dictator of in regards to everything in every detail.

Wish You Were Here and Animals came out over the next few years and sold well. Everyone seemed to know the first one was the band's tribute to Syd, who by this time was quite ill. But Gilmour was watching out for him, making sure he was getting his royalties and being taken care of. Around this time, Waters had had enough of Wright, who he thought wasn't contributing enough, so he got the band to fire him, which was stunning. Wright's keyboards played in integral role on virtually every Floyd song there was and he had even written some songs, so it was just a crazy power play. This didn't sit well with Gilmour, who by this time was having a hard time even conversing cordially with Waters.

Meanwhile, Waters had a vision. He wanted to do a themed album, a brutal album about a rock star who goes crazy, gets power hungry, but is then redeemed at the end. In other words, himself. And Syd. He wrote the songs for The Wall and the band put it all together for a year and a half. The band hired Wright back, but not as a full member, rather as an hourly player with no credits. Somehow Wright agreed to this. When The Wall came out, it was a huge hit and Waters was flush with pride. And then they made it into a movie, starring Bob Geldoff as the main character. Waters hated Geldoff, but couldn't do anything about the casting. The band went on a huge tour with some 200 roadies, all around the world, and made a killing, but Waters pissed everyone off so much, that a lot of people refused to ever speak to him again. Gilmour, by this time, hardly spoke to Waters, himself. He had had it with him. And Waters had had it with Gilmour. So he quit Pink Floyd and tried to dissolve the band. But Gilmour and Mason had other ideas. They wanted to keep the band going, with Wright, and still put out albums under the Pink Floyd name. Waters was incensed and sued them to stop it. He lost. Hah! Serves him right. He went on to do solo albums, none of which made a dent in the charts. He toured to crowds of 6,000 people, but claimed it didn't bother him. Meanwhile, the remaining members of Pink Floyd gradually decided to do another album, after Gilmour put out his own solo album, which also didn't sell. A Momentary Lapse of Reason was produced with Gilmour writing most of the songs, with the help of his then journalist girlfriend, later his wife. The album shot to number one everywhere and the band went out on huge stadium tours playing to 80,000 people at a time. Gilmour must have felt vindicated, but Waters couldn't let it go, bitching that Gilmour could only do it with the help of his wife, that he didn't have the talent to do it on his own. He also said the album sucked.

Fast forward a few years. There are more solo albums, by everyone. None sold well. The members of Pink Floyd decide to do another album and spend a good bit of time producing it. It hit number one on the charts too and they went on another big tour. During this tour, they played new stuff, very old stuff, including stuff from the first album, and the entire Dark Side of the Moon album. Recordings of the concert were later released as Pulse. Of course, Waters was immensely critical.

And that's about it. Waters produced an opera that was mildly successful and allegedly mellowed in his 60s. The band reunited for Liveaid 8 around 2005 and there was speculation they'd get together again. Waters even indicated he'd be willing to, but Gilmour wouldn't hear of it. He hated Waters too much. He turned down a $250,000,000 offer. The book ends with a new solo Gilmour album that becomes the band's first solo album to sell successfully and with Gilmour finally finding some peace. And with Syd's death in 2006. He lived very frugally, but to everyone's surprise, was quite rich when he died. He left his money to his brothers and sisters. None of the band members attended the funeral. Syd was quite insane for most of his life. A pity.

One of the cool things about this book is the detailed descriptions of the covers and how they came about. How they were conceived and shot or drawn. You don't usually get that in rock bios and I was glad to see that. You also get commentary on most songs on the albums. Pink Floyd is one of the most enduring and successful bands in rock history. This book does them justice and is definitely recommended for fans and anyone else.

Part of me just likes to read about songs or albums that I like--the more mundane the details the better: my favorite book on the Beatles is "The Beatles: Recording Sessions," which is a day-to-day account of what went on while they were recording all of their records (who played what when and so on).

But another part of me is fascinated to read about the personalities that go into making the songs or albums I like--it's like a family saga, reading about John Lennon & Paul McCartney trying to get along, or reading about driven, nasty Roger Waters and poor, confused Syd Barrett.

And, actually, I like the "Recording Sessions" book best because when it talks about the personalities in conflict (or consensus), it shows them most clearly while they're trying to make something. Not that you might want to, but you can learn a lot about all of the Beatles--and about family dynamics--by reading about how they recorded "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da." This book has some of that, but spends too much time talking about what houses they bought and what cars they drove.

Oh, and I like books with lots more pictures.

great insight into one of the greatest Rock bands ever... must read...

Mark Blejkova biografija grupe Pink Floyd obuhvata sve tri faze rada grupe: Baretovu, Votersovu i Gilmorovu. Te faze su muzički potpuno različite a ono što ih objedinjuje je svojevrsna megalomanija - uvek je Pink Floyd bila grupa koja je pretendovala da bude veća od života. S obzirom na to koliko nisam voleo ovu grupu čiji rad, hteo ne hteo, pratim skoro od samog njihovog početka, vrlo sam uživao u čitanju Blejkove knjige. Možda zato što je on predstavio članove grupe onakvima kakvi su bili, ne ulepšavajući ih nimalo. Sudar njihovih ogromnih ega i njihovih problematičnih ili bar specifičnih karaktera opterećenih nesigurnostima ali i tvrdoglavošću kao logičnu posledicu imao je stalnu tenziju unutar grupe koja je s jedne strane bila remetilački a sa druge kreativni faktor u njenom radu. Kad se sada, post festum, posmatra istorija rokenrola, izgleda da je taj sukob ega neophodan da bi neka rok grupa postala stvarno velika. Pogledajte Bitlse, Stounse, Velvete, Zepeline, kod svih njih je to prisutno. Mark Blejk je prilično insistirao na sukobu ega, s tim što je bio blagonakloniji prema Gilmoru nego prema Votersu, dok je Bareta tretirao kao i većina drugih autora koji su pisali o Flojdima, kao ekscentričnog genija čiji duh lebdi iznad svega što grupa Pink Floyd radi. Knjigu preporučujem svim ljubiteljlma rok muzike, voleli ovu grupu ili ne.

Certifico: una de les millors bandes de la història, formada per quatre genis, dos d’ells alhora uns capullos integrals.
Pocs grups reuneixen tant de talent, discurs i una discografia tan completa.
Precisament perquè les relacions entre els membres son un culebrot durant dècades, aquesta part té molt de pes en la biografia, i m’hagués agradat que s’entrés més en profunditat en la concepció, composició i gravació de les cançons. Això sí, m’ho he passat pipa.

"I think Roger Waters has my phone number. But I've no interest in discussing anything with him". I love this band, it was like reading gossip. The book was too long for me and sometimes some information was not really important. I feel very sad about what happened with Syd Barret, no one deserves that.

Alright, why do you read a biography about a band? To learn more about them? To get the historical context? To work out where you want to go upwards and sideways in the back catalogue? To see if the voice matches the actions and the lyrics match the life? To have a little more in the nerd armoury next time you get out to Pop Quiz? Because there's nothing better than the comfort of the satisfying rock bio arc; Young Blossoming/ Mass Market-Art Mastering/co*ke Collapse and Crotchety Crack Up? To maybe give you an insight about the artists of today and where they are in the arc? Well all that is here.

I learnt a lot more about them, but none of it was all that interesting. These are some plain cracker guys but something about their stillness was able to communicate something cosmic and essential. I learnt that their inability to talk about how they were feeling ended up with great universal sighs and despairs ending up in their music, and that being the best place for it once it got recorded. I learn that Roger Waters is a colossal arsehole.

I went upwards and sideways in the catalogue and felt vindicated that the best stuff, Echoes through Wish You Were Here, is where I'm already at and already dig. I don't need the Syd stuff, as it is mainly falling over beautifully, which I have enough of elsewhere. And the post Abbey Road stuff, esp the Wall, is as full of bitterness (Waters') or absence (Waters leaving and taking his focus with him) as I'd expected.

The voice matches the actions - Dave Gilmour's. What a beautiful creature he is, to look at and to listen to. John Lennon was massively improved by Paul's musicianship and soft edges, but John would still have been great without him. Roger Waters wrote most of the songs, did most of the thinking, had most of the insights, but Gilmour's gentle beauty made it all work.

Nerd Armoury - well... I know the order of the records and which ones are a jerk off. I know a bit more about the Joe Boyd psych club end of things. But GOD ALMIGHTY this is a boring, stodgy book. And is so CRAMMED with mundane facts that the chance of them sticking is nil. It's not anyone's fault, it's meant to be encyclopedic, not kaleidoscopic, but working one's way through the grind of 80s spats and solo album fall flats, not fun at all. Oh, i did learn that Roger Waters is a collosal arsehole.

This book is TEXTBOOK Rock Biog structure. Although Syd Barrett cycling through the whole process when the story has just got started is very sad, and of course central to Floyd's whole mythos. The third act of terrible solo records and co*ke binges on cash in tours is epic in it's turgidity, and by page 380 I was almost Stockholm Syndromed into enjoying it and wanting to carry on reading. Thankfully it has the Live 8 reformation as a bookend to open and close the book. The footage of which is on Youtube and, if you ignore Waters' gurning, is genuinely beautiful. (As is the bit where they cut to the audience and a man is overexcitedly singing along to his missus and sort of headbutting her in excitement as she looks confused as to who this man is she married. It's at 4 minutes 37 seconds, do watch.)

In terms of perspec on today - I kept being reminded of Kanye when Roger Waters was being a collosal arsehole throughout. Just seems such a shame, making all this amazing music, making a ton of cash, and the whole time just concerned with petty squabbles, anger and frustration. The root of which in both cases is missing a dead parent and wanting desperately for them to hear all the beauty they're making, and being confused and upset when Mom/Dad never turns up to listen.

Anyway. Great band, stodgy book, odd people, Roger Waters is a collosal arsehole.

P.S. I went and bought this in Rough Trade Nottingham when I popped up there a few weeks ago. They had a two for a fiver books offer and I had picked this up and asked my girlfriend what other one I should get. She suggested a Van Morrison biog, which I wanted, but had to refuse on the grounds that going into a newly opened hip record shop and buying a book on Floyd and a book on Van the Van Man would have made me the most middle aged human in history. I spoke to the nice young man at the counter and told him I had been going to RT for years and years. He was 23, and I noticed out loud that when I met John Peel in RT Neal's Yard at a God Is My Co-Pilot in-store gig HE HADN'T EVEN BEEN BORN. So that was quite something.

Fantastic!! I've really only "discovered" Pink Floyd about two weeks ago and what a treat to now go back through their full catalogue and tantalise my ears with "Echoes", "Comfortably Numb" and "Atom Heart Mother" - a song which takes up the entire first side of their same-titled LP!! This book was a remarkable read, detailing the absolute roller coaster ride of what David Gilmour aptly describes the "lumbering great behemoth" of Pink Floyd, shares incredible insights into the individuals evolving and disintegrating relationships with one another and leaves absolutely no doubt as to why they grossly capture audiences across generations! Including me!

Cuando miras a ver cuántas páginas te quedan de un libro es mala señal.
La verdad que es un libro bastante concienzudo sobre la historia de Pink Floyd, pero no siendo yo un fan acérrimo, la verdad que se me ha hecho bastante pesado al final. Y otra razón se añade al hastío, cuanto más sabía de los componentes de Pink Floyd, más imbéciles me parecían, especialmente Gilmour y Waters, dos cocainómanos megalómanos. Ahora, con más de sesenta años a sus espaldas (no sé si llegarán ya a setenta) evidentemente son más tranquilos y menos idiotas..., pero es como cuando le coges asco a los protagonistas de una novela, se hace muy difícil leerla. También es verdad que me lo he leído en un momento complicado en mi vida, quizá eso haya afectado.

Starts off a bit slow, where we learn a lot about the art scene of swinging London and peripheral figures who populated it but gets going once the band starts recording. If you ever wanted to learn what an overbearing jerk Roger Waters could be you’ll enjoy this.

I wanted to learn about Pink Floyd, not to read list of names of every person connected to the band short of buying a ticket. We could talk here about reality vs my expectations, but f*ck it.

Pink Floyd’s contributions to music, songwriting, motion picture scoring, motion picture authoring, arena rock productions, musicianship, engineering, production, lyricism and infighting are unsurpassed. Regardless your position or opinion debating the greatest band of all time, the greatest arena show performer ever or the greatest guitarist of all time, the facts remain: 250 million albums sold, Grammies, a BAFTA, Hall of Fame inductions, record-setting tours and a 14-year Billboard listing for Dark Side of the Moon, potentially the most famous rock album that will ever be produced.

Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd is Mark Blake’s meticulously researched exploration of the band. All pre-loaded adjectives aside, the biography is an accurate, well-documented recounting of one of the most impactful music groups ever to record. Anyone who grew up struggling to understand the band or its music or believing the group’s ubiquitous FM messages of the 70s were just anti-authoritarian and base rebellion will find crystalline clarification and an informed education within Blake’s work.

Sve knjige koje pricaju o zivotu velikih bendova lice jedna na drugu. Sve ih pisu kvalitetni i obrazovani novinari, sve teze distanciranosti i objektivnosti koja nece previse ljutiti junake o kojima se pise, sve su ukalupljene slicnim recenicama, frazama, pasazima i hronoloskom slozenoscu. U tom smislu, ova knjiga nije apsolutno nikakav izuetak, naprotiv. Ali je predivna.

Zato sto se radi o mamutskoj grupi sa nepreglednom zaostavstinom, zato je valjalo biti dodatno strpljiv, smiren i stalozen u njenom stvaranju, sto autor nesumnjivo jeste bio radeci na njoj vise od dve decenije.

Nema detalja koji mogu spisateljski oduvati ali se cita lako, brzo i sa nepodeljenim uzivanjem, ako ste makar malo, nekada, voleli ili slusali grupu. Ako ste pasionirani fan, ovo bi mogla biti sveta knjiga.

Licno, napokon sam detaljno i opusteno uzivao u upoznavanju lika i dela Sida Bareta, skidajuci sa vela svog saznanja veliki deo vecno misticnih i neuhvatljivih prica o neshvacenom ludaku koji je rodio taj bend.

Obavezno stivo za postovaoce grupe i aplauzi Dejanu Cukicu na prevodu.

https://bezimenaknji*zevnazadruga.word...

Being a big Pink Floyd fan, I was anxious to read this book and learn more about the band and what happened behind the scenes. The good news is that I learned a lot that I did not know after reading Nick Mason's wonderful book. There was some great journalistic research and interviews done for this book, which really brought color to aspect of the albums and tours that I was unaware of.
The bad thing about this book is that the author delves so deeply into the history of the band that the first third of the book is very difficult to read. The pace is slow and other than Syd Barrett, I do not know that any of the history added anything to the book. Some additional editing may have helped with this.
If you are a casual Floyd fan, I would skip this book and stick with Nick Mason's book on Floyd. If you are a hard core fan, this is a wonderful book to read.

Well written, well told. With some facts I knew little or nothing about. This book really pulls back the curtain on one of the most enigmatic groups of 70s to reveal what corporate rock looks like--not as corporate and professional as one might think. This is a story of the pitfalls of fame and fortune as much as it is a story about the iconic group.

Not as nerdy as I would have liked (would have liked to have more on the actual recording process) but an entertaining (and quick) read nonetheless.

I believe this is what they call a 'weighty tome'.

Having not read any other Floyd biographies (of which there are many) I can't say how this compares. What I did think however was that if this turned out to be a good read, then it couldn't possibly score more than four stars.

It turned out that this was such a detailed but well written engaging read that it had me skipping to Google images and Google street view on many occasions which only enhanced the bio even further.

For music that I've grown up with and I know like the back of my hand, it's made me want to revisit all the albums as well as search out a couple of solo efforts I'd never got round to by Syd Barrett - and with that, I believe I'll listen to many Pink Floyd albums in a different light.

Any book that's had that effect on me - a bonus to the music itself - has to get five stars.

Stunningly researched

Overall, this is a superbly researched and written history of Pink Floyd, the people involved and the complicated relationships within. It is particularly strong on the early years and Syd Barrett as well as the changing social and musical revolution. I considered dropping the star as I thought for a while that there was an unfair bias against Waters solo work but maybe Blake redeems himself towards the end...Overall this is an authoritative telling of the Floyd story and I would highly recommend it to Floyd fans

Incredibly comprehensive.

Mark Blake covers a lot of ground in the span of 448 pages. The members of Pink Floyd have always been notoriously private which makes writing anything about the band difficult. Add to this the dual loss of Syd Barrett, mentally so many years ago and physically just a few years ago, and one wonders how Blake was able to pull off this project in the first place.

Despite these challenges, Blake has done solid work. His insights into the creative process of the three Pink Floyd's explain why it took so long for many of their albums to come to fruition. "Lumbering beast"... indeed.

It's a four star work... not because Blake was deficient... but because of the challenges mentioned above and an attempt to cover a 30+ year period of time.

For those unfamiliar with Pink Floyd, I recommend it. For those who have read everything about Pink Floyd, I still recommend it.

Shine on, Syd... shine on.

Outstanding! This book had me riveted from start to finish, much to my surprise (I'd anticipated that it'd be okay, at best). The author does a commendable job of balancing the story of the Floyd's fame and the group's personal lives including, most poignantly, Syd Barrett's. I now have even greater appreciation for their music, but I don't think one has to love Pink Floyd to find this an excellent read.