Comfortably Numb – The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

 

Comfortably Numb – The Inside Story of Pink Floyd – Mark Blake

So I’ve read the autobiography of Nick Mason, and I’m a pretty big fan who knows an awful lot about Pink Floyd.  Was there a lot of stuff here that I didn’t already know?  Well, yes, actually.  A lot? Well, probably not, but there were a lot of intricacies and anecdotes that were fun to read, and really only helped solidify what I already knew.  Sid Barrett was sadly a basket case, Roger Waters is an interminable grouch, David Gilmour is an immensely talented guitar player and musician, and the band managed to prevail in spite of everything.

The book was released a few years before the unfortunate early passing of Rick Wright, yet after the legendary “Live 8” reunion.  I suppose it could have been that event that inspired Mark Blake to pen the biography.  One wishes for an updated version as the remaining members, for better or worse, have still made headlines in some form or fashion.

I was a little worried once I made it about 1/3 through the book since it was still detailing the early years when psychedelic haze was in fashion and leader Barrett hadn’t quite fallen off the deep end.  There are lot of tales of the early years, and while rewarding, my tastes tend to favor the stories of the personalities and events once thee band has made it big, as those tend to be less tedious and more in tune with events that I’m aware of. Not to fear. Despite the long musings and meanderings of the early days ‘before’ they made it, the author does an excellent job covering the entire history of the band.

Once the fractions occur in the early 1980s, a careful amount of attention is also spent on former members as well as solo projects. Obviously, the personalities of Barret, Waters, and David Gilmour get most of the attention, but economics clearly dictates why.

It really was quite sad to read so many musings of Sid Barrett during his post Floyd years. He clearly wasn’t in the right at all. At times, I felt there was a bit much about Barrett’s ongoing descent into insanity, yet there is a large populous of fans who hold him in extremely high regard.  For myself, I didn’t really discover the earliest material until after I had become a fan many years afer, so even though I do concur that “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” is a masterpiece, my devotion to the purest incarnation of the band isn’t quite as devout as the many that were there since the beginning.

As much as one feels sorry for Barrett, you also have to lob pity onto Roger Waters.  Good Lord, this guy is an incredibly miserable sod.  I really don’t know how the others could have put up with him for as long as they did. It seems as though no one in the band’s history has anything fond to say about him. One story that solidifies his behavior is when Waters undergoes his first (rather unsuccessful) solo tour in 1984, the audience seems more enamored with guitarist Eric Clapton than Waters himself.  At one gig, Waters (as he’s known to do) basically screams at the audience for paying more attention to Clapton then they do Waters himself.

Of course, Gilmour comes across as a rather amiable chap, and although there were pressures on him as well, he seems to have weathered the storm with much more grace and dignity.  Regardless of what you  feel he contributed to the bulk of the popular material, you can’t help but feel some sort of justice when he’s awarded the prize of getting to keep the band moving forward in spite of the resistance of particular others.

I really enjoyed the book, but maybe when Floyd is finally done and all members have gone to that great gig in the sky, we’ll get a follow-up edition.  It would nice to read about the latter stuff as well.