 Originally published 1992; re-issued March 2003
Since
the publication of this book, Nicholas Schaffner has sadly passed away.
Any criticism of this tome is not intended as any disrespect to his
memory; he achieved much in his life, and we have been given a fitting
memory of the quality of his work with the release of this book. It can
be seen as a pinnacle of his writing and was clearly a labour of love
from beginning to end.
However, no book about Floyd will
ever satisfy everyone; no one book could bring together all the events,
the views, the personalities and the atmosphere of the period from the
seeds of their beginnings, to the present day. This book manages to
pull together many of these features ably. Details included are, for
once, accurate and do not fall into the old, traditional mire of
misinformation and rumour which are like so many similar books. (What
we do need though is publication of Nick Mason's diaries!)
First thoughts on picking this up
are that for once some thought has been put into its presentation. It's
a weighty book, some 310 pages and a photo section in the middle, and
its size larger than the normal paperback. Inside you find a cornucopia
of detail. Sometimes this can be superfluous or overwhelming. Witness
the preface where you discover all the details of the author's early PF
listening, and the acknowledgments. Included in these are thanks to
Brain Damage for our help; an example of this is Glenn [Povey, founder
of BD]'s rare photo of the 1965 Bob Klose line-up of PF, taking pride
of place in the middle of the book.
Over half the book is taken up
with early events - the period up to 1967 takes up the first third! It
is split into three main sections:
- Section one: A Smile From The Veil
Covers
in great detail the early days of Syd's Floyd and David's Joker's Wild,
up to the point of covergence. Many sources have been brought together
for this, although detail of this period is better served in Crazy
Diamond. The chapter relating Syd's story after leaving Floyd is
workmanlike but falls into the trap of repeating the "classic" Syd
tales - trying to remain objective but in effect fuelling these stories
and glorifying the myth that is Syd.
- Section two: Heroes For Ghosts
Explores the new Floyd's
search for direction and makes a valid but unusual link between
Corporal Clegg and Waters' later obsessions with wartime victims. We
read about the development of the longer pieces, the flirtation with
movie soundtracks which lead to these pieces through working with Ron
Geesin and ultimately to the simplicity and directness of DSOTM via
Obscured By Clouds. Schaffner details the frustrations which lead to
WYWH, the state of Britain which began Animals, and the tax fiddle
which necessitated The Wall. He provides great detail and shows careful
research into the development of tracks, tours and catalysts for new
works. He clearly illustrates the bitterness that was developing during
this period and the acrimony over The Final Cut (particularly the lack
of involvement of David and Nick), and a comment Roger made to Rolling
Stone in 1982 stating HE was the Floyd, which ruffled more than a few
of David's feathers.
- Section three: Cold Comfort For Change
covers the next
evolution of Floyd, into what they are today, via the various solo
projects which met with mixed success. Schaffner seems to take great
exception to Pros & Cons - "This extraordinary avalanche of
verbiage is marked by an equally astonishing absence of melody". Seeing
Roger perform Floyd stuff live gave Nick itchy hands - allied to the
fact that O'Rourke was also keen to see Floyd live again, led to Nick
and David talking over the possibilities of Floyd rising phoenix-like
from the ashes. Amidst huge bitterness and courtcases (which proved
ultimately fruitless), this of course happened, with a couple of
high-selling and most financially beneficial tours reaching many new
fans across the globe. Schaffner attempts to remain impartial in his
reporting of the dispute, but of course rumours and misquotes appear in
their entirety and one can draw comparisons with the earlier Syd
chapter. The book proper concludes with the Berlin Wall extravaganza
and Waters stating how he saw potential that this show could tour, or
at least appear elsewhere (rumours abounded at the time of the Pyramids
or Wall Street!)
The book concludes with an
epilogue which is totally misplaced! Consisting of Schaffner's
"Musician" article of 1988 covering the AMLOR tour of America, it has
no logical place in this book, let alone as the conclusion. A strange
decision indeed to include this in an otherwise well constructed, well
laid-out, all round good read.
I would therefore recommend this
book - you will undoubtably learn new stuff, and it pulls together many
interesting views. Well worth shelling out some cash for!
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