Publisher: Bloomsbury ISBN 0-747-53293-1. Published 27 November 1997
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Here we go again - yet another book on the band that claims to be the best thing since sliced bread. But wait a second - check out the authors' names! They sound somewhat familiar to me and many others...

Older readers of Brain Damage will be fully aware of Glenn's role in the magazine's history: he founded it, and kept it going through sometimes difficult times of low band activity and little fan interest. Ian Russell was a frequent contributor to the magazine from the early days; both of them have huge amounts of band knowledge, and large archives of material, much of which was called upon in the making of this book.

In my review of this book, I have deliberately put to one side my friendship with the authors - and I actively tried to search out inaccuracies or faults in the text and accompanying materials - but how far did I succeed in this quest?

The book is aimed fairly and squarely at the live history of the band. Previous books have tried similar tactics without the depth and quality of research. The publicity for the book boasts that "more than 80% of the information in [it] does not exist in any other publication": a fairly bold claim!

Initial impressions are that it is not aimed at the casual fan or interested bystander - instead facing more towards the "trainspotting" elements of the fan-base.

It aims to correct many of the inaccuracies printed in the many tomes already "out there". In part, some of the research found within the covers has been done by contributors, over the years, in Brain Damage Magazine, and the authors duly acknowledge many of these. The rest of the research has involved Glenn & Ian going to many and far-flung resources: still operating concert halls, universities, libraries, newspaper and magazine archives, and so on, in Europe and America.

The aim? To get to the truth about gigs played, television appearances made (in the earlier days - the majority of late 1980's-on appearances are purposefully left out so as not to bore the reader), songs played, etc., in some places turning conventional wisdom about their activities on its head. Until Nick's book finally sees the light of day, "In The Flesh" should take over the crown as THE most accurate account of their life and times as a touring/performing entity. (So, Glenn & Ian could be holding on to that crown for a while...unless Nick gets his finger out!)

Each chapter splits into narrative and a chronological listing of events. This works well, not clouding the flow of the text enabling the wider picture to be seen. To have approached it the other way, as many predecessors have, results in important or illuminating information or flavour being lost amidst a stream of concert dates.

Rather than the normal "album-focused" chapters, Glenn & Ian chiefly work on two-year chunks of the band's life at a time, with the exception of the very early years, and also the more recent times.

The chronology sections displays full and correct concert venue names, dates, set lists for as many of the gigs as they can, supporting bands and musicians, and also where relevant or illuminating, commentary about the event by a protagonist, reviewer, or interested bystander. This really adds a lot of "meat" onto the bones of their story - or rather, in hindsight, it's more like a gravy or sauce - and what a rich sauce it is too!

The book runs to a full 256 pages, without any obvious "padding", and is in a slightly smaller format than the normal "coffee table" type - just under A4 size. That's no bad thing as book shelves tend to be more accommodating to books of this size. The cover is not as obvious as most (even with the extensive use of the colour pink), with superimposed handbills from their early days. This superimposition occurs regularly throughout the book, but never reaches annoyance level. In fact, the choice of visual materials superbly complement the text. Many of the items - posters, handbills, tickets, etc., have not been seen since the original events. Especially gob-smacking are handbills and tickets for Jokers Wild and Those Without concerts. Also, all illustrations are in the right places and the correct contexts - a real rarity in Floyd books!

The use of colour is also very effective and yet, easy on the eye. Glenn & Ian have also managed to get their hands on many very interesting photos from throughout the band's history - most of which have never been seen before, especially those from their early days.

The first chapter provides the first big surprise, of the hitherto unrecorded detail of the band's genesis, with details of many gigs in the Cambridgeshire area, and of the many line-ups of the fledgling bands that eventually ended up as the Floyd. One of the more astonishing things about this part of the narrative (other than the previously unpublished history) are the interviews with the original members of these bands conducted in mid-to-late 1996 by the authors. Their pin-sharp recollections add flesh to a previously vague history.

The story of the initial faltering steps of the band is told for once with a fluidity that puts all participants and events into a proper timebased framework - this enables one to understand events and personalities better, how they met up, and also influences on them or on events.

Furthermore, thankfully, these early years are covered without focus on any stories concerning Syd's tragic unravelling...

Somehow, the authors have found a wealth of detail concerning early television appearances, backed up with astonishing corroborating detail - rather than just reprint what has been assumed as the truth previously, they have even found the exact transmission times of those early TV recordings made, and also have the details of all the sessions that were recorded but for whatever reason, were never transmitted!

It's the sheer volume of information and illustrations that blows your mind whilst reading "In The Flesh" - the early materials are in such immaculate condition one wonders in which hermetically sealed vaults its all been sat in, biding its time waiting for its moment of glory!

There is a rich tapestry woven with the narrative throughout - not getting bogged down in slavering detail/minutiae/dates and venues - but giving just the right amount of detail to get things into proper perspective. After all, as someone once said: "It's only music, not rocket science!". This approach to the text is able to keep the more casual fan or bystander glued to the page.

The attention to quality and interesting detail continues throughout the book, and includes good stuff concerning the tours - particularly the 1977 Animals tour which is fairly comprehensively glossed over in practically every source. With the progressive defining of the stage designers art, it is peculiar that few descriptions of events, photos or video recordings seem to exist. Here, the authors describe in great detail the fun and games that occurred, with a rare photo of the inflatable family in all their glory, and a great phrase that made me chuckle: "Scarfe's film [for Welcome To The Machine] was every bit as heart-warming as the song itself..."

It was a shame, however, that in the discussion of the 1993 tour spectacular, no mention was made of the reworked version of "Money" that was played, with its untypically hilarious "alien monster" themed film and sound effects - one of my personal highlights of those shows! But then, I had to find SOME kind of fault with the book. Maybe Glenn included that omission for my benefit!

As you can tell, I'm mightily impressed with this book. Much to my surprise, I've certainly learnt stuff from the book, read comments and views that I'd not seen and that came as surprises in places, and also now understand the development of their career better. A true sense of link/perspective/cause and effect/time achieved this, where no previous works seem to have done. The quality of the book explains the interest paid in it by both Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters, whilst it was in the proofing stage.

In my mind, if you can only own one Floyd book, it simply has to be this one.