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List Price: $26.00 | | Publisher: Da Capo Press
Salesrank: 46035
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| Our Price: $15.05 |
| Used Price: $16.18 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
In July 2005 in Hyde Park, before a global audience of millions, Pink Floyd performed together on stage for the first time in 24 years. From the moment the metronomic pulse of a heartbeat thudded out to begin "Speak to Me" to the soaring guitar solo that climaxed "Comfortably Numb," these self-effacing men in their late fifties stole the show. Almost a year later, the death of their troubled founder-member Syd Barrett made headline news worldwide. Both events signaled a kind of closure to the remarkable tale of one of the world's biggest bands. Now, in the first full-length history of the group for more than fifteen years, Mark Blake tells the story of how a group of middle-class Englishmen conquered the world. Drawing on his own interviews with all of the band members, interviews with the group's friends, road crew, producers, former housemates and university colleagues, as well as musical contemporaries including Pete Townshend and Alice Cooper, Comfortably Numb follows Pink Floyd all the way from the early psychedelic nights at UFO in the mid-sixties to the stadium-rock and concept-album zenith of the seventies, and finally the acrimonious schism that sundered the band in the '80s and '90s.
Comfortably Numb Reviews:
Comfortably Dumb 
2008-10-06 - Despite the intriguing cover, there's absolutely nothing new inside. Think of this book as a loosely collected pile of articles, previously known information and a few poorly reproduced photos. The lengthly bibliography should be your first clue. Pink Floyd have always been a very private group and this book is just another outsider's attempt. There's still no better Floyd book than Nick Mason's Inside Out. It may not tell every dirty tale, but at least it's accurate, interesting and extremely well produced. My main problem with this book however was the condition in which it arrived - although this is really Amazon's fault. Book 1 looked pre-read by a very rough hand. To their credit, Amazon replaced it free, but book 2 was far worse. Now there were bent pages, water damage and traces of tape on the cover. I don't know where this book came from or how it was stored, but I'd bet I wasn't the only one to received a trashed copy. Twice! Damage aside, this book isn't worthy of a place in your permanent library anyway.
Pink Floyd - from psychedelic genesis to rock deities 
2008-08-24 - This rock biography of Pink Floyd starts off somewhat tediously, moving through the sloggy psychedelic adventures of Syd Barrett. However, half way through the narrative, things really start picking up, especially when all the Roger Waters generated friction starts to kick in; definitely 5 stars for the second half. The narration keeps flash-forwarding to the 2005 "reunion" concert, as well as flashing-back to the early Barrett years and the chronicling of his mental deterioration through the end of the century. This works pretty well, keeping the reading interest high.
The personality conflicts within the band are detailed very well, which is crucial to understanding the overall success of Pink Floyd. There is in-depth coverage on all the band members, but especially Waters and Gilmour, the two antagonists who drove the creative engine that was Pink Floyd. We see where Roger Waters creative abilities were overshadowed by his massive and at times delusional ego. By the end of the book, he has had to eat an awful lot of humble pie.
Throughout the second half of the book, we also see just how difficult it was for the other three band members to tolerate Waters, who comes across as an insufferable and abrasive control freak. Yet, in his defense, he was the only one who was really stepping up to write the lyrics and deliver on the song concepts. Unfortunately, he made the very bad assumption that he must be the leader and the other guys were just his backup band. Thus, the inevitable schism that occurred.
This book is very well researched and the British slang and phraseologies are kept to a minimum. The interviews with the band members, as well as friends, roadies, and fellow musicians, are juxtaposed throughout the text in a thoughtful way. Plus, the twelve pages of pictures are fascinating. If you can make it though the first chapters without groaning too much, you will be rewarded with a very entertaining read.
The Cloud Reckoner
Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts
Superb book on the Pink Floyd sound - Comfortably Numb 
2008-08-23 - Superb book in its own right. I think if you've read the earlier books on the Floyd (the late Shaffners tome up to the late 80s, Crazy Diamond concerning the earlier period) this will still add a lot to the pot
Its exhaustive, interesting and engrossing. More info on Syd. More info on the break up during the Wall, and Roger dominating the group. Blake doesn't take sides, its an interesting story on its own. An original member (Rick Wright) is sacked and still does the tour, somehow. Comfortably Numb indeed
The book covers up to the present day, just about, so it ends around Syds death (hopefully an updated edition will cover the 3cd reissue of Piper and the news that EMI & the BBC have reached an agreement and are going to release the early Floyd sessions (of interest is the early Floyd with Syd radio sessions of Top Gear)
But - anyway - the book is a good read. Blake has done his research. Zee is gone into detail - Ricks first (and only) band is done with Harris from the band Fashion. Rogers personality is talked about, Geesin talking about his breaking with the Floyd "main man" during the "Amused to Death" period over the lack of a cd.
As mentioned in the Mojo review for the book, noone comes out smelling of roses. Waters comes across as someone who dominates the group and can't tolerate working with the other "Muffins" - as he calls the rest of the Floyd. Mason is troubled by mention of the Wall at an Inside Out signing, yet the album is gone into detail on, even the lawsuit filed by the schoolkid singers!
Is it worth reading? Yes! Goddamn yes! Its a long book, but its the best book out there on the Floyd. Hopefully it will be updated though, because the Piper reissue deserves to be discussed (unfortunately Saucerful didn't see such treatment on its 30th anniversary, but then that wasn't "Syds baby")
Definitive, hard-core Pink Floyd history; also notable as creativity case study
2008-08-04 - I like Pink Floyd. I like Pink Floyd a lot. But unlike some people (including my husband, who first saw them on tour circa 1970 in what he's called "one step above a high school gymnasium"), I am not a die-hard, trivia-spouting fan. I just like their music.
If you're a SERIOUS fan, you don't have to read any farther: you *will* like this book. Author Mark Blake goes into exhaustive detail about every facet of the band's existence, from the apartments they crashed in to their school history. Journalisticly, he did an awesome job of interviewing everyone whose lives these guys touched. Dark Side Of The Moon isn't covered (except as a frame for the story, since it's their best known work) until page 170. If you want to know how these people got where they did, you'll surely find out how.
If you just like the music... I think you'll _also_ like the book, but perhaps for different reasons.
What drew me to read Comfortably Numb was the inherent mystery about Syd Barrett. Everyone had always described him as the former band member who went a little crazy, probably as the result of one bad trip too many. But, well, what did they mean by "a little crazy"? As I suppose I should have expected, the full story is hard to summarize... but it certainly comes across. For example, an anecdote from Alice Cooper describes getting up one morning, "...and there was Syd staring at a box of cornflakes the way that you or I would watch television. It was obvious that there was already something very, very wrong."
Since Pink Floyd interacted with so many other musicians (I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact they shared a bill once with Paul Simon...), it's interesting in a "history of rock and roll" manner. Not a must-have in that regard, but the book has many anecdotes about the famous (such as the Beatles) and the not-quite-so-famous (Jerry Shirley of Humble Pie).
I was held to the book, however, because I'm always very curious about how _this_ particular band (or creative person of any type) succeeded when others did not. These guys knew each other since childhood, for the most part; they got together to play music in an era when everyone was playing music; and somehow they got a record deal. But *then* what? Within only a few years, the "team" had a huge amount of internal strife... and yet they managed to create one of the most successful albums of all time. What makes one team able to rise above personalities -- temporarily, at least -- and another be lost in the politics (not to mention the drugs, record company interactions, etc.)?
Perhaps it isn't surprising that they didn't know how they succeeded (or how they later failed, with all the personality fallouts) either. During the making of Dark Side, the musicians were interviewed, and some admitted to conflict. "'How do you get over the difficult times?' asks Maben. 'I don't know how,' answers Wright, 'but we do.'"
The book is so detailed and detailed that, for me at least, it's slow going. I've read a chapter here and there, never tempted to sit down for a front-to-back reading. I'm not done yet, I confess, but I _am_ still reading the book. So I wouldn't recommend Comfortably Numb for a cross-country plane flight, except perhaps for the die-hard fan. But I certainly like this book, on several levels. You probably will, too.
wots uh the deal
2008-06-21 - As an avid fan for over 22 years, I have to say I finally found the book I have been looking for. Two enthusiastic thumbs up for 'Comfortably Numb'. Previously, I had read the late Nicholas Schaffner's 'A Saucerful of Secrets' back when it first came out (he penned 'Beatles Forever' - great book. A certain "Beatles starter" for me way back when). 'Saucerful' was nice, providing a simplistic yet informing overview of the history of the band- suitable for newer fans. 'Comfortably Numb', however, covers their entire history, including in depth details of Barrett's life after Floyd, as well as Roger and Dave's non Floyd ventures (not to mention Nick and Rick). It was easy to hear the soundtrack in my head while reading through each phase of their music. I learned a lot about Syd, as well as pretty much each member (or non-member) of the group. Tons of research must have been done for this book, as the author spoke to pretty much everyone humanly possible about the subject at hand. And what a subject! Live 8, although knowing it was a 1 and done, gave me hope that anything is possible. There is even a point where the book gets me hoping that a real reunion can and may happen, if only Dave gets off his arse. (Have to admit- 'On an Island' and the DVD from the Royal Albert Hall are terrific (Fat Old Sun, title of this review). Hoping to catch Zeppelin in the fall??? Definitely recommended for the true fans of Pink Floyd. Hoping for more docs a la "The Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd Story" and Classic Albums - Dark Side of the Moon...
