Book Review: Comfortably Numb

Writing the end-all be-all chronicle on the band Pink Floyd is a tough task indeed. The band's history is often contradicted by varying accusations and their seems to never be a complete truth in anything said or written by the band. The only book considered to be a complete portrayal of the band is Nick Mason's "Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd". Since it's written by the drummer, one would think that it would be an honest telling of the band's history. Unfortunately, the book never comes completely close to an accurate view since it was written during the band's most tumultuous period and each of the band members needed to sign off on what was true and what wasn't. This tumultuous period of the band is chock full of long legal battles, and constant sniping between members of the band. After reading Mark Blake's "Comfortably Numb" you'll understand why so much of the band's history has been left out of prior books.

For a rock band, Pink Floyd has been notorious for holding things back from the press, rarely ever offering full and honest interviews. Most of what is heard from the band in the past twenty years are jabs back and forth between Roger Waters and Pink Floyd made of Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright. Like their music, the band's history is dense and involved.  Mark Blake rises to the challenge and expertly sorts through the years of arguments and triumphs and offers several new conjectures as to the band's history.

The book starts off with Live8 2005. Fans of the band had been waiting nearly twenty years for a true band reunion with the classic line-up of Roger Waters; the lyricist and bassist of the band who has been the cause for much of the band's controversy; David Gilmour, the lead guitarist and main foundation for the Floyd's sound; Nick Mason, the drummer and the band's mediator, and finally Richard Wright, keyboardist with a history of self-consciousness who despite his shortcomings is the backbone of the Floyd sound. From there, Blake transports us back to the mid-60's chronicling the band with their original line-up with Syd Barrett, the much written about original lyricist, vocalist, and guitarist of the band.

Much has been hypothesized about Syd Barrett. He is known for his mental illness, which forced his retirement from the band. Blake draws upon dozens of interviews by the people closest to Barrett and this aspect of the Floyd is perhaps the most interesting. People have speculated to the cause of his mental illness, theories range from his extended and heavy use of LSD to that he had always shown signs of schizophrenia despite the drug use. Here Blake leans more towards the ladder, pointing out that Barrett had always been a little brainsick, and that the constant LSD use just accentuated his ticks.

From there, Blake chronicles the making of each Floyd album from "Saucerful of Secrets" to "The Final Cut". He details the evolution of the Pink Floyd sound, as well as the evolution of Roger Waters and his ego.

Roger Waters is well known as being a bit of egoist, from his declarations "I worry about what the band would do without me" to referring to his fellow band members as "my muffins". It is clear that he is indeed a master storyteller, with an ingenious sense of substance and theatricality. There is also a mean side to Waters, who is known for being a bully, especially with Richard Wright (which could be one of the reasons for his unnecessary self-consciousness). Blake offers a detailed portrait of Waters, showing his ego side, his mean streak, and his hidden sensitive side (Waters himself admits to attending psychotherapy meetings for years). Blake also delves into Waters inspiration for his lyrics and ideas. For instance, the inspiration for "The Wall" stageshow, came from the fact that Waters was becoming tired of performing in front of an audience and wanted to put the wall up to hide him from the audience. There was also an idea he kicked around for having one of the massive balloons showcased at the show to be a pig that would fire artificial feces at the audience.

Finally, the book dives into the end of the band. He shows how tired and cumbersome sessions during "The Wall" and "The Final Cut" became, and how the band managed to alienate several of those close to them during these years. After "The Final Cut" Blake writes how the schism was formed between Roger Waters and the rest of the band, with Dave Gilmour taking over as chief lyricist and band leader. It's interesting to see Waters doubts that Dave Gilmour could make an appropriate Floyd album. Gilmour, known as an expert musician would take the reigns of the band put out two more hit records out before retiring from the studio. He also touches upon each of the band members struggles on their solo work, including the short-lived partnership of Roger Waters and Eric Clapton and Live In Berlin performance that Roger Waters put on after the fall of the Berlin wall. Although the event was meant for charity, one can get the impression that maybe Roger Waters was just trying to get people to associate the Pink Floyd band with Roger Waters, rather than the new Gilmour-led Floyd.

Finally, going back to the Live8 performance, it was thought of for awhile that maybe the band would get back together and put the years of hatred and constant jabbing back and forth on the backburner and go on tour. After the performance the band gets together for a group hug, Roger Waters leading the way. But it's hard not to notice an uncomfortable Dave Gilmour in the mix. He has been the most skeptical about a Pink Floyd reunion and to this day the Floyd have rejected several multi-million dollar offers to go back on tour.

As a record of the band, this is the ultimate book for a Pink Floyd fan. Even as a chronicle of a rock n roll band, going though the band's excesses and shortcomings, this book utterly intriguing. Highly recommended for any fan of the band or of rock music.