Title: Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story Of Pink Floyd
Author: Mark Blake
Year: 2008
When I saw Comfortably Numb sitting on a bookshelf in the Borders at Logan Airport, I bought it for one reason: I wanted to understand what the big deal with Dark Side Of The Moon was. Few albums have confused me more than Pink Floyd’s legendary masterpiece. People have ranted and raved about it for years. It’s been positively drowned in critical acclaim since its 1973 release. It’s generally considered one of the finest albums of all time. But I’ve never liked it much at all. I was hoping this book would help me out.
If there was ever a book that helped you understand Pink Floyd, this is undoubtedly the one. Mark Blake takes a very systematic, logical approach to one of the most mysterious bands in history, restraining himself from wandering down every tangent of Floyd lore. Instead, he paints a very simple picture of a profoundly English band, created by a gaggle of young English lads in the 1960s. The book handles this phase of the Floyd very well, especially with Blake’s fair treatment of their over-romanticized original frontman, Syd Barrett. Blake presents Barrett as no more than what he was: a charismatic, creative young man who ended up severely damaged by excessive drug use.
From there, the story shifts towards the classic Floyd lineup, led by the maniacal Roger Waters and his guitarist foil, David Gilmour. Blake documents the progression of the Floyd’s music very well, explaining the personal and professional hurdles the band members were jumping through during their lives and how all those ended up influencing the music. Particularly interesting is Blake’s description of the late-70s, Waters-dictated era, which led to the Floyd’s most angry and iconoclastic albums. Following Waters’ departure in the early 80s, the book pulls the classic biography trick, speeding recklessly through the band’s later years in order to get to the suitably reverent conclusion. We’re left with a loving tribute to one of the most celebrated bands in the history of rock music.
Except…why are they celebrated? The one glaring issue with Comfortably Numb is that it fails to address this one very simply point. For all of his deliberate writing, Blake must have assumed that anyone picking up this book was a Floyd convert and wouldn’t need an explanation for their greatness. As such, to a lukewarm Floyd fan such as myself, the book becomes slightly confusing. Particularly around the era of Dark Side Of The Moon, the book does not explain why this music resonated so deeply with people of the time. The book makes it clear that the album marked the beginning of the Floyd as a superstar band, but it doesn’t tell us why. Because of that, I am ultimately disappointed by Comfortably Numb. Despite being well-written and very informative, it failed to answer my biggest question about Pink Floyd. Dark Side Of The Moon is still an impenetrable mystery to me.
If there was ever a book that helped you understand Pink Floyd, this is undoubtedly the one. Mark Blake takes a very systematic, logical approach to one of the most mysterious bands in history, restraining himself from wandering down every tangent of Floyd lore. Instead, he paints a very simple picture of a profoundly English band, created by a gaggle of young English lads in the 1960s. The book handles this phase of the Floyd very well, especially with Blake’s fair treatment of their over-romanticized original frontman, Syd Barrett. Blake presents Barrett as no more than what he was: a charismatic, creative young man who ended up severely damaged by excessive drug use.
From there, the story shifts towards the classic Floyd lineup, led by the maniacal Roger Waters and his guitarist foil, David Gilmour. Blake documents the progression of the Floyd’s music very well, explaining the personal and professional hurdles the band members were jumping through during their lives and how all those ended up influencing the music. Particularly interesting is Blake’s description of the late-70s, Waters-dictated era, which led to the Floyd’s most angry and iconoclastic albums. Following Waters’ departure in the early 80s, the book pulls the classic biography trick, speeding recklessly through the band’s later years in order to get to the suitably reverent conclusion. We’re left with a loving tribute to one of the most celebrated bands in the history of rock music.
Except…why are they celebrated? The one glaring issue with Comfortably Numb is that it fails to address this one very simply point. For all of his deliberate writing, Blake must have assumed that anyone picking up this book was a Floyd convert and wouldn’t need an explanation for their greatness. As such, to a lukewarm Floyd fan such as myself, the book becomes slightly confusing. Particularly around the era of Dark Side Of The Moon, the book does not explain why this music resonated so deeply with people of the time. The book makes it clear that the album marked the beginning of the Floyd as a superstar band, but it doesn’t tell us why. Because of that, I am ultimately disappointed by Comfortably Numb. Despite being well-written and very informative, it failed to answer my biggest question about Pink Floyd. Dark Side Of The Moon is still an impenetrable mystery to me.
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