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Home arrow Reviews arrow Books arrow "A Saucerful Of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey" - Nicholas Schaffner
"A Saucerful Of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey" - Nicholas Schaffner Print E-mail

Nicholas Schaffner's A Saucerful Of Secrets bookOriginally published 1992; re-issued March 2003

Available through this link for US/International orders, or this link for UK/EU orders

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!

If this review has got you interested, you can buy the new edition (published March 2003) through this link for US/International orders, or this link for UK/EU orders

 
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