"A Saucerful Of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey" - Nicholas Schaffner |
Originally published 1992; re-issued March 2003Available through this link for US/International orders, or this link for UK/EU ordersSince 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:
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 |