I picked up this e-book from Amazon Prime because it was available. I am not a Floyd enthusiast, but I like rock bios. Pink Floyd along with Black Sabbath are among the holes in my listening from the day. Only a few years ago did I start to rectify that some. Sabbath has rewarded me; Floyd less so.
Be that as it may, this is a pretty great memoir. Mason was more than just a drummer, he contributed to Floyd creatively as much as anyone. And he writes well, assuming there is no ghost, with humour and reasonable fairness. There’s always an opportunity to snipe in such books, and I know there were tensions in the group, but I think he keeps that in check.
Floyd’s early years resembled the coterminous San Francisco sound. Syd Barrett was the creative spark then, writing charming psychedelic songs. Spellcheck appropriately changed Syd to Sad, which I will get to.
They played some dates similar to the Acid Tests, with lightshows and general communal experimentation. The band early on showed interest in more than cranking the tunes. Lighting and production, for instance, as well as improvisation were serious aspects of their concerts.
I have a taste for psychedelic music. I never really cottoned to the drugs that went along with the music. That’s perhaps why I didn’t seek out Floyd back then. The drug overlay never bothered me with the Dead and others so I don’t know.
Anyway, Barrett fell apart. Like Skip Spence, another genius, drugs took their toll and both faded away. Spence died in his 50s, Barrett remains alive, somewhere... Gilmore joined the bad and fit in.
Like with The Beatles, Pink Floyd got deep in the new technologies. Not just multi-track recording but reshaping sounds in ways I don’t understand. Their lightshows and productions were grand to grandiose. I am not interested in that. I just want to see the musicians play so there’s that whole realm of Floyd that I paid no attention to. Additionally, I have never had really great equipment to hear music on. They went deep into recording techniques that I couldn’t hear.
I guess it is common knowledge but David Gilmore plays a greater role than I thought in Floyd. He sings many songs that I thought were sung by Waters, he wrote songs. Waters seems like a bit of a load but they all worked well as a unit for quite some time. I have yet to read of the split but I know it sizzles even now, especially between Waters and Gilmore.
This is as good as a rock memoir gets. Mason at least keeps evenhandedness in mind. He doesn’t offer things salaciously. He’s funny. I am glad to be reading Inside Out.
