Customer Reviews

Another Brick in the Wall: The Stories Behind Every Pink Floyd Song

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

While the book's title and subject matter present an interesting topic and a "must-read" look to any Pink Floyd fan, Cliff Jones simply dropped the ball with this one. His "in-depth description" of the meaning behind every Pink Floyd song is suspect at best, often simply rambling on about something I've read somewhere else before or by writing a description that often has nothing at all to do with the song itself. While the book has many quality color and black & white photographs, many have poor cutlines or misidentify the persons in the picture (in one instance, Jones misidentifies Roger Waters!!!). If you're a true Floyd fan, it's a quality buy for novelty alone. But if you're looking for the true meaning behind the songs of Pink Floyd, this ain't the book for you.

The title of Cliff Jones' book is enough to catch the eye of any Pink Floyd fan, as it did for me. I was immediately intrigued, therefore I decided I had to own this book. I got just about everything that I had expected. Whether you're an avid listener of the band or just starting out, all in all it is pretty informative. However, the 100-something page book is not perfectly written. I couldn't help but notice typos, and mis-identified photographs of the band, not to mention the author tends to go a little off track and start to ramble. If you know your Floyd, it's basically nothing new, although I feel that there is always somethign new to learn. If you're someone new to the group, it's a good book to start off with. Some of the rare black-and-white, and color photos make it worthy to be apart of any Floyd collection. In conclusion, after reading this book I found myself not only informed, but quite content as well. Despite a few spelling errors, I feel that it was money well spent.

This is an interesting and nicely presented book, but it's numerous errors keep it from being perfect. It is a useful pick up for the Floyd fan, because there is quite a bit of information on the individual tracks, as well as some background on the albums. If you are interested in buying this book, you are probably already a hard-core enough Floyd fan that you will already possess most of the knowledge that this book has to offer, but, as was with me, there will be some tidbits here and there that you did not know that you will appreciate. Also useful to the Floyd-head are the instrumentation lists for each song. There are also numerous quality pictures, many of them rare. Rounding out the book is a discography. However this book, though information-packed and presented in a high quality form, is less than perfect. THERE ARE A LOT OF ERRORS, that are more than likely simply typos, but just as annoying in the end. For example, the captions for several pictures are erronous (Waters is listed as Gilmour, etc.) and there are several errors in the instrumentation lists (Wright isn't credited for his vocals on "Time", for example), and, sadly, the credits for The Wall are all fallacious. This is unfortunate because, due to the heavy presence of sessionists on the album, this is the Floyd work where a list of the musicians would be most appreciated. Also, despite the title's claim, this book does not include every Pink Floyd song. True, none that you will probably miss are excluded, but it's annoying to completists (i.e. Floyd fans.) This isn't the best Pink Floyd book out there. If you want to start, get Schaffner's A Saucerful of Secrets instead, or Crazy Diamond or Lost In The Woods if you want something relating specifically to Syd. However, if you already possess these books, or are looking for something that focuses mainly on the songs themselves, then this book is worth picking up.

All Pink Floyd fans must have this book. It is that simple. Through interviews and research, Cliff Jones documents the stories behind the songs that made Pink Floyd one of the most influencial bands in rock history. Though this book, readers will know what even the most obscure Pink Floyd song is about.

With over 200 pictures, the book is worth the price alone. Even the most dedicated fans can learn something from this book. While some of the stories behind the songs are well documented, such as the story behind "Wish You Were Here", other stories are not nearly as well known. Particularly, the information about the three most recent Pink Floyd cd's is documented sparingly. Jones addresses these Floyd releases appropriately.

I particularly enjoyed reading about the early Floyd releases. It is difficult to find quality information about the pre-Dark Side of the Moon releases. Cliff Jones effectively tells the stories behind the music of Pink FLoyd.

Okay, I didn't actually buy this book, I saw it at Borders and was thumbing through it. I didn't see Roger Waters name in the back of the book, judging by another reviewer it must have been a typo. And then the Discography was a joke. It mentions all the Floyd albums but only Syd Barret's solo stuff. So I took a look at the little timeline in the back of the book and it listed Radio KAOS as Radio CHAOS. And the guy lists himself as a Floydophile. He maybe a Floydophile, but he doesn't know the first thing about radio or Roger's albums. There's a reason its KAOS and that's because its a renegade rock station in LA. Sheesh. That alone was enough to turn me off the book.

The sad part is that apparently this guy works for Rolling Stone.

Cliff Jones purports to give the story behind every song the Floyd ever recorded or performed. Unfortunately, Mr. Jones has a somewhat skewed view of what constitutes the "story" behind a song. In an inconsistently researched book, Jones misquotes lyrics, misinterprets well-known imagery, and generally makes a mess of things.

There is very little new information here, although the section on "Atom Heart Mother" is quite nice, having benefitted from the input of co-writer/arranger Ron Geesin. For the most part, Jones reiterates old stories and anecdotes which have been published in greater detail elsewhere.

Jones' use of illustrations is particularly laughable. Not only does he misspell band-members' names, but he misidentifies them as well! Having no authorization from the band to use copyrighted images, he often chooses to use photos which are incidentally-connected to the subject matter at best. At worst, some of the pictures have no connection to the text whatsoever, despite claims to the contrary in the captions. Some of these same captions are also misidentify key pieces of Floydian lore, and further impress upon the reader that Jones simply didn't do his homework.

In summary, if you are a hardcore Floyd nut looking to complete your collection, you may find a few new tidbits. But if you are a casual fan who cares to get the facts straight, you may want to look elsewhere. In Pink Floyd's 30-year career, few biographers have been more inaccurate more often.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, however when I did finish it, I found it full of errors. The band member's birthdays aren't correct in a couple of cases. Not to mention... that Roger Waters is referred to as "Roger Watts" in some early picture captions. I would imagine Mr. Jones is not to happy about the typo butcher job. Not all bad either, some interesting insights on the band & songs, but if you know your Floyd, it isn't anything new.

I wish I could be more positive, but I expected to find out something NEW! Not a rehash of other books. IMHO, even if these books are older you would do better to spend your money on a "Saucerful of Secrets" & "Crazy Diamond"... a great book about early Floyd and Roger Keith Barrett.

Cliff Jones has painstakingly put together a book for all fans to assist in discovering just what the "enigma" of Pink Floyd is all about. He covers every song title recorded or not that has been written in the last 30 years. 30 years. Not only will you find the words to the songs, you will also find the reasons why these songs have so much meaning for so many people. I strongly recommend this book for fans of Floyd as well as others who might be interested in a "Floydian" way of thought.<wink> "Communication is all we have" Jerry Martinez jm@centuryinter.ne

I very much enjoyed this book and could not put it down. I own everything from Dark Side on but still read the early stuff to get a good idea of the early Syd Barrett stuff. I found it all very interesting as I love Pink Floyd. I, like other readers, noticed misidentifying Roger Waters which was quite surprising. I have been a Pink Floyd "fanatic" for a long time but most of the stories were not "old" to me. I expected a little more indepth understanding of the lyrics but it was still insightful. I would definitely recommend this book to the serious Floyd fan.

It featured loads of great photos and the information on which inspired the songs is interesting although there a few silly mistakes in the book. For example, in one of the Roger Waters' earlier shots the book says it's 'a young Dave Gilmour' and some of Waters' quotes on the Wish You Were Here album are wrongly assumed they're originally by David, which is not true.

In a nutshell - very good. It doesn't reach the five star rating though due to the errors pointed above.

4/5.