Three down, forty-nine to go.

The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd
by Toby Manning

Yup, a rock biography. I thought I would breeze through this, but I suppose that when you know an awful lot about a particular subject it can take you longer to read about that subject, since you spend a lot of time evaluating the author's message and guaging whether they "got it right" or not. My verdict on Toby Manning's attempt at outlining and explaining Pink Floyd? Not bad.

Pink Floyd was one of those bands that meant a lot to me, and probably served as the gateway to my appreciation of most of the music I enjoy today. However at the time I was introduced to them, biographical information on them that was trustworthy and consistent was sorely lacking. My best bet were the xeroxed copies of the Brain Damage fanzine I would get from the local import record store / head shop three towns over from where I went to high school.

As the years have passed, the Pink Floyd story has mostly sorted itself out and solidified, although most biographies of the band falter by choosing sides or attempting to lay blame on one camp or the other when trying to explain the group's slow disintegration. The first half of Manning's book is given over to this enterprise, and he does a better job than most at retelling the band's story from neutral ground. I would definitely recommend this as a primer for the average fan looking for some background on the band.

The second half of the book is less useful. While the section on band member's various solo projects was nice since not much has been written on that subject (although the book joins the canon as one that condemns Roger Waters' The Pros And Cons of Hitchhiking, an album I personally think is terrific) later sections going over only fifty individual tunes seem sketched out at best. And the rehash of each album in a separate section mirrors most of the information already lain out earlier in the biography so that seems superfluous. I suppose the whole second half of the book is reflective of the current trend towards lists as a sales tool when hawking the printed word. Easy to read capsules of trivia, no matter how redundant, seem to be finding their way into more and more books.

So if you're looking for an introduction or refresher course on the band, this book is lovely, but ultimately I think the desired audience is the casual fan (or one who's interest in the band was rekindled by their Live 8 reunion) so keep that in mind when you're weighing its purchase against another selection at your local bookseller.

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A blasphemous utterance.

Paul was mentioning about how nice a Bears victory would be and I was moved to write this response to him last night, after they clinched their spot in the Super Bowl line-up.

"Oh yeah, the Bears winning is just great ... unless you just happen to be a buy living in Chicago who cares not one whit about football and has had his television hijacked by the local affiliates and their countless variations on Bears "news" stories!"

And I'm sticking to that.


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The horror! The horror!

24 versus Heroes tonight? What sort of sadists are scheduling television nowadays, and why would they put two of the three shows I actually watch on AT THE SAME TIME!

Bastards!