Here's one that I read a long time ago and recently flipped through again:

Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, by Nick Mason.

A dense but interesting book about how Pink Floyd developed and why tensions grew in the band. Some of the early chapters offer a little too much detail, but it starts to flow pretty well soon enough. Mason has a dry sense of humor and loves telling anecdotes, but you get a pretty clear picture of how Pink Floyd started using lighting to add to their show, how (and why) they came to add long preludes to their songs, and how Roger Waters began to despise being in the band. My main criticism is that we don't really get a sense of the band members (especially Syd) early on because the book details the fortunes of the entire band, but it's interesting that these goofy architecture students (Mason mentions that and how it affected their props and stage presence) would, just eight years after forming, record Dark Side of the Moon. Meddle and Obscured by Clouds are solid albums, but the movement to Dark Side of the Moon was a Tracy McGrady-like ascension into greatness. Mason also gives credit to Pink Floyd's collaborators, which the band did not always do.

I saw Nick Mason last year at the Chicago Theater and he played many of the Syd Barrett-era songs. I hadn't listened to them in a long time, but listened before the show and then just this past week, and some of the material (especially "Interstellar Overdrive") holds up well. It was a great show, and I'd go again if I could just to hear him tell stories.

Anyway, this one was worth reading. The version I have on my phone adds a little about the deaths of Syd Barrett and Rick Wright.

#frankcostanza
#frankfromorlandpark

I may have been at that same show last year, but was underwhelmed. I'm usually a fan of deep cuts but this was just too deep. I will check out the book, though.

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The Floyd book I liked a long time ago was titled A Saucerful of Secrets.

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Elections have consequences.

I read the biography that started off referencing the Live 8 reunion....I think it was Comfortably Numb by Mark Blake....it was fantastic.

I'd love to read this one. Their story is really really interesting and complex. Roger Waters is in the team photo of all time douchebags, but he was the creative force of the bands best work.

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I did know until recently that Waters didn't play bass on many of the songs...anything difficult was played by Gilmour.

I agree with pittmike that Saucerful of Secrets was a good read.

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Yeah, that was the one! I think he was just there for one night. It was you, me, my daughter, and a bunch of 67 year-olds.

Very deep stuff, but I guess that's how it was advertised. Mason's band played "One of These Days," "Interstellar Overdrive," and "Fearless," so I was pleased with that. Also, "Set Your Controls for the Heart of the Sun." I can't remember if they played "Eugene" or not.

The 33 1/3 collection is (mostly) hit and miss, but there are some great short books in there.

And Wright played basically no keys on the Wall. Waters did.

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Elections have consequences.

Mason is nice about it, though. He doesn't gloss over stuff, but we don't see a lot of the ugliness while they were a band. As they worked on The Final Cut, he writes:

Certainly, the imposition by Roger of a deadline to complete the album seemed to staunch David’s creativity. I’m not sure that this was a conscious power play by Roger. I suspect that he might have been angry or simply impatient with David’s apparent lack of speed in producing material, or it may be that in Roger’s head he was already moving into his solo career, and merely wanted David and me to assist him in his aspirations. During the Wall recordings we had maintained some semblance of democracy, but even this semblance was under threat. The matter rapidly became ‘an issue’, and like a menacing U-boat, poked a periscope up above the murky waters of our relationship. The upshot was that the album consisted entirely of Roger’s writing. David’s input was minimised – apart from his guitar solos, which even Roger was not foolhardy enough to try and influence . . .

Anyone ever read Rat Girl by Kristen Hersh?

JORR mentioned her the other day, and I have been slowly re-reading her memoir and listening to Throwing Muses music, which is actually really helpful when reading this book because it's not exactly a tightly-written narrative.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has read it, because I am conflicted over it.

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I carried around 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child by David Henderson like a bible growing up.

I had a Bowie biography I read and re-read back then as well, don't recall who wrote it. It was a shorter book, mostly covered his youth and early days. Strange Fascination: David Bowie: The Definitive Story by David Buckley is the best extant Bowie bio.

Camden Joy wrote about bands and music in the 90's. Boy Island was about touring with David Lowery's successor to Camper Van Beethoven during the first Gulf War. The Last Rock Star Book: Or: Liz Phair, A Rant is more about Joy's struggles with his own mental health and identity than Liz Phair--somewhat similar to You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes by Nathan Rubin from the Onion's A.V. Club.

There was an attempt to resuscitate Camden Joy's work a few years ago. Mostly to reissue his 90's books. Jonathan Lethem, Dennis Cooper, Dave Eggers, Ira Glass and Mark Lerner all vouching for the importance of Joy's writing wasn't enough to make the project go and it was dropped after 1 reissue.

One of the coolest things I ever read about Pink Floyd was how on any of their compilation albums they always insisted a Barrett song be included on it so he’d have a constant flow of royalties . Im guessing there’s a lot of guilt with those guys associated with the way things happened with Syd and bringing Dave in and that it was their small way of trying to make things right in addition to seeing their friend kind of fall apart before their eyes .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

That and No Here Here Gets out Alive were my favorite books freshman year of high school....though Jim Morrison was the biggest jag in the world.

I really can't stand Liz Phair, partially because she cursed me out once at the Blind Pig. My friend says the comment was directed towards him, but I disagree.

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Let's hear this story!

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

I was standing there, just sort of standing still, talking to a friend. Some chick said, "Excuse me," and when I turned around, I saw some roadie by the door, 15 yards away, but no female. About five seconds later, she says, "Will someone get this tall idiot out of my way?" (or something like that) Then I turned and looked down to see an annoyed Liz Phair.

I'm average height (6'2"), but my buddy is 6'5", so he contends she was talking to him, not me, though I was the one blocking her.

I think she was into me.

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Never got the Doors thing, maybe if I was a chick I'd be into Morrison. But musically? Meh.

Was Liz Phair the one who took her $10k record company advance check to that check cashing place on North @Milwaukee and then immediately bought a shit-ton of cocaine to bring back to party with the guys from urge overkill et al? I think it was her. It was a definitely a female singer in that time-frame. Not sure who else got big in Chicago around then.

I do kinda like The End, at least how Coppola used it in Apocalypse Now

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X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Ray Davies is pretty good.

I saw him a couple times back in the mid 90s on the X-ray tour. Watching him read excerpts from the book and then lead into sometimes snippets and sometimes full songs was mesmerizing. Such a brilliant songwriter and showman.

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Saw the Kinks when they were still all together at NIU back in the early 80's. It was great.

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“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

Too bad you were standing 6 feet 2 instead of 5 feet 1.

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General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

I dunno. Could be a D'arcy Waletzsky move. She was wacked.

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Probably applies to anybody in the Chicago music scene. Don't recall if I read it or, more likely, was told the story by someone at an Estelle's afters, at which the only thing taller than the mountains of coke were the coke stories.

I saw them at the Pavillion and later at the Auditorium. The Auditorium show was off the charts. Saw Ray solo at the Vic and Park West...and I think someplace else.

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What the . . .

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Between the Kinks, CCR and the Black Crows which brothers were the dumbest to waste so much cash mad at each other?

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Elections have consequences.

The Kinks were my answer to the question: Beatles or Stones?

Did it matter that the Kinks weren't together anymore? They both toured on the same songs after the split. Sort of like how the watermelon smashing comedian and his brother both tour with the same act.

I just finished Long Road, Steven Hyden's Pearl Jam biography. If you're a real Pearl Jam nut, you probably already know most of the book's content, but it was fun to inhabit that Pearl Jam/90's space again and it got me listening to and appreciating their records again.

That's the best one I think. The guy that wrote it was a real writer and most of the people were still around and willing to talk.

"One Train Later" by Andy Summers was a great read.

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An unjust law is no law at all--St. Augustine of Hippo

Cause tried and true
I see the light in you
Oh, can you dig in my soul?
Could you smell my whole...
life?--Gener and Deaner

Bob Odenkirk said the book about the Replacements was the best band book he ever read. I think I'll check that one out.

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