Glen Povey is short on explanation orinterpretation but full of facts in Echoes:The Complete History of Pink Floyd(published by Chicago Review Press). Obsessive fans, concerned with the date ofevery live radio broadcast and the set list from every concert, will pour overevery page. “Any normal, sane person would have given up long ago,” admitsPovey, describing his extensive research. But then, the author was founder andeditor of the Pink Floyd fanzine BrainDamage, which implies that his grip on waking reality might have beenloosened by listening to Dark Sidetoo many times under the headphones.
Fortunately, Povey’s chronicle is neithermindlessly na%uFFFDve nor uncritical. He relies on press accounts and interviewsfrom every stage of Pink Floyd’s career rather than the present-day ruminationsof its members. The author concedes that they have sometimes “inventedconvenient memories to suit their own version of events.” But Echoes is stubbornly a chronicle withlittle to say to anyone seeking Floyd’s place in cultural historyin otherwords, the meaning of their remarkable achievements in the recording studio andthe investment market. By 1980, the platinum card rock act was close tobankruptcy from ill-advised financial schemes.
For those of us who began to wonder about PinkFloyd’s direction around the time of those inflatable pigs that hovered likebarrage balloons above their stadium concerts, the first chapters of Echoes will be the most informative.Povey does diligent work unearthing the comings and goings of Syd Barret andFloyd’s other members among a shifting cast of bluesy R&B bands in mid-‘60sCambridge. He clears up common misconceptions (there never was a band calledthe Architectural Abdads) and identifies the band’s name as a tribute to a pairof obscure American bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd “Dipper Boy” Council.However, the vital transformation from standard issue blues band to flagshipfor ‘70s prog rock, traveled via the rainbow bridge of psychedelia, is neverreally explored. In Echoes, thingsjust happen and the reader is left to draw their own conclusions.
