About the Book
In celebration of the 45th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon, Bill Kopp explores the ingenuity with which Pink Floyd rebranded itself following the 1968 departure of Syd Barrett. Not only did the band survive Barrett’s departure, but it went on to release landmark albums that continue to influence generations of musicians and fans.
Reinventing Pink Floyd follows the path taken by the remaining band members to establish a musical identity, develop a songwriting style, and create a new template for the manner in which albums are made and even enjoyed by listeners. As veteran music journalist Bill Kopp illustrates, that path was filled with failed experiments, creative blind alleys, one-off musical excursions, abortive collaborations, general restlessness, and—most importantly—a dedicated search for a distinctive musical personality.
This exciting guide to the works of 1968 through 1973 highlights key innovations and musical breakthroughs of lasting influence. Kopp places Pink Floyd in its historical, cultural, and musical contexts while celebrating the test of fire that took the band from the brink of demise to enduring superstardom.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Historical and musical contextualization of early Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett as leader
Discussion of the group's reliance on Barrett
Apples and Oranges: 1967– Defining characteristics in Barrett's songwriting and musical approach
This early period features a band focused almost solely on the compositions, vocals and distinctive guitar work of Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett, the group's original leader. The studio songs of this period are characterized by a childlike wonder, filtered through the influences of English classical literature and LSD.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and singles – Barrett's studio work as an exemplar of “Summer of Love” musical ethosReaction in G: Cambridge St/ation – Pink Floyd's live shows of the era were distinctly different from the band's studio output, and would provide more of a template for the band's future direction.BBC One: Continu/ation – Live performances for radio bridged the gap between the band's live and studio approaches.
Point Me at the Sky: 1968 – Syd leaves; the band begins again in his shadow
Reeling from the loss of both its leader and management, Pink Floyd struggles to develop new material that continues where Syd Barrett;s music left off.
Searching for a Sound: A Saucerful of Secrets – Losing its leader halfway through the making of an album means Pink Floyd has to draw upon its live set for ideas. The group quickly moves away form pop song structure.Soundtrack One: Tonite Let's All Make Love in London – Without even trying, the band makes its first foray into the world of film soundtrack work.BBC Two: Germin/ation and Continua/tion – The band works hard for commercial success via multiple television appearances and additional soundtrack work (The Committee)
The Narrow Way: 1969 – Developing a distinct identity
Guitarist David Gilmour takes on a more active role. The loss of the band's primary songwriter and creative visionary found the group adrift artistically, searching for a new and distinctive musical direction. Nonetheless, some of the group's most enduring work was creative during this period of exploration and experimentation, setting the tone for the future.
Soundtrack Two: More – Pink Floyd makes its first serious journey into the world of composiing music for motion pictures.Live work vs. Studio Experiments: Ummagumma – Double-album highlights the group beginning to reconcile the differences between its live performance and studio work; the lines between the two begin to blur.The Man and the Journey: Dramatis/ation – An early conceptual work aims to combine scattered individual songs into a cohesive, semi-narrative extended work, presaging The Dark Side of the MoonRemergence: 1970 – Increased musical risks yield rewards and setbacks
Pink Floyd explores long-form musical composition in live performance while pursuing soundtrack opportunities that showcase a different side of the band and provide clues to the future.
Epic song structure: Atom Heart Mother – Expanding its sound to include a full orchestra and choir, the group collaborates closely with avant-garde composer Ron Geesin.Soundtrack Three: Zabriskie Point – The band's ambient-leaning tendencies are explored in a suite of songs and incidental music created for film.Soundtrack Four: Music from The Body – Album marks the first outside venture by a Pink Floyd member (post-Syd Barret) and develops some musical ideas that will reappear on The Dark Side of the Moon.BBC Three: Devi/ation – Developed onstage rather than in the studio, the band's extended set-pieces preview the direction Pink Floyd's music would take for the rest of its time as a group.
Biding My Time: 1971 – In-depth pursuit of promising musical approaches
Learning from the experience of working with a collaborator, the group retreats into itself, combining its strengths onto a single album.
Refining the Formula: Meddle – Continuing its approach of developing long-form musical works onstage, Pink Floyd creates one of its most enduring work. BBC Four: Reverber/ation – Once again the band reconciles its studio work (specifically, pop-length songs) with long-form explorations; BBC performances of this era are the most accurate representations of the band's growth. Odds and Ends: Relics – Scattered non-album tracks and previously-unreleased material shows both how the band has changed and maintained some of its original ideas.
Burning Bridges: 1972 – Leaving Syd's influence behind and looking to the future
A distinct musical personality emerges, and the group once again attempts collaboration with outside artists, most notably filmmaker Adrian Maben and ballet choreographer Roland Petit.
Soundtrack Four: La Valée (Obscured by Clouds) – Pink Floyd embarks on its final film soundtrack project.Wot's … Uh the Deal: Obfusc/ation – The band attempts to combine music and ballet, with mixed results.Echoes: Live at Pompeii – A live performance in ancient coliseum ruins serves as the final word on Pink Floyd's transitional years, while previewing the future.
The Great Gig in the Sky: 1973 – Creating the perfect album
The synthesis of everything the band has learned in the previous five years.
Perfecting the Formula: The Dark Side of the Moon
Oh, By the Way: 1974 and Beyond
Conclusion
About the Author :
Bill Kopp is a lifelong music enthusiast, musician, collector, and music journalist. His writing has been featured in music magazines including Bass Guitar, Record Collector, Prog, and Shindig! (all in Great Britain), as well as Billboard, Electronic Musician, Goldmine, Trouser Press, Ugly Things, and more than a dozen alternative weekly newspapers. He is the Jazz Desk Editor and Prog Editor at BLURT online and has written liner note essays for 20 albums, including titles by Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Larry Coryell, Edgar Winter, Rick Wakeman, the Ventures, Dave Mason, and Iron Butterfly. He has interviewed several hundred musicians and music industry figures of note, and his musoscribe.com blog features thousands of music reviews, essays, and interviews. Follow him on Twitter @the_musoscribe.
Review :
“Music journalist Kopp tells the story of how Pink Floyd developed their iconic sound from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) to The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). He interviews engineers and others involved with these early albums to get firsthand accounts... Kopp, who’s also a musician, describes each of the songs from the earliest albums using some music theory (e.g., chord progression and root notes)...The group’s original songwriter, Syd Barrett, his dismissal from the band and replacement by David Gilmour (as well as other band drama) are covered, but not in great detail since the focus is on the actual music rather than the musicians. The author often mentions the 2016 release of The Early Years 1965–1972 box set, so patrons may ask about this. VERDICT Pink Floyd fanatics will appreciate the in-depth exploration of how the band developed their distinct sound."
“Music journalist Kopp debuts with a succinct look at Pink Floyd’s work from 1968 to 1973, focusing on the musical rather than the personal developments that led to the creation of The Dark Side of the Moon. Kopp expertly analyzes how the band developed from the idiosyncratic yet “concise pop songwriting” of its founder Syd Barrett, through a range of “musical excursions” including electronic experiments and film soundtracks, to more conceptual albums such as Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother. By offering detailed evaluations of songs such as “Echoes”— “a glacial and majestic twenty-three-plus minute piece of music that distills all of Pink Floyd’s accumulated musical virtues circa 1971 into a fully realized work”— Kopp shows that nearly “everything the band did would, in one way or another, provide clues to the band’s eventual and wildly successful direction.” He also provides new insights into how Dark Side was crafted into “a unified work” through live performances and studio sessions. Hard-core Floyd fans will delight in Kopp’s sensitivity to the intricacies of the band’s work, while people only familiar with Dark Side will be alerted to the often “overlooked development of Pink Floyd’s music” that led directly to that masterpiece. Kopp’s smart and well-researched history is a welcome addition to the Pink Floyd library.”
With song titles like “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” and “Brain Damage,” Pink Floyd always chartered its own idiosyncratic course in the pop universe. Founded by Syd Barrett, an enigmatic (and, later, increasingly unhinged) guitar student from Cambridge, the band released its debut single, “Arnold Layne,” in March 1967. In this finely detailed account of the band’s career, from its debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, to the release of its masterpiece, The Dark Side of the Moon, Kopp focuses with laser-sharp attention on a specific time period: from early 1968—when Barrett, the leader, public face of the band, and chief songwriter, left—to spring 1973, when Dark Side was released. Within a few years, as Kopp notes, the Pink Floyd lineup of David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright that fans know so well emerged. Kopp discusses at length the pre–Dark Side albums, including A Saucerful of Secrets, Ummagumma, and Atom Heart Mother; their performances on BBC radio; their contributions to motion-picture soundtracks, such as Michelangelo Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point; and the development of the band’s distinctive sound, culminating in the live performances and release of The Dark Side of the Moon, in 1973. Pink Floyd fans will savor every word. With a foreword by Jerry Shirley, former drummer of the band Humble Pie.
This superb book by the talented Bill Kopp on how the legendary Pink Floyd basically started out as a psychedelic folk rock outfit in the mid-60s only to transform into a prog rock mammoth in merely five or six years is a brilliant study of musical growth and how the aforementioned act helped shape the modern cultural landscape . . . "Reinventing Pink Floyd" oozes passion and comes across as both cohesive and coherent. All the devout fans of (prog) rock music out there ought to immerse themselves in this marvelous piece of literature; it is perfect for one of those grey and rainy days where you just want to curl up in your favorite armchair with a cup of strong coffee and a captivating book. Kopp's narrative is entertaining and absorbing, but it also places the first six years of the band's existence in a wider cultural and historical perspective, which lends further weight to the importance of the (early) Floyd catalogue while also helping us understand why the ensemble continues to inspire so many fans and listeners all over the world even after all these years.
If you are a dedicated Floyd fan then the Kopp book will offer a rewarding read especially if you are also a musician as the book talks a lot about time signatures and unusual chords.
Bill Kopp has written knowledgeable, well-informed, conscientious, and sensitive chapters about Syd’s music and what it took to record it in somewhat difficult circumstances for us all. He has written about what really matters. A great readwell worth the price of admission.
Kopp’s excellent analysis of Pink Floyd’s post-Syd, pre-arenas era performs a valuable service to the Floyd canon.
Combining research into their classic albums and a wealth of little-known and unofficial recordings with astute and entertaining analysis, Kopp generates fresh insight into Pink Floyd’s formative years. Even longtime fans of the band will be surprised and enlightened.
