The Definitive History Of Pink Floyd Fans Have Waited For

Book Review: Echoes: The Complete History Of Pink Floyd by Glenn Povey

Glenn Povey's Echoes: The Complete History Of Pink Floyd comes exactly as advertised. It is not only a detailed, complete historical account on the meteoric rise of the band that practically invented both the space-rock and prog-rock genres — but also the pictorial souvenir book fans have long been salivating for.

Povey, a long-time, die-hard Pink Floyd fan and historian, has compiled the sort of lavish coffee-table book guaranteed to satisfy the hunger of these very same long suffering fans.

Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of never before seen photographs, Echoes is further augmented with the most exhaustively researched discography of the bands recordings ever assembled. Everything from pre-Pink Floyd efforts, to original band recordings, to solo albums and individual members appearances on various projects, is lovingly assembled with the sort of care that can only be the product of a true fans devotion. If nothing else, Echoes is definitely a labor of love.


Where it gets really interesting though, is when Povey delves into the setlists of nearly every live performance Pink Floyd has ever done.

Having seen the band myself a few times back during their seventies heyday, I found it particularly interesting to go back and read through their setlists in Seattle and Portland during the Wish You Were Here and Animals tours, as well as when I saw them play Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety, many months before the album was actually released. For the most part, the setlists for these shows were exactly as I remembered them.

But the real treat here is the graphics, which include not only hundreds of rare photos, but also all kinds of things like ticket stubs, concert posters and the like spanning the bands entire history. Thumbing through these alone makes Echoes a treasure trove of memorabilia both for long-time fans, as well as for those too young to have been around to witness the phenomenon first hand.

As for Povey's narrative, the author hits all the usual points from Syd Barrett's tragic, pre-mature drug induced flameout, through the glory years of the seventies, to the bitter split and resultant legal battles between primary members Roger Waters and David Gilmour during the eighties and nineties.

To his credit, author Glenn Povey maintains a largely neutral stance throughout, although the portrait of Roger Waters (and particularly the way he treated band members like Richard Wright) is often less than flattering. What hardcore fans will find far more interesting is Povey's detailed accounting of Pink Floyd's early concert history billed under names like the Tin Cup, as well as pre-Floyd bands like Jokers Wild.

The author's bonafides speak for themselves. Povey is the founder of the respected Pink Floyd fanzine Brain Damage, as well as a contributor to publications like Mojo and Record Collector. Povey is also the author of a previous Pink Floyd book, In The Flesh: The Complete Performance History.

As both historical document and pictorial record, Echoes: The Complete History Of Pink Floyd more than lives up to its advance billing. This is the definitive account Pink Floyd fans have long waited for.