Any Pink Floyd Historians?

For beginners I recommend short biography of band & discography at allmusic.com. Additional reading material can be found at amazon.com or other online bookstores. For something interesting, try Dark Side of the Rainbow at http://www.synchronicityarkive.com/dsotr.php Don't expect too much, I've never been able to get actors & music to synchronize, exactly.

first off roger waters was a founding member of the band (named for bluesmen pink anderson and floyd counsil) but the guiding force and chief song writer was syd barrett before he went off the deep end so to speak; his escapes are legendary and well worth reading about. Their first album "piper at the gates of the dawn" is well worth a listen. Syd was eventually replaced by david gilmour.

the next four albums or so were collabortive efforts within the band members and while further success was elusive to the band they did well touring but made no money due to their elaborate stage shows for the time.

Other recordings that may be worth listening to from this period would be "obscured by clouds" and "meddle".

After this point in time came roger's dominance in the band and he became chief songwriter and developed their concept albums starting with "DSOTM".

The band always states that when they were recording "Shine on you crazy diamond", about syd barrett, for the "WYWH" that this fat balding man was in the studio that nobody recognized at first and then became apparent to the band that it was syd.

after "final cut" the band broke up due to all the infighting and when david and nick got together to record "momentary lapse..." (richard was just a session player on the album) roger sued them for using the pink floyd name and even though rogers album have been far superior to the reformed pink floyd's efforts people ( the masses who could not name a band member) purchase the name pink floyd based on reputation and not roger waters albums even though the songs and albums these people know are rogers creations.

If you want to read up on the band go to your local borders or barnes and noble and sit in chair and check out their coffee table book that is described on the cover as a visual documentary by miles. It covers the band in great detail from its before they were pink floyd.

I would recommend a reading of "Saucerful of Secrets" by Nicholas Schaffner published by Delta in 1991. Much is spent on the band's genesis including their early years while Syd was still active with the band. My personal favorites are: Pre Dark Side: "Umma Gumma" and post: "Wish You Were Here". "Meddle" really is the turning point LP in which the idea of album as concept began to gel for them.

Roger Waters works (with the exception of the bloated "Wall" stuff, IMHO), are still more representative of The Floyd's work, than the last iteration of the group. Despite the negative press, "Final Cut" has some very good things about it. "Amused To Death" is excellent. I saw the "In the Flesh" tour a couple of years ago and was more impressed with that than the several post-Waters PF shows I've witnessed.