Wesley Britton's Blog, page 20
April 1, 2018
New Interview with Wes Britton!
Fiona Mcvie’s interview with Wesley Britton for her Author Interview blog just went live at:
https://wp.me/p3uv2y-7PI
https://wp.me/p3uv2y-7PI
March 26, 2018
Book Review: Factor Man by Matt Ginsberg
Factor Man
Matt Ginsberg
Paperback:292 pages
Publisher:Zowie Press (March 20, 2018)
ISBN-10:0999757113
ISBN-13:978-0999757116
https://www.amazon.com/Factor-Man-Mat...
Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton
Matt Ginsberg’s Factor Man is a cerebral read that seems targeted for a selective audience, namely techno-geeks and nerds, especially those knowledgeable in advanced math and science. This is especially true for the first third of the book where Ginsberg lays out the background of what Factor Man can do, how he hides from the entire planet, and just how important his factoring is. Ginsberg’s book couldn’t be timelier with its use of e-mails and blog entries to partially tell the story of online issues with security and privacy and the powers of companies like Google and Apple.
The plot centers on the world-famous “Factor Man” who claims
he can break the 256-bit encryption codes making online privacy and secrets completely impossible. There’s lots to worry about if “FM” has really discovered what computer scientists call “God’s algorithm.” The evidence for his claims builds up as the unknown genius who solves increasingly complex factor problems in a public countdown to the day he plans to reveal his identity. Day after day, all sorts of individuals including Will Wheaton, Sylvester Stallone, and Jimmy Fallon submit long strings of numbers for Factor Man to factor—you’d think every celebrity in the world was interested in complexity theory.
Assuming FM can survive to the day he is willing to lose his anonymity is no sure thing. FM sets up a schedule to sell his technology first to the highest bidder, one year later to the U.S. Government, and finally make it available to everyone. The Chinese, with the most to lose, are deeply unhappy and send out an assassin to track him down. The FBI and NSA follow the lead of Congress who pass laws attempting to block FM from selling his tech to any private entity. So law enforcement agents conduct annoying surveillance on innocent citizens in the Texas desert while the Chinese agent kills two innocent Americans. Throw in an investigative reporter who also chases FM all over Europe, especially in Austria and Switzerland. It’s this section of the book where readers don’t need a math or science background to get into what is essentially an espionage thriller.
Along the way, we hear Factor Man telling his own story, including his clever journey to evade discovery and capture. Layered into the tale are the accounts of the reporter, Chinese operative, and officers from various government agencies and other characters sharing their roles in the hunt they tell in the first person.
When I said the book is timely, that’s on several levels. The story opens in 2017 and concludes in 2021. You’d think the short trip into the future would qualify the story as science fiction. However you classify the novel, Factor Man is an original work of fiction with subject matter that is fresh with a mostly lively approach and tone. I admit I could live without the interruptive series of numbers e-mailed to FM which all readers, I presume, will quickly skim over. I also admit I have a hard time buying into a large media event I can’t fairly describe here. On the other hand, the thrill-ride that leads up to this event is as suspenseful a chase as you’ll ever read. Best of all, we get a warm, positive ending. I love it when I’m not experiencing a dystopian future. I like it when the good guys win.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March 26, 2018:
http://1clickurls.com/ZdpNTdq
Matt Ginsberg
Paperback:292 pages
Publisher:Zowie Press (March 20, 2018)
ISBN-10:0999757113
ISBN-13:978-0999757116
https://www.amazon.com/Factor-Man-Mat...
Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton
Matt Ginsberg’s Factor Man is a cerebral read that seems targeted for a selective audience, namely techno-geeks and nerds, especially those knowledgeable in advanced math and science. This is especially true for the first third of the book where Ginsberg lays out the background of what Factor Man can do, how he hides from the entire planet, and just how important his factoring is. Ginsberg’s book couldn’t be timelier with its use of e-mails and blog entries to partially tell the story of online issues with security and privacy and the powers of companies like Google and Apple.
The plot centers on the world-famous “Factor Man” who claims
he can break the 256-bit encryption codes making online privacy and secrets completely impossible. There’s lots to worry about if “FM” has really discovered what computer scientists call “God’s algorithm.” The evidence for his claims builds up as the unknown genius who solves increasingly complex factor problems in a public countdown to the day he plans to reveal his identity. Day after day, all sorts of individuals including Will Wheaton, Sylvester Stallone, and Jimmy Fallon submit long strings of numbers for Factor Man to factor—you’d think every celebrity in the world was interested in complexity theory.
Assuming FM can survive to the day he is willing to lose his anonymity is no sure thing. FM sets up a schedule to sell his technology first to the highest bidder, one year later to the U.S. Government, and finally make it available to everyone. The Chinese, with the most to lose, are deeply unhappy and send out an assassin to track him down. The FBI and NSA follow the lead of Congress who pass laws attempting to block FM from selling his tech to any private entity. So law enforcement agents conduct annoying surveillance on innocent citizens in the Texas desert while the Chinese agent kills two innocent Americans. Throw in an investigative reporter who also chases FM all over Europe, especially in Austria and Switzerland. It’s this section of the book where readers don’t need a math or science background to get into what is essentially an espionage thriller.
Along the way, we hear Factor Man telling his own story, including his clever journey to evade discovery and capture. Layered into the tale are the accounts of the reporter, Chinese operative, and officers from various government agencies and other characters sharing their roles in the hunt they tell in the first person.
When I said the book is timely, that’s on several levels. The story opens in 2017 and concludes in 2021. You’d think the short trip into the future would qualify the story as science fiction. However you classify the novel, Factor Man is an original work of fiction with subject matter that is fresh with a mostly lively approach and tone. I admit I could live without the interruptive series of numbers e-mailed to FM which all readers, I presume, will quickly skim over. I also admit I have a hard time buying into a large media event I can’t fairly describe here. On the other hand, the thrill-ride that leads up to this event is as suspenseful a chase as you’ll ever read. Best of all, we get a warm, positive ending. I love it when I’m not experiencing a dystopian future. I like it when the good guys win.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March 26, 2018:
http://1clickurls.com/ZdpNTdq
My Life as a Book Reviewer
Here’s a link to Wes Britton’s new article, “My Life as a Book Reviewer.”
https://urbanhype101.wordpress.com/20...
https://urbanhype101.wordpress.com/20...
March 21, 2018
Scfi giveaway
Don't miss out on this awesome sci-fi give away. You get to choose which book to read.
Don't forget to pick up a copy of Murder In The Canyon.
https://storage.googleapis.com/gg.ins...
Don't forget to pick up a copy of Murder In The Canyon.
https://storage.googleapis.com/gg.ins...
March 20, 2018
Book Review: Blackbeard: The Birth of America by Samuel Marquis
Blackbeard: The Birth of America
Samuel Marquis
Print Length: 544 pages
Publisher: Mount Sopris Publishing (February 6, 2018)
Publication Date: February 6, 2018
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B078YMVZ8F
https://www.amazon.com/Blackbeard-Bir...
Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton
Over the years, I’ve read a number of Samuel Marquis’s historical thrillers. I’ve become a fan who’s happy with pretty much every volume, many of which are set during World War II. Among the many surprises of his new Blackbeard is the time period the story is set in. I’ve never associated Marquis with the early decades of the 18th century or the seas of the Caribbean and the pirates that sailed on them circa 1716-1718.
Another major surprise is Marquis’s portrayal of Blackbeard, the privateer turned pirate. I was surprised to see the pirate always referred to as Edward Thatch and not Edward Teach, the surname I always associated with Blackbeard. Well, Google for both names and both names will come up in multiple entries. Whatever handle Marquis gives his character, few readers are likely to anticipate seeing Blackbeard painted in the most heroic portrait possible, at least for the first two/thirds of the book.
Marquis’s Blackbeard tries to avoid violence by only attacking ships that offer little resistance to minimize the carnage his crew might endure. He’s a giant figure, a charismatic leader able to use eloquence to sway his extremely democratic sea-farers to his point of view. The pirates operate within the rules of the “articles” that give every man an equal vote in important decisions and an equal share in any booty. There is no racism. We see this most evident in the character of Cesar, a former black slave now devoted to Blackbeard.
The pirates’ motives are in part economic, part political, and part a lust for the free life. At first, pirate captains have charters given to them by royal governors based in the New World to attack Spanish and French ships. But many dislike British King George from the House of Hanover and would prefer the crowning of James III from the House of Stuart. For such reasons, Blackbeard’s small but powerful flotilla start attacking British ships in part to rebel against those who are rich and abusive to the common man. The pirates start describing themselves as “Robin Hoods,” distributing wealth much more fairly than royal charters.
Another major character is Steede Bonnet, a Barbados plantation owner who throws it all away to become a pirate for the freedom of a life at sea despite his less than adequate knowledge of sea-going ways. Woven throughout the scenes set in the Caribbean and up the Atlantic coast, we also spend time on land with Alexander Spotswood, the despotic, vindictive and tyrannical lieutenant governor of Virginia. For Spotswood, capturing Blackbeard is a political move calculated to curry favor in England. Very unpopular with his colony’s citizens, he suppresses any desires brought to him from the Virginia House of Burgesses that might erode his powers. He despises the new term of “Americans” and, in many ways, embodies the complaints the founders of the United States would fight against in just over fifty years.
So the “Golden Age of Piracy” is portrayed as the precursor for the American Revolution with Blackbeard and his cohorts the real patriots, at least in their own opinion. In Marquis’s realm, these salty dogs never lacked for self-righteous self-justification. I suspect it’s my own preconceived notions, but I frequently found it difficult to accept the verisimilitude of these noble scalawags. I am perhaps a modern victim of the propaganda that cast Blackbeard as a vicious criminal in Boston newspapers of the time. I was also put off a bit by Marquis frequently repeating his points over and over which seemed like rather overdoing it. Padding?
The book never really builds up a head of steam, at least until the final third where Blackbeard realizes his flotilla has grown too large, that the British admiralty is about to end the age of freebooting piracy, and he makes some turning-point choices very different from what we’ve come to expect from him. Lots of surprises in this fast-moving section of the book.
Throughout, Marquis’s gifts for description and character development are on full display to take his readers to times and places that, in this case, are captured in ways few of us would expect. His closing end notes make it clear he sketched out most of this novel drawing from a wide spectrum of resources, many of them of rather recent vintage.
So, from page one to his appendices, unless you too are a Blackbeard scholar, Blackbeard: The Birth of America will be a constantly eye-opening series of surprises. You’ll feel certain you’re learning something as the story progresses. Pirates as the original American revolutionaries? Marquis builds a vivid and convincing case that is so.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March 20, 2018:
http://1clickurls.com/IALg5lv
Samuel Marquis
Print Length: 544 pages
Publisher: Mount Sopris Publishing (February 6, 2018)
Publication Date: February 6, 2018
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B078YMVZ8F
https://www.amazon.com/Blackbeard-Bir...
Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton
Over the years, I’ve read a number of Samuel Marquis’s historical thrillers. I’ve become a fan who’s happy with pretty much every volume, many of which are set during World War II. Among the many surprises of his new Blackbeard is the time period the story is set in. I’ve never associated Marquis with the early decades of the 18th century or the seas of the Caribbean and the pirates that sailed on them circa 1716-1718.
Another major surprise is Marquis’s portrayal of Blackbeard, the privateer turned pirate. I was surprised to see the pirate always referred to as Edward Thatch and not Edward Teach, the surname I always associated with Blackbeard. Well, Google for both names and both names will come up in multiple entries. Whatever handle Marquis gives his character, few readers are likely to anticipate seeing Blackbeard painted in the most heroic portrait possible, at least for the first two/thirds of the book.
Marquis’s Blackbeard tries to avoid violence by only attacking ships that offer little resistance to minimize the carnage his crew might endure. He’s a giant figure, a charismatic leader able to use eloquence to sway his extremely democratic sea-farers to his point of view. The pirates operate within the rules of the “articles” that give every man an equal vote in important decisions and an equal share in any booty. There is no racism. We see this most evident in the character of Cesar, a former black slave now devoted to Blackbeard.
The pirates’ motives are in part economic, part political, and part a lust for the free life. At first, pirate captains have charters given to them by royal governors based in the New World to attack Spanish and French ships. But many dislike British King George from the House of Hanover and would prefer the crowning of James III from the House of Stuart. For such reasons, Blackbeard’s small but powerful flotilla start attacking British ships in part to rebel against those who are rich and abusive to the common man. The pirates start describing themselves as “Robin Hoods,” distributing wealth much more fairly than royal charters.
Another major character is Steede Bonnet, a Barbados plantation owner who throws it all away to become a pirate for the freedom of a life at sea despite his less than adequate knowledge of sea-going ways. Woven throughout the scenes set in the Caribbean and up the Atlantic coast, we also spend time on land with Alexander Spotswood, the despotic, vindictive and tyrannical lieutenant governor of Virginia. For Spotswood, capturing Blackbeard is a political move calculated to curry favor in England. Very unpopular with his colony’s citizens, he suppresses any desires brought to him from the Virginia House of Burgesses that might erode his powers. He despises the new term of “Americans” and, in many ways, embodies the complaints the founders of the United States would fight against in just over fifty years.
So the “Golden Age of Piracy” is portrayed as the precursor for the American Revolution with Blackbeard and his cohorts the real patriots, at least in their own opinion. In Marquis’s realm, these salty dogs never lacked for self-righteous self-justification. I suspect it’s my own preconceived notions, but I frequently found it difficult to accept the verisimilitude of these noble scalawags. I am perhaps a modern victim of the propaganda that cast Blackbeard as a vicious criminal in Boston newspapers of the time. I was also put off a bit by Marquis frequently repeating his points over and over which seemed like rather overdoing it. Padding?
The book never really builds up a head of steam, at least until the final third where Blackbeard realizes his flotilla has grown too large, that the British admiralty is about to end the age of freebooting piracy, and he makes some turning-point choices very different from what we’ve come to expect from him. Lots of surprises in this fast-moving section of the book.
Throughout, Marquis’s gifts for description and character development are on full display to take his readers to times and places that, in this case, are captured in ways few of us would expect. His closing end notes make it clear he sketched out most of this novel drawing from a wide spectrum of resources, many of them of rather recent vintage.
So, from page one to his appendices, unless you too are a Blackbeard scholar, Blackbeard: The Birth of America will be a constantly eye-opening series of surprises. You’ll feel certain you’re learning something as the story progresses. Pirates as the original American revolutionaries? Marquis builds a vivid and convincing case that is so.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March 20, 2018:
http://1clickurls.com/IALg5lv
March 17, 2018
Guests for Next Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention
Guests for upcoming Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention:
SIX MONTHS AWAY!
Barbara Eden will be one of our weekend guests!
September 13 - 15, 2018
Hunt Valley Delta Marriott
(Formerly the Hunt Valley Wyndham)
Hotel: (410) 785-7000
www.MidAtlanticNostalgiaConvention.com
DIAHANN CARROLL
Julia
Porgy and Bess
Carmen Jones
STEFANIE POWERS
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
Hart to Hart
LONI ANDERSON
WKRP in Cincinnati
Partners in Crime
The Jayne Mansfield Story
RICOU BROWNING
The man who played the Creature from the Black Lagoon!
JORDAN RHODES
Matlock
The Streets of San Francisco
GERI REISCHL
The Brady Bunch Variety Show
JEREMY AMBLER
The Walking Dead
SAME LOCATION AS LAST YEAR!
TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR SALE NOW!
www.MidAtlanticNostalgiaConvention.com
HELP SPREAD THE WORD AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
AND ON FACEBOOK!
Our mailing address is:
MANC Convention
Po Box 189
Delta, Pa 17314
SIX MONTHS AWAY!
Barbara Eden will be one of our weekend guests!
September 13 - 15, 2018
Hunt Valley Delta Marriott
(Formerly the Hunt Valley Wyndham)
Hotel: (410) 785-7000
www.MidAtlanticNostalgiaConvention.com
DIAHANN CARROLL
Julia
Porgy and Bess
Carmen Jones
STEFANIE POWERS
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
Hart to Hart
LONI ANDERSON
WKRP in Cincinnati
Partners in Crime
The Jayne Mansfield Story
RICOU BROWNING
The man who played the Creature from the Black Lagoon!
JORDAN RHODES
Matlock
The Streets of San Francisco
GERI REISCHL
The Brady Bunch Variety Show
JEREMY AMBLER
The Walking Dead
SAME LOCATION AS LAST YEAR!
TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR SALE NOW!
www.MidAtlanticNostalgiaConvention.com
HELP SPREAD THE WORD AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
AND ON FACEBOOK!
Our mailing address is:
MANC Convention
Po Box 189
Delta, Pa 17314
March 13, 2018
Blood of Balnakin
Unlike any adventure you've ever experienced in Star Trek, Star Wars, or any of your other favorite Sci-Fi sagas.
EXCERPT
Kalma: Alnenia turned her cran to one side and looked thoughtful. "It's the fourth day," she said to herself. "It is finally seeming to work." Her face told that she had come to a decision. "Yes, it is the time for truth." She sat back and smiled. "Know you anything," she asked, "about the Ming-ti plant?"
"No, I know not," I told her cold. "What is the Ming-ti plant?"
She picked up a skol-stick and tapped it nervously on her desk. "It really should be Doret or Elsbeth to explain it. What I know, they told me. The Ming-ti plant is a heaf that grows not natural on the Old Continent. It's one Doret ordered seeds for from
Menzia. It's a powerful, ah, ah, well, when its leaves are dried and cooked into foods as spices or ground into powder and put into nectars, it, ah, ah," she smiled broad, "considerably enflames our natural drive to be speared. It creates a strong need, very strong, in women for a man-stalk bonding. In your case, the results should be very, very interesting."
"Interesting!" I thundered. "You've poisoned me and call that interesting! What mean you?"
Alnenia looked hurt and shook her head. "Poisoned? Oh no, there is
nothing toxic in Ming-ti. The only possible trouble you could have is, well, if you were unable to act on the stimulus inside you. But," her smile returned, "your acting on it is the point. It is long past time for Malcolm to part your legs with full thrusts in between."
I stood and paced before her desk. Questions filled me, and the first was obvious.
"Have you others taken this Ming-ti?"
"No," Alnenia admitted. "We knew nothing of it until Doret spoke of it after our visit to the Mother-Icealt. None of us, ah, have ever needed the stimulus. We thought of experimenting with it, naturally. For Doret, she'd probably only need a very small amount. Then again, all Malcolm has to do is reach his hand up her tunic, play with her nipples, and irresistible shockwaves, well, you know. Or soon will."
She laughed. "Joline is about your body weight although not as strongly built or muscled." She laughed again. "But, then again, you'd only have to show Joline the plant, tell her of its purpose, and its effect would be complete on sight."
I stared at her. "So, how much of this Ming-ti is in my blood?"
Her eyes lit up. "That's what is extraordinary! Very, very extraordinary! Again, Doret can better answer your questions. Normally, I understand, one meal only is sufficient. You've —." She paused and looked at me in wonder." You should, by now, be unable to do anything else but think of being speared. I'm tempted to alert Yil and tell him to clear all males out of —."
"You'll do no such thing!" I exclaimed with full power, pulling her door open. "I am sufficiently disciplined and self-controlled to fight this poison! I will go find Doret and find a cure for this mean trick!"
Book 2 of the fabulous Beta Earth Chronicles by Wesley Britton
Download now!
EXCERPT
Kalma: Alnenia turned her cran to one side and looked thoughtful. "It's the fourth day," she said to herself. "It is finally seeming to work." Her face told that she had come to a decision. "Yes, it is the time for truth." She sat back and smiled. "Know you anything," she asked, "about the Ming-ti plant?"
"No, I know not," I told her cold. "What is the Ming-ti plant?"
She picked up a skol-stick and tapped it nervously on her desk. "It really should be Doret or Elsbeth to explain it. What I know, they told me. The Ming-ti plant is a heaf that grows not natural on the Old Continent. It's one Doret ordered seeds for from
Menzia. It's a powerful, ah, ah, well, when its leaves are dried and cooked into foods as spices or ground into powder and put into nectars, it, ah, ah," she smiled broad, "considerably enflames our natural drive to be speared. It creates a strong need, very strong, in women for a man-stalk bonding. In your case, the results should be very, very interesting."
"Interesting!" I thundered. "You've poisoned me and call that interesting! What mean you?"
Alnenia looked hurt and shook her head. "Poisoned? Oh no, there is
nothing toxic in Ming-ti. The only possible trouble you could have is, well, if you were unable to act on the stimulus inside you. But," her smile returned, "your acting on it is the point. It is long past time for Malcolm to part your legs with full thrusts in between."
I stood and paced before her desk. Questions filled me, and the first was obvious.
"Have you others taken this Ming-ti?"
"No," Alnenia admitted. "We knew nothing of it until Doret spoke of it after our visit to the Mother-Icealt. None of us, ah, have ever needed the stimulus. We thought of experimenting with it, naturally. For Doret, she'd probably only need a very small amount. Then again, all Malcolm has to do is reach his hand up her tunic, play with her nipples, and irresistible shockwaves, well, you know. Or soon will."
She laughed. "Joline is about your body weight although not as strongly built or muscled." She laughed again. "But, then again, you'd only have to show Joline the plant, tell her of its purpose, and its effect would be complete on sight."
I stared at her. "So, how much of this Ming-ti is in my blood?"
Her eyes lit up. "That's what is extraordinary! Very, very extraordinary! Again, Doret can better answer your questions. Normally, I understand, one meal only is sufficient. You've —." She paused and looked at me in wonder." You should, by now, be unable to do anything else but think of being speared. I'm tempted to alert Yil and tell him to clear all males out of —."
"You'll do no such thing!" I exclaimed with full power, pulling her door open. "I am sufficiently disciplined and self-controlled to fight this poison! I will go find Doret and find a cure for this mean trick!"
Book 2 of the fabulous Beta Earth Chronicles by Wesley Britton
Download now!
March 11, 2018
Book Review: Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon by Bill Kopp
Book Review: Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon by Bill Kopp
Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon
Bill Kopp
Hardcover: 260 pages
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (February 9, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1538108275
ISBN-13: 978-1538108277
https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Pi...
Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton
Bill Kopp is far from the first rock critic to take on the legendary history of Pink Floyd, focusing on the formative years when band founder Syd Barrett captained the group’s first album to his departure and replacement by David Gilmour to the group’s various experimental projects up to the seminal release of the highly influential Dark Side of the Moon in 1973. I was intrigued to read Kopp’s introduction where he admits the Pink Floyd he knew best for many years was the period after Dark Side of the Moon with little awareness of what came before. That was exactly the reverse of my experience. Back in high school, we “heads”—to use the then prevalent term to describe those of us into non-mainstream music—usually owned at least one Pink Floyd album including The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets, Umma Gumma, Atom Heart Mother or Meddle. Then and now, my favorite Floyd songs are “One of These Days,” “Interstellar Overdrive,” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.” All are pre-Dark Side tunes.
So when Dark Side came out and took the world by storm two years after my high school graduation, I was rather bemused by all the new listeners the band earned. I could understand why. Dark Side was, as someone I don’t know observed, the Sgt. Pepper of the ‘70s. Still, perhaps it was simple snootiness when, for years, I maintained the pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd was the Real Pink Floyd.
I got over that sentiment a long time ago. Now, I really have no excuse for any snootiness after reading Kopp’s new critical analysis of Pink Floyd’s evolution from 1967 to 1973. While this book was far from the first history of the band I’ve read, I learned something new on pretty much every page. For my money, two things distinguish Reinventing Pink Floyd from what has been published before. For one key matter, Kopp goes beyond the usual process of interviewing participants and contemporary observers and draws from his own background as a musician to comment on and analyze the songs, albums, and live performances from a musician’s perspective. For another matter, Kopp benefited from the release of the extensive 2016 The Early Years box set, a package he refers to at least once on nearly every page.
Even the most devoted Floyd fans are likely to learn tidbits they didn’t know before like the band’s first producer was Norman Smith who had worked on many of the Beatles albums. I knew about the existence of Pink Floyd film soundtracks, but not the details behind the creation of the usually experimental scores for the often-experimental films.
Fans who think of the post-Barrett Floyd as essentially the David Gilmour and the Roger Waters band with the late Richard Wright and Nick Mason as mere supporting players may well gain a new and deeper appreciation for the band’s keyboardist and drummer. Richard Wright aficionados, in particular, should appreciate reviewing in minute detail just how much he contributed to the music of this period of the band’s creative development.
Clearly, this is a book strictly for Pink Floyd fans, especially for readers who aren’t intimately familiar with the pre-Dark Side era. It would help to have some knowledge of musical terminology, especially the equipment and techniques used in the recording studio. In the end, Reinventing Pink Floyd is a treasure trove of musical history for a very particular audience. But it’s a worthy addition to any rock fan’s library.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March
To listen to interviews with Kopp, visit: http://reinventingpinkfloyd.com/audio....
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March 11, 2018:
http://1clickurls.com/p2UsiG4
Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon
Bill Kopp
Hardcover: 260 pages
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (February 9, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1538108275
ISBN-13: 978-1538108277
https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Pi...
Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton
Bill Kopp is far from the first rock critic to take on the legendary history of Pink Floyd, focusing on the formative years when band founder Syd Barrett captained the group’s first album to his departure and replacement by David Gilmour to the group’s various experimental projects up to the seminal release of the highly influential Dark Side of the Moon in 1973. I was intrigued to read Kopp’s introduction where he admits the Pink Floyd he knew best for many years was the period after Dark Side of the Moon with little awareness of what came before. That was exactly the reverse of my experience. Back in high school, we “heads”—to use the then prevalent term to describe those of us into non-mainstream music—usually owned at least one Pink Floyd album including The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets, Umma Gumma, Atom Heart Mother or Meddle. Then and now, my favorite Floyd songs are “One of These Days,” “Interstellar Overdrive,” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.” All are pre-Dark Side tunes.
So when Dark Side came out and took the world by storm two years after my high school graduation, I was rather bemused by all the new listeners the band earned. I could understand why. Dark Side was, as someone I don’t know observed, the Sgt. Pepper of the ‘70s. Still, perhaps it was simple snootiness when, for years, I maintained the pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd was the Real Pink Floyd.
I got over that sentiment a long time ago. Now, I really have no excuse for any snootiness after reading Kopp’s new critical analysis of Pink Floyd’s evolution from 1967 to 1973. While this book was far from the first history of the band I’ve read, I learned something new on pretty much every page. For my money, two things distinguish Reinventing Pink Floyd from what has been published before. For one key matter, Kopp goes beyond the usual process of interviewing participants and contemporary observers and draws from his own background as a musician to comment on and analyze the songs, albums, and live performances from a musician’s perspective. For another matter, Kopp benefited from the release of the extensive 2016 The Early Years box set, a package he refers to at least once on nearly every page.
Even the most devoted Floyd fans are likely to learn tidbits they didn’t know before like the band’s first producer was Norman Smith who had worked on many of the Beatles albums. I knew about the existence of Pink Floyd film soundtracks, but not the details behind the creation of the usually experimental scores for the often-experimental films.
Fans who think of the post-Barrett Floyd as essentially the David Gilmour and the Roger Waters band with the late Richard Wright and Nick Mason as mere supporting players may well gain a new and deeper appreciation for the band’s keyboardist and drummer. Richard Wright aficionados, in particular, should appreciate reviewing in minute detail just how much he contributed to the music of this period of the band’s creative development.
Clearly, this is a book strictly for Pink Floyd fans, especially for readers who aren’t intimately familiar with the pre-Dark Side era. It would help to have some knowledge of musical terminology, especially the equipment and techniques used in the recording studio. In the end, Reinventing Pink Floyd is a treasure trove of musical history for a very particular audience. But it’s a worthy addition to any rock fan’s library.
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March
To listen to interviews with Kopp, visit: http://reinventingpinkfloyd.com/audio....
This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March 11, 2018:
http://1clickurls.com/p2UsiG4
March 9, 2018
New YouTube Interview with Wes Britton
On March 8, Wes Britton was a guest on author Ashley Uzzell’s YouTube interview show. You can hear the conversation anytime you like by clicking on:
https://youtu.be/AbFYIhcR96Y
https://youtu.be/AbFYIhcR96Y
March 8, 2018
Free Gift for Signing Up to New Newsletter!
A very cool free gift exclusive to subscribers of Wes Britton’s upcoming newsletter is now available for everyone who signs up. C’mon in, join the tribe!
http://eepurl.com/dm_0Cv
http://eepurl.com/dm_0Cv
Wesley Britton's Blog
This just came in. My favorite two sentences of all time!
“The Blind Alien is a story with a highly original concept, fascinating characters, and not-too-subtle but truthful allegories. Don’t let the ...more
“The Blind Alien is a story with a highly original concept, fascinating characters, and not-too-subtle but truthful allegories. Don’t let the ...more
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