What could possibly be said about Pink Floyd's The Wall that hasn't already been said? Funny you should ask. I've been wondering the same thing.
Vernon Fitch -- who has written two previous Pink Floyd books -- has spent 10 years doing research for Comfortably Numb: A History of The Wall. My own questions about the project led me to the author for answers.
About Classic Rock:
I'm interested in learning more about how you went about gathering material for the book.
Vernon Fitch:
As you know, I run The Pink Floyd Archives and have an extensive library of research materials available to draw upon. I used the Archives to gather together every piece of information previously available about The Wall, such as magazine articles, books, radio interviews, and live recordings of The Wall concerts.
This information was used to create a very rough draft, which was the starting point of the book. I then began to contact the band members, producers, engineers, and guest musicians to fill in the pieces of information that were missing, and to verify whether or not the information I already had was correct.
Hours of interviews were done for the book, many of which turned into ongoing discussions about The Wall. These discussions helped me refine the information in the book and to unearth a wealth of new information about The Wall.
[R]esearch for the Comfortably Numb... book was much more complex [than the research for the previous two books]. It required both library type research and discussion based research. For much of it, I had to mine the memories of people who were involved in The Wall project, since none of the information existed anywhere else.
About Classic Rock:
Did you uncover anything about the album that was unknown prior to researching it?
Vernon Fitch:
Indeed! It is astonishing how much new information was uncovered during the writing of the Comfortably Numb... book. To give but one example, people have speculated for years as to what songs were on Roger Waters’ original demo of The Wall. Well, that information is in the book.
And what is even more amazing, I uncovered three additional demos of The Wall (also detailed in the book), that reveal how The Wall developed over the course of the recording process.
In total, that makes five different versions of The Wall (if you include Rogers’ original demo and the final album version), all of which are covered in the book!
About Classic Rock:
Did members of the band participate in the project?
Vernon Fitch:
Yes. I am very grateful to David Gilmour for taking the time to research the musicians that played on the different songs on the album. This information has never been made public before (there are no song by song credits on the album), and David put it together exclusively for the book.
Nick Mason also helped me by answering questions I had about The Wall sessions. And Roger Waters gave me permission to reprint the lyrics that are sung on The Wall album (another first for the book).
About Classic Rock:
What do you feel is the single most significant thing about the book?
Vernon Fitch:
I think that the story of The Wall has never been told properly before. It is a landmark classic rock album, and the story of how it was written and recorded has been rather vague up until now.
In addition, our perception of The Wall has been altered over the years by The Wall movie and various other speculative accounts. This book finally sets the record straight as to what went on during the recording of the album and the presentation of the stage shows.
I hope that it will provide future generations an historical record of how one of the premiere bands of our time functioned during this most important period in music history.
About Classic Rock:
How would you summarize the importance of The Wall in the history of rock music?
Vernon Fitch:
The Wall is, perhaps, the pinnacle of classic rock. Nothing like it had ever been done before and nothing like it has been attempted since. It combined superb musical composition, with storytelling, theatrical presentation, animated movies, inflatable characters, a duplicate band, and one of the most unique icons in the history of music, a gigantic white Wall.
About Classic Rock:
Are there plans for additional printings, or will the initial 5,000 be "it" ?
Vernon Fitch:
No. There are no plans for any additional printings. This is a 5,000 book limited edition, with each book numbered and signed by the authors. Once it sells out, it will become a collectors item. Get it while you can!
