Roger Waters: The Man Behind the Wall

Roger Waters is not easy to digest. His love, emotions and creativity echo through these pages as do his fear, anger and frustration. I see him as part of Pink Floyd, an integral part but not the finishing stroke. His life long quest for independence and recognition has lead him to be at odds with other band members, especially David Gilmour. Does one person make a band?The loss of his father in operation Shingles, part of the larger operation Overlord and D-Day has scarred Waters. I relate to that experience as my own father was caught in World War II and deftly defended his mother's house from a German tank. "Daddy's flown across the ocean, leaving just a memory..." The pain of war, loss, seeps through the music, not in the psychedilia albums, but later, and first and foremost in the "Wall. "The protagonist is "Pink." I ask myself " which one's Pink." A succession of people, images. But yes, fundamentally Roger Waters is the man behind the wall, behind the mask. Pink Floyd derive their name form an African American blues band. Interesting story , lots of pain. It's the way life goes, Waters is who he is, an enigmatic figure. Passionate, loving and angry... at one point he is upset at the audience and spits on them. He wrote the lyrics to the Wall; psychoanalysts are using the images from the wall to heal patients and if anything many folks wrote abundant papers on the subject of a mental wall as a psyche that has had it! There's a Pink in all of us : a depersonalized shadow , an angry fascist, an overbearing mother a punitive father and a puppet in the making-- on the road to recovery and personhood. Now he owns mansions and Syd Barret eclipsed who really started the band anyway.....................lol

Liked Nick Masons book better

Excellent book

This book had great information about Pink Floyd's music. I wish there had been more about Roger Waters in it.

Very good book. Nice to see a book written on RogerGood overview on the man and his life.It WOULD be nice to see further releases by the man (Live Wall shows on dvd, yes! further Immersion sets for Meddle, for example, and the early years (with Syd) would be wonderfulHas an index, a discography. Pictures (I'd never seen the one of Roger from 1968 in Sweden)Will shortly post a video review. I think any Floyd fan would like it, its nice to see the mans legacy covered, and truly nice to have a little talk about such Obscured (by Clouds) albums as Music From the BodyTo say nothing of Wet Dream..Now if only Rick and Roger had written more together (Stay, Us and Them, etc etc!)

good book but i wish that he covered Rogers life after pink floyd.... Too many things were given too little attention and lacked details... disappointed in this e-book

The chapters are not in chronological order, so you get no sense of history - it's just disjointed. I even wondered if my copy was misprinted but, according to the TOC, that's how it's supposed to be.

David Gilmour is the man behind Pink Floyd. Roger Waters is an ego-inflated jerk who hates Jews and his fans equally. The story of "The Wall" is his journey inside the mind of someone who becomes convinced that he is better than everyone and the fans and the rest of the band are just an inconvenient part of being a one man legend. his antisemitic rantings on Facebook just make him that much less likable.I think the only rocker I've ever known who cared less for the fans more is Axl Rose. . . but then, he never built a wall.

It was just a matter of time someone would cash in on fans like me who have been waiting for a book about the great Roger Waters. And while the book starts off about his solo work and then goes into his family history (but is more about the state of life around his father's and grandfather's times than it is about his own childhood), the bulk of the book is about Pink Floyd and even devotes some chapters solely to Syd Barrett. Everything is stuff we all pretty much knew already. It is just a Pink Floyd fan doing an essay based on their own collection of Pink Floyd books. But to call this a book 'Roger Water' is misleading as is the cover art. There is nothing in here about the recent reviving of The Wall show and nothing about Roger Waters doing so. The book doesn't even seem to be written by a Waters fan but rather a Dave Gilmour sympathizer. I would expect a book with this title to be written by someone who holds Roger Waters in as high a regard as I do. As a huge fan, I am deeply disappointed. I really hope the existence of this book doesn't stop someone else from writing a proper book about the man's life and accomplishments.

I have read many books about Pink Floyd, some good, some bad, some indifferent. I think I now know most things written about the band. I have seen them in concert all four members, the trio and Dave's and Roger's solo concerts. I was there the night of the reunion at the 02 on May 12th 2011 when Dave joined Roger for Comfortably Numb and Nick made it a great emotional finale for Outside The Wall. In the book Thompson states "Nick came on and took his place at the vacant drum kit!" Eh no he didn't I was there, Roger introduced him, he walked on, Roger squeezed the life out of him, Nick nodded to Dave then was handed a tambourine to play Outside The Wall. I noticed at least this one glaring mistake in the book (as I was there, but I think everyone who cares about Floyd would have seen it on the internet, very sloppy and lazy me thinks) how many others were there I wonder.I was looking forward to a book on and about Roger Waters one of the most enigmatic men in the history of music. Boy was I conned. Thompson must have seen that there were many books on Pink Floyd out there and he wanted to write one too. However, he must have realised the selling point would be Roger Waters. He may have started out with that idea but what we end up with is another average book about Pink Floyd and the music. I learned nothing new from the book and learned nothing new about Roger Waters. Mr Thompson has been very clever in his decision to title a book about Pink Floyd as a book about Roger Waters. If you haven't read many books about Pink Floyd it's ok but if you expect it to do what it says on the tin, forget it. That said the final chapter (regardless of the glaring mistake) is probably the best bit of the book.

Excellent book enjoyed reading it .

Received book and well packaged. Would buy again, thanks.

The previous reviews are spot on: this book is about Pink Floyd rather than Roger Waters and contains nothing new. In fact, it's a pretty dull read all round. Don't waste your money.