Product Description

The paperback will have a brand new chapter on the band's historic decision to re-form after so many years in order to play at the LIVE8 concert, including Sir Bob's intervention! Plus new, never before seen, photos of the band both onstage and backstage at the concert. One of the most fascinating rock bands ever, Pink Floyd was formed in 1965. After a year in the London 'underground' experimenting with revolutionary techniques like lights which matched their music, they released their first single in 1966. Their breakthrough album, THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, was released in 1973 and stayed in the charts until 1982, the longest a record has ever been continuously in the charts, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. In 1975 they released WISH YOU WERE HERE which reached iconic status, then in 1979 THE WALL went to number 1 in almost every country in the world. The movie version of THE WALL starring Bob Geldof was released in 1982, becoming a cult favorite. In the 1980s a rift developed between the band members which culminated in law suits. Only recently have there been reconciliations which have allowed founder member Nick Mason to write his personal take on the band's history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16556 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

EVENING STANDARD
'quietly wise and witty memoir... brave honesty and some surprisingly engaging technical stuff'

Review
'quietly wise and witty memoir... brave honesty and some surprisingly engaging technical stuff' (EVENING STANDARD )

NEW STATESMAN
'INSIDE OUT is a winner... glossy and colourful'

Customer Reviews

A good drummer who also makes a rather good writer
The story of Pink Floyd as seen through the eyes of Nick Mason (the drummer of Pink Floyd). This is really good stuff. Starting of with his birth, Mason records his entire musical career and that of Pink Floyd right up to the Live 8 Concert in 2005. That means everything, including the rather difficult separation of Roger Waters from the band. If you are looking for one of these gossipy books then this is not for you. On the other hand if you are into dry humour and witty observation then this book is definitely for you. I read in one go – largely because I had the time to do it – but also I just love the way Mason tells the story. At times it struck me a touch too technical but that’s probably because I know nothing about that side of things. But apart from that, I found it to be a real page turner.

An entertaining read
I bought this book from amazon 2 months ago and read it in the space of 3 days. I am a huge Floyd fan and there are not many books out there of any significance about the band. The book looks large but not as big as it looks (ie. lots of photos including 2 page photos and large spaced writing).

The reason i give it 4 stars instead of 5 is that it doesnt really tell you anything about the inspiration for any of the songs (one or two maybe) or what they are about and this is the kind of thing i love to read about. In fairness, Nick wasn't the song writer as such so maybe he isnt as aware of these bits as Roger or the other guys. Also I thought he glossed over certain albums and didnt give a huge amount of info on them. Finally, as i suspect Nick was trying to keep everybody happy he didnt really go into any great detail about the differences the band had (mainly Dave & Roger) when they were coming apart, which i think was a very difficult time for the band (from about 1978 till 1981).

All in all though its an excellent read and really gives a feel for the band, especially in the early days with Syd and the early 70's when the band developed in to the band we know today. He is quite witty and it is very well written. What we need now is a Pink Floyd anthology similar to the Beatles one where they all put their spoke in and we get the full Floyd story.

Definitive Floyd book
If anyone is going to tell the mammoth story of the legendary Pink Floyd then who better than their best spectator Nick Mason, the man who has sat in on the drums on all their albums. Mason actually does a good job at adding lots of wit to this book which may come as a surprise to some Pink Floyd fans who probably assumed wit was not in their vocabulary. He comes across as both charming and down to earth telling he's story on the last 30 odd years of Floyd. The book actually starts at a suitable place telling of the time when he first spoke to Roger Waters some 6 months after they started the same Uni and Waters asked to borrow he's car. Anecdotes are applenty and are all very assuming or informative giving a real feel for how some of the days in Floyd must have really unfolded.

All other members of the band have read the script beforehand with Waters being "very liberal" in he's use of the green highlighter pen as was Gilmour by all means who blocked the book 10 years ago from being fully finished. That however has been a blessing as it has meant that in the time Mason and Waters have made friends again and sorted their differences, making the story less harsh on anyone as it may have been had the two not been on speaking terms.

Finally this book is a must have for fans of Pink Floyd and also general rock fans as Floyd's is one of the biggest that had been left untold by a band member. There are many pictures which makes this different from other Floyd books although does show one distressing picture of Syd in 1975 after he had put on weight and had shaved he's eyebrows. It wasn't something that I think any real fan of the man needs to see although it shows just how bad things had got for him and told more about he's situation to me then the whole book that was written on him did.

Buy this book!