We first told you about a new book about Pink Floyd's classic album, "Dark Side Of The Moon", being published by Ashgate Publishing, back in March 2003. Thanks to Heidi at Ashgate, we now have an update for you on the publication date, and the differences between the two editions of the book.

"Speak To Me: The Legacy of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon" will be available as a hardback and softback (it is to be a simultaneous dual edition) and is now looking to be available in June 2005.

In response to questions from Brain Damage visitors, we asked about the difference (if anything) between the two editions (there is a reasonable price difference between them!). Heidi told us that the editions are exactly the same, the only difference is the binding, with the hardback version having a dust jacket.

The book will contain fourteen essays, three interviews and a 50-page annotated bibliography. Literary and music scholars from across the globe will contribute the essays, which all focus on the music, and the three interviews are with Clare Torry, who sings on the album, Mike Gordon of Phish, who have performed the album in concert, and Michael Goldwasser of Easy Star Records, who produced the excellent "Dub Side Of The Moon" reggae tribute to Dark Side - reviewed elsewhere on this website.

Here's what the press release comments about the book:

The endurance of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon on the Billboard Top 100 Chart is legendary, and its continuing sales and ongoing radio airplay ensure its inclusion on almost every conceivable list of rock's greatest albums. This collection of essays provides indispensable studies of the monumental 1973 album from a variety of musical, cultural, literary and social perspectives. The development and change of the songs is considered closely, from the earliest recordings through to the live, filmed performance at London's Earls Court in 1994. The band became almost synonymous with audio-visual innovations, and the performances of the album at live shows were spectacular moments of mass-culture although Roger Waters himself spoke out against such mass spectacles. The band's stage performances of the album serve to illustrate the multifaceted and complicated relationship between modern culture and technology.

The album is therefore placed within the context of developments in late 1960s/early 1970s popular music, with particular focus on the use of a variety of segues between tracks which give the album a multidimensional unity that is lacking in Pink Floyd's later concept albums. Beginning with 'Breathe' and culminating in 'Eclipse', a tonal and motivic coherence unifies the structure of this modern song cycle. The album is also considered in the light of modern day 'tribute' bands, with a discussion of the social groups who have the strongest response to the music being elaborated alongside the status of mediated representations and their relation to the 'real' Pink Floyd.

Sounds interesting, and of course, we'll report back on the book closer to the publication date.

You can preorder the book for delivery upon release by using our special Amazon links.

We hope to have more detail on this book soon from the publishers. Our thanks, as ever, to Heidi at Ashgate Publishing for her help and prompt attention!