Released October 2005 as paperback and 3CD audio set.

Nick Mason - Inside Out A Personal History Of Pink Floyd audiobook edition

Released on the same day, the audiobook (on three CDs) and paperback versions of Nick Mason's "Inside Out: A Personal History Of Pink Floyd", provide an update to the hardback edition which was published in October 2004. We will look at both versions in turn.

AUDIOBOOK

Presented as a quad fold package, with a hardbacked cover and a thirty-two page booklet, this is a thing of joy and really nicely done. The booklet features selected pictures from the book, along with passages that go well with the illustrations. These combine into what seems a good sampler, or taster, of the full book.

Amongst the photos included, there is a slightly different picture of Nick's early band, The Hotrods, and there are two new Live 8 shots - one, being a fairly commonly seen stage "bow" picture, and the other is one of Jill Furmanovsky's great rehearsal studio shots, showing Roger and Nick between songs.

The purpose of this edition, though, is the abridgement of Nick's text, read by the man himself, with passages linked by incidental sounds and musical passages, and updated with recent events.

Nick's pronounciation throughout is impeccable - not your normal rock'n'roll drummer. With the exception of a few quotes from others, where Nick makes a reasonable stab at impersonation, the text is read in Nick's measured, dry style. Those who have heard him in interviews will know how this sounds - some might find over three hours of Nick's narration lacking a little drive and excitement in places, but this is a minor comment when balanced against the nature of the material.

Nick's narration brings the story to some life, and seems to make the people, places and events come into sharper focus than the book. Clearly, extraneous detail that could cloud matters, has been excised for a more consise timeline.

The only sequence that seems (on the whole) unedited is the newly written chapter looking at the Live8 reunion. This is an absorbing insight into how the whole thing was brokered between the band members, with Roger Waters and Bob Geldof seemingly the chief ringleaders.

It provides a fitting (updated) ending to the story, or as Nick puts it "and there, for now, the story must pause..." As we saw with Live 8, there is always the possibility that something else will come along, to necessitate a further update!

PAPERBACK

A much lighter, and more conveniently sized proposition for the likes of public transport than the hardback, the paperback edition has the same written content, again though with the benefit of the newly written Live 8 section.

There are also three new pictures from Live 8 - the aforementioned rehearsal picture and the farewell shot as seen in the audiobook package, along with a nice shot of the four principal performers during the early part of Comfortably Numb.

CONCLUSION

Whilst neither edition is truly essential if you already have the original version, both provide a nice update to the band's story with the inclusion of events from late June and the start of July, and both editions are significantly more portable than the hardback!

It is certainly very interesting to hear the band's story related by Nick himself, although anyone hoping for unreleased bits of music, alternate versions of songs, and such like, will be disappointed. Nothing new on that front. But that's a minor quibble - these are worthy, updated, alternate versions catering principally for a different market yet with enough to appeal to owners of the hardback edition.

The audiobook can be ordered through these special links: Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, or Amazon France. Whilst at Amazon, you can also find the paperback, too. Any items ordered from Amazon after entering their site from one of our special links, helps towards running costs of our site, and we appreciate it!