Pink Floyd: The Music & The Mystery
by Andy Mabbett

Careful with those facts, Eugene

When it comes to penning a track-by- track overview of a band’s career, the late Ian MacDonald set the bar unattainably high with Revolution In The Head, creating a benchmark next to which all subsequent efforts must inevitably suffer. So it proves with Pink Floyd: The Music & The Mystery, written by former Amazing Pudding magazine co-editor Andy Mabbett.

Diligently factual as regards release dates, catalogue numbers, chart positions and associated ephemera, it’s by no means a cynical piece of hackwork, but nevertheless falls short of providing the fresh insight which could have made it essential. The layout is frustratingly inconsistent too, with a somewhat arbitrary placement of group photos, which occasionally intrudes upon the chronology.

Taking these gripes into consideration, Mabbett’s unquestioned Floyd expertise still makes for a largely engaging read. Commendably, his passion for the band doesn’t blind him to their less distinguished moments, and his assessment of the makeweight atrocities which blight A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, for example, is spot-on. As ever, where the Floyd are concerned, Syd Barrett is the effervescing elephant in the room: but Mabbett’s circumspect treatment of the Madcap’s cautionary tale (and its enduring influence on the band) fair gladdens the heart.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

ISBN 9781849383707, 160 pages

Reviewed by Marco Rossi
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