ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED for release in 1995 as The Official History of Pink Floyd, drummer and co-founder Nick Mason's lavishly illustrated book has languished unpublished until now.

This was mainly due to objections from guitarist Dave Gilmour, who, according to Mason's diplomatic postscript, "always had reservations ... since ... it can never be definitive".

With the book re-branded to mollify Gilmour, fans at last have the chance to tuck in.

Mason recounts the early days of the band and tells how The Pink Floyd Sound (as they were called then) became the focal point of London's burgeoning psychedelic sub-culture.

Mason brilliantly evokes the tripped-out ambience of the early days at the UFO club, where Floyd's droning musical experiments and innovative light-shows provided the perfect setting for the LSD-fuelled 'freak-outs' that defined the scene.

The affecting story of early front-man Syd Barrett is retold, although his sad history of mental illness is well known. The most fascinating revelations, though, surround the circumstances of Roger Waters' decision to break up the band in the 1980s.

An essential acquisition for any Floyd fan.

Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason and edited by Philip Dodd is published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson priced £30.