August 26th 2013 sees a blu-ray release of Eagle Vision's "Classic Albums: The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon". This is part of Eagle Vision's new SD Blu-ray range which presents upscaled standard definition original material with uncompressed stereo for what they maintain is the best possible quality.

Released ten years ago on DVD (and our review can still be seen here), the programme is a truly fascinating look at the creation of the band's 1973 masterpiece. If you've yet to see it, you really are in for a treat!

The documentary is full of great surprises. Things kick off in great style with the original studio rehearsals of Breathe, followed by David picking out the song on a guitar in his studio, Richard demonstrating certain key chords, Alan Parsons showing how David's double tracked vocals were created, and ending with audio and video of the end of Breathe and the start of On The Run (then called "The Travel Sequence" or "Travel") from the very first live performance (Brighton, England on 20th January 1972)!

This sets the scene for the rest of the album, with plenty of lovely contemporary recreations of songs or parts of songs, by David, Roger and Richard, alongside original demos of the tracks, dusted off for us to hear. It is also fascinating to see the intricacies of the recording process, and the number of layers of instrumentation involved in the overall "sound" of the album.

At present, the only online retailer that we've found offering this title is August 26th 2013 is Amazon UK, who are offering the title as a pre-order at a pretty decent price. As other retailers list this, we will update this news item.

Back in February, we brought you the news that Ron Geesin's 'The Flaming Cow: The Making of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother' is due for publication next month, on July 17th.

'The Flaming Cow' offers a rare insight into the brilliant but often fraught collaboration between Pink Floyd and composer Geesin, the result of which became known as Atom Heart Mother - the Floyd's first UK number one album. From the time drummer Nick Mason visited Geesin's damp basement flat in Notting Hill, to the last game of golf between bassist Roger Waters and Geesin, this book is an unflinching account about how one of Pink Floyd's most celebrated compositions came to life. Alongside unpublished photographs from the Abbey Road recording sessions (the only ones taken) and the subsequent performances in London and Paris, Geesin goes on to describe how the title was chosen, why he was not credited on the record, how he left Hyde Park in tears, and why the group did not much like the work. The Flaming Cow also explores its recent performances, and its new-found cult status that has led to it being studied for the French Baccalaureat.

The book - with a foreword by Nick Mason - promises to be a great read, and we're certainly looking forward to it. You can place your order for this hardback book right now through these direct links: Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon Espana and Amazon Italy, who all run a pre-order price guarantee, so you automatically pay the lowest price up to the date of release.

YOU CHANCE TO QUIZ RON GEESIN!
The publishers are also working on an eBook version, which will include some additional material over the print version - this is a special Q&A section and that's where YOU come in. Do you have any questions you've always wanted answering by Ron himself about Atom Heart Mother? Send them over to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will include the best of them in a special Q&A session which is being filmed this month.

The good people of StormStudios have just sent their latest email newsletter, and since Storm Thorgerson's very sad passing in April, have clearly been keeping themselves extremely busy - exactly, as they point out, as Storm would have wanted!

One item in the newsletter refers to the documentary that Storm had been working on more recently (which I had the pleasure to be included as one of Storm's interviewees last year). They note that: "Since the end of 2011 Storm had been very busy filming a documentary with Rupert about Pink Floyd's founder member, Syd Barrett. They filmed many interviews including old school friends, flat mates, girlfriends, fellow musicians and all the surviving members of Pink Floyd. So far it's proved a very enlightening experience. The film itself is at the editing stage right now and it's a thrill to see it all coming together. Watch this space, as they say, for more news coming soon."

Finally, as a reminder for those in, or close to, the south of England, it's the final week of their current exhibition at The Guildhall, Portsmouth. If you haven't been already, and are able to, make sure you get down there soon as the final day is Sunday (June 23rd).

Some great news for all Spotifiers (if that's the right word for people who use the online music streaming service Spotify - Pink Floyd have, as promised at the end of last week, finally arriving on Spotify.

The band were one of the few high profile bands who were notable absentees from the music streaming service, and since its launch, Floyd fans have been clamouring for their music to be available on it. A challenge was set: the track Wish You Were Here had to be streamed a million times before the entire catalogue was made available on the service. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long! (A comment on the Floyd's Facebook page did point out that it was just as well it wasn't St Tropez that was the track to be streamed one million times!) The catalogue on Spotify couples the 2011 remasters with other releases including Delicate Sound of Thunder, Relics, and even Collection of Great Dance Songs.

Last night Spotify also got the entire David Gilmour solo catalogue too. Roger Waters is on there as well, although curiously the version of his opera Ca Ira is the French language edition.

Spotify has over 24 million active users, and the service allows you to listen to anything in their vast catalogue of songs on demand, and also makes suggestions of music to listen to. There are two levels of membership - a free, ad-supported level, and a premium level which has a monthly fee. We know that many Floyd fans will be delighted with this news; despite already owning most if not all the Floyd's catalogue, Spotify brings convenience of playing tracks that take your fancy, without having to find the CD in your collection. Full details can be found at Spotify.com.