A long hoped for reissue of Richard Wright's Wet Dream, remixed by Steven Wilson with a new stereo AND surround mix, is out now, and absolutely superb, really bringing a forgotten gem back to life and it sounds better than ever.
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This afternoon, the months of speculation and rumour come to a close, with the announcement of David Gilmour's new album, Luck and Strange. It is his first new album in nine years, and those who have been on social media over the last couple of days will have seen movement on his official channels, changing the profile pictures and headers to subtle, rather mysterious images of a figure with their arms out, and rushing water. His official website, too, had undergone a similar change with the same imagery and a sign-up button.
The album will be released on September 6th, on Sony Music, on LP, CD, Blu-ray and digital. Deluxe LP and CD boxsets will be announced in the coming weeks. The first track from the album - The Piper's Call - will be released tomorrow (Thursday, April 25th), following a world exclusive first play on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. A video for the song will be available to watch from Friday. Full track listings are shown below.
Luck and Strange was recorded over five months in Brighton and London and is Gilmour's first album of new material in nine years. The record was produced by David and Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with ALT-J and Marika Hackman. Of this new working relationship, David says, "We invited Charlie to the house, so he came and listened to some demos, and said things like, "Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo there?" and "Do they all fade out? Can't some of them just end?". He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine. He's very direct and not in any way overawed, and I love that. That is just so good for me because the last thing you want is people just deferring to you."
The majority of the album's lyrics have been composed by Polly Samson, Gilmour's co-writer and collaborator for the past thirty years. Samson says of the lyrical themes covered on Luck and Strange, "It's written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant." Gilmour elaborates, "We spent a load of time during and after lockdown talking about and thinking about those kind of things." Polly has also found the experience of working with Charlie Andrew liberating. "He wants to know what the songs are about, he wants everyone who's playing on them to have the ideas that are in the lyric informing their playing. I have particularly loved it for that reason."
The album features eight new tracks along with a reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers' Between Two Points and has artwork and photography by the renowned artist Anton Corbijn. Musicians contributing to the record include Guy Pratt and Tom Herbert on bass, Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao on drums, Rob Gentry and Roger Eno on keyboards with string and choral arrangements by Will Gardner. The title track also features the late Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright, recorded in 2007 at a jam in a barn at David's house.
With Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets getting ready to entertain again in the UK and Europe this summer, starting on June 11th in Stoke, England, Nick has taken time out of early preparations to appear on the Fuelling Around podcast.
The 45-minute episode of the automotive show where he talked about music, motors and his epic car collection, is typically entertaining.
"I thought I'd retired about 20 years ago. I think my doctor said: 'If you haven't grown out of showing off by the time you're 70, you're probably incurable'. It’s really terrific when you do get a younger fanbase. Sometimes they bring their old granny along - the clatter of zimmer-frames in the mosh pit is something to
watch out for."
In the podcast, he noted that "we play Floyd songs because first of all it was a repertoire which I could just about remember, which helped. The other thing was that feeling that we wanted to capture the atmosphere of the early music. That meant it actually freed us up a bit because we didn't have to play Comfortably Numb exactly as it was played on the record. We were playing the earlier songs where it was much more about the atmosphere that went with it rather than the accuracy.
"It wasn’t me who formed the band. It was initially Lee's suggestion and the rest of the band sort of formed itself around us. We certainly didn't do anything as crude as hold any sort of tests or auditions. It was actually, in a way, exactly how bands always used to be put together, which was a few like-minded people getting together and saying 'well let's give it a go'. And that's exactly what we did."
Some great news for those who haven't yet seen the excellent documentary film, Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd - it is getting a UK television broadcast on the Sky Arts channel next Saturday (April 27th). They also note that there will be an Italian TV screening at some point soon.
In their post about it, those behind the documentary reveal that Blu-ray and DVD masters have been approved, and the discs are in the process of being pressed up now. Hopefully there will be an announcement of the physical release of this unmissable look at Syd and the Floyd, soon.
Some of the more notable concert venues are the more unusual ones, and sometimes this is due to an unusual event. A perfect example of that is the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. For those unaware, the Deep Purple song Smoke On The Water is about a fire that struck the venue while Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention were there performing, in December 1971.
The Montreux Jazz Festival was founded in 1967 and the Casino has always been a key venue for the event. In the 1970s, it broadened its scope from jazz to bring on various other musical genres (with Pink Floyd playing in 1970 at the Festival), and this year will see Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets join the list of musicians who have been fortunate enough to play the Festival!
The band will be playing Montreux on July 13th, and tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday, April 19th) at 12pm (11am BST) through Tickets.MontreuxJazz.com.
It is the final date to be added to the European tour this year, and nicely fills the gap between the Portoroz and Graz gigs.
As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon, there was a competition running for any interested animators to come up with new videos for each of the tracks on the album. With judges including Nick Mason and Aubrey 'Po' Powell, Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, Anton Corbijn, and Gerald Scarfe, the winning videos can be seen below. Other interpretations can also be seen on the Official Pink Floyd YouTube channel.
The following playlist shows each song, accompanied by a "Behind The Scenes" video, and all preceded by Nick Mason:
With apologies for the short notice, the legendary Roundhouse are running an auction which concludes TODAY, and which includes two incredible Nick Mason auction items.
Firstly, a pair of limited-edition, hand finished Pharaoh Drum Head prints, donated by Nick himself. These drum heads prints are direct copies of the famous painted drum heads used during Pink Floyd's early tours. The original 'Pharaoh' pair were used during the Floyd's concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1969. Only 10 copies were ever made - by winning this lot you'll own a piece of music history.
Nick: "A couple of years ago we were moving all the drum kits and accessories to a new storage facility. Amongst the cymbal cases we found one that contained all the custom painted drum fronts that were painted for me by an artist, or artists, in the early seventies - usually to coincide with American tours. I have pictures of these in place at a number of shows..."
Both lots are available for bidding until the end of today, Wednesday March 20th.
These are part of a larger silent auction full of top prizes from the music world, for their biannual Gala. They are fundraising for their work with young people aged 11-30, through which they provide life-changing experiences through the expressive arts.
WELCOME TO THE 25th YEAR OF BRAIN DAMAGE, YOUR PINK FLOYD, NICK MASON, DAVID GILMOUR AND ROGER WATERS NEWS RESOURCE!
This afternoon, the months of speculation and rumour come to a close, with the announcement of David Gilmour's new album, Luck and Strange. It is his first new album in nine years, and those who have been on social media over the last couple of days will have seen movement on his official channels, changing the profile pictures and headers to subtle, rather mysterious images of a figure with their arms out, and rushing water. His official website, too, had undergone a similar change with the same imagery and a sign-up button.
Some of the more notable concert venues are the more unusual ones, and sometimes this is due to an unusual event. A perfect example of that is the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. For those unaware, the Deep Purple song Smoke On The Water is about a fire that struck the venue while Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention were there performing, in December 1971.
With apologies for the short notice, the legendary Roundhouse are running an auction which concludes TODAY, and which includes two incredible Nick Mason auction items.
