Pink Floyd's Waters, Mason hope to delight fans, honour crews in new exhibit

REUTERS

 

Band members Nick Mason (L) and Roger Waters pose for photographers at a media event to promote "The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains", which will open in May 2017, in London, Britain, February 16, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Pink Floyd co-founders Roger Waters and Nick Mason hope an exhibition in May documenting the rock band's 50 years in music will give fans a sense of their live work as well as honour those who helped fulfil their artistic vision.

 

"The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains" opens at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in May, the same venue which previously hosted a David Bowie retrospective.

 

On display will be more than 350 artefacts, including letters, sketches, handwritten lyrics as well as footage of the band's live performances.

 

"I think what (fans) will get... is a real sense of the scale of some of the live work that we did, some of theatrics that we developed over the years," Waters told Reuters on Thursday.

 

"Hopefully there's personal memorabilia that people are interested in because they're interested in the history of it."

 

The exhibition comes 50 years since the release of Pink Floyd's first single "Arnold Layne". Known for its experimental music, the band went on enjoy worldwide acclaim, namely with "Dark Side of the Moon" and "The Wall".  

 

"What you realise is that it's literally hundreds and hundreds of people who've worked with us as sound engineers or road crew, technicians, inventors or graphics or whatever," Mason said. "And to go 'we got through a lot of work by getting help from these people' - that's a really nice aspect of it."

 

Released in 1979, "The Wall" is one of the most successful albums of all time. Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to build a wall on the border with Mexico, Waters said: "The building of walls between nations and between religions and between races and between different groups of people with different beliefs is invariably counterproductive."

 

"We should be past a time when we're wanting to make enemies of the other. Unfortunately we're not."  

 

(Reporting by Francis Maguire)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-17

They were a tremendous band, what a shame Dave Gilmour didn't join them too for this occasion.

I'll always remember listening to The Piper at the Gates of Dawn as a 14 year old with my first stereo system costing 35 quid. Strapping on a pair of large headphones, that album took me to places I've yet to come back from.

Probably the best band I ever saw live.

 

This tribute band are very good too although its been a while since I saw either:

 

http://www.thinkfloyd.net/

 

Two very interesting points here:)

 

1) Roger Waters has dialled back on his rhetoric (or the reporter got bored...,)

 

2) If you want to see and or hear the music of Pink Floyd then may I suggest trying Youtube and looking for Brit Floyd as well as Australian Pink Floyd, both are totally awesome.......

Money, God, conspiracies, stamps,  cars, John Paul Sartre, golf, fishing, workaholism, Buddhism, cycling...

 

For me it was Floyd that gave meaning to my life from a very impressionable age, when all authority seemed to want to prove it wasn't worth believing in, they were mythical figures from a far away world Obscured By Clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roger Waters, whose name appears in a "punishment book", remembers the cane as being "flimsy".

 

It was the inspiration for one of Pink Floyd's most famous lines: "Hey, teacher! Leave those kids alone" and key to the writing of The Wall album.

Now 60 years on from Roger Waters' experience of corporal punishment as a pupil at the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, an exhibition at London's V&A museum has uncovered the cane used by the headmaster to correct his bad behaviour.

It was found in an archive at the school, along with a "punishment book", in which one 1956 entry reads: "Waters: Six of the best. Fighting."

 

Visitors to the exhibition will step through a set-built replica of the Bedford van in which the band toured in their early days and be able to see original artwork, musical instruments and stage props.

Waters was joined at the launch by bandmate Nick Mason. Asked why now was the right time for a Pink Floyd retrospective, Mason replied: "Because we're all beginning to feel our age and may not be around for much longer."

The pair said they would like to reunite for one last gig to headline Glastonbury, but it was unlikely guitarist David Gilmour would agree.

"I've never played Glastonbury. It would be fun to do it," Mason said, while Waters, who has played at Glastonbury as a solo artist, said: "Yeah, I would do it again." He added: "The last I heard, David had retired," to which Mason added: "I heard he retired, then he seemed to unretire."

Gilmour said in 2015: "I just don't want to do it with the remains of those guys any more. Roger and I have outgrown each other."

4 hours ago, Squeegee said:

Money, God, conspiracies, stamps,  cars, John Paul Sartre, golf, fishing, workaholism, Buddhism, cycling...

 

For me it was Floyd that gave meaning to my life from a very impressionable age, when all authority seemed to want to prove it wasn't worth believing in, they were mythical figures from a far away world Obscured By Clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As many posters on that Youtube clip write, Obscured by Clouds is an album that has long been overlooked. As is More, a really evocative album in my view.

Umma Gumma - changed me - one disc anyway (Careful with that axe Eugene etc), the other disc was experimental rubbish, to me.

On 2/18/2017 at 5:28 AM, bannork said:

As many posters on that Youtube clip write, Obscured by Clouds is an album that has long been overlooked. As is More, a really evocative album in my view.

 

More was actually my favourite of the official 'albums' even though it was a movie soundtrack. Although Syd Barrett was my musical hero, my favourite period of Floyd was '69-'72 when they were thrashing around creatively looking for new directions.

 

 

 

I've got to agree with you Squeegee regarding '69-72. a what a phrase- 'thrashing around creatively '- there was a lot of variety in the songs in those years.

After the monster success of DSOTM it was Water's structured concepts, great in themselves but somewhat more predictable. But as Roger says, ' I didn't want to dominate the band but no-one else brought anything to the table.'

3 hours ago, bannork said:

I've got to agree with you Squeegee regarding '69-72. a what a phrase- 'thrashing around creatively '- there was a lot of variety in the songs in those years.

After the monster success of DSOTM it was Water's structured concepts, great in themselves but somewhat more predictable. But as Roger says, ' I didn't want to dominate the band but no-one else brought anything to the table.'

I am an ardent fan of the Floyd however I do get aggrieved by RW's relatively uncontested version of events. 

 

I refer to to them as "the world according to Roger"

 

As his claims to divinity remain largely uncontested by the more reserved members of Floyd it has served to fuel his ego to such an extent that going to a RW concert is akin to going to a political rally and that pisses me off. If I want to listen to opinionated politicians I go to a political rally, if I want to hear some of the most moving and inspirational music thus far created on this planet I go to see Waters or Gilmour ( more likely nowadays Brit Floyd or Aussie Floyd both of whom are outstanding) . What gives RW the right to lecture us about his beliefs when we have paid to see him defeats my comprehension.

 

i have been flamed many a time for expressing my view on this however so far no logical or convincing explanation has been put forth to change my views.

 

putting all that to one side though the Floyd changed music along with the other greats of ELP, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis but to name a few.

 

sadly though we are now seeing those geneii ( genius plural?) die off one by one.

 

can or will they ever be replaced?

 

i am making the once in s lifetime pilgrimage to London to see this exhibition. It had better be good and not just done money making excercise.

On 2/20/2017 at 7:42 AM, bannork said:

I've got to agree with you Squeegee regarding '69-72. a what a phrase- 'thrashing around creatively '- there was a lot of variety in the songs in those years.

After the monster success of DSOTM it was Water's structured concepts, great in themselves but somewhat more predictable. But as Roger says, ' I didn't want to dominate the band but no-one else brought anything to the table.'

 

I have a collection of recordings from throughout their career, but I have a lot from their '69-'72 period.

 

The Man & The Journey was their first real concept suite, from just a few performances in '69. Much of it was tracks like Julia Dream renamed with added sections like where they stopped playing their instruments to have tea with their crew on stage as part of the performance (The Man suite).

 

There is a Christmas concert from 1970 when they were touring Atom Heart Mother. Careful With that Axe and Embryo were standards during that time, but on this night in Birmingham, UK, for Christmas they performed Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast as a one-off.

 

 

February '72 Rainbow Theatre, performing The Eclipse Suite For Assorted Lunatics, nearly a year before Dark Side was actually released, and featuring some completely different material, such as The Morality Section that was later changed to The Great Gig In The Sky or The Travel Section that later became Any Colour You Like - these are completely different tracks. This early version of DSotM is a completely different animal, it's fascinating and any fan of the band or that album should check it out.

 

 

The (unoffically released) Zabriski Point Sessions encapsulated much of my ideal Floyd, shame they messed about so much over the music because it was some of the very best post-Syd/pre-Dark Side period stuff without all the concepts or politics: the 4 Floyds at their most musical.

Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up is just a more polished version of Careful With that Axe.. but everything else is completely new material, not featured on any official releases.

 

Think about that: it's pretty much a whole new Floyd album from the classic line-up during the More-Atom Heart Mother-Meddle period!

 

Historically significant, not because it was largely rejected by the Director so even movie audiences didn't get to experience this extra material, it is significant historically because Rick Wright came up with a mellow riff over a couple of chords that was another completely new composition called The Violent Sequence. They really liked it but didn't know fully what to do with it at the time.

 

Unreleased, they later realised it fitted perfectly into The Eclipse Suite and it became Us & Them on Dark Side Of The Moon. Check it out and the other Zabriski Point Sessions.

 

 

Harvested is a highly respected bootleg publisher (a play on the name of their former record label, Harvest) with pretty close links to the band. Anyone interested in what I have been talking about could start there and a whole wealth of free Floyd material you may never have known about will open up to you. Seek and ye shall find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was never interested in the Brit or Aussie Floyd. There is a need for it, I get that.

Since only 3 out of 5 Floyds remain we can never experience the original or classic line-ups again, and even if we could they are older now, the world has changed, it might be special, it might be just like it was way back when... but really it could never be the same. So tribute bands - or whatever they're called these days - can give us that Floyd from X, Y or and Z period, sounding more like Floyd than the Floyd do (so, um, which one or ones is or are Pink?)

 

I rarely even listen to Floyd themselves, these days. If I want Atom Heart Mother I will watch self-shot footage of their Japan '70 tour with beardy Rick in his skimpy multicoloured shirt playing with his amazing new Polaroid camera, grainy old hand-held footage interspersed with film of them playing up on a windy stage to the open air in Sapporo or wherever it was, and all with that amazing Floydian sound. Yeah, I went in deep!

 

 

But usually these days for that Atom Heart Mother or Careful With That Axe, Eugene fix maybe I'd go for something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This:

 

 

 

 

 

Or this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone loves Floyd, in my opinion they should get on a 'YouTube recommended videos sidebar journey' through post-rock. It might just scratch a few itches for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Share it fairly..."

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 20179 yr by Squeegee

That is a tremendous post Squeegee, full of useful information. It's always interesting for die-hard fans how riffs, musical phrases left aside, became other songs later.

For myself, growing up in Rutland county in the late '60s and early 70s, the beauty of those early Floyd albums resonated so much with the times and wonderful landscape in the summer. Cirrus Minor for example  could be set in any field or indeed in any graveyard in the region. Lie back in the grass and Grantchester Meadows takes over.

And the energy of all the early albums. After hearing the version of Astronomy Domine on Piper, what 14 year old could resist the superb version on Ummagumma.?

Oh, how I wished to be one of the roadies on the back sleeve of that album.. You mention Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast  -'Breakfast in Los Angeles, Alan with his London accent- I like marmalade, toast,'  

We used to imitate Alan in our boarding school- ' Breakfast in Rutland, burnt toast, dry porridge, tepid tea!.'

We used to listen and envy,. God, our middle-class school sounded so staid compared to this wonderful music, free and crossing class barriers.

Meddle and One of these Days- just so good.

 

On 2/21/2017 at 9:34 PM, bannork said:

That is a tremendous post Squeegee, full of useful information. It's always interesting for die-hard fans how riffs, musical phrases left aside, became other songs later.

For myself, growing up in Rutland county in the late '60s and early 70s, the beauty of those early Floyd albums resonated so much with the times and wonderful landscape in the summer. Cirrus Minor for example  could be set in any field or indeed in any graveyard in the region. Lie back in the grass and Grantchester Meadows takes over.

And the energy of all the early albums. After hearing the version of Astronomy Domine on Piper, what 14 year old could resist the superb version on Ummagumma.?

Oh, how I wished to be one of the roadies on the back sleeve of that album.. You mention Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast  -'Breakfast in Los Angeles, Alan with his London accent- I like marmalade, toast,'  

We used to imitate Alan in our boarding school- ' Breakfast in Rutland, burnt toast, dry porridge, tepid tea!.'

We used to listen and envy,. God, our middle-class school sounded so staid compared to this wonderful music, free and crossing class barriers.

Meddle and One of these Days- just so good.

 

Their pastoral stuff always appealed to me the most. Fat Old Son and the like. You're right it could have been any field anywhere really. They made me dream and inspired me to realise it.

It wasn't so much the materialism or money, it was the simple late summer sun shining down on a hillside, strumming my guitar except brown was the colour of her eyes and I actually got to live that dream in the summer of '95 (not '68, the year I was born!)

 

 

They were a tremendous band, what a shame Dave Gilmour didn't join them too for this occasion.

Despite the Live8 / Comfortably Numb cameo at Water's Wall mutual favours, there is likely still much animosity between the pair. Waters was a pig, and actually surprised Mason made up with him.

Post-Syd Floydie myself. Love it all but, having grown up with it, Wish You Were Here is very special for me. Earl's Court '94... sublime! Consider myself very fortunate to have seen them, albeit minus Waters.

I'll get down there if I'm in UK.

17 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Despite the Live8 / Comfortably Numb cameo at Water's Wall mutual favours, there is likely still much animosity between the pair. Waters was a pig, and actually surprised Mason made up with him.

Post-Syd Floydie myself. Love it all but, having grown up with it, Wish You Were Here is very special for me. Earl's Court '94... sublime! Consider myself very fortunate to have seen them, albeit minus Waters.

I'll get down there if I'm in UK.

 

I saw them at Earl's Court in '94 too. I saw them at Maine Road (Man City's old ground) prior to that. I also saw Roger's K.A.O.S tour.

 

Mason and Waters always were the most tight since they were youths, until Mason decided to carry on with Gilmour in the 80s. Waters doesn't seem to hold that against him (having ate some humble pie) which is probably why that surprise Waters-on-Mason reconciliatory beach massage worked out, 'cos (imo) Mason always was the true essence of the Floyd since the start, dirty slut, we can thank him for being there.

 

He and Waters could easily do their own version of Momentary Lapse.. (ie. what's currently left of Floyd trying to do Floyd, or thereabouts), but (imo) no Mason, no Floyd...

 

Only...

 

"An Evening With Gilmour-Waters"

"An Evening With Waters-Gilmour"

 

 

Hm, nevermind.

 

 

 

Anyway,

 

Shine on you collector of cars!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 20179 yr by Squeegee

I recall an interview with Waters where he mentioned he had read Mason's biography- ' There was a lot of we decided to make a new album, we  wrote some new songs, we  planned a new tour...... well  I have to say  I don't remember any of this we at the time, Nick.

 

Of interest to any that posted on this board:

 

Canadian composer turns Pink Floyd's The Wall into an opera

26 March 2017 Last updated at 00:19 GMT

The Opera de Montreal is taking the rock out of “rock opera” with its ambitious interpretation of Pink Floyd’s classic double album, The Wall.

Another Brick in the Wall: L’Opera tells the story of Pink, a rock star who retreats into his mind to cope with the alienation of fame.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39375254

Interesting stuff