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 video for The Piper's Call, the first single from David Gilmour's upcoming album Luck and Strange, was published on YouTube. Showing the song being recorded, it features footage from various locations used, including his Hove studio, Astoria, British Grove, and Ely Cathedral. You can watch it here:
Orders for the new album are going well, and if you would like one of the limited colour vinyl options, we suggest you place your order soon. All purchases made after using one of our links make a small but vital contribution toward the site running costs, at no extra cost to yourself, and we really appreciate it! This is because we participate in the Amazon Affiliate program.
Just announced: June 7th sees the launch of Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky, presented by the UK’s largest immersive art experience Frameless. A complete takeover of the iconic, 30,000 square-feet venue in the heart of Marble Arch, London, this new show blends music and art with the latest neuroscience and technology, in an exploration of how our minds respond to music.
The fascinating sounding immersive experience, running on Friday and Saturday evenings in June 2024 for over 18s only, comes from Brainstorms, a joint venture between San Francisco-based creative studio Pollen Music Group and Richard Wright Music Limited. It brings to life the results of the Brainstorms research project that took place last autumn.
Driven by a mutual admiration for the beautiful and haunting simplicity of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright’s songwriting, the Brainstorms team has themed the experience around the concept behind the iconic Pink Floyd track The Great Gig in the Sky. Visitors will travel through the four main Frameless galleries which each feature stunning sky-themed creative visualisations of the human brain's response to music, from mesmerising cloud formations and mystical auroras to starling murmurations and an eclipse. The whole experience has been designed to communicate how people respond to music, while enhancing the listening experience by enveloping individuals inside the songs like never before.
Gala Wright, curator and Artistic director at Brainstorms and daughter of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, says, "The visual representation of brain data provides an accessible and intuitive way to see how a piece of music can be a deeply personal yet also powerfully shared experience. Questioning how this is true for my father's compositions is a key motivation for me bringing this concept to life with Pollen. The added benefit of bringing awareness to his musicality through the Brainstorms project serves to augment his legacy."
To create the visuals for the centrepiece experience, 125 individuals had their brain activity recorded while listening in unparalleled clarity and depth through immersive sound Dolby Atmos to 1973 Pink Floyd classic, ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ from the highly celebrated album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’. The instrumental track, which was the creation of Richard Wright, features Clare Torry’s voice as an instrument in place of lyrics so was deemed a perfect piece for the largest data collection of its kind. The EEG readings of brain activity, which will be showcased within the experience, were captured at Dolby by the neuroscience experts within the Pollen Music Group team and reflect the participant’s excitement, interest, relaxation and stress felt whilst listening to the track.
A strictly limited number of VIP places will be available to book a unique 15-minute EEG brain capture experience, powered by technology provided by AMD and Emotiv, where they will feel more from the music than ever before as they go on an intense and emotional journey as they listen to five minutes of The Dark Side of the Moon in immersive sound Dolby Atmos via headphones. Participants will then be able to see their brain activity visualised into stunning large-scale cloud formations, projected into Frameless' re-imagined 'Cloud' Gallery. Each participant will also receive a personalised memento based on their individual brain's reaction to the piece.
Tickets to Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky are priced from £30 and have gone on sale this morning. To buy tickets or to find out more visit frameless.com/brainstorms.
The new issue of the UK's Uncut Magazine (cover date June 2024) has just been announced, and goes on sale tomorrow (Friday, April 26th), from all good stores in the UK, and available online worldwide. As you might have realised from the cover image, it has a large, exclusive feature on the return of David Gilmour with Luck and Strange, his new album - full details here.
Trailing the 12-page article, Uncut note that it has Gilmour discussing the making of the album at length, including the use of a younger team who don't have the normal Floydian preconceptions or notions of how things are done.
As ever with Uncut's deep dive interviews, it is a fascinating and illuminating piece that is well worth reading, with some great pictures - a number of which were taken during the recent recording sessions.
Elsewhere in the magazine, there are features on The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, and more, and there's a CD of live Can performances from 1973-1977.
As we mentioned, the magazine should be hitting the shelves in UK stores on Friday, April 26th, and online orders can be made through the publisher's own website.
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.
WELCOME TO THE 25th YEAR OF BRAIN DAMAGE, YOUR PINK FLOYD, NICK MASON, DAVID GILMOUR AND ROGER WATERS NEWS RESOURCE!
Just announced: June 7th sees the launch of Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky, presented by the UK’s largest immersive art experience Frameless. A complete takeover of the iconic, 30,000 square-feet venue in the heart of Marble Arch, London, this new show blends music and art with the latest neuroscience and technology, in an exploration of how our minds respond to music.
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.
