Our good friends at Rockarchive.com have given Brain Damage visitors an exclusive opportunity to own a very special TDSOTM anniversary limited edition book and print set.

The special set comprises a copy of Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon: The Official 50th Anniversary Book', signed by Jill Furmanovsky and a Rockarchive limited edition 10x8" print of the band.

The stunning 160-page book features 129 backstage and onstage images taken by Jill Furmanovsky and Storm Thorgerson during the album tours of 1972 to 1975, visual conception of the iconic album artwork and a review of the October 1972 Wembley concert originally published in Melody Maker.

The special print image was taken by Jill Furmanovsky when she accompanied Pink Floyd on their British Winter Tour in 1974. Each 10x8" fine art print is from a limited edition of just 100 and hand-signed by Jill.

There are just 100 special sets available and these are being offered exclusively via Brain Damage until 23rd April 2023. To order or find out more use this special direct link at RockArchive.com, or click the image to the right to see it all in more detail at their website.

We expect this very limited edition to sell quickly, so we suggest if you are interested, you don't delay placing your order. We'd also like to thank RockArchive for making this special edition available through Brain Damage!

This morning we're bringing together a few small items of recent news that might be of interest, all with a Floyd connection!

First, those in or near Brighton in the south of England, Guy Pratt is hosting a Q&A with Toby Amies about Amies' new movie about King Crimson, In The Court Of The Crimson King. The Q&A follows a screening of the film at Brighton's Duke Of York's Picturehouse (which dates from 1910 and claims to be the oldest purpose-built cinema in the UK), on Saturday, April 8th at 8:30pm. Details and tickets here.

For those of you in Germany, the latest issue (cover date March 2023) of Eclipsed Magazine has a large feature on The Dark Side Of The Moon - as hinted at with the very eye-catching cover. Their synopsis of the main feature is as follows: "50 years ago, in March 1973, the eighth album of Pink Floyd was released. At that time, no one could have guessed what traces "The Dark Side Of The Moon" would leave in the world of rock music. Today we know that it is one of the five best-selling albums of all time and crowned an entire genre. For art rock and for the band itself, a new era began with this work. Pink Floyd would become one of the most famous and influential groups ever. The album is a synthesis of music, lyrics, sound and artwork. To this day, it has lost none of its fascination. This fascination will also be kept alive by the new deluxe box of the album - including Dolby Atmos mix - which will be released on March 24." From the cover it is clear that they also look at Alan Parsons' work on the album, and include a classic interview with David Gilmour. Our thanks to Michael Nickel for the information on this one!

Last month, the BBC's Radio 4 broadcast a documentary about sound effects, and the incredible impact they have on story-telling and atmosphere within film, TV and radio. The hour-long programme, which is available to listen to online for the next 11 months, includes musicians and foley artists, alongside the likes of Ben Burtt who made iconic sounds for Star Wars. Ron Geesin, who worked with Pink Floyd on Atom Heart Mother, and chiefly with Roger Waters on Music From The Body (although the entire band appear uncredited on the final track of the album), also features from around the 17 minute mark. Ron explains how he got into creating his sound textures and techniques. Our thanks to Malcolm Walker for tipping us off about this fascinating radio show.

Staying with the radio, last week, Paul Giblin, director of Phonic FM, an Exeter community station, dedicated his radio show to his personal celebration of 50 years of The Dark Side Of The Moon, reconstructing the album from many diverse sources in a live 2 hour mix. He started with the original Speak to Me, then explored classical, bluegrass, jazz, reggae, dub, ska, polka, dubstep, trance, soul, wild rock, country and other takes on it until concluding with the Floyd's live Eclipse from 1974, complete with its tolling bell. Listen to the show in full here!.

Finally, details of some shows covering Pink Floyd's music. First, Primus leader Les Claypool and his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade (which includes Sean Lennon on guitar) will be touring the US this summer performing Animals in full (with co-headliners Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and Adrian Belew on 11 dates performing Remain In Light). Dates, venues and ticket info at Ticketmaster.com. Second, for those in Sicily, Pink's One, the Italian Pink Floyd tribute show, are bringing back Floyd backing singer Machan Taylor, saxophonist Scott Page and percussionist Gary Wallis, for three live concerts, respectively at the Mandanici Theater in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto on April 21st and at the Vittorio Emanuele Theater in Messina on April 22nd and 23rd 2023. Tickets and more details are available from Tickettando.

Some (hopefully) great news for our friends in Australia - Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets have just revealed that they are coming to your country for a string of concerts in September 2023!

Details of the dates and venues are below. There's no need to panic as the tickets don't go on sale immediately. There's a TEG Dainty and a Ticketek pre-sale, which start on Monday, 20th March at 10am local time - go to their respective websites for more details of how to participate in these pre-sales. This is followed by the general sale of tickets which starts on Wednesday, 22nd March, again at 10am local time.

Here are the dates:

• 16 September - Forum Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - TICKETS
• 19 September - Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia - TICKETS
• 21 September - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW, Australia - TICKETS
• 25 September - Riverside Theatre, Perth, WA, Australia - TICKETS

Lee Harris, guitarist and originator of the idea of Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets, recently did a guest appearance at a guitar show, to explain how he has worked on his guitar sound for the project. In particular, how he has tried to get close to Syd Barrett's guitar sound. Our friend and contributor Kevan Porter was there to shoot the videos of Lee in action, and explain about the event, and Lee's appearance there...

The 'Guitar Show 2023' was held in Birmingham at The Cranmore Conference Centre over the weekend of 25th and 26th February. This annual event hosted 133 companies exhibiting everything from electric and acoustic guitars to amps, effects and accessories. Amongst those was Thorpy FX, a British effects pedal company who build professional effects pedals, including the 'Scarlet Tunic Analogue Amp Emulator' as used by none other than Lee Harris of Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets.

Lee visited the Thorpy FX booth on Sunday to give a brief explanation and demonstration of the Scarlet Tunic pedal.

Playing a lot of Syd Barrett's tunes with The Saucers, including Interstellar Overdrive, Lee said he'd previously been unhappy with the "stock 60s sound" pedals around at the time and contacted Adrian at Thorpy FX to see if he could come up with a pedal that replicated the sound of a Selmer Treble and Bass amp as originally used by Syd. Fortunately, Adrian and his business partner, Dan, have been very successful and Lee now has a pedal that really adds authenticity to the sound of such Floyd tracks as Interstellar Overdrive as can be heard in the video below. You can also hear Lee's explanation in the second video.

Our thanks to Kevan for the above - much appreciated!