On April 23rd, 2014, three Syd Barrett albums are being released on the enhanced SHM-CD format. SHM-CD refers to Super High Material CD, an enhanced audio CD format developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan. A SHM-CD is made of an enhanced transparency polycarbonate material developed for use in LCD screens, which allows for better manufacturing quality and more accurate reading of the CD surface by a CD player laser, so promise better sound and audio resolution. SHM-CDs are compatible with standard CD players.

The three Syd Barrett albums - debut album The Madcap Laughs, the follow-up Barrett, and the compilation Opel (which featured previously unreleased material and alternate takes) - are being released in a limited pressing. They all come in cardboard sleeves, replicas of the original vinyl releases, and benefit from 2014 remastering, so should sound particularly good.

They can all be pre-ordered through Amazon Japan for worldwide shipping. Other Japanese CD retailers will also have these on offer. Our thanks to Kees Nijpels for tipping us off about these new, limited releases.

After twenty years in Everything But The Girl, and ten years as a respected DJ and record label boss of Buzzin' Fly, Ben Watt announced last year he was putting everything on hold to complete two long-planned creative solo projects.

The first - published tomorrow by Bloomsbury in the UK - is his long-awaited second book, 'Romany and Tom'. The second, which will be of great interest to Floyd fans, is Hendra, his first solo album for over thirty years, released on his own new imprint, Unmade Road through Caroline International on April 29th. It is, in Ben's words, "simply a folk-rock record in an electronic age".

"I had come to a plateau with the labels and clubland", he says. "I had a need to go back to words and music, not just beats and other people's work. Once I made some space, a lot of ideas just tumbled out".

Now to that Pink Floyd connection... the album includes a very special guest - David Gilmour, who adds plangent slide guitar and backing vocals on the track The Levels.

"We met by chance in London just before the album", Ben told the Rough Trade website. "We didn't know each other. He invited me to hear his demos. I thought he was joking, but two days later he texted me and invited me down to his studio and we got on well. During my album, The Levels seemed like a perfect track for him. I rang him up and he loved the song and he did it the same weekend. Wish everything was that simple sometimes!"

Our thanks to the Pulse & Spirit website for the tip-off about this collaboration. You can currently pre-order the CD from Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, and Amazon Espana.

For those who've always wanted to own a very special instrument, a new Charitybuzz auction gives you the opportunity (assuming your bank balance allows, that is!).

They are currently offering, amongst other things, a Roger Waters Fender Precision Bass guitar that has been signed and donated by Roger himself. It features a custom scratch plate with a brick design. The instrument has been donated to raise money and awareness of the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. This provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. In other words, Healing Musicians in Need. We all have received so much out of music, it's time to give a little back! You can learn more at www.sweetrelief.org.

Bidding closes on Tuesday, February 18th 2014 at 3:12pm EST, and at time of writing this, is already up to $2,550. The standard Roger Waters edition of the Fender Precision Bass retails at $1,200 to give some context to the amount bid thus far, with the addition of the custom Wall scratchplate as well as Roger's autograph on it. Visit CharityBuzz.com for more details and to bid.

Golos-Ameriki.ru reports that this week, Roger Waters met up with Russian punk band Pussy Riot at a private party in New York.

On the Upper East Side of the city, in a private apartment on 87th Street, David and Lara Ross hosted a party for human rights organization Amnesty International in honour of the recently freed members of the band. In 2012, they were convicted of hooliganism after an impromptu performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, "Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!" The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leader's support for Putin during his election campaign.

Roger, at the party with other notables including Yoko Ono, said: "I'm here because friends need support. The most important thing to me is that Pussy Riot resist Putin and his regime". Our thanks to Dasha Dykhanovska for her help with this story.