In an article in the UK's Classic Rock magazine - as a website exclusive - author Mark Blake (who wrote the great study of Pink Floyd, Pigs Might Fly) takes a good look at the Floyd's great "lost" project - Household Objects.

For those unfamiliar with the project, it was an attempt to record an album using no instruments at all. Instead, as the title implied, implements found around the home were pressed into service to see what sort of sounds they could make, with the idea of using them to create a complete suite of songs.

This turned out to be hugely laborious, and little got completed. These days, the task would be simple with samplers and synthesisers making quick work of the exercise. For the Floyd though, they were stuck with having to do things like stretch elastic bands over cardboard boxes, changing the tensions to get different notes.

As Mark points out in the article, "You can understand the band’s reluctance to attach much importance to Household Objects now. After all, The Dark Side Of The Moon turned 20-something ennui and navel-gazing into big business, and Pink Floyd rightly never looked back again. But the sounds of these plucked elastic bands and scraping broomsticks are the last hurrah for the old Pink Floyd; the one that was young, silly and experimental. “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” said Roger Waters. It was, and it still is."

It's a fascinating article, and you can read it in full through this link where you'll find various pictures - including the fun, imaginary cover to the left, created by a fan, and a video clip.

Next year, a new book will be published that should prove a fascinating insight into the audio side of Pink Floyd's development. Written by music industry expert Mark Cunningham, who used to run the magazine Total Production International, Pink Floyd: A Live Sound History is due at some point in 2014 but to whet your appetites, Mark has given us a sneak preview of what's to come.

The book will tell the story of how Pink Floyd pioneered live sound and how equipment manufacturers fought to keep up with the band's demands for better, bigger and higher quality, in tandem with their equally adventurous touring stage productions. It will feature rare images and exclusive interviews conducted by me with key touring personnel and industry figures including Robbie Williams, Phil Taylor, Mick Kluczynski, Andy Jackson, James Guthrie, Buford Jones, Charlie Watkins (WEM), Alan Parsons, Seth Goldman, Bryan Grant and more.

A large portion of the manuscript was actually proof-read by Roger Waters who made comments that have informed the content.

Solo tours up to and including The Wall Live will also feature, as a way of highlighting the further progression of live sound influenced by the Floyd.

At this stage, a firm date isn't available, nor are pre-orders being invited. As soon as more information is available, we will of course update you...

In the US and Canada, a second Record Store Day is being celebrated this year, taking place on "Black Friday", November 29th, with a further Pink Floyd vinyl rarity on offer, to go alongside the See Emily Play pink vinyl single released in limited quantities earlier this year during the same promotion.

Many of you will recall that in April, 2010, Sony issued a special 2CD edition of the Zabriskie Point movie soundtrack (a reprint of a 1997 Rhino release that proved very hard to find), which included not just the three Pink Floyd tracks that were on the original vinyl release ("Heartbeat, Pigmeat", "Crumbling Land" and "Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up"), but augmented it with a further four tracks, outtakes from the recording sessions. These were "Country Song", "Unknown Song", "Love Scene version 6", and "Love Scene version 4". Certainly worth hearing these additional tracks, which give a flavour of the material recorded during the whole sessions.

This expanded edition is being made available as a 2LP expanded edition for our North American friends in limited numbers on November 29th, purely from participating stores. For those unfamiliar with Record Store Day, it is to encourage people to head to physical outlets for limited edition singles, albums and CDs, offering releases that are unavailable elsewhere. For the full list of participating stores, click here. Having experienced RSD earlier this year, our recommendation is to head for your chosen store(s) very early in the day, and be prepared to stand in line.

For those unable to make it along to a store on the day to try for a copy of this, most if not all RSD releases very quickly arrive on eBay. You can also still get the 2CD set through Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, or Amazon France.

A feast of Floyd is on its way from the UK's BBC Four television channel, straddling next Friday, November 1st, and Saturday, November 2nd.

Whilst none of the shows are new, they are all very much worth watching if you've not seen them, and worth RE-watching if you have! As a non-commercial station, there are no adverts punctuating the shows, which is always a good thing. Here's the schedule in full, all UK times:

• FRI, Nov 1st:
  9pm: Pink Floyd: The Making of Wish You Were Here
  10pm: Pink Floyd: A Delicate Sound of Thunder. New York's Nassau Coliseum in 1989
  11:35pm: A Pink Floyd Miscellany 1967-2005. A collection of great video clips
  This programme runs until 0:35am.
• SAT, Nov 2nd:
  0:35am: Prog at the BBC. Performances from Yes, Genesis, ELP, etc..
  1:35am: Pink Floyd: The Making of Wish You Were Here
  2:35am: A Pink Floyd Miscellany 1967-2005
  This programme runs until 3:35am

So, a couple of chances to catch the Making of WYWH and the Miscellany compilation. BBC Four is available in the UK via Freeview, digital cable and satellite, and certain parts of Europe have sufficiently strong reception to receive their programming too.