In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine (as reported by TV3 in Ireland), Roger Waters is considering the possibility that he may quit touring after his 2013 The Wall Live dates are concluded.
"It might just be [my last tour]. I'm not a great singer or entertainer, so the concept is very important. I've no trick that I can perform until my 90th [Birthday]. On the other hand, the ambition to make new music is growing". He talks about the technical challenges of the current production: "It's a piece of theatre, so it has to be controlled ...The lighting and visual content has to be in sync with the music we're making. I'm happy to sacrifice the freedom of guitar players flailing about doing anything they want, on the altar of creating a show that moves people and that's political and so on".
"There are still thousands of children in the world waiting for their fathers they'll never see. I lost my dad in the second war. I was only five months old but the wounds are still there. In this new version of 'The Wall' the show focused less on my personal loss. I'm older now, I can take more distance and so the songs have gotten a more universal meaning."
USA Today have just published an open letter from David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Nick Mason, who are critical over the push by internet radio station Pandora to get artists' royalties slashed.
The open letter from David, Roger and Nick states:
"Great music can inspire deep emotions, and businesses have long sought to harness this power in order to make money. Nothing wrong with that – everyone deserves to make a living – but too often it leads to less than scrupulous behavior. The latest example is how Pandora is pushing for a special law in Congress to slash musicians' royalties – and the tactics they are using to trick artists into supporting this unfair cut in pay.
"It's a matter of principle for us. We hope that many online and mobile music services can give fans and artists the music they want, when they want it, at price points that work. But those same services should fairly pay the artists and creators who make the music at the core of their businesses. For almost all working musicians, it's also a question of economic survival. Nearly 90% of the artists who get a check for digital play receive less than $5,000 a year. They cannot afford the 85% pay cut Pandora asked Congress to impose on the music community.
A new video has just been released gathering a number of celebrities, ranging from Moby and Russell Brand, to director Oliver Stone, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Roger Waters, in support of US soldier Bradley Manning who is facing life in prison. Each speaker takes their turn declaring that they or we "are all Bradley Manning", imploring viewers to put themselves in a similar situation to Manning's. "What would you do if you were faced with the decision to leak non-life-threatening information that evidenced 'war crimes' and 'awful things' and deserved to be in the public domain?" they ask.
Released ten years ago on DVD (and our review can still be seen here), the programme is a truly fascinating look at the creation of the band's 1973 masterpiece. If you've yet to see it, you really are in for a treat!
The documentary is full of great surprises. Things kick off in great style with the original studio rehearsals of Breathe, followed by David picking out the song on a guitar in his studio, Richard demonstrating certain key chords, Alan Parsons showing how David's double tracked vocals were created, and ending with audio and video of the end of Breathe and the start of On The Run (then called "The Travel Sequence" or "Travel") from the very first live performance (Brighton, England on 20th January 1972)!
This sets the scene for the rest of the album, with plenty of lovely contemporary recreations of songs or parts of songs, by David, Roger and Richard, alongside original demos of the tracks, dusted off for us to hear. It is also fascinating to see the intricacies of the recording process, and the number of layers of instrumentation involved in the overall "sound" of the album.
At present, the only online retailer that we've found offering this title is
August 26th 2013 is Amazon UK, who are offering the title as a pre-order at a pretty decent price. As other retailers list this, we will update this news item.
'The Flaming Cow' offers a rare insight into the brilliant but often fraught collaboration between Pink Floyd and composer Geesin, the result of which became known as Atom Heart Mother - the Floyd's first UK number one album. From the time drummer Nick Mason visited Geesin's damp basement flat in
Notting Hill, to the last game of golf between bassist Roger Waters and
Geesin, this book is an unflinching account about how one of Pink
Floyd's most celebrated compositions came to life. Alongside unpublished
photographs from the Abbey Road recording sessions (the only ones
taken) and the subsequent performances in London and Paris, Geesin goes
on to describe how the title was chosen, why he was not credited on the
record, how he left Hyde Park in tears, and why the group did not much
like the work. The Flaming Cow also explores its recent performances, and its new-found cult status that has led to it being studied for the French Baccalaureat.
The book - with a foreword by Nick Mason - promises to be a great read,
and we're certainly looking forward to it. You can place your order for
this hardback book right now through these direct links:
Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon Espana and Amazon Italy,
who all run a pre-order price guarantee, so you automatically pay the lowest price up to the date of release.
YOU CHANCE TO QUIZ RON GEESIN!
The publishers are also working on an eBook version, which will include some additional material over the print version - this is a special Q&A section and that's where YOU come in. Do you have any questions you've always wanted answering by Ron himself about Atom Heart Mother? Send them over to us at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
and we will include the best of them in a special Q&A session which is being filmed this month.
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In a new interview with 
. This is part of Eagle Vision's new SD Blu-ray range which presents upscaled standard definition original material with uncompressed stereo for what they maintain is the best possible quality.
