Today we have some more new music from respected guitarist Chester Kamen, for all those of you who have been patiently waiting for his next creation. We know that a good number of you have been enjoying these songs. Amongst many other artists, Chester has toured with Roger Waters, joining his band in 2002 and playing on subsequent tours, and with David Gilmour on his 2016 Rattle That Lock tour. He first played with David back in 1985 during the Live Aid show - David and Chester were both part of Bryan Ferry's band for that show (as was Jon Carin).
Chester has, like many musicians, kept himself busy whilst lockdowns and restrictions due to Covid-19 have called a halt to many things - in particular, live performance. In October 2020, he shared his new piece of music called Take This, that runs for over 23 minutes. Chester told us that Take This is the first side of an album he is currently working on - following, or inspired by, the old Floyd blueprint of one long piece and several songs on the flip side. Since then we've seen the first songs on the second side of the album: Brand New Day, Swimming, I'd Love To Turn You, Lover's Lane, Come The Revolution, Child Of The Damned, Stories, The Wife Of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, and Coat Of Many Colours. As albums go, we suspect Chester is starting to look at a double!
The new song from Chester will be a blast from the past for BD visitors of a certain age, and particularly UK based. Tommy Cooper, magician and comedian, released a comedy single in 1961 - Don't Jump Off The Roof Dad - which was a top 40 hit and later, often played on BBC radio (in particular, on a children's show called Junior Choice). Chester has taken the lyric and written a new tune. Chester told us that "Steve Monti (Curve, Jesus and Mary Chain, Sulphur) played drums on this one and I have done the rest. This song has had many incarnations (4 actually) and while this one may prove to be less than definitive I gotta stop somewhere. Gave me a chance to use my vibrato pedal in the old fashioned Floyd way, which was fun."
We'll update you as he progresses with the rest of the album, as we know from feedback we've had that the songs are proving very popular.
Our very best wishes, and many happy returns, to David Gilmour who is celebrating his birthday today (March 6th)!
Born and raised in Cambridge, David became involved with various bands in the area, principally Jokers Wild who were a popular draw when they played, before joining Pink Floyd in 1968. More recent years have seen David concentrating on his solo career, and helping out chums on their musical projects on an ad hoc basis.
More concert news relating to the 2022 Echoes Tour of Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets - the band's gig to be held in Madrid, Spain, on July 10th has had a change of venue.
The show was due to be held at the Palacio Vistalegre in the city, and it is now being held at the Real Jardín Botánico Alfonso XIII, on the same date. It is part of their 48-day "Noches del Botanico" music festival.
As the venue is completely different, tickets for the original show will be refunded by the ticket agents, and for all of you who want to attend the new show, new tickets go on sale this coming Monday, March 7th, at 12pm local time. You'll be able to buy them from www.nochesdelbotanico.com.
In an expected move, Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets have this morning announced that they have cancelled the brace of concerts they had lined up in Russia as part of their upcoming 2022 Echoes tour. The shows which were to be held on May 23rd at the BKZ Oktyabrsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, and May 25th at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, will not take place.
The band issued the following statement:
“Due to the current events happening in Ukraine, we are cancelling all of our shows in Russia that were due to take place this summer.
“Our thoughts and support are with all those in Ukraine.”
We assume the ticket agents will issue refunds automatically to ticket holders, and any queries should be directed to them for resolution.
The 2022 Record Store Day list of limited edition, one-day-only releases sold via participating stores over the counter (and not via mail order) has now been revealed, and for Floyd fans there's a potential gem tucked away amongst the items, which may be of interest.
Mercury Studios will be releasing, for the very first time on vinyl, Pete Townshend's Face The Face album recorded live at MIDEM in Cannes on January 23rd 1986 and broadcast live by Rockpalast, the German TV show. The album was released on DVD/CD in 2016.
The new 2LP set is pressed on bright yellow vinyl and includes 14 songs from the concert.
The band, known as Pete Townshend's Deep End, included David Gilmour on guitar for their limited run of shows in late 1985 and early 1986, and also featured Townshend on guitar and vocals, Peter Hope-Evans on harmonica, Chucho Merchan on bass, Simon Phillips on drums, John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick on keyboards, and Jody Linscot on percussion.
They were joined by the Kick Horns: Simon Clarke, Roddy Lorimer, Tim Sanders, Pete Beachill and Dave Plews, with backing vocals provided by Billy Nicholls, Ian Ellis, Chris Staines, Gina Foster and Coral Gordon.
TRACK LIST:
SIDE ONE
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Secondhand Love
Give Blood
Behind Blue Eyes SIDE TWO
After The Fire
Slit Skirts
Blue Light SIDE THREE
Hiding Out
The Sea Refuses No River
Face The Face
Pinball Wizard SIDE FOUR
A Little Is Enough
Rough Boys
Night Train
As with the other RSD 2022 releases, it is a limited edition: often the RSD releases are pressed up as just a couple of thousand or so worldwide. As yet we don't know how many there will be of these to snap up on the day.
And, as we've mentioned previously, all the limited edition items are released via RSD participating stores on 23rd April 2022 - go to RecordStoreDay.com or RecordStoreDay.co.uk for more details of who those will be. A reminder that it will ONLY be these stores participating; the stores themselves can't sell it online - the record will become available for customers coming through the door of the store from the morning of the 23rd (and not before), in limited quantities - first come, first served, and only one copy per customer. After RSD, if copies remain, they may put them for sale online (and of course, there'll also be copies on eBay inevitably...).
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Our very best wishes, and many happy returns, to David Gilmour who is celebrating his birthday today (March 6th)!
More concert news relating to the 2022 Echoes Tour of Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets - the band's gig to be held in Madrid, Spain, on July 10th has had a change of venue.
In an expected move, Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets have this morning announced that they have cancelled the brace of concerts they had lined up in Russia as part of their upcoming 2022 Echoes tour. The shows which were to be held on May 23rd at the BKZ Oktyabrsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, and May 25th at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, will not take place.
The 2022 Record Store Day list of limited edition, one-day-only releases sold via participating stores over the counter (and not via mail order) has now been revealed, and for Floyd fans there's a potential gem tucked away amongst the items, which may be of interest.
