Our very best wishes, and many happy returns, to David Gilmour who is celebrating his 74th 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. 

Last year, some 120+ of David's guitars were auctioned, raising $21.5 million (including some record-breaking amounts for individual instruments) which went to the environmental charity ClientEarth. He also appeared as a guest performer at the Richard Thompson 70th Birthday Concert, playing Dimming Of The Day and Fat Old Sun, and joining the encore. More recently (February 25th) he joined the stellar bill for the Mick Fleetwood & Friends Celebrate The Music of Peter Green and The Early Years of Fleetwood Mac concert at London's Palladium, which is being released as a 4LP, 2CD, Blu-ray and book box set this year. The concert was in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust charity.

Finally, at the end of this month, and the start of next, David is joining his wife Polly Samson for three special evenings to mark the release of her new book, A Theatre For Dreamers, which will see David performing a few songs including a new one. Tickets for these three events, in Manchester, Birmingham, and London, are available now.

It just remains for us to wish David a very happy day! If you want to add your thoughts and wishes, you can do so at our Facebook page...

The third and last of the 2020 Record Store Day releases which could be of specific interest to Brain Damage visitors has now been revealed, hot on the heels of yesterday's announcement of the 2007 live recording of Arnold Layne, from the Syd Barrett tribute concert at London's Barbican, being released as a 7" single, and the heavyweight 180g clear 2LP vinyl issue of Roger Waters Live In Berlin 1990 on this special day, now there's also a 12" single coming from Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets!

On the A-side of the single will be live versions by the Saucers of See Emily Play and Vegetable Man, with the B-side hosting a special etching. The A-side will be a swirling pink-to-blue psychedelic vinyl design. The recordings have been taken from the upcoming Live At The Roundhouse Blu-ray, DVD/CD and 2LP sets, released on 17th April (the day before RSD) which is from the band's appearance at the London venue last year.

As with the other RSD 2020 releases, it is a limited edition: often the RSD releases are pressed up as just a couple of thousand or so worldwide. We understand that there are going to be 4,000 of these available to snap up on the day.

And, as we've mentioned previously, these limited edition items are released via RSD participating stores on 18th April 2020 - go to RecordStoreDay.com 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 18th (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...).

UPDATE, 13th March: Due to the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, RSD2020 has moved from 18th April, to 20th June. Obviously as the situation develops, if circumstances demand the date may change again. 

The second of the 2020 Record Store Day releases which could be of interest to Brain Damage visitors has now been revealed - and it came as quite a surprise to us!

Following on from yesterday's reveal of the 2007 live recording of Arnold Layne, from the Syd Barrett tribute concert at London's Barbican, being released as a 7" single on this special day, now it is the turn to look at a Roger Waters special for RSD2020.

Unexpectedly, those behind this release have gone way back to Roger's 1990 Berlin extravaganza - and are releasing the live recording as a heavyweight 180g clear vinyl LP. As with the other RSD 2020 releases, it is a limited edition: often the RSD releases are pressed up as just a couple of thousand or so worldwide. We understand that there are going to be 8,000 of these available to snap up on the day, so not as limited as many of the RSD releases. It is bound to be quite popular though as collectors add this special edition to their range of Roger Waters items.

As we've mentioned previously, these limited edition items are released via RSD participating stores on 18th April 2020 - go to RecordStoreDay.com 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 18th (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...).

UPDATE, 13th March: Due to the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, RSD2020 has moved from 18th April, to 20th June. Obviously as the situation develops, if circumstances demand the date may change again. 

To celebrate Record Store Day 2020 (Saturday, April 18th), Pink Floyd are releasing a live recording of the band's first single, Arnold Layne.

The limited-edition, one-sided Record Store Day 7" vinyl - the latest release from Pink Floyd Records (which was formed in June 2016) represents the last live performance of Pink Floyd with David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright all together in 2007, and was mixed by Damon Iddins. This special performance of Arnold Layne took place at the Syd Barrett Tribute Concert 'The Madcap's Last Laugh' held at London's Barbican on May 10th that year. David, Nick and Richard were augmented by Jon Carin (on keyboards and vocals) and Andy Bell from Oasis (bass guitar). After a great line-up throughout the evening, including Roger Waters in the first half, Pink Floyd took to the stage for an incredibly emotional finale.

The concert was held to pay homage to Barrett, who had died a year earlier and sadly became the final performance of the Floyd to include Richard, who passed away the year after. It was also Richard's penultimate live performance. 

The artwork for the release features the titular Arnold in handcuffs (after having been arrested for stealing women's clothes from their washing lines). Pink Floyd Creative Director Aubrey 'Po' Powell oversaw the sleeve, newly created by long-time Floyd collaborators, photographer Rupert Truman and designer Peter Curzon, both of StormStudios. New art extends to the B-side of the single, which features an exclusive etching of handcuffs to echo the sleeve and the song's lyrics.

This 7" single follows the popular RSD release of A Saucerful Of Secrets in mono in 2019, and is released via RSD participating stores on 18th April 2020 - go to RecordStoreDay.com 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 18th (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...).

As with the other RSD 2020 releases, we reiterate that this is a limited edition: often the RSD releases are pressed up as just a couple of thousand or so worldwide. We understand that there are going to be 7,400 of these available to snap up on the day. 

The full list of RSD releases for 2020 is due to be revealed very shortly.

UPDATE, 13th March: Due to the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, RSD2020 has moved from 18th April, to 20th June. Obviously as the situation develops, if circumstances demand the date may change again.