In the new August issue of the Spanish music magazine "This Is Rock", and coinciding with the exhibition in Madrid of The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains, an interview has been undertaken by Aubrey 'Po' Powell. Po, of course, is the curator of this exhibition and founding member together with Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis, the creative agency that made almost all Pink Floyd's covers, in addition to other classic bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Alan Parsons Project, and so on. They also discuss what they consider to be the best images of Hypnosis for Pink Floyd.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album "The Division Bell" the cover of this issue of "This Is Rock" is one of the alternative shots for the cover and kindly provided by Peter Curzon, from StormStudios. The magazine argues that in the later Pink Floyd albums "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" and "The Division Bell" the leader of this version of the band was David Gilmour, so in this issue of "This Is Rock" tribute is paid to him in a section entitled "Essential: The Legacy of David Gilmour."

Our thanks to Jose Abellan for the information above. The magazine is now available from all Spanish magazine outlets, or online from Area66.es which is the official store for the magazine.

Many of you will be aware of "The Black Strat: A History Of David Gilmour's Black Fender Stratocaster", the superb book written by Phil Taylor, David's long-term guitar technician, studio manager, production director and much more. It takes a careful and detailed look at one of rock's most iconic instruments, very ably written by the only man to know Pink Floyd's equipment better than the band. Rather than a dry, technical manual, suited only to those who already know guitars inside and out, it is a rewarding and accessible book that Pink Floyd fans the world over will thoroughly enjoy, packed with truly rare pictures that you won't have seen before.

Unfortunately, it has been unavailable for a while - unless, of course, you spent some serious money on a copy on the second hand market, where they are on sale for some interesting (and eye watering) amounts.

So, we have great news for you! The fully revised fourth edition is now available to order exclusively from Amazon UK. A few copies appeared in the gift shop of the V&A museum when the Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains was on there, but this handful of books quickly went. The news that it is available again will be music to many ears, as it really is a great book fully deserving of a space on your Floydian bookshelf!

Now expanded to 256 pages, the fourth edition brings the story pretty much up to date, including the brace of incredible Pompeii concerts performed by David, and the V&A staging of the Floyd exhibition. The only thing missing is its sale at the recent auction at Christie's New York, in aid of ClientEarth, the environmental charity, when the guitar passed into new hands, hopefully to create more music in the future.

The book contains plenty of new information as well as many more unpublished photographs, recently come to light, that further chart the Black Strat's illustrious history. Amending and elaborating on the previous editions, it is an incredible labour of love to document every aspect of this instrument, yet never get too technical for the more casual enthusiast, or Floyd fan who doesn't play guitar.

You can order the book now through this direct link to Amazon UK, where it is exclusively available. They will ship books worldwide so if outside the UK, this will be no problem! Purchasing things after entering Amazon through our links really helps with site running costs, and we really appreciate it!

Now available is the latest issue (number 33 - cover date June 2019) of the Pink Floyd fanzine "Heyou" run by our friends over at the Italian website of the same name. The 52-page dual language magazine (in Italian and English), which is published every six months or so, catches up with things in the Floyd world.

The magazine has four major focuses: the 30th anniversaries of Roger Waters Live In Berlin, and Pink Floyd Live In Venice; the 40th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd The Wall; and David Gilmour's guitar auction.

The Berlin piece begins with an article setting the scene, giving the background to the wall which bisected the German city, before leading to a couple of attendee's reports on their journeys to, and watching, the show. The article includes some of the newspaper pieces about the show, ticket stubs, and so on.

The Venice piece is briefer, but includes some interesting pictures. The Floydseum Cultural Association staged an exhibition about the event, and there's a small bit of coverage about that. There's a couple of extended reviews of The Wall album, before the magazine gets to the final third of its pages focused on the recent Christies guitar auction

Normally in Heyou, there's a chronological look at things that have happened in the last few months in the news pages, ranging from various magazines published with Floyd content, to re-issues, books published, and more. This time around, there's no news wrap-up - presumably they ran out of space to include it! Having said that, the major news in the last few months has been the guitar auction, and the 2019 Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets tour, both of which are covered elsewhere in the magazine.

More details of the Heyou fanzine can be found at www.heyou.it/fsubscrbd.html, where you can get individual copies, and subscription enquiries (four issues costing 35 euros within Europe, and 45 euros outside Europe) should go to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - make sure you mention Brain Damage when you write!

Earlier this year, a 70th birthday celebration show was announced for Richard Thompson, taking place on September 30th at London's Royal Albert Hall. At the time of announcement, special guests were promised, but these weren't revealed - until now.

Joining Richard and his band will be the following, listed in alphabetical order (by first name): Alistair Anderson, Ashley Hutchings, Bob Mould, Christine Collister, Danny Thompson, Dave Mattacks, Dave Pegg, David Gilmour, Derek Smalls, Eliza Carthy, Hugh Cornwell, Jack Thompson, James Walbourne, Judith Owen, Kami Thompson, Kate Rusby, Linda Thompson, Loudon Wainwright III, Maddy Prior, Marc Ellington, Martin Carthy, Olivia Chaney, Simon Nicol, Teddy Thompson and Zara Phillips.

Quite a line-up, and David Gilmour's inclusion is arguably a first public step to show that - exactly as he said - the sale of a large chunk of his guitars recently in aid of charity, was no sign of retirement. Should be reassuring for those who thought he'd never perform again, following the sale of so many instruments! Naturally there is no indication what he will be performing, or for how long.

Tickets are currently showing as sold out, but it is entirely possible that a few could become available closer to the event, so if you are interesting in going, it's worth checking regularly at RoyalAlbertHall.com/tickets.