Many of you will have seen our recent review of the wonderful Taken By Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, recently released on a well-designed digipak DVD. The documentary is a fascinating, amusing, touching and thought-provoking documentary looking at the design team's history and methodology. As we know, Storm was always determined to go his own way (much to the exasperation at times of record company staff) and do everything as much as humanly possible entirely for real, rather than cobble things together in a computer.
For those who prefer their viewing on the move, or via a less physical means, the film is now available for streaming at www.takenbystorm.vhx.tv.
There is also a completely different assembly of bonus material available as a separate streaming selection, and a 'deluxe package' that has some portraits of Storm taken by his colleague and friend Rupert Truman, as well as three poster designs for download.
Whichever way you choose to view the film, we are sure you will enjoy it hugely. It gives an insight into Storm's wit, his determination, and his working methods. For those who did know Storm, it is a wonderful reminder of just what a unique man he was. Above all, it reminds us all of what a massive contribution he made to modern, popular culture. This is a documentary that deserves to be seen, a thoroughly enjoyable gambol through Storm's life, giving detail on how he knew various members of Pink Floyd before they made it big, and how Hipgnosis came to start designing their album covers from A Saucerful Of Secrets onwards. Hipgnosis were so much more than just a Pink Floyd concern, and their work for artists of all sorts is covered well.
This is not the first time Roger has featured within the pages of The Big Issue, with Roger interviewed a few years ago. This piece though was penned by him, and has him in a very reflective mood, looking back at his childhood and the early days of his time with Pink Floyd.
Roger reflects on how the band came together, and the sort of music they were playing, and developing. His thoughts on Syd and his decline are touching and he notes: "If something happens to someone you love, and are very close to, as happened to Syd, it drives home to you that there but for the grace of God go I. You never know what’s round the corner. Life is very short. It focuses your attention on making the most of the very short time you have."
The letter/article can be read in full through this link, and is an interesting and revealing read, with Roger candidly talking about his hopes and fears (particularly as a child).
On the third anniversary of the concert, it seems an apt time to bring you news of a Blu-ray release which seems to have quietly been released in Germany, and available across Europe. 121212 is a documentary about the concert, but it is worth noting that the Blu-ray does not include the concert itself. There are excerpts from it, but the concert itself is available as a separate DVD (and has been for a couple of years).
The 121212 documentary looks at the background and mechanics of the worldwide televised benefit concert to raise money for victims of Hurricane Sandy, and does include some parts of the performances. The concert itself took place on December 12th, 2012, at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The Blu-ray brings rehearsal footage, as well as interviews with key musicians, all in HD, with a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. The dialogue is in English, with optional German subtitles. Running for around 105 minutes, it is the ideal companion disc to the concert DVD. With regard to Roger, we see him and Eddie Vedder rehearsing Comfortably Numb, and Roger explains why he choose Vedder.
From the actual concert all songs are intercut with backstage footage. So you get a partial 'Another Brick' and a partial 'Comfortably Numb'.
The Blu-ray seems to be region coded, so those who have players compatible with Region B - principally those in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Southwest Asia - will be fine. People in other regions may have problems playing the disc.
Last night, David Gilmour and his band kicked off their 2015 South American tour with a show at the Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil in front of some 40,000 fans. Our thanks to Charles Portilho for the picture to the right, taken on Thursday when rehearsals too place.
From initial comments we are getting, the show was a superb return to the stage for David and co, with the addition of Lucita Jules on backing vocals in place of Louise Marshall. Lucita is partnering Bryan Chambers on vocals for the South American leg of the tour.
The fans were clearly revelling in the show, with chanting throughout, and singing along - with gusto - to Comfortably Numb. We've already added the press conference video to the show page along with some pictures, but we welcome contributions from anyone who was there.
If you have anything to say about the show, or took any pictures, we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch through the normal email address of
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. If you are going to one of the upcoming shows have a great time!
Well, tomorrow night sees the start of David Gilmour's short but sweet 2015 South American tour, visiting Sao Paulo (for a pair of shows), Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Buenos Aires and Santiago. To get you in the mood, check out this video...
If you are going to any of the shows, we hope you have a wonderful time. The European shows in September and October were superb, and were enjoyed by many fans, some of whom were experiencing David live for the first time. We are sure that there will be many in the same situation of the course of the next ten days who are getting to see - and hear - David and his band bring songs old and new to your shores.
If you DO attend any of the shows, we're always very grateful to receive comments about the show, or even reviews if you feel up to writing one. It doesn't have to be very long, and if English isn't your first language, don't worry - you can submit in any language! We'd also love to see your pictures from the shows, and will try to use whatever we can on the individual show pages on our site. We hope all of you lucky enough to have tickets for the show, have a great time!
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