We've got a collection of smaller, Pink Floyd-related news bits and pieces for you, which we thought best collected together in a small bunch. Read on for details of a new DVD/CD release, an unusual placing for a Floyd track in a rundown of the "Best British Songs", and more...

First, that DVD/CD combo release. Jonathan Still has let us know that the Blue Man Group have just released a DVD/CD combo that includes a very interesting cover of One Of These Days. This is taken from a live performance, which they've been performing over the USA for the last year. Both the DVD and CD contain this track (track 14 on DVD and track 11 on CD).

The title of this set is How To Be A Megastar Live and can be ordered from the following special links: Amazon UK, Amazon US/International, or Amazon Canada.

We know that a number of you have greatly enjoyed the Blue Man Group's performances, in particular their reading of the Floyd's classic track, so we're sure there will be a lot of interest in this release...

Rik van Orsouw tells us that this month in the UK's "Classic Rock" magazine there is a list of the 65 Best British Songs. Pink Floyd's When The Tigers Broke Free is an unexpected entry in fourth place. The magazine gave the following rationale for its choice: "Madness, The War, infidelity, the class system, more madness: all grist to the mill for this most English of bands. A traditionalist would choose a Syd-era track like Bike or Arnold Layne. Almost any Pink Floyd song would do - but right now we're favouring this track about the wartime death of Roger Waters' father that first appeared in Alan Parker's film The Wall, finally surfacing on the 2004 CD version of The Final Cut album".

The song found itself in good company. Here's the rest of the top five:

1. Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields - The Beatles
2. The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
3. God Save The Queen - Sex Pistols
5. Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen

With Brain Damage starting life as a magazine, reaching 40 issues before problems caused it to cease publication, we have a good understanding of what it takes to produce a Floyd fanzine. Our friends over at the Italian "Hey You" website have recently produced the latest issue - number 11 - of their interesting Hey You fanzine.

The 52-page magazine in Italian and English includes a look at the "Psychedelic Pink Floyd (1966 - Aug 1967)", there's a Floyd discography by Vernon Fitch, who also looks at the 40th anniversary of "Piper", and there's an interview with Echoes author and BD founder, Glenn Povey.

More details can be found at www.heyout.it.

Finally, the huge amount of interest in Atom Heart Mother at the moment, mainly due to the (currently almost sold out) pair of concerts being held in June, has no doubt helped in a recent eBay auction for an unusual AHM item.

Here's what the seller said: "This is the only Pink Floyd reel to reel tape I have ever seen in my 30 years of collecting Floyd music. And I don't just mean that atom heart mother is the only Floyd album to be issued on reel to reel, but this tape sitting in front of me is the only Atom Heart Mother reel to reel that I've ever seen for sale (nor do i know any collector who owns one)! Most Floyd fanatics and collectors don't even know that this exists.

"This is a 1970 japanese release on the EMI/Odeon label (OXA-5067). There is a rumor that this is a different mix than the LP version, but I don't know for sure. It is a 4 track 7.5ips (19cm/s) speed tape. The sound is amazing - warm & rich with lots of presence - even better sounding than the audiophile Original Master 200g vinyl version..."

It is certainly an item we've never come across before, so the seller's comments about the rarity seem to hold true. Quite a few bids for this - with the winning bidder obviously having a very healthy bank balance. The reel sold for a staggering $1725!! Our thanks to Michael Mason for the information.