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VERY BEST WISHES AND STAY WELL - your friends at Brain Damage
Around fourteen months ago, legendary drummer Mick Fleetwood enlisted an all-star cast for a spectacular, one-of-a-kind concert, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, which was held on Tuesday, February 25th at London's legendary venue, The Palladium - shortly before Covid-19 affected life everywhere, and resulted in lockdowns in many countries.
The bill for Mick Fleetwood & Friends Celebrate The Music Of Peter Green And The Early Years Of Fleetwood Mac, included Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Jonny Lang, Andy Fairweather Low, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler, Bill Wyman, Noel Gallagher, Pete Townshend, Neil Finn, Kirk Hammett and many more.
Legendary producer Glyn Johns joined as the executive sound producer and the house band featured Fleetwood himself along with Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze and Ricky Peterson. Very sadly, five months after the concert, Peter passed away.
For those who weren't able to attend the concert, three different editions were announced for release - a Super Deluxe Edition Box Set, with the entire show on 4LP, 2CD and a Blu-ray in a book (and copies ordered early included your choice of name in the concert documentary credits, a reproduction signed concert poster, and reproduction signed set list); a Blu-ray and 2CD set; and a 4LP set. These were originally slated for release on October 16th, 2020, but with Covid-19 affecting the production of the release, these releases were postponed to April 30th, 2021 - the end of this month.
Just unveiled is this "unboxing" video of the Super Deluxe Edition, which may whet your appetite for this release:
To order the various editions, you can do so from the following Amazon stores (thus helping Brain Damage with a much needed contribution towards site running costs, at no extra cost to you!):
We suspect the Blu-ray won't have any region coding on it, so we think you should be fine to order if you aren't in one of the countries above. We'll try and get confirmation of this though.
As we suspect many of you are fully aware, over the years there's been more than a healthy number of books about Pink Floyd, covering the music, the personalities, the live experiences, and more. For a new book to stand out, it has to offer something a little different from the majority already on the shelves. The newly published 'Lost Souls: A Fictional Journey Through 50 Years of Pink Floyd' by Dutch music journalist and author Edwin Ammerlaan seemed to be written with exactly that in mind.
The book centres on a teenager called Matt Hallander who in 1967 accidentally bumps into Roger Waters and Syd Barrett on a ferry from Ibiza to Formentera, forming a fascination for the Floyd which expanded into friendship with the members of the band. Managing to get a job with a music publication, the protagonist builds trust with the band and is chosen to write a book about them. This necessitates spending time with them, interviewing them, and finding out how they all work and live collectively.
Ammerlaan was keen to find a new angle on the band when he was approached by a Dutch publisher to write about them. In his words "I've been a freelance music journalist since 1987 and have written many features about Pink Floyd in that time. I rejected it because I felt that most things about Pink Floyd had already been thoroughly documented. To add a new perspective to the Floyd history would be virtually impossible."
He turned away from the suggested Dutch language book, repeating all the normal stories, to write in a more personal, subjective way for an international audience. It weaves together actual events, and interviews he, and others, conducted with the band members, into an absorbing fictional narrative following his main character's "coming of age" story conflating his development with the band's. Some of the interviews have been changed to sound more conversational, and there's a healthy dose of fictitious invention thrown in to move the story along.
It's a curious concept but seems to work very well. The easy, conversational style of writing keeps the interest going, not least to see where the story goes. Having experienced some of the concerts Ammerlaan describes in the book, he captures things that I noticed and felt at times, and with his use of Matt as his main character's name, on a personal level this felt a little odd at first but I got used to it! From the reaction of others in the Floyd community who have also got the book, the attention to detail and atmosphere seems to have captured the imagination, and there's some very positive word of mouth for this book. It won't be for everyone (and don't expect a thorough biography of the band - that can be found elsewhere in numerous places) but for something quite different it could be just what some people are after.
Coming towards the end of the year, on November 4th, 2021, is a new, 288 page hardback book that promises to be a superb collection of Gerald Scarfe's iconic artwork for Pink Floyd.
Details are brief at the moment, and the cover image hasn't yet been made public, but here's what the publishers have revealed: "The Art of Pink Floyd The Wall is a sumptuously illustrated book, collecting Gerald Scarfe's iconic work for Pink Floyd. First The Wall was an album, then it was a stage show, a film - now there will be the definitive book, which will be a work of art in its own right.
"This large, landscape-format book, presented in a stunning slipcase designed by Scarfe, is packed with photos, drawings and designs which will incorporate the iconic imagery of The Wall alongside new and previously unseen material.
"Forty years on, The Wall has lost none of its impact, and its themes are more relevant than ever. Presenting the phenomenal artwork as it has never been seen before, The Art of Pink Floyd The Wall is a must-have for any Pink Floyd fan."
We will hopefully have more information about this book soon. Gerald's previous books have all been fascinating and very well produced, and we expect the same for this one.
For those who would like to add this to their Floydian bookshelves, you can order it through the following links, taking advantage of Amazon's free pre-order price guarantee - should their asking price drop at any point between you ordering it, and release, they will automatically charge you the lowest price during that period! Ordering through our links also helps with BD's ongoing running costs, and we really appreciate it:
Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon Canada,
Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon Spain and Amazon Italy. Some stores might not yet have the book available to order (at time of writing this, Amazon.com for example, doesn't yet list the book) so please keep checking back as it should be available from all stores, soon.
As at April 10th, the UK retailer WH Smith are also offering it, for a decent discount of 20% off the recommended retail price. This could result in Amazon matching or beating their price, as they tend to keep an eye on competitors.
This afternoon, Roger Waters has finally revealed the revised tour dates for his This Is Not A Drill production, which was due to be performed between July and October 2020 in North America, and due to the pandemic, postponed. The new dates take in the same period, albeit in 2022, and are as follows.
This new video has Roger talking about the tour:
Ticket holders should keep hold of their tickets, as they will be valid for the new dates, and there should be no need to contact the individual venues. At the moment, there is no indication that Roger will be performing the show elsewhere in the world, but should that change, we will of course let you know.
ROGER WATERS - THIS IS NOT A DRILL - NORTH AMERICA 2022
We recently told you about some more new music from respected guitarist Chester Kamen - for those of you who have been enjoying these songs (and there have been quite a number of you giving us positive feedback on these) some good news as the next song is now available. 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, he shared his recently finished 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 few songs on the second side of the album: Brand New Day, Swimming, I'd Love To Turn You, and Lover's Lane.
His new song - Come The Revolution - has just arrived, with Chester on fine, and mildly political form, with the song once again written and played by Chester with Chuck Sabo again joining him on drums. Oh, and "exhausted groan at the end"!
We'll update you as he progresses with the rest of the album, as we know from feedback we've had that a good number of you are enjoying the songs revealed so far!
The article - now translated into German for that country's version of the magazine - investigates how the band got back on their feet following Syd's departure, and shows how they reinvented themselves. Blake details how this came via strange, afternoon shows for school kids in the Netherlands, bizarre promo videos, unusual soundtrack albums, and shows which were rather avant-garde - as well as albums which showed the development of the band's sound. As ever, Blake's writing proves enlightening and entertaining, peppered with comments from the musicians themselves. Well worth a read!
Elsewhere in the magazine are features on Uriah Heep, Rob Halford, UFO, Thunder, and Suzi Quatro, plus plenty of other articles to keep you busy.
The magazine is now available from all good German stores; alternatively, you can buy individual issues (worldwide) from this direct link. Our thanks to Michael Nickel for the information!
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As we suspect many of you are fully aware, over the years there's been more than a healthy number of books about Pink Floyd, covering the music, the personalities, the live experiences, and more. For a new book to stand out, it has to offer something a little different from the majority already on the shelves. The newly published 'Lost Souls: A Fictional Journey Through 50 Years of Pink Floyd' by Dutch music journalist and author Edwin Ammerlaan seemed to be written with exactly that in mind.
Coming towards the end of the year, on November 4th, 2021, is a new, 288 page hardback book that promises to be a superb collection of Gerald Scarfe's iconic artwork for Pink Floyd.
