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VERY BEST WISHES AND STAY WELL - your friends at Brain Damage
Something that we know probably most - if not all - of you have been eagerly awaiting, has just been announced this afternoon. Pink Floyd's Animals 2018 Remix is being released on CD, LP (with gatefold artwork), Blu-ray, and SACD on September 16th, and on October 7th, in Deluxe Gatefold format.
The Deluxe Gatefold version includes the LP, CD, audio Blu-ray, audio DVD and a 32-page book. The Blu-ray and DVD audio include the 2018 remix in Stereo, 5.1 Surround (both by James Guthrie) and the original 1977 Stereo mix. The 32-page booklet features rarely seen behind the scenes photographs of the original album sleeve shoot along with live images and memorabilia.
The album's iconic cover shows an inflatable pig (known as Algie) floating between two chimneys of London's Battersea Power Station, conceived by Roger Waters, and designed by long-time collaborator Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis Studios. For this new release, the artwork has been re-designed for the modern era by Storm’s Hipgnosis partner Aubrey 'Po' Powell.
Taking new shots of the building as it appeared during the recent conversion work, Po experimented with new angles and produce some striking new takes on the classic original. Po elaborates: "With the original 1977 album cover being such an iconic piece of stand-alone art, I had the chance to update it, which was a rather daunting task, but Hipgnosis took the opportunity to re-photograph the image to reflect a changing world, and by using modern digital colouring techniques I kept Pink Floyd's rather bleak message of moral decay using the Orwellian themes of animals, the pig Algie, faithful to the message of the album."
The main image of the train tracks and shed, already familiar to many of you following Roger Waters' social media posts about it, features on most of the formats, but there's a strikingly different image - a more dark, moody and colourful look at Battersea Power Station at night - used for the Blu-ray cover.
The full list of format details are below (click Read More to see them), and here are the direct links available so far to place your orders (which help us with Brain Damage's ongoing running costs, without costing anything further to you!). If the store link for the format you want isn't buyable, that's because they haven't got the item listing fully live yet. Please keep trying! Amazon purchases before release will take advantage of their pre-order price guarantee, where you will automatically pay the lowest price offered between when you bought the item, and release. With regard to the SACD, this only seems to be available from a couple of retailers.
To be published on September 23rd is a new book from acclaimed Pink Floyd historian, author and Brain Damage Magazine founder, Glenn Povey.
In the book, Pink Floyd in North America 1966-1983, Glenn delves deep into Floyd's history within the biggest music market in the world. This book not only charts the concerts they played and records that Floyd released in the USA and Canada from 1967 through to 1983 but it also looks in great detail at the band's relationship with their American record company; the promotional aspects (or lack off!) that propelled Floyd to stadium status, and extensive details of TV and radio appearances, along with band interviews and much more.
As expected with one of Glenn's books, it has been painstakingly researched with loads of new information unearthed. Pink Floyd In North America shines new light on the band from their days playing small clubs right through to superstar status as one of the world's biggest bands.
The book is lavishly illustrated throughout with loads of memorabilia including backstage passes, gig
posters, media adverts and a raft of photos, both on and off stage. You can order direct from the publisher themselves, with those who pre-order early getting their name on a dedicated fan page in the book, or you can order from the other normal outlets: Amazon UK, Germany, France, Italy or Spain. It isn't currently listed on Amazon.com or Canada, but should that change, we will let you know. It is also available from WHSmith Books, Waterstones and Wordery. Obviously, the price varies between the different retailers, and in different countries, so can be worth shopping around.
As you can see, issue 303’s cover stars are Pink Floyd: they bring you the story of the birth of The Dark Side Of The Moon. We hear (from someone who has an early, subscriber copy) that it is a nicely done article, with plenty of unusual pictures illustrating the twelve-page piece.
Elsewhere in the magazine, they look at how Pete Townshend’s abandonment of a science-fiction rock opera led to The Who’s Who’s Next. Also how, after years of mud slinging, power grabs, law suits and general animosity, Journey somehow managed to make a new album.
After more than a decade away, Porcupine Tree are back with a new album. Has their time finally come? Classic Rock finds out.
There's also all the normal features, including an extensive review section. You can order the magazine direct, worldwide, through this link.
Just announced: Pink Floyd is releasing two physical versions of their first newly recorded music in over 25 years, ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’.
The single, which was initially released digitally in April in support of the people of Ukraine and reached number 1 in 27 countries, will be available on 7” and CD single. Both formats will also feature a newly reworked version of ‘A Great Day For Freedom’ taken from the band’s 1994 album, The Division Bell. The single will be available on 15 July (excluding Japan, where it is released on 3 August - and USA, Canada, Australia and Mexico, where it is released on 21 October).
The lead track sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by long time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt, with Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, and features vocals by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox. Proceeds for the physical release and the ongoing digital proceeds will go to Ukraine humanitarian relief.
For this limited edition release, David Gilmour revisited The Division Bell track ‘A Great Day For Freedom’. He has reworked the song using the original tapes which feature Nick Mason on drums and Richard Wright on keyboards, along with backing vocals from Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine and Durga McBroom. The music for this song was composed by Gilmour with lyrics by Polly Samson and himself.
Talking about the inspiration for ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ Gilmour commented, “Any war, but particularly a war that is started by a world superpower against an independent democratic nation, has got to raise enormous anger and frustration in one. As I said before, I have a small connection there; my daughter-in-law is from Ukraine. And the band Boombox are Ukrainian people that I already knew, not well, but from some time ago. It’s an enormously difficult, frustrating, and anger-making thing that one human being could have the power to invade another independent democratic nation and set about killing the population. It’s just obscene to an extent that is just beyond my belief.”
You can order through a growing number of retailers and as we discover them, we will list them here.
With Pink Floyd’s 10th studio album Animals marking its 45th anniversary this year, acclaimed Pink Floyd expert and writer (and creator of Brain Damage magazine, the forerunner to this website), has been busy documenting both the history of the recording of the album and the supporting tours which remains one of the most fascinating periods in Pink Floyd’s history.
The album, of course, was released around 10 years on from their psychedelic debut that launched the band on to the world stage, but couldn't have been much more different. The three central pieces, Pigs (Three Different Ones), Dogs and Sheep each extending to over 10 minutes each drew parallels with George Orwell’s dystopian nightmare Animal Farm” Its lyrics continued to project Roger Waters’ eternal themes of life’s struggles where the subservient masses are sheep controlled by tyrannical pigs and authoritarian dogs.
Recorded over the summer of 1976, in the space of time it took punk to both explode and promptly fizzle out, at their own Britannia Row studios in north London, it also marked a shift from their traditional base of EMI at Abbey Road. The album holds a fond place in many fans hearts and Animals has enjoyed a legacy – Roger Waters in particular reviving those tracks to shoehorn into his own politically charged live solo shows in recent years.
The corresponding tour through the first half of 1977 was also not without compromise and built on the stadium spectacular that had been successfully developed over the previous two years of touring. Creatively, there was no limit to their ambition as large-scale inflatable structures, screen films, special effects and state of the art sound reinforcement were utilized that enveloped the audience in an ever-increasing immersive experience. But, despite all this, as their fan base increased exponentially so too did the rowdy nature of the stadium environment which, coupled with band members personal issues, ultimately led to inter-band rifts and Roger Waters’ increasing intolerance of and disdain towards the adulation of the fans.
This all finally came to a spectacular head during their final show of the Animals tour in Montreal in July and the events that unfolded became the lynchpin of Waters’ vision of isolation and madness that eventually led to the creation of The Wall two years later.
If “Pink Floyd – The Animals Tour – A Visual History” is anything like the other books by Glenn, it should be an essential, and very well researched book that all Floyd fans should enjoy. It can be purchased through MusicGlue.com. There are three different editions - the standard hardback, a signed hardback, and a "deluxe edition" which comes with a range of reproduction memorabilia.
Last night, ahead of his US and Canadian tour, which starts July 6th in Pittsburgh, Roger Waters appeared on the US television programme, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The late night satirical show is broadcast nightly from the historic Ed Sullivan Theater on New York City's Broadway, and features guests being interviewed and performing. Roger was last night's musical guest and here's what he and his new touring band performed, as a bit of a preview for his upcoming tour:
Update: BD visitor Allen has been in touch to advise that some pairs of front row seats have just become available in various cities, including Boston, Miami, and New York's second show. Hopefully those who are after tickets still can snap these up before the scalpers get hold of them!
WELCOME TO BRAIN DAMAGE, YOUR PINK FLOYD, NICK MASON, DAVID GILMOUR AND ROGER WATERS NEWS RESOURCE!
Something that we know probably most - if not all - of you have been eagerly awaiting, has just been announced this afternoon. Pink Floyd's Animals 2018 Remix is being released on CD, LP (with gatefold artwork), Blu-ray, and SACD on September 16th, and on October 7th, in Deluxe Gatefold format.
Just announced: Pink Floyd is releasing two physical versions of their first newly recorded music in over 25 years, ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’.
