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VERY BEST WISHES AND STAY WELL - your friends at Brain Damage
Just announced as a special edition, being sold only in Japan (presumably due to licensing/release agreement), is a very interesting package celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd's pair of concerts at Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, Hakone, Japan - the band's first in that country.
The background to the release is this: an original 16mm film of Atom Heart Mother from the 1971 Hakone Aphrodite shows was recently discovered. A long time was spent digitizing, restoring and remastering, and to mark the 50th anniversary of the '71 Hakone Aphrodite event, a special edition (a two disc set of a CD and Blu-ray) of Atom Heart Mother will be released on August 4, 2021 in Japan.
The Blu-ray disc contains the restored footage of Atom Heart Mother, showing the band on stage performing the song, and travelling around Japan, together with some additional bonus footage of Pink Floyd's crew, setting up the show, dealing with issues, etc., which hasn't been seen before.
The pack comes with a 60-page photo book with never-seen-before photos, a reproduction programme, flyer, poster and ticket reprint which all looks great! More details can be found at PinkFloyd.jp, although if you can't read Japanese you'll need to use Google Translate or similar. Orders can now be placed through various links found at sonymusicjapan.lnk.to/PF_gjb including Amazon Japan, HMV, Sony Music Store, and others. We suspect that most, if not all, of these retailers will happily ship the item worldwide, although in certain countries customs duties or import taxes will be levied, so please be aware of this and check before ordering.
If you want to see a quick comparison of a short part of the footage, comparing the newly restored film with what many of us will have been familiar with for many years, here's something that Sony Music Japan have put together:
Some great news for a number of you - Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets have just revealed more dates for their 2022 Echoes Tour. There are three of the dates that some of you will have been waiting for the revised dates for (they were going to happen this year, but obviously were postponed), along with nine brand new dates, taking place in Ireland and mainland Europe.
Tickets for the newly announced shows have just gone on sale through the normal agents - direct links below - and for the rescheduled shows, the existing tickets remain valid for the new dates so you don't need to contact the ticket agents or the venues.
As part of the announcement was the sad news that despite their best efforts, they weren't able to include the two postponed shows that were due to take place in Freiburg, Germany, and Sete, France, in the 2022 schedule as venues weren't available when the band would have been able to play those locations. Ticket holders can get a refund from their point of purchase.
Just published in Japan (on May 28th) is a very interesting book about Pink Floyd, with masses to offer those of us who don't speak/read Japanese!
Pink Floyd Live Tour In Japan 1971-1988 is a large format (roughly A4 sized, or 11.7 inches by 8.3 inches, and almost an inch thick) book of more than 300 pages, which majors on photos of the band, principally when they were in that country at various points.
The book is part of the publisher's Live Tour In Japan series, which has already focused on Rainbow, Van Halen, Queen, and Led Zeppelin, and continues the tradition of those books with many pictures of Pink Floyd which are great, and have never been published before (including multiple shots from the same session). They've also included unseen pictures from outside Japan too, reprinted live reports (in Japanese) and suchlike.
The list of contents gives a good idea of what to expect, visually:
■ August 1971 Press Conference - Hakone Aphrodite
■ Reprint Live Report (August 6, 1971)
■ March 1972 Haneda Airport - Press Conference - Tokyo Gymnasium
■ 1971 & 1972 Osaka Festival Hall - Performance Retrospective
■ August 1974 London Hyde Park - Roy Harper & Heavy Friends (David Gilmour)
■ November 1974 London Empire Pool - British Winter Tour 1974
■ March 18, 1977 London Empire Pool - In The Flesh UK Tour
■ July 1977 New York Madison Square Garden - In The Flesh US Tour
■ May 1984 New York - About Face US Tour
■ October 1987 New York Madison Square Garden - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason US Tour
■ March 1988 Press Conference - Nippon Budokan - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason Japan Tour
■ Reprint Live Report (March 4, 1988)
■ Japanese concert Hakone Aphrodite performance of Pink Floyd
■ Testimony 1 - Hakone Day 2 Contribution from experienced people
■ Testimony 2 - Daiji Okai [Yonin Bayashi] Long Interview
The book is now available from Japanese retailers, including Amazon Japan who will ship the book worldwide (and as we found, very quickly too!).
Today we have some more new music from respected guitarist Chester Kamen. We know that a good number of you have been enjoying these songs. 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 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 songs on the second side of the album: Brand New Day, Swimming, I'd Love To Turn You, Lover's Lane, Come The Revolution, and Child Of The Damned.
The new song from Chester - Stories - is now here, and as he notes on YouTube, the song is "Dedicated to the memory of my two beloved little brothers, Nick and Barry." Chester tells us that it was recorded with his trio, The Twins, comprising himself, Dale Davis (Amy Winehouse’s bass player and Musical Director) and Hugo Degenhardt on drums and backing vocals. They also had a guest on piano: Barima Asante.
He also noted that "the basic track was recorded some time ago in Battersea on an eight track tape machine so it hopefully has that analog feel. The video has a cameo appearance from my old and dear friend Jon [Carin]" who you can spot toward the end of the song.
We'll update you as he progresses with the rest of the album, as we know from feedback we've had that the songs are proving popular.
First off, please join us in wishing artist extraordinaire Gerald Scarfe a very happy 85th birthday! Gerald has long been associated with Pink Floyd, first working with the band in 1974, and is principally known for his work on The Wall. He has, of course, had a long and illustrious career providing his striking illustrations for publications such as The Sunday Times and Private Eye, and worked in the fields of reportage, advertising, satire and music.
It seems apt then on this special day for Gerald, that the striking cover of his upcoming book, The Art of Pink Floyd The Wall which is due on November 4th, 2021, has now been revealed. The book, a new, 288 page hardback promises to be a superb collection of Gerald Scarfe's iconic artwork for Pink Floyd.
Details are still brief at the moment, 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. If your chosen store doesn't stock it, try other Amazon stores as they will ship books worldwide.
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 morning, Roger Waters revealed the great news that the new James Guthrie stereo and 5.1 surround mixes of Pink Floyd's 1977 album, Animals, is to get a release. This was held up due to disagreements over the sleeve notes but sounds like a way forward has been reached.
It's important to note that there's no detailed announcement yet over what the release will entail. In a video that Roger has posted talking about it, there's a cover shot which doesn't necessarily seem to be the final image (the contents sticker doesn't have any catalogue numbering on it, which you would normally expect to see). It is an atmospheric update on the classic cover image, taken from a different angle (the train sheds in the foreground are just outside Victoria station) and while the Power Station building was in the early stages of being rebuilt for the new occupants.
It is possible that the release consists of the one item: a "limited edition 4-disc package [containing] the remixed album on LP/CD/Blu-ray & DVD. Blu-ray & DVD also contain new high resolution stereo and 5.1 mixes, plus 1977 original stereo mix". It also gives the technical detail of the audio resolutions on offer: "Blu-ray - stereo (24-bit/192kHz, dts MA [Master Audio]), 5.1 (24-bit/96kHz, dts MA). DVD - Stereo (LPCM 24-bit/96kHz, dts), 5.1 (dts, Dolby Digital)". The contents sticker COULD be just a placeholder, mentioning the main confirmed elements, as we presume there might be a booklet with images as well, for example.
As to whether any of the elements will be released outside the 4-disc package, and when it is being released, will be a case of waiting for the official, detailed announcement. Once we have that we will bring you all the final detail, but we figured you'd want to know that the Animals release was happening, as it has been talked about for some time now.
WELCOME TO BRAIN DAMAGE, YOUR PINK FLOYD, NICK MASON, DAVID GILMOUR AND ROGER WATERS NEWS RESOURCE!
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Just announced as a special edition, being sold only in Japan (presumably due to licensing/release agreement), is a very interesting package celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd's pair of concerts at Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, Hakone, Japan - the band's first in that country.
Some great news for a number of you - Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets have just revealed more dates for their 2022 Echoes Tour. There are three of the dates that some of you will have been waiting for the revised dates for (they were going to happen this year, but obviously were postponed), along with nine brand new dates, taking place in Ireland and mainland Europe.
First off, please join us in wishing artist extraordinaire Gerald Scarfe a very happy 85th birthday! Gerald has long been associated with Pink Floyd, first working with the band in 1974, and is principally known for his work on The Wall. He has, of course, had a long and illustrious career providing his striking illustrations for publications such as The Sunday Times and Private Eye, and worked in the fields of reportage, advertising, satire and music.
This morning, Roger Waters revealed the great news that the new James Guthrie stereo and 5.1 surround mixes of Pink Floyd's 1977 album, Animals, is to get a release. This was held up due to disagreements over the sleeve notes but sounds like a way forward has been reached.
