In 1973 Pink Floyd began experimenting with an entirely "musique concrete" album, which was abandoned after only three tracks were recorded. "We used rubber bands," recalled Gilmour, "we actually built a long stretched rubber band thing, about two feet. There was a G clamp at one end fixing it to a table and another G clamp at the other end fixing it to a table. There was a cigarette lighter under one end for a bridge and there were a set of matchsticks taped down the other end. You stretch it and you can get a really good bass sound. "We used aerosol sprays and pulling rolls of Sellotape out to different lengths. The further away it gets the note changes." On abandoning the album, Roger Waters said: "It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it didn't really come together. By then, a similar technique had already been one of the talking points of their first really successful album "Atom Heart Mother", on which "Alans Phychedelic Breakfast" - Alan was presumably Alan Parsons, one of the two engineers on the album - utilized actuality sound, though not very successfully, as the band agrees. Taken from the novel "Bricks in the Wall" by Karl Dallas
Roy Harper is a long time friend of the band and was actually brought in to sing "Have a Cigar" on the "Wish You Were Here" album, when Waters decided his voice wasn't up to it. In return, sort of, David Gilmour played on Harpers "Unknown Soldier" album, played in the band on the albums promotional tour and co-wrote one of the albums best songs "Short and Sweet", which he also performed himself on his own solo album entitled "David Gilmour". Taken from the novel "Bricks in the Wall" by Karl Dallas
This picture of a Pink Floyd van was photographed by Nick Mason at an American concert . Taken from the book "Shine On" from the Pink Floyd boxed set.
"Arnold Layne" their first single, was an song about a transvestite who stole women's clothes from washing lines in Cambridge. This was three years before the Kinks "Lola" had managed to smuggle a similar theme past the Mrs. Grundies of the BBC, who'd been to busy getting them to change the name of a branded soft drink to "Cherry Cola" to notice the actual subject matter of the song. At the first BBC moguls' wrath was reserved for the B-side, originally entitled "Lets Roll Another One", rewritten as "Candy and a Currant Bun", whereupon the Beeb's attention switched to the subject of the A-side, so they never played it. Nor did the pirate radio stations, Radios London and Caroline, but it still got into the charts, coming in at number 41 on April 1st, rising to 20 by April 22, but dropping out the following week. Taken from the novel "Bricks in the Wall" by Karl Dallas
In the film Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point", the director rejected most of Pink Floyds music made for the film. He did use a variation of "Careful with that Axe, Eugene", called "Come in Number 51, Your Time is Up" for the concluding explosion sequence and the songs "Heart Beat, Pig Meat" and Crumbling Land". Another song written for the film but never used was "Us and Them" but the band eventually used the song on their "Dark Side of the Moon" album. If you purchase the newest version of "Zabriskie Point" it comes with a second disc containing four Pink Floyd songs that never made it into the film and that were previously unreleased up until this point. Taken from the novel "Bricks in the Wall" by Karl Dallas
The song "Embryo" (Waters) was an unauthorized release on an EMI Harvest compilation album, "Picnic" released in June of 1970. Not, strictly speaking, the single, "Embryo" is on that got away, a song that was included on a 1970 compilation album of acts from Harvest, EMI's underground label - to the fury of the group who were on holiday at the time, and said it wasn't ready for release. If not for the goof of Malcolm Jones, then the Harvest label manager, and for the nameless benefactors of the rock scene who produce bootlegs, we would have missed a rather beautiful song, one which deserves to stand next to Roger Waters' documentation of the horrors of childhood and adolescence as the unspoilt hope of the unborn. Taken from the novel "Bricks in the Wall" by Karl Dallas
Just how did the band adopt the name Pink Floyd? The strange name that Syd Barrett bequeathed to his band was suggested, not by a drug vision, but by two obscure names in his record collection: Georgia bluesmen Pink Anderson (1900 - 74) and Floyd "Dipper Boy" Council (1911 - 76). Taken from the book Saucerful of Secrets/The Pink Floyd Odyssey by Nicholas Schaffner
Working in the studios on the song "Wish You WereHere" in 1975. Roger Waters is quoted as saying "Dave made the suggestion there ought to be a country fiddle at the end of it (Wish You Were Here) or we might try it out, and Stephane Grappelly was downstairs in #1 studio making a album with Yehudi Menuhin. There was a australian guy looking after Grappelly who we'd met on tour so we thought we'd get Grappelly to do it So they wheeled him up after much bartering about his fee-him being a old pro he tried to turn us over, and he did to a certain extent. But it was wonderful to have him come and play a bit. You can just here him if you listen very, very, very hard right at the end of "Wish You Were Here" you can just here a violin come in after all the wind stuff starts-just!" "A Visual Documentary By Miles"
Throughout their career, Pink Floyd have released a good number of albums, all of which are considered musical treasures by their legions of fans. Yet for all their success, Pink Floyd suffered quite a long dry spell as far as the singles charts were concerned. They first hit the Top Ten in 1967 with "See Emily Play", a feat that would not be repeated again until 1980's "Another Brick In The Wall". Pink Floyd have the much coveted distinction of being the only band to have a record in the top 200 Album Charts for over 13 years! That album being, of course, Dark Side Of The Moon.
Pink Floyd Rules!!!
