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| News Page Last Updated: November 25, 2000. |
In The Flesh Pushed Back to Early DecemberNovember 25, 2000
Roger Waters new live album of his recent tour "In the Flesh" has been pushed back to early December. The album should be out no earlier than December 5th according to the official Roger Waters webpage press release at www.roger-waters.com. I've asked some local store owners about the album and most have very little of an idea as reguards to what I'm talking about, so lets hope we see it by the end of 2000.
While your at the official Roger Waters webpage, be sure to download some song clips for the upcoming release.
Source: Official Roger Waters Website at http://www.roger-waters.com/
For those of you lucky enough to be close to a radio station that played the Wish You Were Here 25th Aniversary Special you were in for a real treat. The special aired earlier this month and featured Alan Parsons as its host. The album was broken up into individual songs and interspliced by interviews of the band and comments about the album's production and the like. A segment was even spent of the arrival of founding band member Syd Barrett during the final production of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" while the album was being recorded. The two hour broadcast also featured live versions of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here" from the Pulse and The Delicate Sound of Thunder albums respectively. To top it off, a cover of "Have a Cigar" by the Foo Fighters was played and the broadcast finished with a short meadly of a number Pink Floyd tunes spaning the entire history of the band.
Roger Waters is to release a new live album. Check out what his website says about it:
"In The Flesh" is produced and mixed by longtime collaborator James Guthrie, who has worked on Waters' music since co-producing and engineering "The Wall" in 1978 and has remastered the entire Pink Floyd catalog. Guthrie recorded the concerts as a 48-track analog recording before mixing it down to high resolution digital. "I just like the sound of analog," says Guthrie. "It's much more resolute. It's more real. It breathes. It's more three-dimensional."
Appearing with Roger Waters (guitar, vocals, and bass) on "In The Flesh" is his band of top-flight musicians including Andy Fairweather-Low (guitar), Snowy White (guitar), Doyle Bramhall II (guitar and vocals), Graham Broad (drums), Jon Carin (keyboards), Andy Wallace (keyboards), Katie Kissoon (vocals), Susannah Melvoin (vocals), and PP Arnold (vocals).
"The strength of this record," Guthrie says, "is to hear Roger performing such a great cross-section of material from very early Pink Floyd, i.e. 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun,' to more contemporary Pink Floyd to Roger's solo career. It's a very dynamic performance. They are all important pieces of music."
Throughout the U.S. tour, critics praised the power of Waters' performances, the timelessness of his music, the show's intimate production values and seamless structure. The San Jose Mercury News reported that the show "was rock as art, with the kind of concern for sound rarely seen today." And the Fort Worth Star Telegram raved that "his long, luscious two-set show made up mainly of Floyd classics was on a more human scale? this show felt like a celebration." The Los Angeles Times was equally enthusiastic and wrote, "the show illustrated the extent to which Waters operatic rock has influenced generations."
Tracks on "In The Flesh" include:
1. "In The Flesh" (from "The Wall")
The first verse of "Each Small Candle" was written by a South American who'd been a victim of torture. An Italian journalist, active in the initiative against torture in Northern Italy, had given Waters the short poem years ago. The poem lay in a drawer in Waters' studio until, during the crisis in Kosovo, he read a piece in The London Times describing a Serbian soldier who saw an Albanian woman lying in a burned-out building. The soldier left his platoon to give aid to the woman, then rejoined his men and marched off. The image inspired Waters to set the short poem, "Each Small Candle," to music and pen additional lyrics. It is the song that closes In The Flesh.
Source: Official Roger Waters Website at http://www.roger-waters.com/
EMI is planning possibly the biggest 25th anniversary celebration ever(for an album), for its newly acquired album Wish You Were Here 25 anniversary. Check out there press release below.
In addition, there will also be a TV special and a nationally syndicated radio special hosted by Alan Parsons, airing in over 100 markets on Halloween eve, October 30. The special will also be streamed on Lycos and feature not only an additional half-hour but a chat with Parsons too. There will be extensive print advertising calling attention to the poignant lyrics from the album in national print, music placement in over 13,000 movie theatres in the U.S. making note of the anniversary and an extensive direct mail campaign to fans through a number of internet partners. Special anniversary elements and art are also being featured on hollywoodandvine.com. EMI Music Distribution has partnered many key retailers with the consumer activities.
The company also plans on releasing a limited edition version of the album in the Fall in its original package. The band originally released the record in a black, opaque shrink wrap to expand on the album's theme of absence. It will feature the same original sticker to identify the album to consumers and fans.
Once described as "elegant melancholia" by Melody Maker, Wish You Were Here was the first album Pink Floyd released after their record- breaking smash, Dark Side Of The Moon. Like its predecessor, Wish You Were Here also made #1. The centerpiece of the recording was the nine-part "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," a tribute to Syd Barrett, who co-founded the band with Roger Waters in Cambridge, England in 1965. Barrett's experiments with LSD and his own mental instability caused him to leave the group in late 1967 and he has continued to live as a recluse ever since. His replacement was David Gilmour, who joined Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason in the line-up.
"What was so amazing about Syd's songs," Waters once told Rolling Stone, "was through the whimsy and juxtaposition of ideas and words, there was a very powerful grasp of humanity. They were quintessentially human songs and that is what I've always attempted to aspire to. In that sense, I feel a strong connection to him."
Barrett's fate could also have inspired two of the album's other tracks, "Have A Cigar" and "Welcome To The Machine." "Have A Cigar," a rare example of Pink Floyd humor, includes the famous line, "Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?" and features a guest vocal by British folksinger Roy Harper. "Welcome To The Machine" also describes the perils of the music business. The final track is the title track, "Wish You Were Here," featuring an introductory orchestral snippet from Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. "In a way, it's a schizophrenic song," says Waters. "It's directed at my other half if you like . . .the battling elements within myself. There's the bit that's concerned with other people, the bit that one applauds in oneself; then there's the grasping, avaricious, selfish little kid who wants to get his hands on the sweets and have them all. The song slips in and out of both personae so the bit that always wants to win is feeling upset and plaintively saying to the other side, 'wish you were here.'"
Wish You Were Here and the entire Pink Floyd catalog are included in EMI Music Distribution's Choice 2000 campaign, the biggest catalog deal ever, which allows retailers to choose the deal--the discount, the dating, even the titles-to meet their needs.
"Wish You Were Here is a landmark album," stated Marc Rashba, Vice President, Catalog Marketing Group. "We are proud to call attention to this milestone to remind fans of its significance and to introduce it to some new ones."
A documentary previously shown in the UK as a promotion for the release of The Wall Live is to be shown on VH1 on June 8 at 11:30 p.m. This is an excellent documentary on The Wall which covers the album, the live show, and the movie. Whats more, the first section of the show talks about the early history of the Floyd and a good amount of time is spent on Syd Barrett. The documentary has interviews with Roger Waters, all three band members, Gerald Scarfe and others. Also included in the documentary is a lot of cool concert fotage and parts of the "Another Brick In the Wall Part 2" music video.
For the first time Capital Records is releasing The Wall, Wish You Were Here, Animals and A Collection of Great Dance Songs. There is little difference between these releases and the versions that came out in 1998 by COLUMBIA. The CDs will come with a limited edition embossed slip case and I've heard rumors about a poster. Capital Records apparently thinks this is a good time to release the CDs with the recent jump of interest in Pink Floyd due to the release of Is There Anybody Out There? - The Wall Live, a Roger Waters tour and the 25th aniversary of the release of Wish You Were Here. To find out more visit there website at http://hollywoodandvine.com/pinkfloyd.
More a French film directed by Barbet Shroeder was rereleased in the US on video today. Pink Floyd provided the film's soundtrack, which was released in 1969 as their third album titled, how apropiately, More.
You can pick it up at CDNOW.
Here is a review fromVH1 Online
This lavish, two-disc set is culled from the performance at Earl's Court and is essentially the best document of Pink Floyd live available legally (a particularly mind-blowingly psychedelic 1970 bootleg of a Fillmore West performance, however, marginally edges it out). The crisp and vivid sound here makes you feel as if you've been thrown into the first 10 rows dead center, sitting before Roger Waters as he dynamically orchestrates his alter ego's pulpit of hate on "In the Flesh Pt. 2." Most of the songs here benefit from the live setting: Check out how David Gilmour's voice becomes one with his guitar on "Goodbye Blue Sky" or how much expanded versions of both "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. II" and "Young Lust" soar with Richard Wright's improvisational Hammond B-3 fills, or the gorgeous reading of "Nobody Home" that quite simply blows away the original. The inclusion of two tracks previously available only on the film mix of The Wall, "What Shall We Do Now?" and "The Last Few Bricks," only adds to the value of this package. Some elements of the album may be so similar to the studio version that you feel as if you're listening to a basic remaster, particularly the "One of My Turns"/"Don't Leave Me Now"/"Another Brick in the Wall Pt. III" segue, but that's only if you're gonna nitpick. The genius of The Wall Live is its success in bringing the larger-than-life experience of conceptually tuning in, turning on, and dropping out before a live arena audience. Reunion anyone?
© 1999 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The second edition of Storm Thorgerson's popular Floyd book has just been released. It has a new section talking about Storms work on ITABOT - The Wall Live. Storm talks about how he designed the package, why there have been so many delays with the album and all the work he put into pleasing both Roger Waters and David Gimour. Other new sections in the book are The Design of The Wall DVD, television advertisements, the newest line of Pink Floyd T-shirts (which now are hard to find for some strange reason).Wish You Were Here Special Airs On Radio
November 25, 2000
Roger Waters' In The Flesh To Be Released As a Double Album and DVD
September 25, 2000Columbia recording artist and Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters toured the United States for the first time in 12 years in 1999-2000 with his highly-acclaimed "In The Flesh" show which presented, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of Waters' music including: early Pink Floyd material; classic compositions from his masterpieces "The Wall" and "Dark Side Of The Moon"; less well-known pieces from "Animals," "Wish You Were Here," and "The Final Cut"; songs from the solo tours de force "Amused To Death" and "The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking"; and the debut of a new song "Each Small Candle." The overwhelming demand for tickets made every performance of "In The Flesh" an SRO event. On November 21, Columbia Records will release the eagerly anticipated "In The Flesh," a two-CD recording of the entire live show (drawn from performances in Phoenix, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada, Irvine, California, and Portland, Oregon) and Waters' first full-length release since 1992's "Amused To Death." A deluxe DVD version of "In The Flesh"--featuring a Hi Definition live concert video with 5.1 Dolby Digital and LPCM Stereo music mixes, a 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, band biographies, still photographs, projected images, lyrics, and more--is currently in the works with a release date TBA.
2. "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives" (from "The Wall")
3. "Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2" (from "The Wall")
4. "Mother" (from "The Wall")
5. "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" (from "The Final Cut")
6. "Southampton Dock" (from "The Final Cut")
7. "Pigs On The Wing, Part 1" (from "Animals")
8. "Dogs" (from "Animals")
9. "Welcome To The Machine" (from "Wish You Were Here")
10. "Wish You Were Here" (from "Wish You Were Here")
11. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-8)" (from "Wish You Were Here")
12. "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" (from "Saucerful Of Secrets")
13. "Breath (In The Air)" (from "Dark Side Of The Moon")
14. "Time" (from "Dark Side Of The Moon")
15. "Money" (from "Dark Side Of The Moon")
16. "Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking Part 11 (aka 5:06 a.m. - Every Stranger's Eyes)"
(from "The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking")
17. "Perfect Sense (Parts I and II)" (from "Amused To Death")
18. "The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range" (from "Amused To Death")
19. "It's A Miracle" (from "Amused To Death")
20. "Amused To Death" (from "Amused To Death")
21. "Brain Damage" (from "Dark Side Of The Moon")
22. "Eclipse" (from "Dark Side Of The Moon")
23. "Comfortably Numb" (from "The Wall")
24. "Each Small Candle" (new song)
Wish You Were Here Turns 25 - Capital Records Celebrates In A Big Way
September 03, 2000
Hollywood, CA --- August 30, 2000 --- September 12 marks the 25th Anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, and the EMI Music Catalog Marketing Group has assembled an extensive plan to celebrate the Capitol Records' release into the Fall. A highlight of the celebration will be a new, digitally animated music video of the title track by longtime Pink Floyd creative artist Storm Thorgerson. It will have its exclusive bow on Shockwave.com and then be re-formatted for release through traditional video promotional outlets. It marks the first time a music video is being produced for a record, 25 years after the album's initial release.
VH1 To Broadcast "Behind The Wall" Documentary
May 21, 2000Capital Records Releases Four Pink Floyd Albums In US
April. 30, 2000More Rereleased On Video In Widescreen
April 18, 2000ITABOT - The Wall Live Released in North America
April 18, 2000
Pink Floyd's first ever archive release came out today in North America. The album has been released in two versions, a deluxe and larger edition that has a 64 page booklet inside and the standard jewel case version. Both versions contain the same musical content.
It was 20 years ago this past Christmas that Pink Floyd released Roger Waters' abstract opus on the disillusionment and entrapment of rock stardom, arguably considered to be the greatest concept album of all time. But in lieu of the firestorm of critical and commercial success The Wall received in 1980, the original band performed the prog-rock epic only thrice onstage: twice in America (on the East Coast at Nassau Coliseum, in Uniondale, N.Y., and on the West Coast at the Los Angeles Sports Arena) and once in London, at Earl's Court. When you leaf through the accompanying booklet, crammed with photos and liner notes from the band's four members (meaning Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright), you understand the impetus to release the show's recording. Flanked by a mammoth replica of the familiar white wall stretched across the entire length of the stage and torn down at the climax of the show, Floyd re-created the 1982 Alan Parker film adaptation in the grand tradition of the theater - and it needed to be heard. Mind Over Matter: The Images of Pink Floyd rereleased
April 15, 2000
You can order a copy at www.sanctuary-publishing.com/shop/.
Is There Anybody Out There - The Wall Live came out today in the UK and the reviews so far are very favorable. I live in Michigan, however, so I'll have to wait until the 18th just like everyone else in North America.
Compiled from 1980 and '81 concert tapes, the two-Cd live album scheduled to be released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Wall has been pushed back to March 16, 2000. Engineer James Guthrie who has been compile and mixing the album, that draw performances from seven Floyd shows has stated he has experienced unforseen problems with the tapes resulting in a pushed back release date. On another note: EMI/Capitol is planning to release two versions of The Wall Live: a double jewel box version with two 28-page booklets, and a deluxe six-by-eleven-inch edition that comes with a 50-page booklet. Both packages designed by Pink Floyd graphic artist Storm Thorgerson. Also, Guthrie is including along with the live versions of songs from the studio album, some tracks that have never before been released on audio disc. Two tracks titled "MC/Atmos" (short for "Master of Ceremonies/Atmoshpere"), that consist of spoken whord segments and other extra-musical elements from the elaborate stage production. "What Shall We Do Now?", a song included in The Wall movie but taken off the The Wall studio album at the last minute. "The Last Few Bricks", and instrumental piece that occurs toward the end of the first disc before "Goodbye Cruel World" which containes elements heard in songs from the first part of the show, also will be added.
Roger Waters is scheduled to begin recording a new solo album in February 2000. The album is said to be another conceptual effort by Waters which he started writting during his North American tour in the summer of '99. "Each Small Candle Lights a Corner of the Dark" is one song already noted by Waters to be placed on the album. Waters states, "The song is partly some poetry written by a tortue victim, an Argentine, and partly the story of a Serbian sodier in Kosovo crossing the road and helping an Albanian woman. It's a story I read in the London Times. Actually it's the story of the Good Samaritan. The song is based on the very simple notion that the only real responsibility we have is to be true to ourselves. And the only change we can really make is to ourselves. If we can find that small light within ourselves individually, then that small light lights one small corner of the general darkness." Source: Guitar World, March 2000
Roger Waters has recently stated that his classical opera based on the French Revolution, which has consumed him for the past 10 years, is nearly finished and will be releashed on the Sony Classics label. Waters has stated,"A friend of mine in France, Etienne Roda-Gil, wrote a libretto in 1988, and asked me if I would set it to music. It was a different challenge, so I thought, why not? It's kind of a philosophical and hisotrical overview of the Frnch Revolution. It's very difficult to describe, because it's kind of surreal as well."
On December 14, 1999 Paul McCartney performed(in support of his new album Run Devil Run) at the sight of The Cavern Club featuring David Gilmour on guitar. McCartney (along with Gilmour and Mick Green on guitars, Ian Paice on drums and Pete Wingfield on keyboards) performed classic numbers from some of rocks biggist influences including Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
Windows Media, working with UUNET, broadcasted the concert live via the internet free of charge - one of the largest scale internet concerts in histroy. Audio recordings may be heard on many local rock radio stations, also. Check with your local station for times.
Released earlier this week The Wall Deluxe DVD has already received rave reviews from numerous sources. The "Hey, You" reel is included in the package, albiet black and white, along with the original film trailer and production stills, a 25 minute documentary "The Other Side Of The Wall", 45 minutes worth of new interviews, conducted by Storm Thorgerson, with various people involved with the production of the movie, and an excellent commentary with Roger Waters and Gerald Scarfe that plays during the movie. With an impressive presentation, all of the extra's, much improved sound quality, and the Hi-Definition transfer of the visuals The Wall Deluxe DVD is the definitive version of this piece of rock history.ITABOT - The Wall Live Released in UK
April. 01, 2000The Wall Live - Pushed back to March 16, 2000
Feb. 08, 2000
Waters To Start Work on New Album
Feb. 08, 2000Waters Opera: Ca Ira - "Nearly Finished"
Feb. 08, 2000Pink Floyd's David Gilmour Featured At McCartney Show
Dec. 15, 1999The Wall DVD Released
Dec. 08, 1999