Things Left Unsaid

Twenty years after their last release, Pink Floyd's latest and likely last is set for release on November 10 (although iTunes notes the release date as November 7). The Endless River is a mostly instrumental set said to be a tribute to the band's late, great keyboardist Rick Wright. I'm not normally a fan of instrumentals, but c'mon, it's Pink Floyd!

Rolling Stone has all the details as well as the tracklist here! Pre-order below.

Rolling Stone | Official Site | Amazon | iTunes

Everything Under The Sun Is In Tune

Today BBC premiered Darkside, a new dramatic interpretation of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, which was released 40 years ago!

[Tom] Stoppard has written a strangely compelling radio drama based on and inspired by the album's multi-layered, existential meditations on fear, madness, greed, and the elusive passage of time. Darkside, as Stoppard calls the play, isn't a musical, with actors performing the songs. It's an abstract interpretation of the music and its possible meanings, dramatized by a small cast of recurring characters, with the album's songs woven throughout the piece as a soundtrack. [via npr.org]

Intriguing. Although not my favorite Pink Floyd album, Dark Side of the Moon has played an important role throughout my life; from my first-year college dorm floor name to a memorable evening of tirelessly soundtracking Wizard of Oz with a friend. It didn't work so well. Still, Dark Side is undoubtedly one of the best headphone albums.

BBC Darkside | Amazon | Official Site

Kinda Catchy

Out now is a new compilation featuring the genius of the original psychedelic madman Syd Barrett - cleverly titled An Introduction to Syd Barrett. Fellow Pink Floydian David Gilmour served as the executive producer of the album, which includes 18 tunes from Syd's solo days as well as the early Pink Floyd days. Check out the video for Here I Go on Facebook.

iTunes (includes the 20-minute instrumental Rhamadan)
Amazon MP3

The Wall Was Too High As You Can See

Roger Waters previews his upcoming tour celebrating Pink Floyd's classic The Wall...

Watch more AOL Music videos on AOL Video

Nah, not pretentious at all. Love it. More details here.

The Bleeding Hearts and Artists Make Their Stand

Roger Waters has announced a 30th Anniversary tour of Pink Floyd's classic The Wall. I'm glad this isn't just a one-off show - plenty of dates and locations:

Sept. 15 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
Sept. 20 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
Sept. 21 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
Sept. 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Consol Energy Center
Sept. 28 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
Sept. 30 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
Oct. 5 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
Oct. 8 – Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena
Oct. 10 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
Oct. 12 – Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
Oct. 15 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
Oct. 17 – Ottawa, ON @ ScotiaBank Place
Oct. 19 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
Oct. 22 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
Oct. 24 – Detroit, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
Oct. 26 – Omaha, NE @ Qwest Center
Oct. 27 – St Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
Oct. 29 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
Oct. 30 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
Nov. 3 – New York, NY @ Izod Center
Nov. 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center
Nov. 9 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center
Nov. 13 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Bank Atlantic Center
Nov. 16 – Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum
Nov. 18 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
Nov. 20 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
Nov. 21 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
Nov. 23 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
Nov. 26 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena
Nov. 27 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center
Nov. 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
Dec. 6 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
Dec. 10 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
Dec. 11 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
Dec. 13 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center

Thanks, JBro! We're going!

Mother Do You Think They'll Like The Song (Updated)

Pink Floyd today sued EMI Records for breach of contract over online music sales. According to the band their music is to be sold only as an album. EMI is of course denying the issue claiming the contract only covers physical albums and not digital sales.

I can understand the band's stance. Albums like The Wall or The Dark Side of the Moon are much more powerful in their complete presentation than their individual songs. But every now and then you just want to hear a song or two.

Regardless, if you haven't cherry-picked your favorite Floyd tunes, now might be the time.

Floyd Favorites in iTunes and Amazon

Update: Get out there now. A judge ruled in favor of Floyd. Individual tracks may be disappearing soon!


via electronista

Grab That Cash With Both Hands

The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne talks with Paste about why they recently covered Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon:

You can almost do anything you want with them, and they still retain the sentiment, the ideas and the inertia that Pink Floyd put into it.

No.

via iTunes

Remembering Games and Daisy Chains and Laughs

Pink Floyd co-founder and keyboardist Richard Wright lost a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He was 65. He, Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason formed Pink Floyd in 1965.

After a falling out with Waters and Gilmour during the making of "The Wall", Wright was relegated to a session musician and was not featured on "The Final Cut". After forming his own band, Zee, Wright began recording with Pink Floyd again after Roger Waters left the band in 1985.

Wright released two solo albums, "Wet Dream" in 1978 and "Broken China" in 1996.

It's time to crank up some Floyd tonight.

Shine On.

Remember That Night

David Gilmour of Pink Floyd is releasing a live CD/DVD package on September 16 called Live in Gdansk.

"It was the most satisfying and enjoyable experience in my touring life," Gilmour reports. "I think on the last solo record ('About Face') I made back in '84, I was a bit nervous about the Pink Floyd thing and wanted to stay away from it, whereas most of what the Pink Floyd thing is is a sound that I love. On ('On An Island') I finally got to a place where I felt free from any pressure either way from that whole specter."

Gilmour re-affirms that these days "the thought of going back to Pink Floyd just doesn't interest me." But he doesn't yet have solid plans for his next recording venture, either.

Never did pick up On An Island. Any good?

A Million Bright Ambassadors of Morning

There are only a few artists that I consider default music. Some days, I don't feel like taking a risk by listening to something new. It's much like comfort food - sometimes you want the spaghetti because it's easy and it makes you feel good.

Pink Floyd = spaghetti default music

If you have a paltry Floyd collection, I have great news. Today, iTunes released Pink Floyd's box set Oh By the Way, which contains all the studio albums for only $139.99 (dirt cheap, my dear poppies.) Sure, you can buy the discs, but it's so much frickin' easier to download it because you know it'll end up on your iPod anyway.

Oh, by the way, if you just want to download my favorite Floyd album, here you go.

(lyric source)

I Have Become Comfortably Numb

Norman Smith, the Beatles' first engineer and more famously signed and produced Pink Floyd's early albums has passed away at the ripe age of 85.

The Music Played and Played as We Whirled Without End

I'm not one to get too worked up over tribute bands, but if it's a tribute to one of my favorite bands that will never tour again, well it's worth taking notice. My hopes of ever seeing Pink Floyd live in concert are as slim as making Natalie Portman fall in love with me. Thankfully, Think Floyd USA (the name is ugh-inducing, true) is touring and has an upcoming stop in Des Moines at the Val Air Ballroom on March 1.

Performing all of Pink Floyd’s classic hits from legendary albums such as Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and the all time classic The Wall. Wrap all that great music up with one of the most stunning light shows anywhere, THINK FLOYD USA - THE AMERICAN PINK FLOYD SHOW is your #1 choice!

If I can convince a fellow Floyd fan to accompany me, I'll be there closing my eyes pretending that Roger and David are doing their thing on stage (much like how I often close my eyes and pretend that Natalie Portman and I - uh, nevermind).

Official Site
TheirSpace

One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces

Take a look at this very cool web site advertising the Pink Floyd Boxed Set.

Previously...

You're Never Gonna Die

Pink Floyd reunited in 2005 for Live 8, and now, drummer Nick Mason says it may happen again.

“If there was a suitable reason or things change a bit in the next year or two and everybody suddenly thinks, ‘Well, actually, I really would like to do that’ then I think it’ll happen,” Mason explained, but “the only thing that would generate it would be something the equivalent of Live 8.”

Ok, that's hardly saying Pink Floyd will reunite, and I'd rather hear this from Gilmour or Waters, but hey, dreamers can dream.

Lime and Limpid Green, a Second Scene

Billboard.com is featuring the 25 best rock posters. I've seen 25 better posters elsewhere, but some of these are pretty good, particularly Pennywise, The Beatles (naturally), The Decemberists, and of course, Pink Floyd.

Forever and Ever

Capitol is releasing Oh By the Way this week, a comprehensive box set that includes every Pink Floyd studio album.

The 40th Anniversary year of Pink Floyd ends with a typical flourish – the release of OH BY THE WAY, a spectacular limited edition box set which contains, for the first time ever, the band's 14 studio albums. These classic albums are presented in mini vinyl wallets with all the original extras also miniaturised. Floyd's longtime design wizard, Storm Thorgerson, has designed a sumptuous box, as well as miniaturising the original sleeve artwork.

Sounds like a required addition to any self-respecting Pink Floyd fan's collection (assuming you have the budget for such a thing).

Buy it here.

Watch a video here.

Memories Come Rushing Up to Meet Me Now

Pink Floyd is releasing a box set chronicling their entire career. Oh By the Way includes every album, even the ones without Roger Waters, and are reproductions of their original vinyl releases. No superfluous live or previously-released compilation albums will be included (it would be a bit silly). It's out internationally on December 4 and in the states, well, only via import. If I didn't already own about 90% of their albums, this would be very tempting. Can't believe it's been 13 years since Division Bell. Wow.

Hearing the Sound of the Faces in the Crowd

I love Pink Floyd. I even like covers of Pink Floyd tunes, especially ones you wouldn't expect. One of my favorites is Fearless by Dig. It is a great tune well suited for Dig's guitar heavy sound. Good luck finding that one. It's on the Soft Pretzel EP, but it looks like it's available on the Believe single too. Ambulance Ltd. does a cool cover of Fearless too. Anyway, my whole point is that it looks like the Shins are a bit less original and have done a cover of Breathe, likely one of the most well known Floyd tunes, and will be releasing it in September. Wahoo.

There Is No Other Day

On August 28, Pink Floyd is set to reissue their debut album Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which is really the only full-length release with Syd Barrett all over it. It's been 40 years since it was released in 1967 (yay, math!)

The packaging, designed by Storm Thorgerson, resembles a cloth-covered book, and holds 3 CD discs, along with a 12-page reproduction Syd Barrett notebook.

Discs 1 and 2 will contain the full ‘Piper' album, represented in both stereo and mono versions. Both have been newly remastered by James Guthrie.

Disc 3 includes bonus tracks, including the following: all the Pink Floyd singles from 1967, (‘Arnold Layne', ‘See Emily Play', and ‘Apples And Oranges'), plus the B sides ‘Candy And A Current Bun' and ‘Paintbox'. Other tracks are a version of ‘Interstellar Overdrive' - Take 2 of the original recording sessions, previously only available on an EP in France - and the 1967 stereo version of ‘Apples And Oranges'.

Looks like a lot of effort into the physical release. Being an EMI release, does that mean we can expect stellar, newly remastered DRM-free tracks on iTunes? Excellent.

Foe and Friend, We Were All Equal In the End

Pink Floyd reunited on-stage in the same venue last night! Unfortunately, Roger Waters and David Gilmour did not come across as chummy at the Syd Barrett tribute concert, so don't get your hopes up.