Pink Floyd has released a new video featuring an early performance of “Grantchester Meadows.”
The video includes film of the band’s Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Rick Wright in a 1970 KQED (San Francisco) performance and new nature footage shot by Aubrey “Po” Powell of Hipgnosis, set to audio from a BBC performance recorded May 12, 1969.
The song comes from the band’s 1969 album “Ummagumma.”
The video is the first taste of the rarities coming our way when the group releases ‘The Early Years 1965-1972″ boxset Nov. 11.
Roger Waters has signed a publishing deal with BMG to represent his catalogue of Pink Floyd songs.
As a main songwriter with Floyd, many of the band’s most popular (i.e. profitable) songs fall under Waters’ jurisdiction: “Money,” “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II” and “Comfortably Numb,” to name a few.
“We are honored that Roger Waters has chosen BMG, the youngest of the big international music companies, to represent his legendary and exquisite catalog,” says BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch. “To win the endorsement and trust of one of the world’s most successful songwriters is a significant milestone less than eight years after our launch.”
Waters added, “October last year I put on a gig called Music Heals with some wounded veterans in Washington D.C. BMG supported us. I’m very glad to be back in the same team.”
Waters’ Floyd catalogue was previously administered by Warner/Chappell.
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One fan who ponied up $500 for the so-called “super deluxe” boxset of “Roger Waters The Wall” got a surprise: Instead of being autographed by Waters, the 170-page hardcover book included with fan Jim Clarke‘s box reads “Love Jimmy Smith.”
Fans have put forth two theories to explain the anomaly: Either Waters grew tired of signing all 3,000 boxes and decided to play a prank. Or someone else was hired to sign on Waters’ behalf and experienced a momentary lapse of reason when he accidentally signed his own name.
Music publication NME has asked Waters’ camp for comment, but none are forthcoming just yet.
Either way, in the end, this botched box might end up being worth even more than if Waters had signed his own name to it.
Opéra de Montréal will premiere an opera based on Pink Floyd‘s “The Wall” next year. The album’s auteur and Floyd co-founder Roger Waters is collaborating on the project.
Baritone Étienne Dupuis will star as Pink. Music for the production was written by Julien Bilodeau, and Waters is handling the libretto. Alain Trudel will conduct the Orchestre Métropolitain.
Waters initially declined to participate, but changed his mind after hearing the score. “I sat there not expecting to be moved, and I was moved,” he says. “Very moved. So I approach this project with great enthusiasm.”
Waters is no stranger to opera. He spent a great deal of the 1990s writing “Ça Ira” with Étienne and Nadine Roda-Gil.
The opera’s premiering in Montreal is apropos: Waters got the idea for “The Wall” after growing frustrated with a rowdy audience and spitting on a fan during a Floyd show at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in 1977.
“Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera” will open March 11, 2017.
The company has already released its version of “Another Brick in the Wall Part II”:
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The 2015 remix of Roger Waters’ “Amused to Death” won “Best Surround Sound Album” at last night’s Grammy Awards.
James Guthrie and Joel Plante took the honor for their work remixing the ’92 album.
Waters’ feature length movie of “Roger Waters The Wall” was nominated for “Best Music Film,” but lost to “Amy,” a film by Asif Kapadia about Amy Winehouse.
Roger Waters has told Digital Spy he’ll release a new studio album in 2016 and follow it with a tour.
He’s said he’s working on a “radio play” about a boy and his grandfather in Northern Ireland.
“I’m in the middle of making it now,” he says. “It addresses this basic question: Why are we killing the children?
“There’s two characters in it: a grandfather and a grandchild and they together try to find answers to this question, by wandering around.”
Some of the songs were written by Waters as many as 15 years ago.
As for the tour, Waters says he’s looking to perform a “full arena tour,” partly to generate revenue lost to piracy. “Particularly now that you can’t own a record — people just steal it the minute it’s out. They steal it and that’s the end of it,” he says.
“The only way to make a few quid would be to go out on the road and get bums on seat, because they can’t steal that!”
Roger Waters‘ camp has announced what they’re calling the “Super Deluxe Edition” of his upcoming concert film package. And at $500, it’s a whopper.
The film will come out Nov. 16 on DVD, Blu-ray and as a digital download; the soundtrack is set for release Nov. 20.
But the “Super Deluxe Edition” will take a bit longer. Considering its scope, it can be forgiven. The 25-pound, 9-disc package will arrive sometime in early 2016.
Here’s the scoop:
4 discs of 180 gram audiophile vinyl in red, white, clear and black, with a unique engraving. Only available in this package, the brand new score by Waters and the full live soundtrack
170-page color hardcover book showcasing live and behind-the-scenes images from the 2010-2013 tour and the film
2 CDs containing the full live soundtrack
3 Blu-ray discs containing the full feature length film and bonus features:
The Simple Facts — A Conversation with Nick Mason and Waters
A new documentary about the making of the tour
Buenos Aires Time Lapse
Athens Time Lapse
A Visit to Frank Thompson
Facebook Films (36 mini episodes)
Comfortably Numb Live at The O2 with special appearance by David Gilmour
Outside The Wall Live at The O2 with special appearance by Gilmour and Mason
Download code for digital versions of all music included in the package
If you’d like to gift it for the holidays, they’ve got you covered: In November buyers will get a hard cover folio containing two art prints, presumably for the purpose of having something to stick under the tree to tease the real treat that’ll arrive after the New Year.
Columbia/Legacy Recordings will release “Roger Waters The Wall,” a soundtrack to the film directed by Waters and Sean Evans, on Friday, Nov. 20.
It’ll be available as a double-CD, three-LP vinyl package, and digitally.
The soundtrack was produced by Nigel Godrich, who has worked with Radiohead, Beck and Paul McCartney.
It was previously announced that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will release the film on DVD, Blu-ray, digital download, and a two-disc Blu-ray special edition. (See “Roger Waters The Wall coming to disc” [Sept. 30, 2015]).)
Band members appearing on the soundtrack are:
Vocals, guitar and bass: Roger Waters
Guitars: Dave Kilminster
Guitars: Snowy White
Guitars: G.E. Smith
Keyboards: Jon Carin
Hammond and piano: Harry Waters
Drums: Graham Broad
Vocals: Robbie Wyckoff
Background Vocals: Jon Joyce, Pat Lennon, Mark Lennon, Kipp Lennon
