PINK FLOYD

he likes to say he's not a musician, but Rog sounds here and there on wembley live 74 like a guy who had played for years in a grooving band, moving fluidly around the neck and taking chances that succeed, not just root-fifth root-fifth…"money," not so much, but he's playing really really well on "time" and "Great Gig"…

He was always a competent bassist, and on occasion (the Syd era, Pompeii), much more than that. It's too bad he didn't keep developing along those lines, as he could've become a significant player on the instrument.

To be (kinda) fair to Roger, I think he regarded himself as a visionary more than as a person who executes the vision.

Like Bowie (I shudder at even introducing his sacred name), perhaps Roger just regarded the bass as a means to an end? Like, maaaan, he had stuff he wanted to communicate and the bass was the fastest path to that goal.

He was never going to match the skill level of Dave or Richard. But he had a forceful personality.

Tl;dr: I doubt Roger really loved playing bass or cared to learn more about it. The bass has always been just one of the tools in his toolbox.

this part from their wiki entry would suggest he simply switched to bass out of expediency:

"Roger Waters and Nick Mason met while studying architecture at the London Polytechnic at Regent Street.[2] They first played music together in a group formed by fellow students Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe,[3] with Noble's sister Sheilagh. Richard Wright, a fellow architecture student,[nb 1] joined later that year, and the group became a sextet, Sigma 6. Waters played lead guitar, Mason drums, and Wright rhythm guitar, later moving to keyboards.

In September 1963, Waters and Mason moved into a flat at 39 Stanhope Gardens near Crouch End in London, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the nearby Hornsey College of Art and the Regent Street Polytechnic.[7][nb 2] Mason moved out after the 1964 academic year, and guitarist Bob Klose moved in during September 1964, prompting Waters's switch to bass."

I don't think I ever knew this either

"Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; Waters had often visited Barrett and watched him play guitar at Barrett's mother's house."

He plays with a pick too.

thread has inspired me to fire up those Prof Stoned BBC Sessions again, god they RULE

I saw an interview with Waters recently talking about how Syd kept up with all the latest music, like Love, whereas he, quote, "... didn't give a fuck about any of that stuff, I still don't know who Love are."

Waters was an interesting bass player when he didn't know how to play the bass - Peter Jenner claims he used to have to tune his bass for him. Then in the early 70s he got quite good but then stop developing any further, like he wasn't really interested in playing bass anymore.

I always think how interesting it is that a band like Pink Floyd has so few obvious influences. I mean you can hear a bit here and there but its usually just stuff they pull out of the ether, it's not like they're studying and competing, like all that pre dark side stuff we're there like "uh I guess this is kind of a byrds type thing or a who type thing" on the soundtracks. There was that Steve Miller Band record that seems like a a huge and obvious influence on Floyd's space rock, but I think a combination of their not paying attention to other artists, and not being conventionally "chopsy" musicians helped make them carve their own path through the 70s. Sure it ended in a dead end, but it was pretty interesting for a while.

it's interesting to me that fred frith has said roger waters' bass playing was a big influence on his bass playing in naked city.

Waters' defiant lack of interest in other music made other than the Beatles, Clapton and Hendrix is one of his many many huge flaws…he doesn't know who Radiohead is, but works with Nigel Godrich if his manager tells him to…however, right before the pandemic, he was the bass player for a Clapton show, and that's the only time I know of him being a sideman… and despite Clapton's's heel turn into rightwing shit, which Rog loudly opposes, he and Clapton appear to be very friendly.

the analog synth sounds on Wembley 74 sound so so good…I've never listened to Delicate Sound or Pulse but I'm fairly sure that I would strongly dislike the late 80s-early 90s jon Carin digital versions of these tones… and this so closely approximates the sounds of the records that I wonder if they used tapes live?

also: there's a male voice harmonizing with Dave on "time" and it's not Rog or Rick, and no other male singer is credited…and I note that the Blackberries trade fours on "great gig," which would be very very challenging for one singer to do all by herself, although one lady probly did herself on the 87 and 94 tours, right?

the analog synth sounds on Wembley 74 sound so so good…

^^^^^

he and Clapton appear to be very friendly

On his first solo tour, he was so annoyed at Clapton getting applause for his guitar solo mid-song that at the end of the set, he announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Eric Clapton!", threw his bass on the stage and stormed off.

I wonder if they used tapes live

I doubt whether the VCS3 sequence in "On the Run" was played/programmed live?

It is noteworthy that the various live Floyd lineups have pretty much never sought out a "name" bassist. You will probabky not see Tony Levin or Leland Sklar or Randy Jackson on stage with any incarnation of the Floyd. Because it isn't necessary. I maintain that with the obvious exception of "Money," the bass in Floydland has generally been a neglected stepchild.

I am going to tell Les Claypool on you!

I doubt whether the VCS3 sequence in "On the Run" was played/programmed live?

"Everything you hear on that track, apart from the sound effects, was done live. It was all coming out of the Synthi A. Even the hi-hat over the top of it was done on that synth. There was no means of synchronising any two performances – that's why it was live. Even on the road, before a show, they would have to punch in the notes of the sequence manually, very slowly, then speed it up on playback to give the fast, sequenced effect you hear on the record." – Alan Parsons, engineer

So the sequencer was "played" live in concert, but the sound effects were on tape? And presumably you couldn't store a sequence when the machine was switched off?

Not in those days.

check this shit out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSXZMFq_Msk

:O

damn that's some real you-are-there shit

“Have a cigar you’re gonna go far” explodes

It's interesting to me that the Floyd were ever a live band at all. It's significant given how much scholarship is devoted to their various bits of studio alchemy and the sonic perfectionism of the DSOTM era.

Personally, I like the excitement of seeing a fairly raw kinetic live band in action. It's way harder to get me out of the house to go see a band that is primarily a highly mature studio entity.

Like, if I had a time machine with limited uses, I would rather see the Cavern-era Beatles than the Abbey Road-era Beatles. I'd rather see Janis Joplin than Joni Mitchell. I'd rather see 1986 REM than 1993 REM. I'd rather see 1977 Talking Heads than 2021 David Byrne. And so on.

goddamn that is cool as hell <3

I'm too young to have known the hazards of buying a ticket for a Pink Floyd show, only to have some hippie with his flag tied to a stick bouncing around in front of me.

Absolutely fantastic, so lucky that it was at the Ivor Wynne too, such an atmospheric recording.

Earlier that same day, Simply Saucer recorded the live tracks found on Cyborgs Revisited on the roof of a Hamilton mall.

(this should not be taken as a recommendation that anyone, space-rock nostalgia fan or not, visit Hamilton, Ontario)

pretty incredible to be able to actually hear and see (part of) a live "On The Run" after the recent discussion here

pretty incredible to be able to actually hear and see (part of) a live "On The Run" after the recent discussion here

the VCS3 sounds out of control here, in the best possible way.

So who's playing the organ on "Great Gig in the Sky" when we can see Rick Wright with both hands on the piano? The sax player?

I love to see Nick Mason with his arms in mid-air, trying to decide if he's going to play the same fill he's played a thousand times before.

lol yes

Never seen Mason drum before but he is a savage, kills it

So who's playing the organ on "Great Gig in the Sky" when we can see Rick Wright with both hands on the piano? The sax player?

I didn't realize it was Gilmour - from the wiki page of the song...

During the band's 1974–1975 tour, David Gilmour played both pedal steel guitar and the Hammond organ, allowing Richard Wright to concentrate solely on piano (his keyboards were positioned where he could not play both). Gilmour's pedal steel for "Great Gig" was accordingly located beside Wright's Hammond.

Never seen Mason drum before but he is a savage, kills it

I beg you to watch Live At Pompeii

How Pink Floyd inspired research into medieval monks and volcanology

_Never seen Mason drum before but he is a savage, kills it_


I beg you to watch Live At Pompeii

i was lucky enough to see it in San Francisco at a movie theatre with the volume cranked to max when i was a teenager. life-changing.

Gilmour on the 2038 Floyd reunion tour:

https://i.imgur.com/R6mWSHa.jpg

"All right! This next one's called 'Echoes', thanksforcomingout."

heh

Thank you. I plan on recycling that joke on the Rush thread one day.

I beg you to watch Live At Pompeii

There's more of him in the film than anyone else!

the thing I love about that ‘75 Ontario footage is the contrast:

the music & the crowd’s enjoyment of it
vs
the band being SO unenthused

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALajTTcXwZE

There is a fantastic photo montage at the end that I had to play back in 1/4 speed to properly see them all.

too much shine on you crazy diamond, not enough octopus.

Tonight I learned that there is a Pink Floyd tribute band called Pinky And The Floyd and laughed really loud.

After all this time, some super 8 footage of Montreal 1977 has leaked out and it looks like Roger's spit was actually caught on camera!

https://ravinganddrooling.com/forum/general-discussions/pink-floyd-related/353148-montreal-77-footage is the original thread for the discovery.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wRR-kkaHc_wf0XLQa8zhaPm943fDAouM/view for the entire video (also includes Kenny Loggins, Boz Scaggs, Fleetwood Mac from earlier)

14:33 = Roger is clearly ranting at someone
14:39 = that's the supposed moment when he spits

That... that was some kind of lineup!

https://i.imgur.com/eh7ufgx.png