David's been busy

Apparently, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame has been keeping busy. Here he is performing with Roger Waters at an event for charity.

Hoping Foundation benefit performance from Hoping Foundation on Vimeo.

While the performance isn't great it's just nice to see these two being civil to one another, let alone playing music together.

Mr. Gilmour has also recently snuck out a collaboration with Orb. Hopefully it won't be too hard to track down the two disc version which has a special surround mix for headphones. Where are those Stax headphones when you need them?

Last, but certainly not least he served as Executive Producer on the new Syd Barrett compilation, not so cleverly titled, "An Introduction to Syd Barrett." Which will mix Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd and solo material, some of it remixed. Sadly, "Vegetable Man" nor "Scream Thy Last Scream" will be included, another missed opportunity. Why not put out these songs officially and give the fans the best quality possible and make a couple of quid in the process, instead of forcing us to continue to listen to sub-standard bootlegs? It would be a win-win for all involved. The big draw of the package isn't even on the disc it's a free bonus download of "Rhamadan,"a 20 minute previously unreleased instrumental. Since it's a download the sound quality won't be what it should. As obsessive as David is about sound this is a very odd choice. A bonus disc on the first pressing would have been a better way to get it out there, maybe even including "Vegetable Man" and "Scream Thy Last Scream". Now that would have been a great.

Fuck off Roger Waters!

In 2002 Roger Waters released a sort of greatest hits collection that spanned his solo career to that point. It contains a couple of songs that are not available on any of his other albums plus some tunes that were previously unavailable in any form. So why am I upset with Mr. Waters? Well, the CD is copy protected so that it cannot be copied or ripped from a computer CD-ROM drive. This makes it hard to get these songs into iTunes. But I did think of a work around. All one has to do is to copy the songs in question on a consumer CD recorder, then burn that copy into iTunes. The trick is to NOT let the consumer recorder copy the entire CD, because then it would also copy the CD TOC (Table of Contents) where the copy protection information resides. Then finalize the copy, thus creating a new TOC which would NOT have the copy protection information.

The reason I am upset is because it's a big inconvenience to a majority of people that have honest intentions. The other MAJOR reason that I'm upset is because many, many high end CD players these days are based on CD-ROM drives. These new copy-protected CD's can wreak havoc on these CD players. The players are based on CD-ROMs because these transports are better built and perform their duties more accurate than a transports meant to be used in a CD player. So a manufacturer has a choice, do they use a CD-ROM and make a better sounding player that won't play certain CDs or do they make a player that will play anything but won't sound as good as it could. To a manufactures that wants to make great sounding products this is a heart breaking choice.

A major find!

Written: Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Tonight I found myself inextricably drawn to a used CD store that I rarely visit, because they NEVER have anything worth buying. Well today was a major exception they had not one but TWO copies of "Music From The Body." It's the soundtrack to a medical documentary that has been out of print for some time. I can hear most of you now. "Why in the hell would you want a soundtrack to a medical documentary anyway?" Well, it was a collaboration between Ron Geesin and this chap named Roger Waters (the bassist from Pink Floyd). There are a couple of Roger Water songs that can be found nowhere else. The really compelling track is the last song which has guest appearances by David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright. This makes it a Pink Floyd song, and thus I'm compelled to own it.

I now own almost all Pink Floyd albums and most of the solo albums. Many of the solo projects are hard to find or are out of print entirely. The one that I really want that has thus far proved difficult to find is an album by the keyboard player Richard Wright called "Wet Dream." If any of you see it in a CD store, new or used buy it immediately and I will reimburse you. You will also be promoted to my best friend, for whatever that's worth.


Other obscure albums that I'm looking for:

1. Zabriskie Point-Soundtrack to a film that has four Pink Floyd tracks, the two CD version. Used only I could buy it new easily but I'm cheap.
2. Zee-Identity. A short lived band that keyboard player Richard Wright formed. New or used. EXTREMELY RARE.
3. Nick Mason-Profiles. A solo album by a drummer? If it's cheap why the hell not.
4. Nick Mason-Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports. EXTREMELY RARE.
5. When the Wind Blows. A soundtrack containing solo Roger Waters compositions. Looking for a cheap used copy
6. Snowy White-Gold Top. Pink Floyd's backing guitarist was allowed to release a rare version of "Pig on The Wing" recorded by Pink Floyd on his best of album. Out of Print, looking for New or Used copy.
7. The Legend of 1900 Soundtrack-Containing a single original Roger Waters song with none other than Eddie Van Halen as guest guitarist. Looking for a cheap used copy.
8. Richard Wright-Wet Dream great album I WANT IT, I WANT IT, I WANT IT!!! This one I'd go as high as $30 for the CD.
9. Pink Floyd-A Collection of Great Dance Songs. Remastered. The version of Money is a 1981 re-recording. Cheap used as I could buy it new but I'm just being a skin flint.
10. Pink Floyd-Works. Remastered. Again a cheap used copy because it is easy to buy new but not worth it for three tracks. It contains alternate mixes of Brain Damage and Eclipse from "Dark Side of the Moon" as well as a song called Embryo not available on any other release.

Let the scavenger hunt begin. . . NOW!