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Roger Waters & Nick Mason bts of ‘Pink Floyd at Pompeii’ - MCMLXXII.

Roger Waters and Syd Barrett, interviewed by Hans Keller, circa. 1967.

“Keller was a dick to them. But the lads come off as very polite and well spoken by comparison.”

Pink Floyd during a photoshoot, 1967.

“I'm treading the backward path. Mostly, I just waste my time.” — Syd Barrett.

Syd Barrett and Richard Wright in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 29 April 1967. Photo by Nico van der Stam.

“I don't think I'm easy to talk about. I've got a very irregular head. And I'm not anything that you think I am anyway.” — Syd Barrett.

Richard Wright - A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour, MCMLXXXVII.

“Pink Floyd is like a marriage that's on a permanent trial separation.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Richard Wright, Just Having a Sip, Somewhere mid MCMLXX’s.

“We fought during 'The Wall,' which was an album Waters wrote, based on his family story, we clashed long before that, during the period of the Dark Side and 'Wish You Were Here.' Actually, we never got along.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Dave Harris & Richard Wright, photographed for their project album, ‘Identity’, MCMLXXXIV.

Identity with Zee's David Harris. Really a super experimental album. Rick was not connected with the project and most of the ideas came from David. Actually Richard suffered a kind of blank between 1979 and 1987 when he was reintegrated in Pink Floyd as an official member.

Pink Floyd recording their song 'Scarecrow' at Abbey Road Studios, London on March 22nd, 1967.

"Just listen to Syd's songs, the imagination that he had. If he hadn't had this complete breakdown, he could easily be one of the greatest songwriters today. I think it's one of the saddest stories in rock "n' roll, what happened to Syd. He was brilliant - and such a nice guy.” — Richard Wright.

Rick Wright during recording sessions of the album, ‘Obscured by Clouds' at Strawberry Studios, Château d'Hérouville, France 1972. Photo by Jean-Denis Mahn.

"Paint Box" and "Remember A Day" were done soon after Syd left and we still hadn't established the way the band was going to work. Syd, I am sad to say, was no longer capable of working so it came down to Roger, Dave and myself writing songs and I think it came later that we started writing songs together. For example, "Echoes" was where we discovered the best music we created at the time was when all three us of got together and collaborated rather than individually coming to the studio with a song.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Pink Floyd - Recording sessions at Capitol Studios, Hollywood Los Angeles. May 1970. Courtesy of Capitol Records Photo Archive.

Q: ‘I think Mr. Wright's keyboard work during the early Floyd years was one of the most distinctive elements of the band's sound, and was definitely a key to the band's success. Who were the influences on this keyboard style in the beginning?’

“That is interesting. I would have to say, not necessarily keyboard players actually influenced my sound. For example, I can give you a good example, one of the people I was very influenced by was Miles Davis, the trumpeter and his style of playing the trumpet certainly influenced the way I played the keyboards and also Bill Evans. Simply look at Jazz and that has influenced my way of playing the keyboard.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Richard (Rick) Wright, in studios, Somewhere around MCMLXXII.

"I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all." — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Richard Wright, Interviewed for his album ‘Broken China’ , around 1996.

“It was while we were recording the last Floyd Album, The Division Bell. The idea for this record was inspired, sadly, by my personal experiences with a close friend whi was suffering from depression. I wanted to express my feelings about what I was seeing. It wasn't a healing process, as such, as I wasn't the person suffering, but it made me come to terms with my own feelings about what I was witnessing.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Richard Wright with Anya and Sue McCloughlin on the Costa Brava in 1960.

Richard Wrights AAA pass - Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour, MCMLXXXIX.

"There is no pain you are receding. A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves.” — Pink Floyd.

Pink Floyd, BBC Top of the Pops, rehearsal at Lime Grove Studios, Shepherds Bush, London, MCMLXVII.

“For long you live and high you fly; And smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry; And all you touch and all you see; Is all your life will ever be.” — Pink Floyd

Richard Wright at his French home, somewhere around MCMLXXXVI.

“No one can replace Richard Wright. He was my musical partner and my friend.” — David Gilmour.

Richard Wright switching keyboard in Pink Floyd at Pompeii - MCMLXXII.

“Adrian Maben came to us with the idea. And we just thought, "Well, why not?" I don't think any of us thought it would be as well received and last in people's minds for as long as it did. All credit to him. It's his idea [Pink Floyd at Pompeii] and it was great.” — David Gilmour.

Richard Wright & Pink Floyd, Live Performances of ‘The Wall’ 1980.

“I thought, if I’m going to leave at least I know I’ve got another month or so to carry on working – even possibly with the hope in the back of my mind that things might change. On the live performances Roger was being reasonably friendly. It was difficult but I tried to forget all my grudges, and I enjoyed playing The Wall. I put everything I could into the performances, and I think Roger approved of that. We would talk civilly to each other. It wasn’t too bad at all.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

“For me, playing music is like meditating - I just play and don't really think about what I'm doing, I just let it happen.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Pink Floyd in Moscow, 1989.

“We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

Richard Wright playing ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ in Pink Floyd at Pompeii - MCMLXXII.

“Sometimes I play something, and I haven't recorded it, and I don't know where it came from, why my hands did what they did, what key it was in, anything.” — Richard (Rick) Wright.

david gilmour and roger waters soundchecking ‘cymbaline’ in st tropez (1970)

Pictures taken by Syd Barrett, 2002/2005

Syd Barrett age 16

#history of rock music

On November 13, 1970, Syd Barrett's second studio album "Barrett" was released.

Note that the work was generally in a hurry: the Floyd team continued to work on Atom Heart Mother, touring interfered with the studio schedule every now and then — there was simply no time to hone the songs, and Barrett himself, as we remember, was against long rehearsals. Sometimes haste led to serious mistakes — for example, one day Dave took home master tapes with two songs to listen and decide whether these options would be included in the album; the next day the band went to a concert, and Gilmore simply forgot to return the tape to the studio. As for Sid, sometimes they played absolutely magical things, and sometimes they were unable to give out anything meaningful at all (for example, the song Gigolo Auntie Gigolo was recorded only from the 15th time). He phrased his comments as if he were describing paintings rather than music: "Maybe we could make the middle darker and the end a little noonday. It's too windy and frosty right now."

I must say, the record begins intriguingly — with a long solo by Sid before the song Baby Lemonade ("A little bottle of lemonade" is an outdated expression). Subsequently, it turned out that Sid was just warming up — the solo had nothing to do with the song, David had already added it there, considering it quite suitable. The lyrics are full of extravagant phrases like "I sent you an iron cage by mail" or about "A watch washed in a washing machine" — but overall the song sounds pretty strong. The solo is simply brilliant — what kind of shape Sid could be in and how at ease he could play!

It is followed by a downright beautiful and almost Beatle Love Song, decorated with stylish Rick Wright keys - a love song in which there are no fabulous, witty or scabrous lines (except that "I'll lower my head and see what I see"). The musicians also succeeded in Dominoes, a meditative story about how Sid spends time with a certain girl, to whom the song is dedicated, playing dominoes. The song has a distinctly bluesy undertone — there is something of Doors in it - and besides, it is decorated with a reverse solo by Sid. However, everything is not so simple: it turned out that at some point Gilmore was so exhausted that he naturally felt like his roof was going away, and automatically started recording an almost finished song backwards. The next thing he remembered of that evening was Sid playing a delightful solo and never getting it right, and pressing the record button. That's how it was included on the album — because Barrett didn't squeeze out another note about it. Against this background, the fragment forgotten in the finished mix, where Sid clears his throat, is already taken for granted.

Alas, the feeling does not last long on the album, as if this time Sid's associates had found an approach to him and solid ground under their feet. It Is Obvious ("It's obvious") is an extremely loose song in which Sid plays exactly two chords and recites lines in an incredibly low voice, which still have a hint of something magical, but in general the text is saturated with longing and despair. Rats ("Rats") It grew out of jam, to which Sid came up with a somewhat manic text on the go. To be honest, maybe it would have been better if she had remained a jam. As well as the closing side of Maisie, there is another, now blues jam, over which Sid speaks, sniffles, giggles and makes other inarticulate sounds. All that can be said about this track is look at Sid playing the blues (which is not surprising, knowing the origin of the band's name), while Pink Floyd quite rarely turned to this genre.

Suddenly, on the second side (how many people got there), a quite tolerable Gigolo Aunt is discovered. The lyrics here, of course, are nothing more than sweet carefree nonsense, but at least it feels like a song. I would like to comb my hair a little and... but at least stop. Unless it's unknown why it's been going on for so long — is it really just to preserve the priceless fragments of Sid's game on film as much as possible?

Waving my arms in the air — well, while Sid is waving his arms in the air in another song, mine are sinking, because it's impossible to describe. This is a good preparation for a cute song about this and that, in which there is a minimum of certainty ("no one will strain too much, there will be many things that we can do") and the obligatory naive question at the end ("Why am I here? What is destined to happen?"), but no more.

I don't know if it's worth saying anything about the remaining recordings. I Never Lied to You ("I Never Lied to you") is another song about longing and separation, in which the musicians frantically try to play along with the author of the album, as if on the move. Wined and Dined ("Dined with Wine") is based on a cute riff that Sid handles quite confidently throughout the recording. Gilmore is known to play solo here. In general, we must admit that it is quite neatly recorded — the instruments complement each other well, and the omissions in their parts form a complete sound picture. The song Wolfpack ("Wolf Pack") Sid named among his favorites — perhaps the lyrics are really good, but the sound ... hug and cry. He is perfectly described by a comment from a certain fan of the song:

— Sid: Trying to sing normally — The pack in formation

— Little gremlin in a side head: thE PACK IN FORMATIIIOOOON!

Oh, Sid, which one of them is the real you?

And this piece ends with a song called Effervescing elephant ("Effervescent Elephant"). Here we must honestly admit that we have a brilliant text in front of us. This is an absolutely delightful fairy tale, quite in the spirit of Sid's enthusiastic English absurdity — but it also sounds like a demo at best; and it's great that Vic Savell played the tuba here. It was very convenient.

It's a painful feeling, isn't it?

Maybe it was worth choosing more or less finished things and putting together one of the two albums. Who knows? What is destined to happen?

So that's what happened when the talented English kid Syd Barrett returned to the studio to record some songs a few trips later. This time, Sid's own drawing is used on the cover — he painted these charming creatures a few years earlier during his studies. If you look closely, it turns out that all these winged creatures are beetles. On the reverse side, a picture of Mick Rock with the same Pontiac Parisienne is used. Interestingly, Mick Rock is not listed in the credits of the album, and in general Hipgnosis's involvement in this art is not noted anywhere, but pay attention to the inscription of the author's name and the album title on the backdrop! Practically Bond)

The album was released on November 14 and was met with restraint, if not coldly. He did not manage to become a little more afternoon, as poor Sid wanted. The album did not hit any charts and achieved nothing — the more surprising that even after such a result, Sid had to comment on rumors about the third album and new singles for some time (however, oddly enough, Barrett became more successful from a commercial point of view than Madcap). Answering reporters' questions, Barrett reasoned unexpectedly sensibly: he dismissed all rumors about the third album, saying that the songs for recording must meet a certain standard — and if there are a couple of decent ones on "Madman", then on the second album there are only echoes. Perhaps there is nothing more to add — after 1970, Syd Barrett did not record anything.

As for the rest of the Floyd's, Roger Waters, for example, continued his collaboration with Ron Gisin and recorded the soundtrack to the film "The Body" with him. In particular, there is a composition called… Breathe!

Let's just note that all four Floyd members took part in the recording of the final song — Give Birth To A Smile ("Give Life To a Smile"); this is the rarest case when one of the other band members went to participate in Roger's activities unrelated to the band (not to mention the whole band — by the way, the participation of David, Nick and Rick is not noted in any way in the design of the album). In general, we mention this work because we need to fix it: in 1970, the Floyd's, despite the release of the first album in the band's discography, which took first place in the charts, were engaged in very different things. Nick Mason, thanks to Ron Gisin, immersed himself in producing, Wright and Gilmore, too, but thanks to Sid. Gilmore, Wright and Waters wrote one track per year for their own band — the title suite does not contain many personal contributions from Floyd's band. So, while the others were producing, Waters wrote songs: there are four of them on Music from The Body — Sea Shell and Stone, Chain of Life, Breathe and Give Birth to a Smile. He also released a concept album in which the tracks merge into each other — and this album was even released on vinyl with a transparent anatomical mannequin on the cover.

Pink Floyd spent the rest of the year on endless, exhausting tours. Therefore, when they returned to the studio in January 1971 — it was time to make a new album — the four guys found that they had absolutely nothing to record.

Syd Barret with Jenny Spires

MARIANNE FAITHFULL playing guitar in her dressing room at the Olympia. Paris, France. March 25, 1966.

Mick Jagger photographed by Roy Ilingworth at the Appeal Court in Central London, 31st July, 1967.