The new issue of the UK’s Uncut Magazine (cover date June 2019) went on sale on Thursday (April 18th), is available now in all good stores, and available online worldwide (https://www.newsstand.co.uk/140-TV-and-Film-Magazines/6457-Subscribe-to-UNCUT-Magazine-Subscription.aspx), and as you can see, has Pink Floyd as its cover stars. The ten-page article looks at the transitional period of the Floyd – writer Tom Pinnock discovers a band reconfiguring themselves and their creative aesthetic following the departure of Syd Barrett – via a run of bold, experimental records that are considered by many among their best. It makes for a fascinating read; the story is brought up to date with a piece looking at Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets, who are concluding their US and Canada tour this evening, and are back in the UK next week for a string of shows, before spending much of July performing around Europe. If you can’t find the June 2019 issue of Uncut at your local UK store, order online now (https://www.newsstand.co.uk/140-TV-and-Film-Magazines/6457-Subscribe-to-UNCUT-Magazine-Subscription.aspx). The issue comes with a unique 15-track CD curated for Uncut by The National. Elsewhere in the magazine, you’ll find Scott Walker, Bob Dylan, Primal Scream, JJ Cale, Cate Le Bon, Peter Perrett, Aretha Franklin, Mac DeMarco, Dinosaur Jr, Dylan Carson, Africa Express and much more.
Just announced: Pink Floyd are releasing new music in support of the people of Ukraine entitled ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up’, which will be available digitally from midnight tonight, with all proceeds going to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief. The track (recorded last Wednesday, March 30th) sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by long time Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, and features an extraordinary vocal performance by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox. Andriy’s vocals are taken from his Instagram post of him singing in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square. The song itself, ‘Oh, The Red Viburnum In The Meadow’ is a rousing Ukrainian folk protest song written during the first world war which has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest of the invasion of Ukraine. The title of the Pink Floyd track is taken from the last line of the song which translates as ‘Hey, hey, rise up and rejoice’. In the press release, Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren said: “We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world’s major powers”. Gilmour explained how he came to know Andriy and his band Boombox. “In 2015, I played a show at Koko in London in support of the Belarus Free Theatre, whose members have been imprisoned. Pussy Riot and the Ukrainian band, Boombox, were also on the bill. They were supposed to do their own set, but their singer Andriy had visa problems, so the rest of the band backed me for my set – we played Wish You Were Here for Andriy that night. Recently I read that Andriy had left his American tour with Boombox, had gone back to Ukraine, and joined up with the Territorial Defence. Then I saw this incredible video on Instagram, where he stands in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and sings in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war. It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.” While writing the music for the track, David managed to speak with Andriy from his hospital bed in Kyiv where he was recovering from a mortar shrapnel injury. “I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. I hope that we do something together in person at some point in the future.” Gilmour wanted “to show our support for Ukraine and in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become.” The video for ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ was filmed by acclaimed director Mat Whitecross and shot on the same day as the track was recorded. Gilmour: “We recorded the track and video in our barn where we did all our Von Trapped Family live streams during the lockdown. It’s the same room that we did the ‘Barn Jams’ with Rick Wright back in 2007. Janina Pedan made the set in a day and we had Andriy singing on the screen while we played, so the four of us had a vocalist, albeit not one who was physically present with us.” The artwork for the track features a painting of the national flower of Ukraine, the sunflower, by the Cuban artist, Yosan Leon. The cover of the single is a direct reference to the woman who was seen around the world giving sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers and telling them to carry them in their pockets so that when they die, sunflowers will grow. You can hear/buy the new song via PinkFloyd.lnk.to/HeyHeyRiseUp (http://PinkFloyd.lnk.to/HeyHeyRiseUp) from midnight tonight (12am on Friday, April 8th) in your location.
Something a little different today – we occasionally get emails about certain songs, and how often they were played live, or when did they stop playing “song X”, and suchlike. We came across an interesting video which, based on presumably available references such as Glenn Povey’s superlative The Complete Pink Floyd book, tracks (as time goes by) the top twenty songs by number of performances. It makes for interesting reading, and whilst it isn’t definitive due to the set lists for a lot of the earlier shows not being available, it gives a good indication of things and is an interesting watch in itself:
As you all know, the 50th Anniversary of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon is next month, with a deluxe box set, the Live At Wembley 1974 LP and CD sets, and the official book (which we’ve seen and is very nice) that’s included in the box set, and available separately too, all being released on March 24th. Full details of all these, here (https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/latest/pink-floyds-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-50th-anniversary-box-set-anno.html). Exclusively, though, for the Japanese market (but thanks to HMV.co.jp (https://www.hmv.co.jp/en/artist_Pink-Floyd_000000000004473/item_The-Dark-Side-Of-The-Moon-Hybrid-Multi-Ch-Edition_13590862) and CDJapan (https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SICP-10143), available worldwide online) is a hybrid SACD (Super Audio CD) version of the album, bundled with loads of reproduction memorabilia – as seen to the right! For those unfamiliar with hybrid SACDs, they hold higher resolution audio, often with surround sound versions as well as standard stereo, and the stereo version is playable on all normal CD/DVD/Blu-ray players. To play the multi-channel audio, you need a compatible player, but as the format was devised by Sony and Philips, there are plenty of those around still. The surround and stereo versions of TDSOTM on this SACD is as released in 2021 on the SACD from Analogue Productions SACD. The album is packaged in typical Japanese style – a 7″ version of the original album cover, along with the stickers and posters you would hope to be included in this reproduction. However, they are also including a wide array of reproduction Japanese memorabilia: 1972 Pink Floyd In Japan Photo Book (48 pages, Airport, Live, and Japan stay in 1972)
1972 Pink Floyd In Japan Tour Pamphlet (16 pages)
1972 tour in Japan ticket (Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, March 6, 1972)
1972 tour in Japan ticket (Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, March 7, 1972)
1972 tour in Japan Tour Poster (Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium)
Lyric leaflet “The Other Side Of The Moon â works for all kinds of madmen” distributed at the venues on the 1972 tour in Japan
Flyer announcing the 1972 tour in Japan (Osaka: Festival Hall)
Promotional leaflet (handwritten by record company to promote “The Other Side Of The Moon”)
Commemorative sticker (round sticker for the campaign to promote the band’s visit to Japan)
Commemorative single jacket (“Pink Floyd/Big 4”)
Commemorative single jacket (“Point Me At The Sky”)
Reproduction OBI strip for the Quad 4-channel release (this edition ISN’T in Quad/just 4-channel!) Quite a collection of items! This special Japanese SACD edition is being released on April 19th, 2023, and can be ordered, worldwide, through these links at HMV.co.jp (https://www.hmv.co.jp/en/artist_Pink-Floyd_000000000004473/item_The-Dark-Side-Of-The-Moon-Hybrid-Multi-Ch-Edition_13590862) and CDJapan (https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SICP-10143). Amazon Japan (https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/ãã³ã¯ã»ããã¤ã/dp/B0BQMDYBPC) has their own variant of this exclusive release (with a “Megajacket”) but at time of writing, they aren’t shipping this item outside of their country.
