Wednesday, February 18, 2009

This Day in Rock - 1968

First, I just wanted to say thank you for the comments!
I'm really excited about getting into the blogging world and appreciate you guys reading my blog. I'm even more excited to read all of yours!

This day back in 1968, David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd.
Before Gilmour, their primary leader/songwriter was Syd Barrett. Syd became heavily involved in drugs (especially LSD) and the band at this time was contemplating his exit, which would come in March. At stage peformances, Syd would be so out of it that he would just stand there not even trying to mime his actions on guitar or anything. When Gilmour and Syd were both in the band, Gilmour had to learn Syd's parts to play in case Syd "zoned out" in the middle of the show.


Now I have two questions for any PF fans out there...

1) The Dark Side of the Moon was and is an epic record. Enough said. Do you remember your experience of hearing it all the way through for the first time? I remember I listened to it with headphones on because on songs like "On the Run", it was very cool listening to footsteps move in and out of your ears. The lyrics throughout are absolutely oustanding. It was just an awesome experience. I was watching a documentary on the making of the record, and David Gilmour said something along the lines of him being a little sad that he would never have the experience of listening to it for the first time all the way through.

2) Has anybody seen the Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular? I got a chance to see it this past December, and it was pretty cool. They played TDSOTM all the way through, then played hits from The Wall and Wish You Were Here. Even a song or two after Waters had left the group. It was a pretty psychadelic experience and since I don't do drugs and didn't "enhance my viewing" myself, I had to wear these 3D glasses.
The lights and lasers were pretty cool, but I just really enjoyed being able to sit in a theater with a great sound system and listen to the music.
It's as close as we're ever going to get to a PF show nowadays, since they just lost a member and David Gilmour & Roger Waters don't seem to be wanting to collaborate anytime soon.

On a side note, I highly recommend everyone getting David Gilmour's latest album called On an Island. It's great.
There's also a DVD/Bluray out there called "Remember That Night" with David Gilmour from a couple of years ago. It has Richard Wright playing keyboards - his last recorded performance. Also Crosby and Nash pop up to backup sing, as well as David Bowie on "Comfortably Numb" -- if you want to impress your friends with your sound system, buy it on Bluray. It's unbelieveably amazing. The audio and video quality is just AWESOME. And David Gilmour is still as amazing as he was back in the day

Here's a clip from the DVD:

8 comments:

Dan said...

I remember a friend of mine had a VW Bug and a really nice stereo (cassette player) and we used to tool around with it at high volume. It really is an awesome recording. I had never thought about the musician not being able to ever hear the music for the first time but then they created and recorded it in the first place so that had to be pretty special.

I have never seen the laser spectacular but I do have the David Gilmore Remember that Night DVD. Really awesome to see Crosby, Nash and Bowie. They added their own flair to the recordings. David Gilmore is surprisingly good at mimicking the original recording. Not easy with the lead guitar.

Jeff said...

Awesome post and great blog. Floyd is and will always be my favorite band. I still remember the first time I listend to DSOTM all the way through. I was sitting on the computer and had it playing on my stereo as background music. By the time it was over, I had hardly paid attention to the music, yet for some odd reason I felt so moved by it. I barely remember what I was listening to it, yet it had some profound effect on me and I had to listen to it again.

I have seen some Floyd laser light shows, and most of them are pretty cool, and I would definitely recomend them to any Floyd fan. Also, the Gilmour DVD is amazing, and what was even better was actually seeing him on that tour. The guitarwork on "Fat Old Sun" and "Comfortably Numb" is incredible. And hearing "Echoes" live in its entirety was one of the greatest moments of my life!

Nutritious is Delicious said...

ROCK your tests girl! haha (get it?!)

Vegas Linda Lou said...

An 18-year-old into classic rock... I'm so proud and I'm not even your mother. Keep up the good work!

Artster63 said...

I remember having one of those parent/teen debates that got heated. I went to my room. Closed the door and put DSOTM, which I borrowed, on the record player. Lit some incense, strawberry was my fave. Plugged the headphones in and drifted away. Far away. What an incredible memory and to this day I use music as something to take the adge off after work and actually doze off to DSOTM a minimum of 4 times a month.

Never saw the laser show, but I did go to the Animals era concert and was blown away by the ginormous pig floating over the audience.

UnHoly Diver said...

18 years old... I have socks older than you! But seriously, I've long thought that Gilmour's solo at the end of Comfortably Numb is the greatest of all time.

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Actually, I believe the last music with Mr. Wright on it is David Gilmour's "Live In Gdansk" a spectacular album I reviewed a couple of months ago.

I had the pleasure of seeing both the Ummagumma Tour and the Dark Side tour live.

My son is 21 and loves classic rock...well that is all he heard in our home!

Keep up the good work

Perplexio said...

I saw the Wish You Were Here laser show at Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry back in 1999 with the girl I was dating at the time. It was a thoroughly enjoyable show. I'd have preferred to have seen the DSOTM laser show, but my date had already seen that one so we opted to do the Wish You Were Here one instead as neither of us had seen it.

Post a Comment

Tell me something interesting! Leave a comment or email me: classicrockforthesoul[at]yahoo[dot]com :)