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Last year, when the Reverend of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit was
undertaking his annual pilgrimage to Cambridge
he halted one afternoon at the shrine lying across the mighty Cam, in
other words: The
Anchor.
As usual the bouncer / waiter threatened to throw him out if he stayed
longer than fifteen minutes without drinking but anyone who knows the
Reverend will realise that this would pose no problem.
Even more, after a while the waiter started a friendly chat. “I hate
them.” he sneered. “Those bloody tourists, following that fucking Syd
Barrett trail.
Looking for the bench at the Garden,
asking me what was his favorite seat in this place. How should I know? I
wasn't even born when The Wall came out and anyway this place has
probably changed furniture six times since then.”
“Look, there's another batch arriving. One of them even has brought a
guitar with him. I assure you, if they start singing Here I Go
again I'll kick them out in a jiffy. 'nother Guinness then?”
Back at Atagong mansion the Reverend mused about the continuing Church's
malaise. “Iggy will never be found.” he sighed. “I can't keep going on
repeating that she danced the Bend at the Cromwellian, can I? We need to
broaden our business plan and we need to do it fast, now that we still
have something of an attention span.”
“What about t-shirts?” a Spanish visiting monk wanted to know. This
infuriated the Reverend tremendously. “T-shirts!” he cried. “T-shirts.
Who do you think we are, www
sydbarrett dot com? Mick Rock, laughing all the way to the bank with
his 85 percent commission, is that what you want?”
Everybody silently agreed it was going to be one of these days at the
Church. Finally a young novice dared to speak.
“Reverend.” he asked. “Permission to speak freely.” “Permission
granted.” said the Reverend.
The boy with a light in his eyes cleared his throat.
“The problem is, Reverend,” he said loud and clear, “that you have
become a boring old fart.”
A booing and howling noise, not unlike those dissonances made at the
British parliament, rose from the audience.
“Shut up!” commanded the Reverend. “Let the boy speak!”
“I had a look at your agenda recently and the most titillating event was
a breakfast meeting with a French member of the Church in Hotel
Metropole in Brussels. You invariably fall asleep after your
afternoon tea with biscuits, listening to Poor
Man's Moody Blues from Barclay
James Harvest. I mean, where is the fervor, the schwung, the
drive in what we do, in what we feel for. We all need to be kicked in
the ass and start propagating Barrettism again.”
It was silent again when the boy sat down. Finally the Reverend spoke.
“Son, I like your style. I recognise the fire of a young myself in your
words. What is your name?”
“Alex Fagoting, my Reverend.”
“Alex... short for Alexander. Ἀλέξανδρος, a strong name, meaning
protector or defender of mankind. This is a powerful omen, as my warrior droog
I'll give you carte blanche. So what do you want to do?”
“I want to kick our community a conscience, dear Reverend, starting with
the merchants at our temple. For this I will only need one of the
Church's crypts that I will baptise The Anchor, named after the
Cambridge pub where I was hit a black eye by the bouncer because I
wanted to sing Here I Go.”
“Then do as you have told, let it be embroidered into the Church's
annals that you have my blessing.”
The Anchor
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical division,
intended for people with a good heart, but a bad character.
Satire: Artistic form in which (human) abuse, folly,
shortcomings, stupidity or vices are attacked and/or exposed by means of
burlesque, caustic wit, derision, irony, ridicule, sarcasm or other
methods.
All characters, incidents portrayed and the names used at The Anchor are
fictitious. Any similarity without satiric purpose to names, characters,
or history of any person living, dead or dying is entirely accidental,
unintentional, coincidental and plain improbable.
Perhaps that is not entirely true, but at least we've got your attention.
Terrapin 9.
Terrapin
Terrapin
was a Syd Barrett fanzine appearing from the early till the
mid-Seventies. The alternatively wired Bernard
White was one of the few who used to run the legendary magazine
although it has mainly acquired this status through the amnesic mist of
time. The magazine was badly written, badly styled, badly distributed
and, to add insult to injury - somewhere in between - the different
editors used the scarce pages of their own magazine to fight out some
internal editorial wars. Call it a Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit avant
la lettre, quoi.
But of course Terrapin occasionally had its peak moments. A young Robert
Chapman, whom we all know from his excellent work of fiction A
Very Irregular Head, debuted in Terrapin number 2 with his review
of the February 1972 Stars gig at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge. He had
it mainly wrong, so he was already creating a habit there.
A smart trip
The most intriguing piece in Terrapin did not come from Rob Chapman, nor
Bernard White, but from the mad bard himself. Issue 9 (July 1974) had a
previously unpublished poem, written by Syd Barrett, titled: A
Rooftop Song In A Thunderstorm Row Missing The Point. Several weird
theories have surfaced about it and one of them goes that the starting
letters of its title form the witty anagram 'a smart trip'. Not all
Barrett fans believe the poem was written by Syd, but - and otherwise
this article would have no reason at all - let's assume he did. The
poem, as it appeared in 1974, can be found in our Rooftop
gallery. It is in Bernard White's handwriting, as are most pages of
Terrapin, because there was no typewriter around when he created the
fanzine.
A Syd Barrett poem, circa late 60s/early 70s, signed, in black ballpoint
on a small piece of paper, entitled 'A Rooftop Song In A Thunderstorm
Row Missing The Point', thirteen lines, beginning, 'With yellow red and
foomy food, and quivered / crouching on a golden cushion / Undressed
himself to dissapear (sic) through an infinity of pleasure...', the
reverse with part of a question/answer piece, one side covered in tape,
12.5 x 13cm (5 x 5in) approx. Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000, EUR 2,300 –
3,500. (Note: a facsimile
can be found at our Rooftop
gallery.)
But what was most interesting, intriguing and salivating was the
footnote at the bottom of the Bonhams page:
This will feature in a book
about Syd to be launched in March 2011, with an exhibition at Idea
Generation, and the Barrett family have confirmed this is in
Syd's hand.
See Emily Play lyrics (Syd Barrett).
Almost immediately the allusion that the piece was in Syd's handwriting
was questioned by some fans. At the left side there is a snippet of Pink
Floyd's See Emily Play and that is how Syd Barrett's handwriting
looked like. Late
Night member Dark Globe did a fine job by comparing Barrett's
and White's handwriting and concluded:
To me, the handwriting on the Bonhams poem itself looks closer to BW's
handwriting than to Syd's. (Syd's handwriting tended to slope to the
left all throughout his life). I'd guess that the Bonhams item is
actually a draft written in a looser hand by Bernard White for the final
version which appears in the fanzine. (Taken from: Rooftop
for Sale.)
Brettjad at Madcaps
Laughing remarked: “I don't get it. If it's Syd's, then why did he
write that interview on the reverse?”
A pertinent question indeed. The Anchor took the liberty of taking a
closer look at the backside of the document (see gallery).
One of the first assumptions the Anchor can make is that the sold
snippet was cut out of a larger piece of paper as the top of the
backside horizontally slits a sentence in half. But that is not all
there is to see.
Giovanni Dadomo
The backside text contains a Syd Barrett interview, taken by GiovanniDadomo,
probably in 1971, but only published three years later in Terrapin. And
still that is not all.
The backside transcript is (partly) page 5 of Terrapin 10. In other
words: here is the original page, in Bernard White's handwriting,
before it was printed and distributed to its subscribers in August 1974.
The underneath illustration hopefully proofs that both are identical
(first line: Terrapin 10; second line: Bonhams poem - back side).
Comparing Terrapin with Bonhams.
Missing the point
Let's digest this for a while, while we have a go at the poem itself.
According to Bonhams, Barrett's family has confirmed it is in Syd's hand
although they fail to produce a certificate of authenticity or to simply
name the family member who has testified this. If they can't it is
hearsay, to say the least.
For the sake of argument, let's believe the poem is in Syd's
handwriting. Why then did super-fan & collector Bernard White prefer to
publish a copy of the poem in his handwriting rather than to
publish Syd's original? Surely someone must have been missing a point?
In Terrapin 9 White thanks 'Hypgnosis for the poem and photos'. Still
following Bonhams train of thought this means that Po (Aubrey Powell) or
Storm (Thorgerson) gave Bernard White an original Syd Barrett document
without asking for a receipt. That's not how we know them, especially
not in 1974.
Anoraks have of course spotted the mistake in the previous paragraph.
Bernard White thanks Hypgnosis, not Hipgnosis. As
legendary as his fanzine are his spelling errors (in one issue he
jokingly described himself as 'Bernard M White: spelling mistakes and
all other errors'). The Rooftop paper has got two: 'your writting'
and 'to dissapear'. White's spelling errors are as unique as his
handwriting and the 'dissapear' error is repeated in both
versions of the poem. Oops!
Bonhams' Barrett vs Terrapin's White
To end the discussion, once and for all, let's have a look at the two
known Rooftop copies: blue is Bonhams (Syd Barrett), red is Terrapin
(Bernard White). Hmmm...
Comparing Terrapin with Bonhams.
It is in a book, ergo it must be true
Not only does Bonhams claim that the poem is in Barrett's handwriting,
they also maintain that their version is going to be published 'in a
book about Syd to be launched in March 2011, with an exhibition at Idea
Generation'.
Who could be better situated to acknowledge this than Russell
Beecher, the editor of Barrett,
The definitive visual companion to the life of Syd Barrett.
Unfortunately he told the Anchor:
We also thought that the poem wasn't written in Syd's hand so we haven't
included it in the book. I am not sure about the family authentication
but I think, as you and we have worked out, that point is irrelevant as
we know it's not Syd's writing. (…) A shame though - would have been a
great find!
Indeed, there must still be a third version of the Rooftop poem
somewhere, the one - (perhaps) in Syd's handwriting - that Bernard White
copied in the Hipgnosis headquarters. But that is not the one that was
recently auctioned.
It's a gas!
On the 15th of December of 2010 a collector paid 2,160 £ for
this original piece of Bernard White's handwriting, probably believing
that it was Syd's. (Some information has now been removed from the
Bonhams website but the Anchor has a screenshot.)
It was then when the Anchor decided to contact Bonhams
to ask them if, perhaps, an eeny weeny teeny meeny mistake had
been made.
An automated reply from Leonora O. learned us that she was out
until the 5th of January and that for all queries we should try another
mail address, that happened to be exactly the same address than the one
we had send our questions to. So we waited, until the year was finally
over...
In January we contacted Bonhams a second time. We got a reply from Katherine
B. who was so friendly to inform us that Stephanie C. was
going to answer us immediately.
Just before this article went into print (or should we say: upload) we
informed again if Stephanie C. finally had any comments. Alas, she was
too busy waiting for the ink to dry on a recently found Apple iPod that
has John Lennon's signature on it and couldn't come to the phone.
Bernard White and Syd Barrett, sharing a Guinness at the great gig in
the sky, are probably laughing their arses off.
The Anchor wishes to thank: Russell Beecher, Dark Globe who made
an excellent comparison of Barrett's and White's handwriting at Late
Night. Further analysis shows that the letter d in 'seasoned'
(from the Bonhams poem) and the letter d in 'Bernard' (as in
White's signature) are coming from the same person (post
#9).
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
What you see at the left is the only remaining copy in the world of an
unreleased 1967 Pink Floyd single: Vegetable
Man / Scream
Thy Last Scream. Approximate value: 10,000 US dollars,
even on a rainy day.
Part one: Holy Syd!
The songs are on an acetate
disc and without going too much into detail we can simply say that
an acetate is a test pressing of a vinyl record. An acetate has not been
made to last and every time a needle reads the groove the acetate is
gradually but irrecoverably damaged. Bands and producers often used
acetates to test how a record would sound on cheap home record
players before sending the master tape to the record factory.
This precious copy is in the hands of Saq, an American collector
in Los Angeles who acquired it about 15 years ago and has cherished it
ever since. It is, without doubt, what collectors call a 'holy grail': a
rare, valuable object sought after by other collectors. One of the side
effects of a 'holy grail' is that it can only acquire that status if
other collectors are aware of its existence, but not too many. If nobody
knows you have an exclusive item it might as well not exist. Syd Barrett
already acknowledged this in his Arnold
Layne song: it 'takes two to know'.
Holy grails can be frail, especially when they only consist of audio
material. One popular Pink Floyd holy grail are, sorry: were, the
so-called work in progress tapes of The
Wall (most people, websites and bootlegs refer to these as The
Wall demos, which they are clearly not, but that is an entirely
different discussion). Around 1999 they circulated amongst top-notch
collectors and were generally unknown to the public, The Anchor
included, until a track called The
Doctor (an early version of Comfortably
Numb) was leaked as an alt.music.pink-floyd
Christmas 2000 gift. It didn't take long before the complete set was
weeded to the fans, who were happy to say the least except for the one
of the few who had lost their priceless treasure.
Part two: the guns of Navarro
When Barrett fan Giuliano Navarro met Saq in 2009 he was let on
the secret and from this moment Giuliano became a man with a mission. He
received pictures
of the acetate and finally, on the 15th of January 2011, he proudly
announced at Late
Night:
I tried to stay in communication with him for more than a year and
begged him to at least have the tracks recorded. He agreed to do me the
favour, and sent the acetate to a professional studio in San Francisco.
(...)
After more than a year of waiting, I finally got the tracks and now I
want to share them with all of you. We are the real Syd Barrett crazies
and we all deserve to listen to his art. There should be no discovery
made that ends up back in the vaults.
Giuliano Navarro is, without doubt, a man of honour. But it helped that
Saq didn't really ran the risk that making the content public would ruin
his holy grail (as with The Wall WIP tapes). Quite the contrary: he
still has an ultra-rare acetate from 1967; is envied by collectors
from over the world and, knowing that; the value of this unique
recording can only sky-rocket.
At least that is what he thought until about a couple of weeks ago.
Part three: cracks in the ice
An uproarious bigmouth called Felix
Atagong, who also goes by the ridiculous epithet Reverend of the Holy
Church of Iggy the Inuit, proposed Giuliano to upload the sound
files to Yeeshkul.
At first the recordings were received with great enthusiasm, but after
some days the place was stirring with comments of an entirely different
nature.
Yeeshkul is a place where Pink Floyd audio collectors meet and share
files through a torrent
network. They vary from the average je-ne-sais-quoi fan to
the specialised sound freak who has the means and the knowledge to find
out whether a certain audio file comes from an earlier or a later
generation tape. And obviously this spectacular find was going to be
analysed to the bit...
Navarro received MP3 files taken from the acetate and shared
these immediately with the fans. Not unusual as MP3
is about the most popular sound format in the world, but it does
compress the sound and reduces the quality. The Yeeshkul specialist
sound brigade argue that lossless files in 24/96
(or even 24/192) should exist as well. Nobody will be that stupid to put
an ultra-rare (and very fragile) acetate on a turntable, only to convert
the audio to MP3.
16 Khz cut.
Vince666 did a spectrum analysis of the MP3 files and found that
the sound had been mysteriously cut-off at 16 Khz (see left side image).
Some members maintain that this is a typical result of MP3 compression,
but others disagree. But despite the compression and the obvious
quality-loss these mono tracks still sound a lot better than other
versions that have been circulating for decades.
Felixstrange (no relative to the Church) discovered 'something
which sounds a lot like tape damage at 0:54 during "Scream Thy Last
Scream':
The noise a minute into STLS is definitely a result of creases in
magnetic tape. However, there is definitely vinyl/acetate surface noise
present. I've been doing a lot of vinyl rips lately and I immediately
recognized the all-too-familiar clicks of debris in the grooves of a
record.
Question: How can a brand new, original EMI master show tape
damage, before it has even been used to make vinyl records out of it? Answer:
It can't.
Part four: screaming vegetables
Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream (let's shorten that to VM
and STLS, shall we?) are both unreleased Syd Barrett - Pink Floyd
gems from 1967. EMI has been tempted to put these on compilations
before, but for different (copyright) reasons that never happened,
luckily two different mixes have leaked to the public.
When (The)
Dark Side Of The Moon proved successful EMI compiled early Floyd as A
Nice Pair and put the two Barrett solo-albums together in a Syd
Barrett budget release. The selling figures (especially in the USA
where the solo albums had never been released) were important enough for
EMI to beg for a third Syd Barrett solo album. Producer Peter
Jenner soon found out that Syd Barrett really wasn't in the singing
mood and scraped the barrel in order to find some unreleased material.
On the 13th of August 1974 Peter Jenner (with a little help from John
Leckie and Pat Stapley) mixed a stereo tape of unreleased Syd Barrett
and Pink Floyd originals, including VM and STLS. This tape, with
reference 6604Z, almost immediately evaporated from the EMI
archives and re-materialised – so goes the legend – miraculously in one
of Bernard
White's cupboards.
Almost day by day thirteen years later, Malcolm
Jones compiled his personal 'Syd Barratt (sic) Rough Mixes'.
It is believed that he accidentally lost this tape just when he was
passing by the front door of an anonymous bootlegger.
Part five: check your sources
The Anchor needs to get a bit nerdy and technical here, like those Bible
scholars who combine different fourth century Greek editions in order to
reconstruct the ultimate Bible source. We are going to compare the
different versions of the tracks, so you have been warned.
Barrett fans have strong reasons to believe that the Malcolm Jones 1987
(mono) tapes are the closest to the original 1967 Pink Floyd recordings.
In 1974 Peter Jenner added extra effects, echo and reverb to the mix,
most notably on VM, and these are absent on the Malcolm Jones tape. The
Malcolm Jones mix of STLS fades out, while Jenner's version ends
abruptly with – yet – another sound effect.
That is not all. In the case of Vegetable Man there is even a third mix
- the so-called Beechwoods
tape. It has survived on tape from a 1969 radio show where Nick Mason
opened his Pandora’s box of 1967 outtakes. A fan found it back in 2001
and promptly donated it to Kiloh Smith from Madcaps
Laughing.
As the acetate allegedly dates from 1967; Vegetable Man must
sound like the Beechwoods version, and Scream Thy Last
Scream must sound like the Malcolm Jones rough mix.
Right? Wrong.
Part six: listen to the music
Yeeshkul member MOB compared all known versions and came back
with the following report.
Vegetable Man.
Vegetable Man:
The acetate mix is mono, but definitely different than the Malcolm Jones
mono mix from 1987.
The 1967 acetate mix is also different from the 1967 Beechwoods tape,
believed to be the most authentic studio version of the song. On the
Beechwoods tape, there is absolutely no echo or reverb during the
sentence "Vegetable man where are you" but they are present on the
acetate.
The only version with extra echo and reverb is the 1974 stereo mix by
Peter Jenner.
MOB concludes:
Actually, if I take the 1974 Jenner stereo mix and convert it to mono, I
have the same mix as the "acetate" mix. So to me it seems the current
mix is not from 1967 (if it was the case it should be close to the 1967
Beechwoods mix, and it's not), but from 1974.
Maybe the 1974 Jenner versions were copied, traded, with some
"mono-ization" in the lineage, then pressed as fake acetates?
Scream Thy Last Scream.
Scream Thy Last Scream:
The 1967 acetate mono mix is not the same as the Jones 1987 mono mix
(the Jones version fades out during the street noises). Instead of that,
on the acetate mix, the street noises end abruptly with an echo effect.
MOB:
Is it pure coincidence that the echo is exactly the same effect as the
one used by Jenner during his 1974 mixdown?
Again, if you mono-ize the 1974 Jenner mix, you have the current acetate
mix (minus the scratches and tape flaws). Same effects at the same
moments.
Part seven: the time-paradox explanation
Of course this all makes sense, especially in a Barrett universe, and
the contradiction can easily be explained.
Somewhere in 1967 Barrett invented a time-travelling device by combining
a clock with a washing machine. When asked to compose a third single he
hopped to 1974, stole tape number 6604Z from the EMI archives and
returned to 1967.
Thus it is perfectly logical that the 1967 acetate sounds exactly like
the 1974 Jenner mix and en passant we have solved the mystery how
the tape has disappeared from the EMI vaults.
The utterly boring explanation is that the 1967 acetate is fake, counterfeit,
a forgery, made by a scrupulous thief to rob a few thousands of
dollars from a collector’s pocket. In other words: mono-ization turned
into monetisation.
Part eight: let's get physical
The Anchor is like one of those boring Roger Waters songs: once we're in
a drive, we can't stop and we have to make extra parts of the same
monotonous melody over and over again.
Even without listening to the counterfeit acetate there still is
something dubious about it (thanks neonknight, emmapeelfan,...).
Due to their production process and their fragility acetates
are - most of the time - single sided, just like the surviving acetates
of Arnold Layne and See Emily Play. Albums were even issued on two
different single sided acetates to avoid further damage (but some double
sided acetates do exist, like the very first Pink Floyd recording with
Bob Klose in the band: Lucy Leave / King Bee [but that was definitely
not an EMI acetate]);
Engineers at EMI were invariably nerdy administrative types, who
attended recording sessions dressed in white lab coats. These cheeky
little fellows would never label an acetate without putting the name of
the band on top;
Although a pretty fair forgery the label on the record is not identical
to the 'official' EMI acetate label, there also seem to be some glue
marks that are usually not present on real acetates;
and last but not least;
Acetates are ad hoc test pressings and in the extremely rare case
of a double acetate this means that a certain relationship has to
exist between both tracks, like both sides from a single or takes from
the same session. STLS was recorded on 7 August 1967 (some overdubs were
made in December 1967 and January 1968 for a possible inclusion on A
Saucerful of Secrets). VM was recorded between 9 and 12 October
1967. They were never meant to be each other's flip side on a single, so
finding them on the same acetate simply makes no sense, unless it is a
fake, of course.
Part nine: a spoonful of charades
So basically here is what happened:
1. someone, somewhere in summertime, got hold of the Peter Jenner 1974
stereo-mixes of VM and STLS (not that weird as they have been
circulating for at least 3 decades);
2. these were copied on a tape (perhaps even a cassette for home
entertainment) but unfortunately it was damaged, trampled, eaten and
vomited out by the player (crumpled sound between 51 and 55 seconds);
3. this cassette was downgraded from stereo to mono;
4. the mono 'remaster' was cut on acetate, a fake EMI label was glued on
it, and sold to a collector (probably in the mid Nineties);
5. the acetate, believed to be genuine by its owner, was copied in a
professional studio to (hopefully) a lossless digital format (there are
vinyl record clicks to prove that);
6. the digital copy was then converted to MP3 (with a compression cut
off at 16 Khz) and torrented through Yeeshkul.
Part ten: let's add some extra confusion
It has now been established that the 1967 acetate is fake and a
mere mono copy of the 1974 stereo mix, but there is still some confusion
and a bit of hope.
Although a copy from a copy from a copy the acetate sounds better,
crispier and fuller than the Jenner mixes that are currently
circulating. To put it into technical gobbledygook: the forger has a
better sounding, earlier generation tape at his disposal than the one
that Barrett collectors have now. This is something what duly pisses
most Syd anoraks off.
Instead of sharing the tape to the fans it has been used to produce
bootleg acetates. One can assume that the criminal sold more than one
unique acetate, so there must be other collectors around who have
purchased this record, believing they had the only copy in the world.
The high-priced acetate market is not that big. Perhaps if we stick
together, we can trace the seller who must now tremble like a leaf, and
before cutting off his balls and roasting them on a fire, confiscate the
low generation tape and use it for the better.
Fake Pink Foyd 1967 acetate.
Part eleven: last words
What you see at the left is an acetate counterfeit of a nonexistent 1967
Pink Floyd single Vegetable Man / Scream Thy Last Scream. Approximate
value: 10 US dollars, not a cent more.
Let us be fair: not all is lost for Saq, the current owner.
The Anchor has got an excellent business relationship with Fine Art
Auctioneers & Valuers Bonhams. For a small 35% commission rate the
Anchor is willing to put the acetate on sale at Bonhams as they already
have a habit of selling overcharged fake Barrett memorabilia: Bonhams
Sells Fake Barrett Poem.
The Anchor wishes to thank: Saquib Rasheed, Giuliano Navarro,
Hallucalation, Vince666, Felixstrange, MOB, Neonknight, Emmapeelfan and
the other participants at Late Night and Yeeshkul.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
The Anchor's editor was kindly asked, although summoned would be a more
appropriate term, to do an independent review of an interview of the
Reverend of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit that recently appeared on
the extraordinary Spanish Barrett blog Solo
en las Nubes (Alone in the Clouds).
Run by Antonio Jesús the blog is a mix of information and
fun, containing several references to La Sagrada Iglesia de Iggy La
Esquimal, that could be without doubt a title for one of the weirder Pedro
Almodóvar movies. Quite recently, in a dark corner of The
Anchor, dimly lit by a dripping candle in a bottle on the rough
wooden table, I bend over to the gorgeous black-haired girl sitting in
front of me, slowly whispering 'La Sagrada Iglesia de Iggy La Esquimal'
in her ears (actually, in one ear only as it is quite infeasible to
whisper in two ears at the same time, except for Mick Jagger perhaps).
Oh Alex Fagotin baby, she passionately sighed with heaving
breasts, say that to me one more time, but unfortunately my hair already
had caught fire by then.
One very interesting part of the Spanish Barrett blog are the so-called self-interviews
(or autoentrevista) and so far Antonio has persuaded Duggie
Fields and Laughing Madcaps front-man Kiloh Smith to reveal
their souls in these autobiographical Rorschach
tests.
Titled 'Felix Atagong: "Un hombre sincero"' the latest
self-interview has provoked roars of hysterical laughter from the Åland
Islands to Wallis
and Futuna. We reveal no real secrets if we tell you that the
Reverend has left a trail of female victims from Oslo to Tarzana
and rumour goes there will be more to follow despite many international
warnings.
The Reverend's self-interview can already be described as absolute
rock-bottom and without doubt it will be voted the all-time-worst-entry
at the - otherwise excellent - Spanish Barrett blog. Time to let you
decide for yourself what a kind of pompous pathetic pumpernickel that
Reverend of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit really is. Ladies and
gentlemen, the Anchor presents, but not too proudly: Felix Atagong: an
honest man...
Solo en las Nubes.
Felix Atagong: "Un hombre sincero"
Even the roads of rock are unfathomable.
Felix Atagong, from Belgium, has created a blog dedicated to Iggy, the
model of The Madcap Laughs album. Nobody knew her whereabouts for almost
forty years. The coincidence of life, meaning that it is not
coincidental at all, has lead this case to an unexpected but
long-awaited path.
Publius Enigma.
In his self-interview, Mr. Atagong, the Sherlock Holmes of the Floydian
world (he even helped to clarify the Publius Enigma) and always
committed to the truth he slowly peels the layers of the story of his
blog, and more... (introduction written by Antonio Jesús)
1. What is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit?
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit is a blog for Syd Barrett fans dealing
with the – very short – period in 1969 when Syd's alleged girlfriend
Iggy lived with the singer. Apart from some unverified rumours about her
Eskimo roots nobody really knew something about her, nor what happened
to her after her sudden disappearance in 1969.
2. How did it all start?
The Church more or less started as a prank. Discussing the (theoretical)
possibility of a Barrett religion on the Late Night forum I mentioned a Saint
Iggy Congregation in 2007 and when, in March 2008, DollyRocker
recognised Iggy acting in a 1967 British documentary, I jokingly announced
the Church's birth. But the idea still ripened for five months before
any blog post appeared.
3. What were your intentions?
These were quite ambiguous by design.
Obviously the Church frame, lead by an all-knowing Reverend who
addresses his flock in a swollen and theatrical language, is satirical.
I wanted to imitate those overzealous fans, who can't stop arguing that
Barrett is the world's most underrated musical genius and graphical
artist and who painstakingly, almost in religious stupor, scrutinize
every minute of his life.
But while I was developing the blog I soon realised that I was
painstakingly, almost in religious stupor, collecting all available
puzzle pieces that lay shattered over the net, on blogs, in forums, that
were published in different articles and biographies, thus creating the
ultimate Iggy repository.
Both concepts share an an osmotic relationship and - by being what it is
and what it pretends to be – the Church has evolved into a meta-concept,
although that thin ironic line is probably completely ignored by the
people who visit it.
4. But the Church did trigger an Iggy revival, didn't it?
Not really. Every avalanche starts with a couple of snowflakes and by
sheer luck the Holy Church happened to be on the right place at the
right time. After nearly 40-years of silence several people
simultaneously remembered Iggy. Most of the time the Church was not
involved but has been monitoring and commentating these events. What
nobody expected, except perhaps for the Holy Igquisition, is that it
resulted in some sort of Iggymania.
Iggymania started when Mojo magazine put Syd Barrett on its cover in
2010. Of course that cover story was all about The Madcap Laughs 40th
birthday but the Church had clearly inspired one of the articles. Not
only did this boost the hits on the website but a few days later The
Church could reveal that Evelyn (Iggy) had been found back as well and
that thanks to Mojo.
Beginning of this year Pink Floyd biographer Mark Blake could finally
interview Iggy and that is when Iggymania fully exploded.
5. Not bad for something that started as a joke.
Syd and Iggy - Spring 1969.
The Church had already turned serious when JenS shared her memories with
us, revealing that she (probably) introduced Iggy to Syd and pinpointing
The Madcap Laughs photo-shoot date in spring, rather than in the autumn
of 1969. Some time later another acquaintance of Syd gave her first
interview ever to the Church. Margaretta Barclay and her boyfriend Rusty
were regular visitors at Syd's flat and they even tried to resuscitate
Barrett's interest in music by dragging him over to Meic Stevens, who is
still some kind of weird folk cult figure.
I find it rewarding that some of the Church theories have been reprinted
in magazine articles and biographies, so I guess we're not all rubbish
after all.
6. But finding Iggy also presented a major crisis for the Church,
isn't it?
It is the ambiguity of all organisations that have a certain goal. What
do you do if the goal has been reached? What will Greenpeace do if
no-one hunts little seals any more? The worst thing that could happen to
the Church was to find Iggy! But every time the Reverend uttered the
fear there would be lack of Iggy, something new turned up. And 2011 has
already proved to be no exception.
Thinking about the future the Church did some reorganising and will
continue developing into other areas, of course not neglecting its
primary task to inform about al things Ig. One of the new items at the
Church will be a gossip corner called 'The Anchor', named after the
Cambridge pub Syd Barrett used to visit in the early Sixties. We hope it
will stir things up as the Barrett community has become quite lethargic
lately. We're all old farts who fall asleep after our afternoon tea and
biscuits.
7. The question we are all waiting for: is Iggy aware of it at all
and what does she think of the Church?
Evelyn kept a low profile over the years, although she apparently never
hid the fact that she had been on the cover of The Madcap Laughs album.
But the path of Iggy and the path of the Barrett fan community simply
didn't converge for the last 40 years.
Recently Iggy has contacted the Church and she gave us valuable
information. However the question is what will happen when Iggymania
freezes over. I feel it a bit hypocrite to say that now, but it was
never the Church's intention to invade Iggy's privacy.
8. This interview should have at least one anoraky question,
reflecting the true nature of the Church. Does the 'eskimo chain' line
in Barrett's Dark Globe refer to Iggy?
Dark Globe is a very poignant, hermetic track and, as is the case in
many of Syd's songs, its lyrics can be interpreted in different ways. I
think Julian Palacios describes it as a lament to Pink Floyd or
something of that order. It also reads as a goodbye song to a past love
and here is where the 'eskimo chain' line fits in – or doesn't.
I'm only a person with Eskimo chain I tattooed my brain all the way... Won't
you miss me? Wouldn't you miss me at all?
Solo en las Nubes banner.
Most people who read Barrett blogs will know that Barrett recorded under
the guidance of Malcolm Jones, but somewhere in May 1969 he passed the
torch to David Gilmour (Roger Waters would join in as well on a later
date). Jones had given up in desperation, as Peter Jenner had done the
year before, that last one declaring that the sessions had been 'chaos'.
Finally it was David Gilmour who pleaded Harvest records to allow
Barrett a third and final chance to finish his solo record. Of course
this is just one interpretation and not all biographers and witnesses
agree with that. Another story goes that Malcolm Jones simply invited
Gilmour (and Waters) for marketing reasons: three Pink Floyd members for
the price of one, so to speak (four if one adds Rick Wright who might
have done some uncredited overdubs on Golden Hair). Probably the truth
lies, as is often the case, somewhere in the middle.
The first session of the third recording round took place on the 12th of
June 1969. Barrett premiered two new songs: Dark Globe and Long Gone. On
the third (and final) session (26th of July) Roger Waters joined David
Gilmour and a couple of other attempts were made of the same songs.
(this alternative version of Dark Globe, now retitled as Wouldn't You
Miss Me, was later released on the Opel outtakes album.)
It would be logical to see Long Gone and Dark Globe as an indivisible
pair as they are both sad love songs. But there is an abundance of that
theme on The Madcap Laughs. Jenny Spires told the Church: “Syd wrote
songs and not all of them were about one person or another. It was his
job. (…) Syd was not romantically inclined this way. 'I'm only a person
with Eskimo chain' refers to the evolutionary chain, not to a specific
person. He was on a very much higher spiritual plane, not so much on the
material.”
But on the other hand Syd liked to put wordplay and little nods to
reality in his texts. Pink Floyd's second single See Emily Play refers
to psychedelic debutante Emily Young and to Libby Gausden, Jennifer
Gentle from Lucifer Sam is a mixture between Jenny Spires and an ancient
English ballad called 'There were three sisters' (Jennifer, Gentle and
Rosemaree).
Dark Globe also contains the verse: “'The poppy birds way, swing twigs
coffee brands around.” At first sight this is just a nature description
set in a romantic mood but if one knows that a former girlfriend of Syd
was Vivian 'Twig' Brans it becomes quite clear that Syd has cryptically
entered her name in that line.
So while Dark Globe may have no-one specific in mind the Eskimo chain
line may have been a slight nod toward Iggy.
9. This explanation made my appetite grow for more. How can one join
the Church?
To paraphrase Groucho Marx: I don't want to belong to any Church that
will accept me as a member, so you can't. The Church does have some
loyal friends though who have helped by passing on valuable information.
Basically the Church just reaps what others have sown (a common practice
amongst churches, I might add). Many kudos go to a long list of loyal
brainstormers, informants, witnesses and friends (and I already want to
apologise for the ones I have forgotten): Anne, Anthony, Bea, Denis,
DollyRocker, Douggie, Eternal, Gretta, Jenny, Julian, Kieran, Lisa,
Mark, Paro, Prydwyn, Rod, Sadia, Sean, Vicky, our many visitors and
fans... And of course Iggy herself.
10. What is this recurring thing about the Holy Igquisition?
Nobody expects the Holy Igquisition!
Self-interview courtesy of: Solo en las Nubes (2011) - Felix
Atagong: "Un hombre sincero", introduction written by
Antonio Jesús. Self-interview written in December 2010 and updated in
January 2011.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Nick
Mason, who has always been the gentleman drummer of the band we call Pink
Floyd, once jokingly said that he was mainly in the recycling
business nowadays. It might have been on Top
Gear, but before all the nitpickers jump on our back instead of
ordering a fresh pint of Guinness, we admit we didn't check that.
Always a bit of an existentialist joker, our Nick, but of course there
is much truth in what he said. Let's have a look of what the
Barrett-driven band has produced for the last couple of decades.
The Gravy Train
1993: Crazy Diamond (Syd Barrett, 3 cd-set digital remaster and
outtakes). 1994: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, stereo digital
remaster 1994. 1997: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, mono digital
remaster 1997, came with a separate Early Singles EP (other 'regular'
stereo Piper releases date from 1999 and 2001). 2001: Echoes, the
best of Pink Floyd. 2001: The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss
Me? 2007: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, mono and stereo digital
remasters 2007. 40th anniversary edition (2 and 3 disk versions). 2007:
Oh By The Way (Pink Floyd anthology). 2010: An Introduction to Syd
Barrett (remixed and remastered Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett compilation,
see: Gravy
Train To Cambridge).
So when something really new comes up, and with really new, we mean
really really new the surviving vintage Floyd community suddenly
veers up, throws its rollators in the air and shouts with one
voice: yes we can! After that the nurses come back and warn us that so
much excitement should be avoided and that it is changing nappies time
again.
Golden Circle
On the 10th of September 1967 Pink Floyd played a gig at the Gyllene
Cirkeln (Golden Circle) jazzclub in Stockholm. Jazzclub is a slight
overstatement, the place was a restaurant in disguise and Pink Floyd
were having a dinner concert as most people were enjoying their Swedish köttbullar
slightly wondering where all this estranged noise was coming from.
Swedish chefs are never to be trusted, just dine at Ikea for a change,
probably the only restaurant in the world were you can actually take the
tables and the chairs back home, and the chef at Gyllene Cirkeln was no
exception. While Barrett and Co were swinging their rocks off Anders
Lind was taping the gig hoping that in 2011 somebody would be
interested. Only someone from Volvo-land can come up with a devilish
scheme like that... but to add insult to injury he was probably right as
the first public hearing of the Pink Floyd live tape in 3 and a half
decades, last Tuesday at the same
venue, was an immediate success.
Starclub Phyco (bootleg CD.
Until now the earliest recorded Floyd gig had been at the Danish Star
Club. It dates from the 13th of September 1967 and was recorded in
Copenhagen, 3 days after the Golden Circle concert. Although only a very
lo-fi recording has survived into this millennium it is much appreciated
by Barrett collectors because it contains 3 officially unreleased early
Pink Floyd songs. Here is the setlist: Stoned Again (unreleased) Arnold
Layne (single) Rush In A Million (unreleased) Matilda Mother (The
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn) Scream Thy Last Scream (unreleased, see
also: Scream
Thy False Scream) Astronomy Domine (The Piper At The Gates Of
Dawn).
The track listing of the Swedish Golden Circle gig, 3 days earlier, is
rather different. Starting with an unknown seven minutes 20 seconds jam,
it goes like this: Before or Since ('untitled' and unreleased jam,
7'20") Matilda Mother (The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, 5
minutes, Syd Barrett vocals inaudible) Pow R Toc H (The Piper At The
Gates Of Dawn, 11 minutes) Scream Thy Last Scream (unreleased, 3
minutes) Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (A Saucerful Of
Secrets, 7 minutes, Roger Waters vocals scarcely audible) See Emily
Play (single, 3 minutes - the only live recording of this track!) Interstellar
Overdrive (The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, 10 minutes)
Pink Floyd fan Göran
Nyström who was there told Brain
Damage that it was a "great recording except for the singing”
although it proves that Syd was, that day, very far from a spent force.
Apparently the band had some PA problems, making the vocals inaudible,
but otherwise the recording is superb and has an excellent stereo
separation. The recording was done by a Revox machine using two
microphones on the stage and its quality is nearly soundboard.
The untitled jam session at the beginning of the show was described by
Roger Waters as follows: “nobody is ever gonna hear that one again,
before or since”, but only a small excerpt of it was played at the
event. EMI and/or Pink Floyd are aware of the track and they apparently
confirmed to Anders Lind that the track is not Reaction In G,
another unreleased Pink Floyd instrumental. Which brings us to the
following point.
Payday at EMI
At several strategical places in the Golden Circle club last week the
following message could be read:
Copyright notice at Gyllene Cirkeln, 2011.
Pink Floyd Ltd. and/or EMI listened to snippets of the tape before the
event and promised the organiser of the event to release the concert as
a bonus disk on a future Pink Floyd re-release. According to Brain
Damage “the organiser specifically asked that no-one record the audio
and post it anywhere online, as that would jeopardise any chance of
this”.
The Anchor is well aware of the fact that EMI is close to bankruptcy and
that its managers can't afford to snort high quality cocaine any more
but we would like to define the above attempt to blackmail the owner of
the tape (and with him: the fans) as utter bollocks. First of all the
Pink Floyd EMI vaults have quite a few unreleased Pink Floyd tracks and
claiming that bootlegs have jeopardised their release is turning the
truth upside down a bit. On top of that Anders Lind has confirmed to
people attending the show that EMI pushed him to stop the event. Anders
Lind who had been to the UK to play the tape for EMI refused to let them
have it and finally a compromise was made by deleting the opening jam
from last week's show.
The tactic is clear, even if an audience tape is weeded through the
appropriate Pink Floyd fan channels, the opening jam will be firmly in
the possession of the bloodhounds of EMI and - let us not forget, as
they are no angels either - Pink Floyd Ltd, although it is not clear yet
that the sale has already been made.
Trousers Down
It is pretty sure that audience recordings of the event have been made,
but the Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett fan community is reluctant to release
those and wants to give EMI the benefit of the doubt.
Against the tide of common sense The Anchor still hopes that an audience
recording of last week's event will find its way on the web soon. It
will be no match against the semi-professional tape that EMI (or the
Pink Floyd management) will have in its hands soon, ready to be
digitally remastered. Perhaps an audience recording could convince EMI
to get on with it - fast! - as it would only make the appetite for an
official release (with the seven missing minutes) bigger.
Update 6th of November 2011: Yeeshkul has now weeded the audience
recording of the audience recording...
Pink Floyd at Gyllene Cirkeln, 1967.
The Piper Reissue At The Gates Of Dawn
The comment that the gig would be put on yet another release of The
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is a bit of a bummer. A 50 years Piper
anniversary release has to wait until 2017 although the good thing is of
course that a 45 years release could already see the light of day next
year. But why take Piper again? Piper seems to be the new milk cow of
EMI and if this goes on like this there will be more Pipers around than
Dark Side Of The Moons (see also: Fasten
Your Anoraks).
The Anchor's wet dream is of course that this tape would be the ultimate
trigger to release a vintage Pink Floyd rarities and demos box set,
containing the Stockholm gig, the proto-Floyd sessions with Bob Klose,
the pieces that were left of Piper and Saucerful, the aborted singles
Scream Thy Last Scream and Vegetable Man and several BBC sessions
including the lost Top of The Pops show that was miraculously found back
in 2009 and has since then disappeared in an EMI / Pink Floyd Ltd.
sealed and secured vicinity.
Come on EMI don't you see that my wallet is burning. But if I were you I
would stop threatening and blackmailing the Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd
community. It is thanks to us that you will be able to start sniffing
that high quality cocaine soon again.
Update 2011 05 09: a 42 seconds snippet of Interstellar Overdrive
surfaced and disappeared today, but Barrett-biographer Julian Palacios
saved it for posterity: Interstellar
Overdrive. As far as some insiders know: EMI still hasn't bought the
tape and a second round of negotiations is underway. The owner, Anders
Lind, insists on a 'use it or loose it' clause in the contract, meaning
that EMI will be legally obliged to release the concert in order to keep
the rights. To be continued... Update 2011 11 06: Yeeshkul has
now weeded the audience recording of the audience recording... (after
'insiders' had heard from the Pink Floyd camp that an official release
of this tape seems improbable, due to the lack of vocals) Update
2016 11 11: the Gyllene Cirkeln tape has found a legal release on the
Pink Floyd compilation Early Years: Supererog/Ation:
skimming The Early Years.
The Anchor wishes to thank: Göran Nyström, dallasman, krackers,
moonwall, motoriksymphonia, xpkfloyd, zag and the other lovely people at
Y.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Business as usual at The Anchor. Felix Atagong, that old
drunk hippie, was sitting at the bar, ogling some of the mojito
girls eagerly discussing Justin Bieber's posterior. At his fifth
Guinness Felix usually starts to get all glazzy eyed and wants to start
a Pink Floyd fight. Most of the time it suffices to name-drop Rob
Chapman to make Atagong throw a tantrum, but there weren't enough
spectators today to make this trick worthwhile.
"Alex", he said, "Did I already tell you that David
Gilmour wore a Guinness
t-shirt during the 1974 French tour, just to piss off their sponsor Gini?"
I pretended not having heard this story a dozen times before.
"In 1972", he orated, "Pink
Floyd signed a lucrative publicity contract with Gini, a French übersweet
soft drink. The band went to the Moroccan desert where they had some shots
taken by photographer William Sorano, a fact not a lot of people know
of." Felix likes to brag a lot, especially when he gets a bit light in
the head.
"Of course Pink Floyd wasn't a millionaire's super group yet when they
agreed with the deal. They liked to describe themselves as an
underground art band and only the French were daft enough to believe
that. British have this national sport to fool the French and for three
full decades those have thought that 'pink floyd' was English for 'flamant
rose' or 'pink flamingo'. That rumour was started on the mainland by
journalist Jean Marie Leduc after he returned from a trip to London in
sixty-seven. Asking a freaked-out acid head what a pink floyd
really meant he turned into the proverbial sitting duck and eagerly
swallowed the bait."
The Pink Floyd ballet (Roland Petit).
"So whenever Pink Floyd wanted to get arty-farty they only had to hop
into the nearest ferry to Calais where they were hauled in as national
heroes. One of their sillier projects was to play behind a bunch of men
in tights, jumping up and down in an uncoördinated way, and calling that
a ballet. Of course there was a kind of 'intellectual snobbery' involved
in this all, but even more the Pink Floyd's fine taste for champagne and
oysters that was invariably hauled in by the bucket." Felix had
certainly reached lift-off and would be raving and drooling now for at
least the next half hour to come."
"Another project was the soundtrack for the art movie La
Vallée, a typical French vehicle for long pseudo philosophical
musings about the richness of primitive culture and the sudden urge of a
French bourgeois woman to hug some trees and to hump the local Crocodile
Dundee. Part of the movie is in the kind of English that would turn
Inspector Clouseau green with envy. What does one expects from a bunch
of hippies, making a tedious long journey to a mythical valley they call
'obscured by cloud' (not 'clouds')?"
La Vallée, end scene.
"The hidden valley is supposed to be a paradise and the story sounds
like a cheap rehash of the ridiculous Star Trek episode, The
Way To Eden. Over the years journalists and biographers have
rumoured that the movie is saved by showing a fair amount of frolicking
in the nude, but it miserably fails in that department as well. Quite
unusual for a French movie of the early seventies, I might add, as the
cinematographic intellectual trend was to show the female form in all
its variety. The only bush that can be seen is the New Guinean forest
unfortunately."
"Obviously the Floyd couldn't resist this challenge and helped by the
easy money soundtracks brought in they were wheeled into a château
with a stock of red wine and boeuf bourguignon. Two weeks later
they emerged with one of their finest albums ever." Atagong took another
drink and belched loudly. This had only been the introduction, I feared,
I was right.
Pink Floyd 'Gini' Tour.
"Rick Wright recalls in a 1974 Rock & Folk interview how
their manager Steve
O'Rourke met a bloke on a French beach, waving a fifty thousand
British pounds check in front of him. O'Rourke frantically jumped up and
down, like a dancer from a French avant-garde ballet dancing troupe,
making hysterically pink flamingo quacking sounds. Little did he know
this was going to be first time in Floydian history that the band didn't
manage to trick the French, a tradition that started in 1965 when Syd
Barrett and David Gilmour busked the French Riviera. Of course it is
easy to say in retrospect O'Rourke was duly screwed 'up the khyber'
by the Gini coöperation, but in 1972 it appeared not to be such a bad
deal after all. Part of the deal was that Gini promised to sponsor a
French tour, including radio and television promo spots that
unfortunately have not survived into the 21st century."
"The main problem was that in 1973 Pink Floyd suddenly turned into
millionaire superstars thanks to Dark Side Of The Moon and that
50,000 pounds was now something they spent on breakfast orange juice.
But Gini, waving with the two years old contract, threatened with legal
action and the Floyd reluctantly agreed to meet the conditions."
Gini promo girl.
"In the summer of 1974 Floyd hit France and wherever they appeared a
publicity caravan of 15 people would follow them. It had cute girls who
gave Gini drinks, stickers and fluorescent t-shirts away, 4 'easy
riders' on 750 cc super-choppers
(painted by Jean-Paul
Montagne) and a green 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver
Wraith (numberplate: 567 AAF 75) with a loud stereo installation.
Rumours go that at a certain point the atmosphere was so heated between
the Pink Floyd management and Gini that a minimum distance between band
and publicity people had to be agreed on. But according to Nick Mason,
in his auto-biography Inside Out, it was only the band that got
infuriated, the technical crew quite enjoyed the promo girls and they
exchanged more than soft drinks alone."
"French journalists immediately accused Pink Floyd of a sell-out and the
band rapidly declared that the money was going to charity, something in
the line of a school for handicapped children. Rock & Folk squeezed out
the names of the Ronald
Laing Association and the French hôpital
de Salpêtrière, but reality may have been a bit different.
Nick Mason told Mojo's Mark
Blake this summer that they probably just shelved the money,
although David Gilmour and Roger Waters still keep up it was donated.
Rest me to say that Waters was so angry at the situation that he wrote
an unpublished song about the Gini incident, titled Bitter Love
(aka 'How Do You Feel')." Felix Atagong paused a bit, to have a drink,
so this was a moment for immediate action.
"Out!", I said, "The Anchor is closed."
"But", retaliated the Reverend, "this was just a mere introduction to
start talking about the Wish You Were Here Immersion set that has
just been issued and I would like to say something more about the 1967 Stockholm
Gyllene
Cirkeln show that has finally been weeded out to the public..."
"Out!", I said again, "There is no time for your drunken ramblings any
more."
I pushed Felix Atagong out of the door and I heard him staggering back
home, murmuring incomprehensible things. He'll be back tomorrow anyway.
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations have
been enlarged for satirical purposes.) The Anchor wishes to thank:
Nipote and PF Chopper at Y.
Sources (other than the above internet links): Blake, Mark: Pigs
Might Fly, Aurum Press Limited, London, 2007, p. 179-183, 214. Blake,
Mark: Lost In Space, Mojo 215, October 2011, p. 85. Feller,
Benoît: Complet, Rock & Folk, Paris, July 1974, p. 44. Leduc,
Jean-Marie: Pink Floyd, Editions Albin Michel, Paris, 1982, p.
125. Mason, Nick: Inside Out, Orion Books, London, 2011
reissue, p. 197-198. (unknown): La "caravane" Pink Floyd-Gini,
Hit Magazine, Paris, July 1974.
One of the promo Pink Floyd Gini choppers is still around today and has
its own Facebook page: The
Pink Floyd Chopper.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Obviously Felix Atagong returned the next afternoon to that safe heaven
that is The Anchor
for his alcoholic needs. "I am still pissed off at you, Alex
Fagoting", he snarled, "for throwing me out last night." "Here's
a Guinness on the house.", I lied, pretending I would not note it down
on his bill. "Simply get pissed instead." He laughed and as if nothing
had happened he just continued his story after his first gulp of the day.
Rule #1: a good barkeeper always listens to his customer, but in this
case I was humming along while Al
Stewart crooned on the background.
"There is this big ambiguity about the Floyd.", Felix started, "In the
early seventies they were aspiring leftist rock stars, playing the
French communist (and frankly Stalinist) party parties. But at the same
time there are these legendary stories about their royalties' catfights.
Waters always nagging and later getting 50 percent for his sixth grade
pubertal poetry alone and even then whining about his part for the
composition as well. In the theoretical (and highly improbable) case
that all four members would get even shares this benefited Waters with
62 and a half percent with the others only earning 12 and a half percent
each. Not bad for a rock star who bragged in the press about his social
housing projects."
"In reality poor Mason only got the crumpets and even these were later
regretted by the so-called socialist activist who Roger pretended he
was. One could paraphrase George
Orwell here: 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal
than others.' Waters would later beg, borrow or steal Orwell's socialist
allegory for the Animals album, not realising the ironic fact
that by then he had become the upper-pig of the band."
"We all know the story how Clare
Torry was only paid 30£ for her contribution on The
Great Gig In The Sky, something that would give her headaches
for years to come. And Alan
Parsons was only getting his EMI salary for his tremendous work on (The)
Dark Side Of The Moon, much to his dismay. Even after Pink Floyd
had become a financial dinosaur, with an annual turnover that would make
some African countries jealous, they were too greedy to give a free copy
of the album to the kids singing on Another
Brick In The Wall, until the press got hold of it."
Brothers in cash.
"Excusez-moi, Felix.", I said, "But I see some pretty girls
who want my attention." On Wednesday afternoon the Barrett Ladies Club
meets at The Anchor. First they squabble about the pancakes they are
going to order and will argue over the fact that they (the pancakes, not
the women... yet) have not been sufficiently soaked in Grand
Marnier. After a while the grannies start discussing about the exact
type of colour Syd Barrett's floor boards were painted in, a somewhat
pointless discussion if you ask me, as in 42 years of time they still
haven't reached a consensus. You can only join the Barrett Ladies Club
if you know what special birthmark Syd Barrett had and on what buttock
it could be found, leaving out all the groovy chicks who had just been
passing by for some quick plating...
After the ladies had been supplied with the food and drink (coffee and a
thimbleful of eggnog) I returned to the bar where Felix had been
contemplating his miserable life in silence. With a little luck he would
have continued his inner monologue and not take off from where I had
left him.
Nick Mason miniature car.
"Since Nick Mason admitted he was officially in the recycling business I
have the utmost respect for him.", Atagong orated. "Even when he tries
to sell miniature cars with his signature on. I love his no-nonsense
style. While David 'the sound' and Roger 'the genius' are continually
trying to convince the public that they and they alone are Pink Floyd
Nick gets in 'with a wit drier than an AA clinic' (to quote novelist Kathy
Lette). But although Gilmour and Waters are like fire and water...
they sound unexpectedly in perfect unison when it comes to grab into the
fan's pockets. I suppose that Gilmour is a bit short of cash now that
his stepson has been sentenced to pick up the leftover soap in a British
prison. And Waters has just married again for the fourth time and Viagra
comes expensive nowadays."
I gave a wry smile but Felix couldn't be stopped.
"Even 37 years after the facts Waters and Gilmour try to be politically
correct and claim they gave the 1974 Gini-money
to charity, but Mason just adds: 'We shelved the cash, point.' Mason
also agrees that this is probably the last time in history that they
will be able to sell hardware to the fans (meaning CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray
disks) rather than downloadable bits and bytes. And by selling these
ridiculously expensive collector's boxes record companies and artists
have found a new way of income. Pink Floyd could've taken an example to
Elvis Costello who openly asks his fans not
to buy his latest record at such a ridiculous price..."
"What's the problem then with these Immersion boxes", I asked, "apart
from the price?"
"They are a fucking disgrace!", shouted Atagong, so loud that one of the
Barrett Gang Bang girls nearly choked on a profiterole.
"Let's start with Dark Side Of The Moon, shall we? How many CD-reissues
of that album have we already had? Who knows? Four, five? And all of
them have been remastered. Are we talking here about one of the best
rock albums of all times or does EMI considers Dark Side Of The Moon a
new brand of washing powder? An ameliorated version every few years to
keep on washing their dirty laundry whiter than white? Does it mean that
the earlier versions were all rubbish if the Floyd annex EMI feel the
need to keep on going remastering them? On top of that the 6 disks in
the Moon-box are highly repetitive...."
"That is quite obvious.", I retaliated, "It's all about the Dark Side,
isn't it?" Felix pointed his finger at a few millimetres from my nose. "Don't
try to be a smart-ass, lad.", he threatened. "That is not what I mean."
He looked for and unfortunately found a paper inside his jacket. "I have
it all written down for you.", he sycophantically whispered.
Pigs - three different ones
"The Dark Side Of The Moon Immersion set has a DVD and a Blu-ray with
multi-channel audio mixes of the album. The 1973 quad mix can be found
in 448 kbps, 640 kbps and a 96kHZ/24bit version. If you ask me that is
three times the same goody good bullshit. Also the 5.1 surround mix is
three times in the box. The Wish You Were Here Immersion set has one
disk less than the Dark Side box but EMI still found it necessary to
keep going on with their continuous repetition: also here the quad and
5.1 mixes have been inserted three times. But that is not all. For a set
that costs the fan an arm and a leg they have been scandalously
designed, packed and transported."
Dislocated Immersion CDs.
The Great Rock'N Roll Swindle
"Several buyers noticed that their disks contained fingerprints although
the boxes arrived sealed. I don't give a fuck if EMI uses Korean
child-slaves to pack these items but for 120 Euro a piece I would like
them to have fat-free fingers. My Immersion boxes arrived with the disks
at the bottom dislodged and with scratches that must have arrived
somewhere during transport."
"The novelty extras are quite tacky. A separate envelope with a
facsimile of a Pink Floyd gig entrance card is something you might pay
50 cents for, but not a lot more. And what to think of the marbles, the
scarf and the carton toasters in each box... it feels cheap but alas
your wallet reveals it isn't."
"I would like to know who is the EMI fuckwit who decided to package the
Dark Side Of The Moon marbles separately in bubble-wrap, but agreed to
have the disks attached in such a flimsy way that at the lightest shock
they start to travel on their own. Did you understand the music, EMI, or
was it all in vain? I know of one customer who had the guts to have 6
Immersion boxes opened in the store before he found one with undamaged
disks!"
We're only in it for the money
"And it isn't finished yet. The encrypted Blu-ray disks refuse to play
on most PCs. There seems to be a valid technical reason for that, driver
issues and so on, but in my opinion EMI deliberately issued a disk that
can only be played on stand-alone players, attached to a TV-set. If
other companies can manufacture Blu-rays that play faultless on a PC,
why not EMI?"
"On top of that the Wish You Were Here Blu-ray, in most European boxes,
has several audible glitches in the 5.1 Surround Mix at the end of Shine
On You Crazy Diamond and on other tracks as well. At 120 Euro a box
these sets are clearly a rip-off, but even at that price EMI fails to
provide us with unscratched and undamaged disks. The only question that
one can ask is indeed: Why
Pink Floyd? Why EMI? For fuck sake, why?"
Lucky for me at that moment one of the Barrett ladies started strangling
another one so I had an excuse to leave Felix behind in his misanthropic
misery.
Dark Side of The Moon fantasy (top picture), based upon a desktop image
from an unknown fan.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
I can personally testify that Pink Floyd was a mythical band in the
mid-Seventies, even in dreary Belgium. During the breaks in the school
yard, where we would try to hide the cigarette smoke from the teachers,
we invariably discussed serious rock music business, and you couldn't
get more serious than Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, Genesis, Van Der
Graaff Generator and occasionally Kraftwerk. But the top band on the
mythological scale was without doubt: the Pink Floyd.
Not only was their band name medieval English for 'pink flute'
(in medieval Dutch a flute was written and pronounced 'floite' or
'fluyte') and as such a mild euphemism for a certain male body
part we were slightly getting aware of, but it was also rumoured that
Pink Floyd was largely a psychedelic drugs-band. They had a mansion on a
Greek island where anybody could go on a holiday and get all the sex,
drugs and rock'n roll you wanted for free. Which was pretty close to
heaven for the 14-years old hormone driving things we were.
France
I guess that every country must have their own local Floydian legends.
This blog has already written a couple of times
about the French who thought until the mid-Nineties (!) that Pink Floyd
was the English for pink flamingo. All this can be traced back to a
uni-lingual journalist, Jean-Marie Leduc, who mistook the Pink Flamingo club
for the Pink Floyd band, probably in 1967. Another one of this
man's silly mistakes was to note down in the Floyd's first biography
ever that they had recorded a single called 'Apologies', a Frenglish
misunderstanding of 'Apples and Oranges'. A decade later people were
still looking for this non-existing track, including yours truly. (More
info here: Si
les cochons pourraient voler...)
Obviously Syd participates a great deal in these Floydian myths. A very
ardent one was the strong belief that there was a third Syd Barrett solo
album lying in the vaults of EMI. I still have a vinyl bootleg that
promised to be just that although it was quite disappointing when I put
it on my turntable.
Spain
But this week, thanks to Babylemonade Flowers, I came across an
Iberian Floydian legend about a third Barrett album recorded in a
Spanish monastery. It is an urban rock-legend over there (and also in
South America) and as far as I know it has never crossed the language
barrier. I was totally unaware of it but a few Spanish, Galician (and
even Italian) blogs and forums have dedicated some space to it. The
following text is an adaptation / translation of what could be found so
far and they are presented here as such. Not one single letter has been
verified for its authenticity. The copyrights of these texts belong to
the original authors (see source listing at the bottom). Translation
mistakes, typos and all possible errors are entirely the responsibility
of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit and/or the Anchor.
Oseira.
Lunatic on Spanish grass
In 1978 a bootlegger from A
Coruña pressed 20 vinyl copies of a tape that was handed over
to her by a monk of the Monastery of Santa
María la Real of Oseira. The (original) tape in question
contained some unreleased Syd Barrett songs, given to the monk by the
madcap himself when he stayed there in 1976 or 1977.
The album was titled 'Spanishgrass - veinte canciones sobre el
espacio y la siesta'. Apparently that was the explanation Syd
Barrett gave when the monk asked him what the songs were about: twenty
songs about 'space' and the daily siesta.
Unfortunately Spanishgrass is nowhere to be found. The only edition of
the album, limited to 20 copies on the Nonsense Music record
label, was a present from Gem Noya to her closest friends. Before
they received the record they had to sign a letter promising they would
not distribute or duplicate the material. Noya gave the record as a
leaving present, before retiring to a Buddhist community in Pokhara
(Nepal), where she possibly still resides.
According to sources close to her family, she burned the original (and
only) tape and threw the ashes on the beach of Carnota,
near the Monte
Pindo mountain. In 1983, three of the songs from the Spanishgrass
album were exceptionally played on 'El Lado Salvaje' (The Wild Side), a
radio show produced by a local FM radio station in A Coruña. (Note:
nobody seems to remember the name of that radio station apparently.)
The album's songs are musically innocent, with simple guitar
arrangements. Barrett is almost always strumming a single chord, but the
lyrics are interesting: ranging from surreal humour on 'Mouse After A
Fête' and 'Two bangers + mash' to pentecostal mysticism, with quotations
from ancient Welsh bards songs and extracts from Robert
Graves' The
White Goddess, a work the English musician consulted in the Oseira
library.
Another book that influenced Barrett for his song-cycle was Imaginary
Lives by Marcel
Schwob. Three songs are about characters that can be found in the
book: William
Phips, Stede
Bonnet and Gabriel
Spenser. On top of that, Barrett was captivated by the poems of Alvaro
Cunqueiro in his book Herba
aquí ou acolá and recorded some tracks in Galician: 'Eu
son Dagha', 'Na outra banda' and 'Un poeta esquece os
días de chuvia'. (Note: it is not explained how
Barrett learned to read and speak Galician.)
Although it has not been confirmed and the monks of Oseira keep quiet
out of respect for their guests, Barrett met and befriended the British
writer Graham
Greene, a regular visitor of the monastery from the early seventies
until his death in 1991.
Oseira monastery.
The madcap trails
It is believed Barrett went to Spain for two consecutive years (1976 and
1977). He travelled anonymously, often hitch-hiking or using public
transport through Andalusia,
Extremadura
and Galicia.
He was on his own and his luggage was as scarce as revealing: a
backpack, an acoustic guitar and the complete works of William
Blake. In one of his travels he discovered what would become his
private retreat in the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, the
Monastery of Oseira.
Nestled in a solitary canyon at the municipality of San
Cristovo de Cea (Ourense), the twelfth century Royal Monastery of
Santa Maria de Oseira was the first Spanish monastery of the Cistercian
monastic order, founded in 1098 as a radical alternative to the
aristocratic order of Cluny. The Cistercians practised Christian
friendship, poverty and mythic culture, and retreated from the world, in
locations far from roads and towns.
Syd Barrett was immediately fascinated by the charm of the secluded
place, the silent evolution of the monastic life and the monks'
hospitality. He stayed in one of the monastic guest-cells during four
months of 1976 (September-December) and three months in the following
year (April to June). He only left the monastery to wander the hills
nearby where he liked two places, Chaira, a wide panoramic grassy
terrace situated on nearly 1,200 feet high, and Penedo, a ridge
shaded by chestnut trees.
In Oseira, Barrett wrote and recorded numerous songs on a cheap cassette
player. He sat in the courtyard of the monastery, often at siesta time,
and sang softly, accompanied by his guitar, afraid to disturb the monks.
The sound of the recording is technically weak, but is appealing from a
poetic perspective: his voice is filtered through the wind and the
bubbling of the water in the nearby well.
Graham Greene with Leopold Durán in Oseira.
Simone Saibene: an investigation in 2011
In 2011 Simone Saibene decided to investigate this myth and he
has published his findings on the Duellanti
blog. The underneath text is a (shortened) rendition, the parts were the
author just repeats the above story have been omitted:
Some time ago a Carballiño friend told me that this story was not an
urban legend as it would seem at first. I was perplexed and intrigued,
and after a couple of months I decided to try to find out the truth.
Syd Barrett seems to have spent two holidays in the Cistercian monastery
of Oseira (Ourense), the first between September and December of 1976
and the second between April and June, the following year. Influenced by
the archaic beauty of the place, Barrett wrote "twenty songs about its
location and the siesta". The tracks are yet unreleased and have been
recorded in a very rudimentary way.
3 songs from Spanishgrass have been aired in the early eighties by a
radio station and those listening that day have declared that the
one-chord songs had no arrangements and were not particularly bright.
In contrast, the texts were more interesting, ranging from surrealist
humour to mysticism. What you can find on the net is the transcript of
the story that circulated in pubs at Carballiño
and Ourense
in the eighties. It seems an urban myth, but over the last twenty years
a couple of journalists of La
Voz de Galicia have dealt with the case without finding
confirmations but no denials either. I decided to go hunting for
information and I headed for Oseira.
The monastery is in a secluded valley, about a three-quarters drive from
Ourense. The nearest town in the vicinity is San Cristovo de Cea, famous
for its local bread, with just over 2000 inhabitants and about 10 km of
the monastery. In an atmosphere that invites contemplation and
meditation, I meet a Cistercian monk who is sprinkling the bushes with a
hose. I introduce myself and using the excuse of taking a picture, I ask
him some questions.
Oseira monastery.
I ask him about celebrities who have visited Oseira in the past. He
speaks of the writer Graham Greene and father Leopoldo
Durán, author of a doctoral thesis on power and glory, who
spend some time together. Another guest of the monks was Eduardo
Pérez Maseda, a Spanish composer and essayist. When I ask a
direct question about Syd Barrett the monk smiles:
"I remember him. He was a young Englishman, not Catholic, who always had
a guitar with him." I ask for other details. "When I met Barrett," he
says, "I had only recently entered the community of the Oseira monks. I
saw him for the first time when I passed the cell where he was staying.
He had left the door open. As I walked through the hallway, I peeked
inside.
Syd Barrett sat in front of his desk, he was writing, there were papers
scattered everywhere... He did not turn around after my greeting. I
guess that he was composing at the time. A few days later, he showed up
and told me he was English and a musician.”
I ask the monk if Barrett recorded songs in those days. He replies that
he has never witnessed that, but notes that he had no idea who Barrett
really was at that time: "A few years later some youngsters arrived at
the monastery, asking around... that's when I realized that he was a
famous person..." He continues: "None of these fans were Catholic, they
took drugs and were convinced that the monastery was a fun place to be,
like a nightclub to smoke marijuana. That's not how you act... are you
Catholic?"
Before the conversation takes another turn, I ask for permission to use
his name for my article. "Absolutely not! I should not even be here
talking to you about these things! This is up to the abbot, my
superior..."
We greet each other cordially. I continue my visit with the guide who
takes tourists (there aren't that many, to be honest) into the
monastery. He is a monk of more or less my age. At the end of the visit
I ask him for news about Barrett. He replies: “Yes, there is
documentation that proves he stayed here.", but adds that "The monks
have stored everything away." They have been forced to deny the reports
circulating on the former Pink Floyd member because of the numerous fans
who had begun to siege the monastery in the eighties and nineties.
Moreover, according to the archives, Barrett may not have been visiting
Oseira in the seventies, but in the early eighties. Then he confirms
that "...in the monastery there are unreleased recordings of Barrett." I
thank the young monk for the information and head back to Ourense.
The day after I still doubt whether this is a legend or not, even if the
witnesses that I found seemed to be convincing. Truthful or not, the
story is almost unbelievable but still worth of being reported.
Oseira art.
Too much monk's business
Here is a list of alleged tracks (some in Galician) on the Syd Barrett Spanishgrass
album. (Note: it has not been revealed where this information
comes from).
1 Manantial. (Translation: Spring) 2 Reverential mourners. 3 Black
maid. 4 Plastic gunpowder. 5 Mouse after a fête. 6
Breakwater and tea. 7 Grey tress. 8 Two bangers + mash. 9
Whining at the moon. 10 Greenland. 11 Eu son Dhaga. (Translation:
I am Dhaga) 12 Na outra banda. (Translation: On the other hand) 13
Un poeta esquece os días de chuvia. (Translation: A poet forgets the
rainy days) 14 Saturnalia. 15
William Phips. 16 Stede Bonnet. 17 Gabriel Spenser. 18 Gospel
at noon. 19 Waste deep. 20 Frog.
Oseira well.
Ramjur: a visit in 2006
On the Infomusic
forum Ramjur wrote about his visit to the monastery. Some parts
that are merely repeating the above facts have been omitted.
One day in a relaxed talk with Zappamacías (?!) we started about Syd
Barrett, who is believed to have had an extraordinary adventure in
Spain. This is a personal experience rather than precise information or
a review from a a non-existent disk.
In summer 2006 we went on holiday with a couple of families from Malaga
to the north of the peninsula: Salamanca, Leon, and Cantabria, Orense,
Oseira. We spend three days in a fantastic and huge Cistercian monastery
in a wonderful mountainous enclave.
There were about 20 visitors and we got together for lunch and – for
those willing to join - religious services. This was the only time we
could meet with the monks. Among the visitors were also some people who
were there for religious or meditating reasons. During the meal I got
into conversation with a priest on the most diverse issues, including
music. I can't remember all details any more but suddenly he asked: “Do
you like Pink Floyd?”
I was amused and I said 'naturally' as I have their records and stuff
but his next question was: “Do you know Syd Barrett then?” I stopped
eating and looked at him closely. That he knew Pink Floyd was not so
strange in itself, he was a man of the world and Pink Floyd are well
known after all, but Syd Barrett?
I began to inquire what he knew and talked about Barrett's solo albums,
but then he surprised me: “Do you know his record Spanishgrass?” I asked
if it was a live bootleg, and he said 'no', these were new songs and
some were sung in Galician! (I had to laugh - the monastery wine was
really good.)
I told him I was totally unaware of that record. Then he dropped the big
one: “Do you know that Syd Barrett was here twice?” From my facial
expression he realized that I no longer believed him. I had read
somewhere before that there had been rumours of Barrett staying in a
Spanish monastery, but all that seemed far-fetched. But he said: “If we
meet at the next meal I'll show you an article.”
The next day he showed me an article from a newspaper that told the
history of Barrett and his album Spanishgrass, he gave it to me and I
have it at home, but I cannot find it! (Note: it has been
confirmed to the Anchor that articles have indeed appeared in the
Spanish (music) press about this.)
Needless to say that after this nice story (which still doesn't mean it
is real) I was very impressed. I noted with some certainty that the
monks were quite reserved on the matter of Syd Barrett and the pilgrim
who gave me the newspaper article did not know much more (or would not
tell me). But one guide showing visitors around that day said that Syd
Barrett had been one of the 'distinguished visitors' of the monastery
together with Graham Greene.
A Genius At Oseira
We end this post with a 2006 article from the Galician newspaper La
Voz de Galicia:
There is a legend that says that Syd Barrett visited the monastery of
Oseira after retiring from the music business. The story circulated
quietly in Carballiño in the eighties and, to add some extra
confirmation, everyone noted that in the bar next to the monastery there
was a Pink Floyd album that had been given by Syd Barrett himself to the
innkeeper.
So far for the story... that may well be continued in later articles...
The above article is entirely based upon unverified 'facts' or rumours
that have been published in Spanish, Galician and Italian articles. Many
thanks to: Babylemonade Flowers, Antonio Jesús and the correspondents at
the underneath forums and blogs.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Warning: Mr. Roger Waters sometimes uses strong language in the
underneath article.
Roger Waters (2012).
When I opened the Anchor this morning I thought I saw a beggar leaning
against the door post. I took a broom to wipe the scruffy looking
scum-bag away, but I discovered just in time it was none other than...
Roger Waters.
“Come in here, Roger”, I said, “long time no see”, which is practically
a blatant lie as I had never seen him in my entire life. “Thanks,
Sylvester”, he replied, which was weird as well, as Sylvester isn't my
name but the name of the dude who used to have The Anchor in the early
sixties. By the looks of it Roger Waters was on an Alzheimer-induced
trip through memory lane.
Roger sat in front of me while I tried starting a conversation:
“Hello...you wanna cup of coffee?” He just sat there with
wild staring eyes, so I repeated: “I'm sorry, would you like a cup of
coffee?” This time he nodded and for a moment I thought this
bloke was even more bonkers than Syd Barrett who used to lick the chalk
at the snooker table if you didn't stop him in time: “Ok, you take cream
and sugar?”
Waters took a sip of his coffee and he looked as if he really didn't
want to be there, wherever that might be. It is a good rule for a
bartender to leave a client in peace, if he wants so, or to have a vivid
conversation, if he wants so too. I decided, against my intuition, to
have another go: “What a show, hey, yesterday night.”
IOC flying pig.
“Yeah, thanks”, he murmured. Waters had probably misunderstood me and
thought I had asked him about one of his Wall shows that he has been
performing for the fifth consecutive year now.
“No, that is not what I mean, Mister Waters. I meant the Olympics
opening show with all that you touch and all that you see and
things...”
“It's called Eclipse!”,
he snapped, pointing a finger at me: “That whole Olympic opening show
was a rip-off of my work, you hear me. Didn't you see the James
Bond sequence where the helicopter flies over Battersea
Power Station. What did you see, boy, tell me, what did you see?”
“Did I have to see something?”, I asked. I honestly had no idea what he
was talking about. I had watched the show with one eye, finding it a
load of pretentious crap, and I switched it off when Mike
Oldfield and his band started playing Tubular
Bells, sounding as if it came out of a tin box.
“I'll show you.”, he said and pressed an iPhone under my nose, “It's on
YouTube. Here.
You see this helicopter fly over Battersea that has a Pink Floyd pig
between its chimneys and then it passes next to Big
Ben with the ticking clocks from my brilliant master-work Time.”
All I could see was a black screen with a warning:
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by International Olympic Committee.
IOC flying pig.
“As a matter of fact, it's all dark to me.”, I answered. Roger Waters
turned the iPhone around and screamed one of his screams that make his
solo albums such a blazing success. He pushed the screen as if it was
fabricated by Play-Doh.
“Andre!”, he shouted, “Get me the top buffoon of the Olympics, that
crazy hand-clapping Belgian who was standing next to the old bat!
...Where I am, doesn't matter where I am, just get me that wimp!”
Suddenly he remembered that I was still standing behind the bar as well.
“How dare they, a fucking copyright claim by the fucking International
Olympic Committee. It is my fucking pig, I tell you, and my
fucking clocks!”
He pressed the phone again and had his personal secretary in a matter of
seconds: “Andre! Check our lawyer if that creepy Danny
Boyle person has asked permission to use my pig and my
clocks... What do you mean... an academy award winner? Isn't it already
bad enough that McDonald's
forces the visitors of the games to eat their crap at gunpoint?” I
always thought it was physically impossible to smash down an iPhone but
Roger Waters apparently succeeded in doing just that.
Olympic Pyramids.
“Did you know,”, Roger said to me, “that the Olympic show has been
co-produced by Mark
Fisher. The same Mark Fisher who would still be selling fish and
chips if I wouldn't have hired him to supervise the inflatables during
the Animals
tour? Seems that he has being borrowing from my impressive portfolio as
well.”
I opened my mouth, but before a first syllable could escape, Roger's
phone rang.
“Yeah Andre... mmh... mmh... mmh.” Waters listened attentively to what
was said at the other side. Suddenly his voice turn into a soft
grumbling. “The International Olympic Committee didn't ask Roger
Waters Ltd for an authorisation to use the pig. Fine, let's close
down their circus then... that will learn them...”
From where I was standing I could hear his secretary trying to get a
message through to his boss. Suddenly Roger's eyes went very dark: “They
have asked Pink Floyd (1987) Ltd for an authorisation... what...
do... they... have... to... do... with... my... pig...”
I have once read in a magazine that just before a tornado hits your
chicken shack it gets awfully quiet. Roger Waters was awfully quiet now.
A good bartender knows what he has to do to prevent a row, so I tried to
divert from the subject: “Now that you mention it, those rows of beds in
the stadium made me think of Pink Floyd as well.”
Rejected Animals cover.
“What the fuck a bed has got to do with my work of genius?”, he snorted,
“As far as I know no bed has ever been used on a Pink Floyd album. Silly Storm
tried once, but he couldn't stand up against my pig. Nobody can stand up
against my pig.”
He smiled a big smile, so my trick did work apparently.
“But you are right, the bed thing that was supposedly about the National
Health Service stole most of its imagery from me. Suddenly the
stadium, with its pyramidalDark
Side of the Moon light towers, was surrounded by a pulsating heart-beat
like the Hipgnosis
artwork that has been done under my intelligent guidance. Some minutes
later giant inflatable marionettes, not unlike my teacher from my
Wall, descended from the sky. Poor Gerald
Scarfe, he would still be cutting onion rings in a Soho Chop Soy
dump if I hadn't employed him on the Wish
You Were Here tour.”
He sighed a heavy sigh: “It's awfully difficult to be a genius,
Sylvester, but I cope with it rather well.”
Suddenly three men, dressed in white, jumped in the pub. They
immediately froze when they saw the man sitting in front of me and
slowly walked to him. “Come in here, dear boy.”, one of them smoothly
said, “We have to fly you back for your show in Santiago de Chile
tonight.”
“Daddy, I wanna go home...”, Roger cried and for a nanosecond I pitied
him. “Hush now baby, don't you cry”, said nurse #1, nodding to nurse #2
who had prepared an injectant. “Just a little pinprick, Roger, to keep
you going for the show.” Two of them grabbed Roger Waters under his
shoulders and dragged him out of the pub, his feet sliding over the
Anchor's polished floor.
I could swear I heard a copter leaving off a few minutes later, but
perhaps this was my imagination. But what I do know with certainty is
that nobody bothered to pay me for the coffee.
(The above article is not entirely based upon facts and some situations
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
Many thanks to: 2braindamage, Bloco do Pink Floyd, Matt, NPF.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
When the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit got hold of an Iberian Floydian
legend, thanks to a Mexican Syd Barrett fan, the Reverend's alter ego, Alex
Fagotin, spend a couple of days searching the Internet for clues and
started to translate half a dozen of Spanish, Galician and Italian
webpages about the subject. According to these articles Syd Barrett had
stayed in a Spanish monastery where he had recorded a third solo album
called Spanishgrass.
If you missed it, you can still consult the original article here: Spanishgrass
or Syd Barrett's lost Spanish record.
In May 2012 the Holy Church published excerpts from these articles 'as
such' under the satirical 'The
Anchor' banner. Authenticity warnings were put at the beginning and
end of the article and it was made clear throughout the text that the
story was an urban
legend that had thrived in Spain around the Eighties and was still
discussed on Internet fora today.
Only a fool would believe this was a true story, but unfortunately the
Internet ans especially Syd Barrett's anoraky fandom is a fool's oasis.
La Naval.
Investigative Journalism
Some airheads immediately accused the Church of deliberately spreading
around false information, even going as far as claiming it had a hidden
agenda. As if blogging about 'Paul
is Dead' would automatically mean that you believe it. Several
Spanish speaking friends, however, were glad about the article and
informed the Reverend that the Spanish press had indeed written about
Syd Barrett overwintering in a monastery in Oseira.
Once again we repeat for those pigheaded readers that The Anchor, the
Church's satirical division, didn't start this hoax. The Anchor
merely reported about it, with a twenty five years delay. Unfortunately
nobody could lead us to the origin of the hoax and our research lead to
nothing.
This is when Barrett investigator Antonio Jesus, of Solo
En Las Nubes, came into the picture. He decided to get to the bottom
of this using his (Spanish) network of Barrett and Pink Floyd fans.
After some exhaustive research he not only found the article that may
have started the Spanishgrass
legend but even contacted the journalist who wrote it. This first
follow-up article is largely based upon his findings.
A warning for our fast food readers, what follows is rather long, even
for people who are used to The Anchor's long-windedness.
Solo en las Nubes. La
Naval.
Un canto a Galicia
In 1978 (ratified in 1981) Spanish region Galicia
acquired a partial self-governance with its own president, parliament
and court. This created a change in cultural and political awareness,
fed by local television, press and organisations who wanted to cut the
umbilical cord with Madrid. This was later baptised the Atlantic
movement.
Journalist and musician of the influential Galician post-punk band Radio
Océano, Xosé
Manuel Pereiro, better known as Johnny Rotring, witnessed the
birth of it: “Everyday new things were happening and you had the feeling
that everything could pass.” A crucial turning point seems to have been
a concert of The
Ramones in November 1981 that showed that there was a growing
contemporaneous underground scene outside traditional Spanish folklore.
Leading Spanish newspaper El País wrote that it was a cultural awakening
that buried 40 years of ostracism and dictatorship.
Franco's Legacy
In 2013 it seem weird that a concert of The Ramones would mark a turning
point in the cultural history of a European country. To better
understand this we have to start with a brief history lesson.
After the second world war fascism was abolished in Europe with one
exception, Spain, where dictator Francisco Franco would rule until his
death in 1975. Although Richard Nixon called General Franco 'a loyal
friend and ally of the United States' it can't be denied that the
dictator ruled harshly over his country, helped by the influential
Catholic Church, the army and the police. European and American
politicians however opportunistically regarded Franco as an enlightened
leader and closed their eyes for the less friendly aspects of the regime.
This included the systematic suppression of dissident views through
censorship and coercion, the imprisonment of ideological enemies in
concentration camps, the implementation of forced labour in prisons, and
the use of the death penalty and heavy prison sentences as deterrents
for the opponents of the regime. (Taken from Wikipedia.)
After Franco's death democracy slowly settled in, including freedom of
speech, freedom of press and the freedom to listen to subversive music.
Before that, having long hair had been reason enough to be arrested by
the Guardia Civil and be beaten in their cells (with wet towels, to
leave no marks) just for the fun of it, like it was told to the Reverend
by a young dissident who had fled Spain for Belgium in the seventies.
Atlanticism
From rock'n roll awareness, with alternative radio stations and Galician
new wave and post punk bands, the Atlantic movement shifted towards more
critical and political viewpoints, often with an ironic wink. This
resulted into several alternative publications but the one that became
the Atlantic manifesto was La Naval that appeared twice a year in
a circulation of 5000 copies.
La Naval.
La Naval
La Naval managed to unite most participants of 'Atlanticism', from Miguelanxo
Prado over Enrique Ordovás to José Manuel Costa. It only existed for
two years, between 1984 and 1986, but each number announced 'una
visión crítica e irónica de la cultura y la actualidad '
to quote poet Louis
Pereiro, one of its creators.
Its pages offered not only avant-garde Galician samples in art,
literature, music or journalism, but it published self-confident,
humoristic and hilarious articles about non-existent rock bands asking
for parliamentary support, the 'National Cocho Front' forbidding
all derogatory meanings of the word 'pig' and... the diary
entries of a certain Syd Barret (with one T) who allegedly stayed at a
monastery in Oseira.
La Naval, Revista Atlántica, appeared at least four times between 1984
and 1986 (and may not be confused with a few other Spanish magazines
that carry the same title). Not only its countenance was alternative,
but also its dates of apparition and the numbering. Number 0 came out in
November 1984, followed by number 1 in March 1985, a third issue was
numbered 00 in September 1985. The final issue had number 500 and was
released somewhere in Autumn 1986.
That last issue had an article by José
Ángel González, titled: Syd Barret busca en Oseira la
armonía celeste and Antonio Jesús from the Spanish Barrett blog Solo
En Las Nubes was so friendly to scan it in.
So here is, ladies & gentlemen, for the first time translated into
English, the text that probably started the Spanishgrass hoax... (the
scans of the original (Spanish) article can be consulted at our Spanishgrass
library)
Syd Barret busca en Oseira la armonía celeste.
SYD BARRET LOOKING FOR CELESTIAL HARMONY IN OSEIRA
In Oseira
they are getting used to them, both are British, with blue eyes, and
they annually visit the monastery. The novelist Graham
Greene, who prefers the summer and the dry smell of the ground,
scattered with crevices, perhaps mimicking his far-away tropical
experiences when he was working for the Foreign Office. His annual
visits to Oseira, where he is awaited by the monk Leopoldo
Durán, confidant and cicerone of the British master, are
reflected in the novel "Monsignor
Quixote". In one of its pages Greene defines Oseira as "a deserted
island colonized by just a handful of adventurers determined to build a
home on the ruins of a bygone civilization."
Perhaps this same idea was playing in the mind of the monastery's other
annual guest: Syd
Barrett, founder and leader of the group Pink
Floyd that coloured the sixties. One of the legends that
periodically amused the world of 'pop' referred to the premature
retirement of Barrett to a 'Spanish monastery', but hardly anyone
decided to check this at the actual place. Barrett, more wintry than
Greene, annually visited Oseira in the month of December and that since
1968.
The author of the two 'most genuine psychedelic albums of pop', as
quoted by John
Peel when describing 'The Madcap Laughs' and 'Barrett', searched
each year for celestial harmony in Oseira that neither fame nor LSD
could give him.
The village is gloomy, with that special, deep and captivating sadness
that is standard for the northern beauty of Spain. However, the
exception is the monastery 'El Escorial de Galicia', in the great plains
surrounding the sandy slopes of Serra do Faro. For the monks in cyclic
retirement the maelstrom of Oseira is a spiritual refuge.
La Naval: original artwork.
There is also a pub, of course. The 'Sabadelle' is a sad café, with its
original walls in rough granite that have been cemented by poorly
masons. It is a sad place that is in tune with the landscape and its
owner, Arcadio Mourin, admits with watery eyes that he 'has lived for
thirty years in Galicia but has been homesick for Catalonia for at least
twenty'.
From his two Mediterranean decades Mourin keeps a firm disgust for 'Pa amb tomàquet' [traditional dish with bread or
toast with tomato rubbed over and seasoned with olive oil and salt, the
Anchor] and a no less vehement passion for Football
Club Barcelona, evident on the walls of the 'Sabadelle', that is
covered by Blaugrana flags and pictures of 'Lobito' Carrasco.
The bar's decoration is further completed with calendars from Carballiño
and Chantada ironmongers and bazaars that are nailed into the wall next
to a tattered rag that announces a big 'fiesta' in Villamarin.
In a small shed, with a green semi-transparent corrugated plastic roof,
attached to the 'Sabadelle' Arcadio Mourin has installed a youth club
for the town youngsters. They meet on Saturday afternoons to play table
soccer, seven balls for a peseta. Next to the wall is a stack of soft
drink cases and at the other end stands a jukebox, a 'Wurlitzer'
made in 1966, adorned with abundant chrome and painted fuchsia and blue,
a nod towards the preferred soccer team of the owner.
The musical menu of the 'rockola' is renewed every Blue Monday by an
Orense salesman, who also represents a famous brand of biscuits, and his
choice is colourful but commonplace. For a peso you can musically
acclimatise the place with songs of Georgie
Dann, Fuxan
os Ventos, Azul
y Negro, Golpes
Bajos, Xoán
Rubia or Duran
Duran. The least heard song of the entire repertoire of the machine
is identified by the letter B and number 7. Rarely a young man will
decide to spoil a coin on it, perhaps because the small piece of paper
with the title and performer is illegible. But when Arcadio Mourin
permits it, visitors can open the plastic dome of the Wurlitzer and
examine the single in question. It is the only one not coming from the
travelling salesman from Orense and is a British 1967 edition of 'See
Emily Play' and 'Scarecrow', two songs written by Syd Barrett and
performed by the group Pink Floyd.
Jose Ángel González
Interviews
To add further credibility to the article several small interviews and
quotes were added from people who testify about Barrett's yearly trip to
the monastery: Arcadio Mourin (pub owner), Francisco Gasalla (Spanish
friend of Syd Barrett), Leopoldo Durán (Oseira monk), Joe Boyd
(producer), Kurt Digger (journalist), Jo Cannon (lightshow designer),
Robert Wyatt (musician) and Rodney Bennett (movie maker).
A bar in Oseira.
Oseira. 1985 by Arcadio Mourin
We thought he could not speak our language or that he was dumb. Coming
down here almost daily, at nightfall, he took a few glasses of wine
while watching television. (...)
We knew that he lodged at the monastery and that he was an English
countryman and novelist... Sometimes he headed towards Povadura to walk
in the mountains in silent solitude. I think he came here the first time
in '68 or '69 and after that we got used to see him arriving every year,
in early December. Today he is liked much more and he relates more to
the people, but he still leaves after a short time. He gave me a single
for the machine that is there and it will continue to stay there,
because the youngsters will not spend a peso on it. (...)
His best friend here is Paco Gasalla, from the Chamber of Agriculture,
who was an immigrant in England and speaks the language.
Comments: A search on Arcadio Mourin or on the Sabadelle pub
was without results.
Oseira. 1985 by Francisco Gasalla
I personally met Syd when I paid a visit to Father Durán, a long time
family friend. It was in the monastery at Christmas 1975... Barrett and
the Father spoke of Graham Greene. (...)
I thought he was a painter because I saw him walk on the mountain,
carrying a large book, the kind of book to put sketches in, and a case
of coloured pencils. At first he did not speak a Castilian word. With
the monks he spoke in English, especially with Father Durán, and with
others in French. (...)
I still don't know him very well, I did not even know he was a musician
until an English journalist came by. We see him every year with the
Christmas holidays. He always brings something from Cambridge and I use
the opportunity to practice my English, because I miss that. And he asks
me things about the people of the village, things about people's lives.
(...)
He is very shy, very artistic.
Comments: A search on Francisco Gasalla was without results.
Leopoldo Durán with Graham Greene.
Oseira. 1985 by Leopoldo Durán, Oseira monk and a personal friend of
Syd Barrett and Graham Greene.
Mr. Barrett, whom I have known for many years, has asked me to be
discreet and not to have contact with the press. Year ago a British
weekly published a sensationalist story full of exaggerations and we
would not want something similar to happen.
Comments: Leopoldo
Durán, 1917-2008, was a professor in theology, philosophy and
literature and a close friend (and biographer) of Graham Greene. There
is no proof he ever met Syd Barrett. In over 35 years of Pink Floyd
research the Reverend has never encountered an English press article
mentioning Syd's annual retreats into a Spanish monastery, neither has
it been cited in any of the biographies.
Oseira. 1985 by Francisco Gasalla
Once we went to Carballiño.
We especially invited Syd because the annual Film Festival had put a
film with Pink Floyd music on the agenda. It was called "The Valley", it
was an African adventure film, made by some Germans. Syd had not seen it
before and was very quiet, chewing 'Sugus'
sweets, a sight I will not forget. Every year he would take several
packages back to England. "They're for my hippie friends"; he once said.
I asked him if he liked the movie and he said: “only the music”. (...)
I proposed him to come to my house if he wanted to grab a guitar or the
Casio that my daughter's grandparents had given her for her name day,
but he always said no. He said he had done 'too much music'.
Comments: La Vallée is a (horrible and
pretentious) 1972 French film written and directed by Barbet
Schroeder. The most notable point of the movie is its soundtrack by
Pink Floyd, resulting in one of their finest albums ever (Obscured
By Clouds). A trifle more (satirical) info at: Careful
with that stash, Gini.
Joe Boyd.
San Francisco (USA). 1983 by Joe Boyd, record producer and film maker
in an interview for the magazine Cult
My first job as a record producer was in 1967, in London, a city that
went through a musical frenzy. I did several singles with Pink Floyd, a
group of Cambridge that had very little to do then with the band they
are today. They were crazy, really crazy, continuously taking all kinds
of drugs, but they were really creative, especially Syd Barrett, singer,
guitarist and principal songwriter. (...)
I lost their track for a while, but Barrett once wrote me to ask for a
copy of 'See Emily Play'. I sent it to Cambridge and I knew nothing more
of it. The letter said he wanted to give the disk to a good friend.
Comments: Joe
Boyd is of course known by Pink Floyd admirers, he opened the UFO
club and produced the Floyd's first single Arnold
Layne. In contradiction with the above 'quote' he was not involved
with the Floyd's second single, See
Emily Play. Several magazines called 'Cult' have existed throughout
the years but no interview with Joe Boyd for one of them could be found.
London. 1982 article signed by Kurt Digger in the weekly Sounds
magazine, headlined "Barrett: Mad as Always"
The darling son of psychedelia has found peace in the arms of
contemplative Catholicism. In the monastery of Oseira (Galicia,
geographically the closest Spanish region to the UK), Syd Barrett,
founder of Pink Floyd and 'enfant terrible' of the London 'underground'
66-67 years, has retreated for a long stroll through the wastelands. (…)
Surrounded by monks Barrett showed himself proud, arrogant and even
rude. (...)
"You are still waiting for me to return, vultures", he yelled
semi-hysterical. (...)
No wonder his mother expels him annually from his home in Cambridge,
thus the patient lady can enjoy a pleasant Christmas.
Comments: Sounds
magazine did exist in 1982, but a search on the title or the author
didn't give any results.
LONDON. 1969 by Jo Cannon, head of the light show of the first
concerts of Pink Floyd, in an interview published in the magazine Oz.
Late last year I received a postcard from Syd. It was a tourist view of
a Spanish monastery called Ossarium (sic). Written on it were two
stanzas of 'See Emily Play': “There is no other day. Let's try it
another way. You'll lose your mind and play. Free games for May." Since
then I've heard nothing more."
Comments: Syd Barrett was already interested in light
experiments before he hit the charts with Pink Floyd. Anthony Stern has
told how he and Syd had been fascinated by Reg Gadney at King's College
who made light projections (1964-ish) and later Syd tried to repeat
these at home with John Gordon. In the early days of Pink Floyd the band
lived in the house of Mike Leonard, who experimented with oil slides,
rotating mirrors and lights. When the Floyd went professional in 1966
their first light show came straight from Haight-Ashbury, thanks to a
couple of hippies, Joel and Toni Brown. Unfortunately they returned to
the USA and Peter Jenner (and his wife Sumi) had to improvise a
copycat-light-set.
At one point seventeen years old Joe Gannon was hired who became their
first lighting tech, but he had already left when the Floyd started
hitting the market.
It is improbable that Joe Gannon (not Jo Cannon) would have
received a Spanish holiday card from Syd Barrett in December 1968. That
month Syd, Duggie Fields and Jules moved into Wetherby Mansions and
according to Jens she visited Syd there before year's end.
LONDON. 1968 anonymous entry, inserted in the journal 'International
Times', part of the British Underground.
The sorcerer's apprentice can't stand 'speed'. Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's
first singer, lived for two lost months a monastic life in a small place
in north-western Spain. Barrett's mother confirmed a few days ago that
her son is 'travelling', but denied that it had to do with any physical
or mental problems. “He simply is doing some sightseeing.", said Mrs.
Barrett, who owns a pottery shop in Cambridge. (…)
After his final separation with Pink Floyd, Barrett travelled last
January through various countries on the continent and finally settled
in a monastery in Galicia, in north-western Spain. This was revealed by
light expert and close friend of the singer, Jo Cannon.
Comments: As far as we know Syd's mother didn't have a pottery
shop. It is also weird that the same wrongly named person, Jo Cannon,
surfaces in two different articles in the English press. A search for Jo
Cannon on the extensive IT database didn't give any result, neither did
Joe Gannon, by the way.
Robert Wyatt.
MENORCA. 1975 by Robert Wyatt, British musician and inhabitant of the
Balearic Islands, in an interview by Claudi Montaña and published in the
magazine 'Vibraciones'.
I knew that Syd Barrett was going through a bad time and invited him to
spend some time at home, here in Menorca. He wondered where this place
was and I answered that it was in Spain, next to Ibiza. "In that country
only one place interests me," he replied but I had never heard of it.
(...)
A few months ago he sent me a tape with traditional music of that
Spanish region. It was similar to Scottish bagpipes but with more
emotions. Something really spiritual.
Comments: The Spanish magazine Vibraciones
did have a Robert
Wyatt article in its issue of November 1975 called En Menorca, de
week-end con Robert Wyatt. Unfortunately the article itself could
not be consulted.
LONDON. 1985 by Rodney Bennett, director of the 'Monsignor Quixote'
production for Thames Television, filmed partly in Oseira and based on
the novel of the same name by Graham Greene. Published in the magazine
Film Maker.
I knew that Syd Barret was a regular of the Oseira monastery and I wrote
to Cambridge offering him to compose the music of 'Monsignor Quixote'.
Graham Greene and the producers knew of the agreement. However, Barret
declined the offer in a very nice letter. He wished me luck and success
with the series, admitted being a fan of Greene and a "staunch defender
of the purity of Oseira".
Comments: The American magazine Filmmaker only started in
1992, but it is possible that a magazine with the same name existed
before, although the Church didn't find any trace of that. Rodney
Bennett did make a Monsignor
Quixote television movie but nowhere he has mentioned Syd Barrett as
a possible collaborator. Neither does any of the Barrett biographies
mention him.
CONCLUSION
The La Naval Barrett article could be the source of the Oseira Floydian
legend. It needs to be remarked though that in this article there is no
word of an unpublished Spanishgrass album. That part of the story
seems to have been added in a later stage when the story mushroomed in
the pubs around A Coruña by people who failed to see the satire of it
all.
Seventeen years later, in 2003, a certain Eric Burdon (obviously a
nickname) published a Spanish Internet article called 'Discos
perdidos - Spanish Grass- Syd Barrett' that has been quoted ever
since... And perhaps more solutions will be revealed by Antonio Jesús
when he will publish his investigations at Solo
En Las Nubes.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather
bad character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
June 2013: Syd in Spain. Spanishgrass, the hoax revealed.
The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit receives many letters from believers
all over the world and on the 23rd of may 2012 at 04:31 AM (UTC+1) Babylemonade
Aleph asked the following to the Reverend:
I have read that Syd made a trip to A Coruña, who was in a monastery,
and recorded some songs that formed part of a recording entitled,
"Spanishgrass, songs for the space and the nap". What you know about
that, friend?
Frankly this didn't ring a bell, but the Church decided to look further
into the matter. As the story of Syd Barrett recording a partly Galician
album in a monastery in Spain seemed rather improbable an article was
published in the satirical The
Anchor division (Spanishgrass
or Syd Barrett's lost Spanish record).
Normally this should have been it. But some dull boring people didn't
like that the Holy Church, always in for a bit of controversy – we duly
admit, had thrown a stone into the quiet Barrett-pond, where
self-proclaimed fisher-kings have been angling for the same fish for the
last four decades. One of them even found it necessary to comment as
follows:
Wierdos (sic) come on here presenting this sort of stuff as FACT,
fake pictures, stupid stories about Syd recording an album in a Spanish
monastry (sic). All balls.
Just when the Reverend was going to go into zen-therapy to recover from
that vicious blow help came from the Iberian peninsula in the form of Antonio
Jesús from Solo
En Las Nubes. Not only did he find back the original article that
started the Syd In Oseira rumour (Spanishgrass,
one year later), he also managed to interview the author of the
article (Jose
Ángel González, Spanishgrass & more).
Jose Ángel González reveals that there has been more than one Oseira
article and that he also invented the Spanishgrass album:
A few years after the publication of the La Naval article I wrote an
extended and corrected version for a series about hypothetical records.
It was published on a blog that eventually ended and added the lyrics of
some of the songs from Spanishgrass.
And so, without further ado, here it is... (for the original, Spanish
version, please click on the image below)
Syd Barrett "Spanish grass (twenty songs about space and siesta)" Nonsense
music, 1978
Spanishgrass (original cover).
Manantial (Spring) / Reverential mourners / Black maid / Plastic
gunpowder / Mouse after a fête / Breakwater and tea / Grey trees / Two
bangers + mash / Whining at the moon / Greenland / Eu son Dhaga (I am
Dhaga) / Na outra banda (On the other hand) / Un poeta
esquece os días de chuvia (A poet forgets the rainy days) /
Saturnalia / William Phips / Stede Bonnet / Gabriel Spenser / Gospel at
noon / Waste Deep / Frog
Before leaving the world to enclose himself at Hotel Schizophrenia, Syd
Barrett (Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1948), the founder and evicted
leader of Pink Floyd, traveled to Spain for two years (1976 and
1977). Suffering from dromomania,
the same paranoid ambulatory psychosis Rimbaud
and other chronically restless people endured, Barrett toured
anonymously, using public transport or by hitchhiking, through
Andalusia, Extremadura and Galicia. No one was with him and his luggage
was scarce and revealing: a backpack, a Martin acoustic guitar and the
complete works of the visionary William
Blake.
During one of his wanderings he discovered what would become his private
retreat, the Oseira monastery in the north-west of the Iberian
Peninsula.
Nestled in a secluded canyon of the City of San Cristovo de Cea
(Ourense), the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Oseira is the first
establishment in Spain (twelfth century) of the Cistercian monastic
order, founded as a radical alternative to the aristocratic congregation
of Cluny. The Cistercians practice Christian friendship, revere poverty,
adhere mythical culture and establish themselves remotely from the
world, in places away from roads and population.
Caught by the sturdy charm of the place, the quiet floating of monastic
life and the hospitality of the monks, he was at peace with himself,
perhaps for the first time since the wicked years of psychedelia.
Barrett stayed in one of the Oseiran guest cells for four months in 1976
(September-December) and for three months the following year (April to
June) and only left the monastery to roam the nearby hills. He liked in
particular two nearby sites: Loma Chaira, a wide panoramic grassy
terrace situated nearly 1200 metres high, and Penedo de Cuncas, a
ridge shaded by an abundant mass of chestnut trees.
During his stay the visitor wrote and recorded a dozen songs. He sat in
the courtyard of the monastery, usually at the siesta time, and softly
sung accompanied by his guitar, afraid to disturb the community. The
sound of the recordings is technically bad, but from a poetic viewpoint
very suggestive: Barrett's voice is hushed, like it would never be
recorded in a studio, by the wind blowing and the effervescing water
fountain. Perhaps this was the 'untanned arms' and forestry environment
he vainly had tried to outline in his two solo works "The Madcap Laughs"
(1970) and "Barrett" (1971). [Note: this seems to be a
Spanish poetical description the Reverend frankly doesn't understand.]
Late 1978 twenty songs were released on vinyl by a bootleg record
company in A Coruña, called Nonsense Music, using the unique tape
recording made by Barrett and smuggled outside by a deserting Oseira
novice. The album was titled "Spanishgrass" ("Hierba española")
accompanied by the subtitle "twenty songs about space and siesta," a
phrase the artist used when the monks asked him about the meaning of his
songs.
"Spanishgrass" is currently unavailable. The first and only edition of
the record - about 20 copies – wase not made for profit. All copies were
given away by Gema Noya, the Nonsense Music manager, to her closest
friends, under the promise that they would not distribute or duplicate
the material, a pact that was fulfilled to the letter thanks to the
loyalty of these good hippies. Noya used the record as a farewell gift
before retiring to a Buddhist community at Pokhara (Nepal), where
she still resides. According to sources close to her family, she burned
the original tape and scattered the ashes on the beach of Carnota, close
to the Pindo mountain, the Celtic Olympus, after she had sent a copy to
Barrett, who lived in Cambridge since 1978.
The tracks on the secret record are musically blunt with guitar
arrangements that are stripped of all artificiality, almost always
orbicularly strumming a single chord, but the lyrics are, in contrast,
very dense. They range from the usual surreal Barrett humour (Mouse
after a fête, Two bangers & mash) to Pentecostal mysticism, with
quotations from ancient Welsh bard songs taken from “The
White Goddess", Robert
Graves's work that the English musician consulted with interest at
the Oseira library.
Also other books Barrett read at the monastery seized him deep in his
mind. He dedicates three songs (William Phips, Stede Bonnet and Gabriel
Spenser) to the flamboyant characters described by the extravagant Marcel
Schwob in "Imaginary Lives". But above all, Barrett was seduced by
the medieval-sounding poems "Herba aquí ou acolá" from the fabulist Alvaro
Cunqueiro. He put music and sings three poems of the book in
Galician (Eu are Dagha, Na outra banda and Un poeta esquece os días de
chuvia).
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
A wise man once said: put two Barrett fans together and they start a
group, put three and they start a fight.
When in May 2007 the Astral Piper forum came to a standstill
it was all due to a quarrel that had started a lustrum before and that
suddenly turned ugly.
Dark Days In Paradise
In 1998 an Australian fan with a movie director's dream went to London
and Cambridge. He visited the traditional Floydian landmarks and of
course he also headed for St.
Margaret Square where he caught a glimpse of Mr. Barrett on his way
for his daily newspaper. Somehow he managed to get his camera out and
recorded a take of the ex-rock-star returning home.
Back at home he compiled his holiday souvenirs in a 12 minutes 58
seconds video tape, named it R. K Barrett - A Day So Dark So Warm
(by Reflecting Electric Eye Films) and started selling those at record
stores and fairs.
Apparently this wasn't a release Australia was waiting for and in order
to conquer the world the tape was (briefly) advertised on A
Fleeting Glimpse. Almost immediately the footage was baptised the
'stalker video' by the Yahoo Laughing Madcaps group where the mindless
bleaters were instructed to drag the maker down by the stone. Kiloh
Smith:
His video was 40+ minutes of Cambridge footage (filler) with about a
minute of him following Roger down the street with Roger looking
bewildered and upset. Oh yeah, the shitbag slowed the footage down to
milk even more "time". We obtained a copy and put it on HYGIY? and gave
it away for free thereby rendering his profit thing moot. We also did a
hate email campaign to him from my 3,000+ member group. We were also the
ones who coined the phrase: Stalker Video. (Kiloh Smith on Facebook,
14 September 2013.)
Unfortunately Col Turner (from the aforementioned A Fleeting
Glimpse website) who had only agreed to put up an ad for a fellow
countryman was targeted in the same hate campaign as well. Things got so
heated that one of those loud-mouthed, self-proclaimed Barrett prophets
send death threats to the website owner. Col Turner at first retaliated
that he would report this at the police, but gave in at the end:
I WAS involved with selling that wretched video for all of 12 days about
4 years ago (written in 2005). I NEVER claimed that it had the approval
of Syd's family. (...) I made a mistake, and as soon as I realised I had
made a mistake, I corrected it, and refused to have anything more to do
with it. I had NOTHING to do with the filming of it, in fact, it was
about two years old when it was shown to me. (Col Turner on NPF,
9 March 2005.)
And all this for a one minute long sequence of someone who made a dozen
of decent songs somewhere in the late sixties, although we may not
forget that the movie maker was of course first interested in his own
wallet and not in the preservation of Syd's legacy. As a matter of fact
you had to be a fool to believe the somewhat redundant message at the
end of his movie that went like this:
'A day so dark, so warm' screenshots.Barrett
doorstepped in 2002.
There's some Syd on your doorstep
Despite the insults and the threats that made you wonder who the bad
guys really were, the movie maker in spe returned to the UK and
again he took his camera with him. In Tim Willis' book Madcap
it is written that he acted as a spokesman of the Echoes
community who had paid for a Syd Barrett bench in the Botanic
Gardens in Cambridge, but the Echoesians have always denied they
appointed someone to break the news to Barrett. Anyway, carrying a few
hand-drawn maps of the bench in his hand, he rang the door at number 6
of St. Margaret Square.
Barrett opened the door, a look of unnerving intensity on his face. The
man explained why he was there and Barrett asked where it was. The man
handed over a map with directions to the bench. As he glanced over the
page Barrett’s rather severe expression melted into a smile the outside
world had not seen in decades. Barrett asked for the other map. He
signed it ‘R Barrett’. (Taken from: Dark
Globe by Julian Palacios.)
What lots of people don't know is that the event was filmed in real
candid camera style using the camera that was recording in the fan's
shoulder-bag. A couple of 'doorstep' pictures were leaked to the outside
world but the movie itself of Syd putting his autograph on the map was
never shown to the general public, although rumours go that the
door-stepper tried to sell the tape to a few hardcore collectors.
Astral Piper.
We're all following a strange melody
On Sunday, the third of April 2005 Astral
Piper was launched, a website and forum that described itself as
the New Syd Barrett Appreciation Society. Its owner, Dion Johnson,
was not someone who saw things small. On one of the introductory pages
he expresses his wish to have a society 'of mammoth numbers', to
personally design the sleeve for the soon to be released Vegetable
Man single, to issue a Barrett tribute CD (urging Robyn Hitchcock,
Graham Coxon and Michael Stipe to contact him, sito presto) and
to erect some kind of 'memorial tribute' in Cambridge.
T-shirts
were made (at a total cost of 1347.50 AUD, if our information is right)
that could be purchased through Astral Piper. The benefits would be used
to erect a 12 feet (3,65 metres) tall monument,
standing on 4 curved metal legs, with the sunlight streaming through a
metal cut-template of Syd's face, as if a bench on a park wasn't already
enough. This wild idea apparently pleased Syd's family and made it into
the local
press but alas the Cambridge city council wasn't jumping for joy.
Astral Piper was a remarkable website, not only because it was a perfect
example of how letter-types, colours and styles can clash (one look at
the html code makes you run away, screaming), but also because it
contained little gems, like the Actuel
article, translated in English, and interviews with and collaborations
of Darryl
Read and Vic
Singh, to name just a few. A mirror of this website has been
archived at Astral
Piper Redux 2013.
Syd's signature (enhanced).
Syd on it!
The 'A
Bench for Syd' page, so was promised, was going to be one of the
most exciting parts of the website.
It will contain a recent 2002 conversation with Syd Barrett featuring
our astral piper and Cambridge astronaut in very good spirits. For those
who don't know, back in 2001 a worldwide group named "Echoes", (with
some help from friends around the world), as well as some very nice
people within the city of Cambridge, a park bench was commissioned in
honour of our hero, Mr Roger Keith (Syd) Barrett. Sporting a
commemorative brass plaque, it was placed in a section of Cambridge
parklands. (…) The full story of the bench and how its location was
revealed to Syd in person (making his day, and mine), is to be loaded on
this web-page soon.
This was definitively the proof that the owner of the Astral Piper
website was also the person who had made the (unreleased) doorstep
video. Unfortunately, this was also the beginning of the end. Dion was
accused on his own forum of being the maker (and seller) of the A Day So
Dark So Warm movie which he vehemently denied (needless to say proof was
against him). The situation escalated and one day he pulled the plug out
of the forum
and the 'A Bench for Syd' webpage was never updated.
There were some fresh starts
and some friendly offers to continue Astral Piper, but these all failed.
The relentless persecution of a few genuine Barrett 'fans' who filled
their days by sending insults to the people involved had become too much.
End of story? Not really.
Doorstep Stills.
The Final Cut
Two days ago an interesting item could be found on eBay (page taken
down), being sold by I.E. it was described as follows:
Final video chat filmed with Syd Barrett in 2002 (Roger Keith
Barrett) from Pink Floyd with autograph by Syd Barrett.
Up for auction is an incredibly RARE and UNIQUE item!
This is the last known VIDEO RECORDING and conversation with Syd
Barrett, the genius and founding member of great British rock band, Pink
Floyd.
Up until now this doorstep recording was only spoken about in Syd
Barrett and Pink Floyd forums, discussed among fans and written about in
the now well known book and biography about Syd Barrett's life called
Madcap, by Tim Willis.
In the book, it speaks of an Australian fan who knocked Syd’s door to
tell him about a special park bench seat which had been erected in the
Cambridge Botanical Gardens in honour of him. I am that fan. Since Syd’s
death this bench has become even more meaningful. And I believe this
recording of Syd Barrett is incredibly rare, unique and valuable.
I am the person who knocked Syd’s door, and I am the person who filmed
the conversation with him. He was very happy to learn about the location
of the garden bench, and he can be seen smiling quite a lot during the
casual conversation and very happy to speak. Syd used to enjoy walking
in the Cambridge Botanical Gardens, and this enthusiasm is evident.
This video recording is now an important part of Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett
history.
Syd smiles.
I think it is safe to say that this is the final known video recording
of Syd (Roger Keith) Barrett. He never gave interviews in his later
years and spent most of his life in the privacy of his Cambridge based
home in the suburb of Cherry Hinton.
The original camera tape was badly damaged years ago but thankfully it
was captured to a digital format in the beginning and so up for auction
is the original recording transferred into two formats. A normal DVD
which can be played in a domestic DVD player and also a USB stick which
contains a digital file format of the recording which can be played on
any home computer. Plus I will include a Data DVD for archiving. Also
included is a hand drawn map of the bench’s location which Syd also
kindly “signed” on the day. It has been framed in a high quality frame,
matte-board and photos associated with the conversation with Syd,
including some stills taken from the video recording are also in the
frame. Filmed in January 2002 it is a brief conversation with Syd which
shows Syd speaking and clearly in a good mood.
I cannot stress enough that this is a ONE OFF ITEM! It will be sold ONCE
here on ebay!!
It will be sold here on ebay and the winning bidder can do whatever they
like with the footage. Maybe it could be used as part of a BBC
documentary one day (and sold to the BBC) or it may simply go to an avid
fan or collector for their private collection. Possibly even someone
famous like David Bowie (who I believe is a dedicated Syd Barrett fan)
could purchase it. Or perhaps a Hard Rock Cafe or some crazy casino in
the US may want to buy it?
Part of the final price will go to charity Stroke. My father died from a
Stroke and it is a charity I strongly believe in.
Like many people living in the UK at the moment, I struggle to pay the
rent, bills and put food on the table. I’m selling something quite
valuable from my past which hopefully will make somebody happy as this
is a genuine once in a lifetime opportunity to buy something incredibly
rare and unique. I have no idea what this recording is worth, and so I
will make it a simple start bid with a no reserve price.
It is available on ebay worldwide and will be sent via
Insured/Registered/Tracked DHL courier. Or if the buyer is based in the
UK, the item will be sent Registered/Signed For Courier. Alternatively,
the item may be picked up in person from an address here in Cambridge,
England.
Data DVD.
Winning bidder will receive the following:
1) A DVD of the footage which can be played on any domestic DVD Player
or computer 2) A data DVD which has a raw file of the footage. 3)
USB stick containing an MP4 video file of this conversation with Syd
(Roger Keith) Barrett 4) A framed print containing a map personally
signed by Syd in 2002. The large framed print also contains photograph
srelating to the bench and chat with Syd at his home in Cambridge. Frame
dimensions are 76cm wide, 67cm high and 3cm thick.
More about this rare meeting I had with Syd in 2002 may be read here in
some extracts from the book called Madcap, the half-life of Syd Barrett
by Tim Willis: http://www.pink-floyd.org/barrett/madcbarr.htm
Any questions, please ask. This item ends on Sunday 22nd September at
11.06pm (British standard time).
This sale was not only picked up by Cambridge
News, but unfortunately also by those Syd Barrett fans who never
forget and called the seller some very bad names. Two days after the
item was put for sale, it was withdrawn from eBay.
The Anchor got hold of the news that the Barrett Trust may have
intervened and that they had the item removed. This is understandable,
they can only agree with Syd being sold if they can have their share of
the profit, they're not called the Cambridge Mafia for nothing, you know.
A gallery, containing all the known doorstep pictures, has been added
to this blog: Doorstep.
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations have
been enlarged for satirical purposes.) The Anchor wishes to thank:
Anonymous, Cambridge News, HYGIY, Dion Johnson, Joanne 'Charley' Milne,
Kiloh Smith, Col Turner.
Sources (other than the above internet links): Luminous_grin &
others, Stalking
Syd Barrett, NPF forum, 25 June 2007. Col Turner & others, Syd
Stalker, NPF forum, 19 March 2005. Palacios, Julian: Syd
Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe, Plexus, London, 2010, p. 434.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Interstellar Overdrive is the name of a January 2014 Shindig
guide and it's worth every penny you spend on it. In 35 articles on 170
pages, it tries to define and explore the space rock phenomenon. It has
in-dept articles on Acid Mothers Temple, Tim Blake, Neu!, Ozric
Tentacles, Yes and many others without forgetting The Tornados' Telstar
and the obligatory space rock top 30 countdown. A 6-pages article,
called 'The Reluctant Spacerockers', written by Austin Matthews,
investigates the frail relation between Pink Floyd and space rock.
Here it is (we have cropped the picture a bit to only show the band
members and we put some nifty numbers above each person).
5 man Floyd? Not.
Copyright: Pictorial
Press. We honestly think we can publish this picture under the 'Fair
Use' rules, especially as it will be used for criticism, comment
reporting, news gathering and frankly, for taking the piss out of the
copyright holders. See also: legal
stuff.
It is a nice picture, no problem about that, but unfortunately the band
isn't Pink Floyd. There are five musicians on the picture but the
five man Floyd barely existed for 8 days in the beginning of 1968.
This picture goes around for ages but the question if this is really the
Floyd was raised on the 'A
Fleeting Glimpse' forum
in 2009, where Mr. Pinky identified the band as Dantalian's
Chariot.
Hi all. Only to say you that, according with Ian Russell, this picture,
posted in the page
57, shows a band called Dantalian's Chariot, a famous psychedelic
band in the end '60. This photo was also in the Cliff Jones 'Echoes'
book, but has nothing to do with the Floyd at all.
It seemed to be a 5-man Floyd pic, but NOT, we really should know
better, wrong instruments, wrong equipment etc.
5 man Floyd promo picture.
That band's something we can't explain
The picture shows five musicians and that particular setup in Pink Floyd
was only known for five live gigs between 12 January 1968 and 20 January
1968. On the Yeeshkul
forum this picture has been further analysed by fans who know these
things much better than we do...
The five men on the picture should be, left to right, numbers one to
five:
1: Roger Waters playing the bass. The picture isn't clear enough
to recognise the bass player, but the bass should've been a Rickenbacker
and the musician on the left is holding a Fender.
2: Nick Mason. First of all: this isn't Nick's drum set. The
silver toms look the same, but the bass drum is smaller and doesn't have
a front skin. Pink Floyd always had a front skin on the drums and
furthermore Nick always had two bass drums instead of one.
3: David Gilmour. It is weird that the third man doesn't play a
guitar. Especially for David Gilmour who normally is glued to his axe
and who was hired in to mimic Syd's solos.
4: Syd Barrett. The man on the picture is playing a black or
sunburst Strat, a guitar Syd didn't have, as far as we know. David
Gilmour only acquired one two years later. A white strat would have been
more appropriate for Syd.
5: Rick Wright. Although the keyboard player is nearly completely
hidden in the dark one can see something that resembles a huge perm.
Richard was never the man to have an afro. It is awfully dark but the
organ doesn't seem to be a Hammond, Rick Wright's favourite instrument.
And there is more. The equipment is not Pink Floyd's. There is a
Marshall stack and a Fender Bassman and these are not Floydian at all,
so tell us the people who know. What the equipment does have in common
with Pink Floyd is a Watkins (aka WEM) PA unit, but that is hardly
unique.
Then there is the projection of the nude woman left on the picture, she
also appears on the right side of the stage (on the uncropped version).
We have never seen something similar on the dozens of live pictures of
the Floyd of that era. Often avant-garde movies were shown on the walls
(or the ceiling) while bands where playing in the psychedelic clubs, but
it is again one of those things that don't add up.
And last: this picture is often described as taken at the UFO club but
the 5 man Floyd didn't play there in the 8 days they existed.
As for the assumption that the band is Dantalian's Chariot with Zoot
Money on keyboards and a young Andy Summers on guitar the cons are about
the same. That band consisted of four members, not five, and Zoot Money
didn't have a big hairdo either. But apparently Jeff Dexter confirmed it
is them allright. So this could have been taken during their UFO gig on
the 22nd of September, 1967.
5 man Floyd promo picture.
Copy copy
The above picture is copyrighted by Pictorial
Press who have it in their Pink Floyd folder as number 1398.
Unfortunately they can't give us a date but they do mention it was taken
at the UFO club. To further demonstrate their competence they categorise
Pink Floyd under the category 'metal',
a class they share with KC and The Sunshine Band, Dionne Warwick and
Sandie Shaw. These people are professionals, we can tell you that! (We
are aware of the existence of The
Nile Song and Ibiza
Bar, though.)
But scallywags or not, Pictorial Press has several times managed to sell
this picture. We find it on page 20 of William Ruhlmann's Pink Floyd (1993),
but luckily the author caught the error in time and describes it as 'an
unidentified group at UFO'. This biography is one of those mass printed
'take your money and run' budget releases with scarce text and plenty of
pictures. It is also one of the few biographies that was published in
Dutch and in that edition the picture can be found on page 16.
In 1996 Cliff Jones published the picture on page 25 of his Echoes
biography, not to be confused with the Glenn Povey history book that has
the same title. Subtitled 'the stories behind every Pink Floyd song' the
book attempted to tell the band's history track per track and album per
album, but there it miserably failed. There are plenty of mistakes in
the text and also on the pictures: on page 29 Roger Waters can be seen
but the picture is described as 'a young Dave Gilmour'; page 25 has the
UFO picture this article is all about, captioned 'The Floyd light show,
UFO club'. Apparently David Gilmour was so angry about this book that he
threatened to sue the author:
"The book has a very large number of errors - over 120 - some careless,
some very serious", the star's solicitors, tell me. "We have also
identified four serious libels of David Gilmour. The band take a very
serious view of this and are furious." (Daily Express Dec. 9th 1996,
quoted on Brain
Damage)
An agreement was reached and the book was shipped to the shops, but with
a sticker on page 107 that replaced 23 lines with new text. We will
never know how the passage reads that infuriated Gilmour so much.
Original copies were send back to the publisher and seem to have
vanished from this planet. For those interested in the many mistakes
there is this webpage
showing them all and for a review we can guide you to Brain
Damage. To add insult to injury this book was also issued under the
title Another Brick In The Wall (for the overseas market?) but it
comes with exactly the same mistakes.
London Live by Tony Bacon could be found for years on the
official Syd Barrett website
where they thought it was all about the person that makes them sell
these t-shirts. However, the book is not a Pink Floyd, nor a Syd Barrett
biography but an 'inside story of live bands in the capital's
trail-blazing music clubs' of London. Page 90 and 91 have the
(artificially coloured) picture where it is called 'a majestic lightshow
at UFO', not mentioning any band.
In October last year, a new biography, Behind the Wall, appeared,
written by Hugh Fielder. Floyd anoraks say that the book doesn't really
reveal new facts, apart from the obligatory updates about the Roger
Waters never ending Wall-world-tour. One thing that makes us hesitate
buying it is that the UFO club picture is in there and that it
apparently is attributed to the band we all love.
Shame on Shindig!
Of course Pictorial Press, in their role as entrepreneurial con men, are
not entirely to blame for selling their crap images. Authors and
graphical editors should not only check and double-check text material
but also the pictures they publish.
The guys from Shindig normally deliver excellent work, but before he
gave his fiat for this issue Jon 'Mojo' Mills must have inhaled a
wee bit too much sweet smoke from his water-pipe.
Shame on you, crazy Shindig!
P.S. Obviously The Anchor has warned Pictorial Press about their mistake
and as soon as we will receive an answer this article will be updated. (Update
2016: they never answered.) P.P.S. Shindig was so kind to give us the
following message: "We were duped! I should have spotted it. Many
apologies."
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may have
been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
The Anchor wishes to thank: the Yeeshkul and A Fleeting Glimpse forums
and their members, b_squared, demamo, Rich Hall, hallucalation, Mr.
Pinky, Orgone Accumulator, saygeddylee, supervehicle, sydzappa...
Sources (other than the above internet links): Bacon, Tony: London
Live, Balafon Books, London, 1999, p. 90-91. Jones, Cliff: Another
Brick in the Wall, Broadway Books, New York, 1996, p. 25. In the UK
this book has been published under the title 'Echoes'. Ruhlmann,
William: Pink Floyd, Magna Books, Leicester, 1993, p. 20. Ruhlmann,
William: Pink Floyd, ADC, Eke (Belgium), 1994, p. 16. Dutch
edition of the above. Fielder, Hugh: Behind The Wall, Race
Point Publishing, New York, 2013.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Interstellar Overdrive is the name of a January 2014 Shindig
guide and it's worth every penny you spend on it. In 35 articles on 170
pages, it tries to define and explore the space rock phenomenon. It has
in-dept articles on Amon Düül II, Gong, Hawkwind, Pink Fairies, Spacemen
3, Sun Ra and many others without forgetting the sci-fi movie
soundtracks of the fifties (Forbidden Planet!) and the BBC Radiophonic
Workshop (Doctor Who!).
In a six pages article 'The Reluctant Spacerockers' the on-off
relationship between Pink Floyd and space rock is examined and
what an enjoyable essay that is.
While journalists, who are nothing but a bunch of lazy buggers anyway,
have labelled the band as space rockers, its members denied this, in
particular Roger Waters who reacted in his usual diplomatic style:
“Space – what the fuck are they talking about?” Probably the bass player
is so demented nowadays that he has forgotten that his lame Amused to
Death album features some alien anthropologists trying to find out
why all these skeletons are sitting before their TV sets.
Then Austin Matthews chimes in and quite intelligible shows where and
how the Pink Floyd used space rock tricks to appease the masses.
TM-7 mission patch.
Space 1988
There is an error in the article although the author is only partially
to blame. (We are just being gentle here, that spaced out sod could of
course have done a search on the Internet first.) On page 29 David
Gilmour is cited:”To say that we are thrilled at the thought of being
the first rock band to be played in space is something of an
understatement.”
This refers to the Soyuz
TM-7 rocket launch from the 26th of November 1988 five days after
Pink Floyd had released their Delicate
Sound Of Thunder (live) album. The French president François
Mitterrand attended the launch because of cosmonaut Jean-Loup
Chrétien, who was the first western European man in space (this
was his second flight, by the way, his first was in 1982). David Gilmour
and Nick Mason attended because a cassette of their latest album was
sent to the MIR
space station, apparently on demand by one of the cosmonauts. We'll
never know if this is true or just a staged lie but surely there was a
mighty PR machine behind the band who made it clear to the world that
this was the first rock music recording played in outer space.
Which was not true. Simple as that.
Soyuz TM-3 mission patch.
spAce 1987
In 2003, while researching for an Orb
biography that would never see the light of day, the Reverend stumbled
upon the electronic band spAce
who had a million-selling disco hit in 1977 with Magic
Fly. The band split in the early eighties but electronic composer Didier
Marouani had a particular successful solo career in Russia (and the
East-European communist countries), often using the spAce name and logo,
depending on the lawsuit of the month that ex-members were bringing on
each other.
Marouani's solo work is slightly reminiscent of Jean-Michel Jarre, Mike
Oldfield or Tangerine Dream and was (still is) inspired by Russian and
American space programs and sci-fi themes. In 1987 he released a CD
called Space Opera (got the slight promotional nudge towards his
old band?) and that CD was taken by cosmonauts Alexander
Viktorenko, Syrian Muhammed
Faris and Aleksandr
Aleksandrov to the MIR orbital station in July 1987, more than a
year before Pink Floyd made all that brouhaha.
In 2003, long before the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit was
founded, the Reverend interviewed Didier Marouani who had the following
to say:
I was composing my album Space Opera and I had the idea to bring
Americans and Russians together on my album which at that time was very
difficult (especially from the USSR). After negotiating with the Soviet
ministry of Culture for 6 months I got the authorization to have the Red
Army Choir together with the Harvard University Glee Club choir, who
were recorded separately.
Following my concept I thought it would be very nice to have this first
Space Opera shipped to MIR and then launched into outer space. They
asked me to wait while they would study my request and in the meantime I
wrote a letter to Mr. Mikhail
Gorbachev who answered very positive.
Two months later the Ministry of Space confirmed an appointment. On
July, the 2nd, 1987 I was received by the Russian cosmonauts and I gave
them a CD, together with a CD-player and 2 small speakers. This was
extensively reported in the Russian press.
The cosmonauts left Baikonur
on the 22nd of July 1987 and in October 1987 the CD, the player and the
2 speakers were launched into outer space. So my music really floats
into space which is for me a very big and happy achievement.
So for sure Pink Floyd did not have the first music in space. During a
concert tour in the USSR, I met cosmonaut Aleksandr Pavlovich
Aleksandrov, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, again who told me that he
worked in space for 7 months, listening to my music. [Note:
actually Aleksandrov stayed 160 days in Space in 1987.]
Pink Floyd patch.
Lie for a Lie
But of course Mr. Gilmour may not entirely have been lying when he said
Pink Floyd was the first rock band to be played in space. Didier
Marouani's oeuvre is more electronic, new age (and recently: dance)
oriented and the Floyd, as we all know, have never flirted with these
musical styles before. (Yes, this is called irony.)
The last laugh may be for Didier
Marouani though. In 2011 he released an album called From Earth
to Mars and it was officially appointed by Roskosmos
as the album that will go with the first manned Russian flight to that
planet. But we earnestly doubt that listening to it for 6 months in a
row will have a positive effect on its crew.
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
Sources (other than the above internet links): Marouani,
Didier: First In Space, mail to Felix Atagong, 01 June 2003.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Roger Waters, holding his favourite Pink Floyd album.
It was probably Monday the 28th of March 1994 when the Reverend came
home from work and had a burning hot CD in his pocket. On the train from
work to Atagong mansion he had already opened the booklet, had
thoroughly scrutinised the artwork by Storm
Thorgerson, trying to read the music in the intriguing images. Cerro
Tololo, the boxing gloves,
the paper heads
(and headlines)... The Reverend's heart literally skipped a beat when he
found out that Rick
Wright had been given a song
he could call his own. Rick's first Pink Floyd song for nearly two
decades (and literally the centrepiece of the album).
Probably the Atagong family had supper first, then LA-girl sat in the
couch, and after the Reverend had put the CD in the player he sat next
to her. It must have been a rather chilly day because there was some
wood burning in the stove and Mimi, the fat and pregnant cat, was
enjoying the heat in her basket.
The earth noises came in... and a new legend was born...
All this came back to the Reverend when, on the 19th of May 2014 a new
Pink Floyd website appeared, called Division
Bell 20.
Chernobyl Blues
There was a countdown clock and a new - Storm Thorgerson inspired - video
for the excellent Marooned
instrumental, that grew out of a jam at the Astoria
recording studio between David
Gilmour & Rick Wright. There were immediately some rumours in Pink
Floyd internet land, some clearly more inspired than others, but the
general consensus was that the album would be re-released in an
anniversary or even an Immersion edition.
The obvious nod towards Thorgerson and Wright made the fans hope for the
release of The Big Spliff, a Division Bell satellite album whose
demos had been lying in the vaults since 1994. Nick
Mason in Inside Out:
After two weeks we had taped an extraordinary collection of riffs,
patterns and musical doodles, some rather similar, some nearly
identifiable as old songs of ours, some clearly subliminal reinventions
of well known songs. (…) But even having discarded these, forty ideas
were available. (…) We eventually ended up with enough left-over
material that we considered releasing it as a second album, including a
set we dubbed ‘The Big Spliff’, the kind of ambient mood music that we
were bemused to find being adopted by bands like the Orb, although –
unlike Gong’s Steve Hillage – we never received any invitations to join
this next generation on stage.
It needs to be said that the Reverend's expectations were running in
overdrive as well, he was hoping for a new Publius
Enigma clue (or perhaps a modest explanation of the riddle - stroke
- hoax), hidden in the artwork somewhere, and of course the anticipation
of some unreleased tracks, as on the other Immersion and Discovery sets
(see also: Fuck
all that, Pink Floyd Ltd).
Four Star Daydream
When the clock reached zero the website indeed revealed a pricey
Division Bell box-set (actually it crashed at first, as it was hit by
thousands of fans at the same time). Limited at 500 copies worldwide it
contained an exclusive Limited Edition Division Bell 20th Anniversary
T-shirt, a remastered double vinyl in gatefold sleeve, a Division Bell
CD and a Bluray with 3 alternative mixes and the new Marooned music
video. Some 7 and 12 inch coloured vinyl singles were thrown in as well,
together with a 24 Page 12" (30 cm) booklet, 4 art prints and... some
toasters.
The Division Bell - limited 20 years anniversay set.
So basically Pink Floyd decided to ride the gravy train (again) by
repackaging the same product five times in the same box and throwing it
at the fans for the giveaway price of £157.50 (about 263 $ or 193 Euro,
the unlimited box [without t-shirt and coasters] comes somewhat cheaper
and is still available).
Each man has his price, Fred
The fact that it is Gilmour now who spits the fans in the face even made
it into the papers
and generally there is much disdain from the fanbase. What seemed to be
the hype of the year was nothing but a cheap stunt to sell some recycled
material at exorbitant prices. That the memory of Rick Wright and the
legacy of Storm Thorgerson were thrown in to make a cynical million
bucks more makes this release even more nauseating. Polly
Samson once wrote: “David Gilmour should be cloned so that every
crowded house might have one”, but at this rate she can keep him inside,
lock the door and throw away the key.
Did you understand the music, Dave, or was it all in vain?
And when you feel you're near the end And what once burned so bright
is growing dim? And when you see what's been achieved Is there a
feeling that you've been deceived? Near The End - David Gilmour, 1984.
Upgrade 2014: a month after the publication of this article it
was found out that a brand new 'recycled' Pink Floyd album was in the
make, loosely based upon the Big Spliff sessions. However, this resulted
in an unprecedented attack of the Floyd management towards its fans.
Read: The
loathful Mr. Loasby and other stories...
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
Sources (other than the above internet links): Mason, Nick: Inside
Out: A personal history of Pink Floyd, Orion Books, London, 2011
reissue, p. 315-316. Samson, Polly: Perfect Lives, Virago
Press, London, 2010, p. 225.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Last weekend, we, The
Anchor, the satirical
division of the Holy
Church of Iggy the Inuit, felt the peculiar need for an apology. It
is a feeling we seldom have, being a general pain in the arse and having
carefully cultivated the pompous pernickety air our spiritual job has
brought upon us. You may remember that we were not entirely favourable
of the anniversary release of the Division Bell album. In the article Grab
that cash we described it, and we quote:
What seemed to be the hype of the year was nothing but a cheap stunt to
sell some recycled material at exorbitant prices. That the memory of
Rick Wright and the legacy of Storm Thorgerson were thrown in to make a
cynical million bucks more makes this release even more nauseating.
We duly admit this was not nice at all and due to the recent
developments in the Pink
Floyd camp, more about that to follow later, we profoundly
apologise. This doesn't mean that we are suddenly of the opinion that
the Division
BellAnniversary
Edition is worth the bulldog's bollocks, even if it may contain a
hidden Publius
Enigma hint. It still is utterly overpriced and utterly redundant,
but of course what the honourable reader does with his money is his own
business and not ours.
Europe Endless
On Saturday, the 5th of July 2014 at 3:13 PM (UTC), a mysterious tweet
was send into the multiverse by Polly
Samson, a tweet that created a heavy storm in the mostly silent
waters of modern Floydiana:
Btw Pink Floyd album out in October is called “The Endless River”. Based
on 1994 sessions is Rick Wright’s swansong and very beautiful.
The world first took its time to digests its scrambled eggs, bacon,
sausages, tomatoes, toast, coffee and marmalade (at least in the proper
time-zone) but about 45 minutes later the news had been retweeted a few
thousand times and had been copied on Facebook walls, forums and blogs
all over the planet.
Durga McBroom and David Gilmour.
Singer Durga
McBroom, confirmed the news less than an hour later and added that a
recent picture of her with David
Gilmour hadn't been taken during a solo album session, as she had
stated before, but that she had been asked to do vocals on a new Pink
Floyd album.
Remember this photo? It wasn't what you THOUGHT it was.
A third confirmation came from Pink Floyd engineer Andrew
Jackson, so the rumour that Polly Samson's Twitter account had been
hacked and that this was nothing but a hoax was becoming less and less
believable. There was going to be a new Pink Floyd album, after twenty
years of silence.
This was not going to be just another Pink Floyd album. The starting
point were the Division Bell ambient demos that had been nick-named The
Big Spliff in the good old Floydian tradition to give recording sessions
silly names. Work on the mixes started over a year ago and probably,
although this is nothing but an assumption, it was foreseen as a short
and sweet bonus disk for a Division Bell Immersion set. While working on
the music however, David Gilmour and Nick Mason must have felt something
of the excitement from two decades before, they must have felt the muse,
the inspiration and the spirit of their friend and colleague (and in the
case of bass player ad interim Guy
Pratt, father in law) Rick Wright and decided to enhance the jams
into a proper record, asking Phil
Manzanera and Martin
‘Youth’ Glover to sit behind the mixing console.
Called The Endless River, after a line from the Division Bell’s
magnum opus High Hopes (in itself cryptically referring to See
Emily Play), the album will be mainly ambient and instrumental,
although at least one track will be sung by David Gilmour with lyrics by
Polly Samson.
Schoolmaster Mode (The Wall).
Recycling Facts
Reactions from that strange horde, also known as the Pink Floyd fandom,
ranged from scepticism to enthusiasm. Some critics found it strange that
Pink Floyd would be recycling old material, perhaps unaware of the fact
that this is something the band has been doing for ages. The whale song
section from Echoes
was borrowed from their concert staple Embryo,
Us
and Them was originally called The Violent Sequence and a Zabriskie
Point soundtrack leftover, and the magnificent Comfortably
Numb was something David Gilmour had been messing with for his
eponymous solo album.
Half of the Animals
(1977) album consists of songs the Floyd played live in 1974 but none of
those fitted the Wish
You Were Here (1975) concept. Animals was and still is a landmark
album, something that can’t be said of The
Final Cut (1983), practically a Roger Waters solo album, featuring
some The
Wall (1979) rejects (and unfortunately it shows).
Let’s not be cynical for once and forget that a separate release of The
Endless River will shelve a few million copies more than a Division Bell
bonus disc. Even if the record will mostly have ambient atmospheric
pieces and may fail the default description of a typical Pink Floyd
album we will consider it as Richard Wright’s musical testament and an
honest tribute from the rest of the band.
Now, and here is a confession this old bartender has to make, when we
read Polly Samson's tweet, we were literally shaking all over our body
as excited as a puppy who has just been thrown a bone. We started
browsing the well-known Floydian fan-sites for more and the first
website who added the news to its page was Col
Turner's A
Fleeting Glimpse.
Don't take a slice... (Money).
Segmental Pig File
Col Turner is not your average Pink Floyd fan-site webmaster, he has
dedicated his life to the Floyd and if you ask us, we think he is pretty
daft for doing so. Nevertheless, we appreciate his masochist streak and
if we want to know the latest news of the Dark Side universe Fleeting
Glimpse (and Brain
Damage) are the first ones we open.
When we say that Colin Turner is not an average fan, we mean he is not
an average fan. Turner eats, feels, dreams and breaths Pink Floyd
(frankly we are a bit curious what he does in the bedroom) and as such
he already knew for a while that a new album was in the make. However,
instead of putting that news on his wall, like we would have done in a
nanosecond, he promised the Pink Floyd management to shut his mouth and
wait until an official announcement of the band was made.
Now, we ask you, dear reader, can you get any closer to an official band
announcement than the wife of the band leader, who happens to be the
main lyricist as well, tweeting the news into the world?
Well, opinions seems to differ apparently.
Dutch Penthouse 4, 1995 (Alan Parsons Interview).
The Bleeding Hearts and the Artists
An artist is, by definition, a creative person, a sensitive person,
someone with a frail mind. He writes these songs that appeal to people
all over the world, people who recognise themselves in these songs, who
recognise the feelings, the emotions, the love, the sadness, the anger,
the Angst.
We, the fans, may think these songs have been written for us and
sometimes we are so touched by the beauty and sincerity of it all that
we will ask the artist to play the latest album in our backyard, for a
beer and a whopper on the grill. That is why an agent, or some
management, comes in... While the artist may not have the guts to
disappoint the fan, his agent's preferable syllables are invariably
'no', 'fuck off' and, if this is your lucky day, 'how much'.
There has always been a huge gap between Pink Floyd, the band, and Pink
Floyd, the company, and it is pretty impossible to determine how the one
has influenced the other. Although some of its members openly preached a
socialist philosophy their business manners have always been exactly the
opposite, at least after the Peter
Jenner days. Steve
O'Rourke was not only a quasi-mythical agent who uplifted the band
from the gutter towards the moon, but he was a bully as well, bombastic
in his manners, a Floydian pit-bull and above all... über-greedy.
Rumour goes O'Rourke started his career as a dog food sales rep, so
determined to succeed that he ate the stuff in front of his prospects to
prove it was quality meat.
Giving none away
The band who criticised capitalism on Money,
paid Clare
Torry£30 for her input on The
Great Gig In The Sky, less than a third of what a Dark
Side of the Moon Immersion set costs. In a nineties interview for
the Dutch Penthouse
a bitter Alan
Parsons recalled how the four gentlemen in the band never told him
that he had the right to earn some ‘points’ on his engineering /
producing work for Dark Side of the Moon. That situation was settled
later when Parsons was asked to remaster the album for an anniversary
release. Clare Torry had to seriously threaten with legal action before
the band agreed to share a small slice of the pie.
Roy
Harper sung the lyrics on Have
A Cigar, another one of these sarcastic songs describing the shady
corners of music business. It was made clear to him that he wouldn't
receive any copyright so Roy asked for some football tickets instead.
Although the band were multi-millionaires by now a season's ticket was
too much to ask and he never received it. The kids, singing ‘we don’t
get no education’, were only given a copy of The Wall album after a
newspaper turned it into a scandal.
Where Kafka rules (The Wall).
Turn, Turn, Turn
Colin Turner published the news about the new Pink Floyd album on A
Fleeting Glimpse, after it had been tweeted by Polly Samson. Then
he messaged the Pink Floyd management that the floodgates had been
opened. While hundreds of others were already retweeting and commenting
on social media a Pink Floyd goblin found it necessary to threaten Colin
with legal action and made him remove the post.
This made Colin so bitter that he deleted the entire news page, and at a
certain point he was so disillusioned he wanted to close down AFG
completely.
I was (...) asked to remove the story as it had not been cleared by
official channels. This I did and I am now awaiting approval to publish
full details about the album, despite it now being widely spread across
the Internet. I intend to honour the commitment I made and the site will
remain down until such a time as I receive official approval to publish.
Louis Matos (and with him many other AFG readers) reacted in shock:
That high service to the fans and to the Pink Floyd brand (...) was
respected by Steve (O'Rourke), is respected by Mark (Fenwick) and should
be respected by whomever now attends to David's business. I find it
insulting - as a professional of the music business - that a loyal
dedicated fan had to be "disciplined" for reproducing a Tweet by Polly
by anyone other than Polly or David (and they could have done it, mind
you). Even - and especially - anyone on the business side of it.
Remember "Welcome to the Machine"? Well, it was about that kind of
abuse. (Taken from: The
Endless River)
To add insult to injury, at the moment when one of Pink Floyd's little
hitlers found it necessary to threaten to close down A Fleeting Glimpse,
the official Warner Music Why
Pink Floyd website had already inserted the announcement on its news
stream. Double standards, anyone?
The Endless River announcement on Why Pink Floyd?
Now here is where this article is going to get nasty, so if you are
easily offended, please go and visit the Boohbah
page instead.
David Gilmour and Paul Loasby.
Slithered Nerves
David Gilmour's (and also Syd Barrett's) management happens to be in the
hands of One
Fifteen who have the following Hunter
S. Thompson quote on their site:
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic
hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.
There's also a negative side.
If our information is correct Paul Loasby probably was the toerag
(note) who intimidated the Fleeting Glimpse
webmaster. According to a Cambridge mafia insider, who we will not name,
Paul Loasby is the opposite of a villain and an amicable man:
I have met him and spoken to him many times. He seems very pleasant and
was always totally respectful of Syd... and others...
But apparently that is only when he doesn't see a pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow, which he will receive anyway, regardless of him throwing
a tantrum about a leaked tweet or not.
What had to be, for the fans, one of the most joyous days in Pink Floyd
history, a new album, a much awaited tribute to Richard Wright, an
indirect nod to Syd Barrett (mind you, not that we think One Fifteen
knows anything about Syd Barrett), the Pink Floyd agent managed to turn
it into something of a misplaced nightmare.
Mister Loasby, you are a party pooper and you should be ashamed
of yourself.
David Gilmour and his dog.
Game of Thrones
But in a way: hats off to Paul Loasby. In four minutes he managed to
kick Steve O'Rourke from his throne as the eternal Pink Floyd baddy,
simply by putting the knife in the back of someone who does a lot of
Pink Floyd promotion, for free. If you are somewhat familiar with the
Floydian canon – this is something dogs do for a living. Welcome to the
machine, indeed.
We want to end this article with a friendly suggestion for Col Turner,
who was at the centre of this crisette.
There is a Dutch saying,
dating from the Middle Ages: "Tis quaet met heeren criecken eten'."
"It's difficult to eat cherries with noblemen", meaning that if you want
to schmooze with the higher crowd you will be treated as their servant
whether you like it or not.
Better be independent, better be vigilant, better be critical than to
bark only when the puppet master allows it, this is The Anchor's motto
and it will always be. While A Fleeting Glimpse may generally be the
first and the best in giving Pink Floyd news, it slightly troubles us
that they have completely forgotten to mention the Last
Minute Put Together Boogie Band release, with Syd Barrett's last
performance.
Sitting to close to the throne, too busy eating cherries over a lavish
Division Bell box set, no doubt.
Epilogue / Update
On the quadrophonicquad
forum Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson wrote on the 14th of July (2014):
No, still can't talk about Endless River, the 'leak' was damage
limitation as a UK newspaper had got hold of the story.
So if we read this well, a newspaper - rumoured to be The Sun - heard
about the new Pink Floyd album on the fifth of July and was going to
publish the news, perhaps even in next day's Sunday paper. Polly Samson
was then asked to tweet the news to the world before the newspaper would
publish it. It all makes perfect sense.
But what we still don't understand is why Paul Loasby had to threaten A
Fleeting Glimpse then. Why Pink Floyd? Why?
Can't you see It all makes perfect sense Expressed in dollars and
cents, Pounds, shillings and pence Can't you see It all makes
perfect sense (Roger Waters, Perfect Sense, Amused to Death, 1992)
Harvested logo.
The Floydian empire strikes back (Update: 2014 09 14.)
For the past few months early Pink Floyd songs have been disappearing
from YouTube: Scream Thy Last Scream, Vegetable Man, Astronomy Domine,
Lucy Leave, King Bee. Even the Men
On The Border live cover of Scream
Thy Last Scream has been silenced and has now got the text:
This video previously contained a copyrighted audio track. Due to a
claim by a copyright holder, the audio track has been muted.
Obviously this is a blatant lie and could be considered illegal, as the
copyright holder of the audio track is Men On The Border itself and not
Pink Floyd, nor EMI, Warner Music Group or one of its little helpers.
Harvested,
a volunteer-driven organisation that archived, restored and weeded (for
free) Pink Floyd live audio and video recordings
has been taken down after a friendly reminder from Mr. Loasby. All its
torrents have been deleted from Yeeshkul
who suddenly went chicken shit and have forbidden the further use of the
'Harvested' word to all its members. Also the Pink Floyd Multicam
website has been closed down.
The argument (from Pink Floyd) that ruthless entrepreneurs take the
freely distributed material from Harvested (like The
Man and The Journey), press it on a CD or DVD and sell it to the
public doesn't make sense. Warner should go after the companies who sell
these bootlegs and not after the people who give it away for free and
thus spoil the 'market' for the bootleggers (although we do understand
this is something of an illegal situation). By closing down Harvested
(and in a near future, perhaps Yeeshkul?) fans will again be obliged to
buy these recordings from shady companies if they want them, instead of
downloading them for free.
As usual the big three fansites (A
Fleeting Glimpse, Brain
Damage, NPF)
haven't mentioned this news at all, afraid to no longer receive the
crumbles falling off the Pink Floyd table and to be left in the cold
when 'The Endless River' will come out. Col Turner, who went apeshit
over Paul Loasby threatening him (read the article above) has removed
all trace of the incident and, as such, it never happened. (It is still
in the forum,
but you have to dig deep to find it.)
Acoustic
Sounds, who will press the vinyl version of 'The Endless River'
(they also did the recent 'Division Bell' release), received the
lacquers cut straight from Doug Sax and crew at The Mastering Lab (Los
Angeles) and posted some pictures on their Facebook page this week.
Guess what, these (innocent) pictures have now been deleted and we can
only guess who is behind that.
Who would have thought that ultimately Pink Floyd would turn into the
neo-fascist impersonation of their Wall album?
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
Note: Toe Rag is also character in Douglas
Adams' novel The
Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. He is an untrustworthy goblin,
secretary of the mighty god Thor, abusing the trust and power the Nordic
god gave him. Back to article.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
It was on the sad last week of August that a mysterious package from
an unknown sender arrived at Atagong mansion. Packed in a brown
plain cloth with a just distinguishable flowery motive, it was held
together with thin brown rope and sealed with red wax.
Two boxes.
After breaking the seal and removing the cloth, two carton boxes
were revealed. One 7 inch (7-1/4 x 7-1/4 x 1/2" - approx.
185 x 185 x 16 mm) containing the text 'REEL FOUR' and, on the
spine, 'SPANISHGRASS GCA-19B 4B4.
A bigger 11 inch (11 x 11 x
3/4" - approx. 280 x 280 x 20 mm) is titled 'SPANISHGRASS 20 SONGS
ABOUT SPACE AND SIESTA GCA-19B 4/4', on the spine 'SPANISHGRASS
GCA-19B 4A'.
A real reel.
The small box contained a tape all-right. On an inlay from High
Fidelity GCA Sound, Purveyors of Fine Audio Equipment, are written
the following titles: William Paips (1:10) Stede Bonnet (2:08) Gabriel
Spenser (2:39) Gospel At Noon (3:00) Waste Deep (2:52) Frog
(1:01)
The big box contained several wrapped packages, a CD and a letter,
signed and sealed by Leopoldo Duran.
The interior of the big box.
Here it is.
Partial scan of the Galician letter.
Written in the Galician language, we managed to scan, OCR and translate
it as good as were able to.
Dear Felix Atagong,
I hope this letter finds you well. My name is
Leopoldo Duran. I serve as a monk at the Monastery of Santa Maria de
Oseira. If you are reading this, it means I'm dead, and that my heirs
followed the instructions in my will to send you this parcel. Our abbey
is a beautiful monastery dedicated to Our Lord and has been around for
almost 900 years. Unfortunately. the weather was not so kind to our
abbey as we had expected from our Lord; as such, a number of necessary
repairs had to be carried out in many sections of several buildings.
One
such recent repair involved a rarely used room that belonged to an old
and dear friend of mine, who at the time expressly proclaimed his desire
to remain forever anonymous. My friend would spend the morning hours of
the Vespers in our yard, quietly and respectfully playing his guitar,
singing songs that were inspired by his stay. I have many memories of
him taking his reel-to-reel tape recorder very early in the morning,
while the rest of us went to mass. In fact, I told him and his friends,
many non-Catholics, who would also visit us that if they wanted to
confess at any time, they could talk to me, instead of talking to this
tape machine that didn't listen. None of them ever thanked us, but
that's another topic.
My apologies, but my mind begins to wander
at this age... we were talking repairs. A worker found a box embedded in
the corner of the room of my friend, initially thought to be rubbish, as
on top of the disorganized pile there was a note saying 'please burn
this'. It appeared that it contained four tape reels from my old friend,
along with a pile of old photographs and other things. As they were old,
I thought it would be best to send these tape recordings to an expert to
have them restored. A non-Catholic boy in the village told me about
something called 'web'. This 'web' apparently has information and on my
demand the 'web' found a place in the United States of America where
they agreed to take the music performed on these four reels and produce
one copy of something called 'digital'.
This American assured
that these 'digital' music storage techniques are much more preferred
for these older reels. He also said that to extract the music from these
very old tapes, he had to 'feed' the reels. This made sense to me,
because I suddenly remembered my dear old friend, explaining how he
'roasted' these tapes. Apparently, the process can be repeated many
times but the tape starts to degrade; therefore, the American issued the
following warning. ”Play this on a clean machine and make sure to
register the first playing, as each additional playing will degrade the
tape.”
Once again, after the North-American information
about these 'records' I was at a loss about what to do next. I wanted to
share this wonderful discovery to someone who wants it. Unfortunately,
time makes disappear all things, and I think less and less people will
recognize the name of my dear friend.
Also, next to my unyielding
desire I was reminded of the promise to my friend to remain anonymous.
"I would remain silent until my death...”, I said nothing then! I made
the non-Catholic village boy do another search on this 'web' and let him
come with four names. In my will I am instructing my heirs to send each
one of the reels. Due to a communication error four 'albums' that
contain the complete content of all four reels combined were put on a
disc. Each 'disc' includes the content of the four combined reels that
the American produced for me. I remember my friend saying at the time
that these recordings are called 'Spanishgrass' and that they were
'twenty songs about space and siesta'.
It is my wish that this
answers any questions you may have regarding this package you received
unsolicited. If it gives you more questions, I can only tell you what I
tell everyone. So Jesus and the Holy Church know it's true.
Leopoldo
Duran
(This is part one
of the Spanishgrass,
the myth continues... series. Hi-def scans and pictures will be
revealed, on an irregular basis, at our Spanishgrass
Tumblr gallery.)
Many thanks to Mr. Anonymous for sending us this package. ♥ Iggy ♥
Libby ♥ Babylemonade Aleph ♥
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
It contained, next to a CD and several goodies, a tape reel, marked
'reel four'. An undated letter from High Fidelity GCA Sound, Purveyors
of Fine Audio Equipment, explains how the four reels have been
transferred to CD.
GCA Sound letter.
Mastering Report:
Project instructions: Leopoldo Duran
(customer) provided four reel to reel tapes. Customer stated reels have
been left unprotected in a drafty room. Customer would like archive
copies made from whatever is on tapes. No alterations to the sound are
to be made. Please deliver transferred files on to a compact disc.
Project
Engineer Notes:
Minor water damage to tapes. Main concern is
tape quality. Tape age is estimated to be mid 1970s. Due to the age of
the tape, the tape is oxidizing and showing wear. In order to achieve
the most optimum archival copy, the reel to reel machine heads were
cleaned and aligned before each reel. Tapes were baked to achieve
optimum quality from source. While a digital copy has been created from
the reels provided, certain audio defects remain present. Even with
adequate preventative measures, tape transfer achieved was not optimal.
Listener should expect audio imperfections. This is most noticeable as
minor distortions, speed inconsistencies, and subtle drop outs.
Reel 1, courtesy Rick Barnes.
And then there were three
Our assumption that four tapes, each containing different tracks, have
been anonymously 'delivered' to people around the world seems right.
Last week boxes arrived in Spain at the Solo
En Las Nubes webmaster Antonio Jesús (reel 2) and in the USA at Birdie
Hop administrator and music collector (and professional) Rick Barnes
(reel 1). As a matter of fact the Spanishgrass set made it onto Rick
Barnes' VC
Vinyl Community update on Youtube (skip to 20 minutes to watch the
Spanishgrass bit.)
For the moment we still have no clue about the whereabouts of reel
number 3.
Next to the music on tape and CD there are some Polaroids from the
Oseira monastery that further immerse the listener into the Spanishgrass
set. These will be published on a daily base at the Spanishgrass
section of our Holy
Church Tumblr page.
The question that troubles most anoraks though is: do the tapes (and CD)
really contain lost Syd Barrett tunes that have been recorded during his
alleged stay at the Oseira monastery, somewhere in the seventies? We
will only publish a review of the record next week, but this is what we
can already divulge.
Reel 2, courtesy Antonio Jesus.
Save a prayer
Leopoldo Durán, professor of (English) literature, philosophy and
theology, lived for three decades in Great Britain where he was
contacted by Graham Greene after Durán's doctoral dissertation about
priesthood. The two men became friends for life and the author annually
visited the priest at the Oseira monastery. Greene's humorous and
satirical novel Monsignor
Quixote was a direct result of the long religious and political
conversations both friends had, more triggered by visits to local
vineyards than for the need of philosophical discours. Graham
Greene died in 1991, after his final confession was taken by his Spanish
friend. Durán would still correspond with Greene's widow and family
until his dead in 2008 and published several biographical books about
the author.
The Durán archives, 48 boxes in total, containing letters, manuscripts,
pictures from Durán, Greene and others are archived at the Georgetown
University Library Special
Collections Research Center, Washington, D.C., but nowhere there is
a trace of a certain Roger Keith Barrett staying at Oseira.
Leopoldo Durán died in 2008, but the alleged Spanishgrass
tapes were only posted six years later to four Syd Barrett scholars, after
the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit and Solo En Las Nubes articles about
the 1986 hoax (and its follow-up, by the original author, Jose Ángel
González, in 2003). See: Spanishgrass
or Syd Barrett's lost Spanish record, Spanishgrass,
one year later and subsequent articles on this blog.
Where did the tapes stay between 2008 and 2014? Surely, if Leopoldo
Durán would have had the Spanishgrass tapes, they would logically be in
his archive, but they are not.
Leopoldo Duran signature.
Last but not least. In the letter that can be found in the four
Spanishgrass Immersion boxes (with one box still missing), Leopoldo
Durán misspells his own name consequently as Leopoldo Duran, without an
accent on the last a. On top of that Durán was a professor of English
literature, so it is weird that the letter, destined for an English
speaking audience, has been written in Galician.
Sometimes a hoax can be too elaborated...
So who or what is this Spanishgrass band or artist and what is on the
album? Be patient, sistren and brethren, all will be
revealed in due time...
Many thanks to Mr. Anonymous for sending us this package. ♥ Iggy ♥
Libby ♥ Babylemonade Aleph ♥
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Our love for Pink
Floyd will be eternal and is not limited to one of the roughly six
or seven different incarnations, although we can be happy they didn't
have as many personnel changes as, for instance, Yes,
dog beware. We unconditionally love proto Floyd, vintage Floyd,
classic Floyd, acidic Floyd and diet Floyd
that transformed slowly into newborn Floyd. They all had their
pros and cons, so to speak, their highs and lows and we have never
understood the fan-wars that automatically start when Pink Floyd
announce a new album. Just go and have a look at the two main fora:
A
Fleeting Glimpse, from Last
Minute Put Together Boogie Band negationist Col T, and their eternal
enemies, the deaf, dumb and blind Neptune
Pink Floyd copycats. The good thing is that the announcement of a
new Floyd album had the two fora starting internal wars for a change,
instead of constantly pissing each other off.
Not that the Church and its Reverend are any better, au contraire.
Amongst Sydiots it is the general rule to bitch and to fight, to diss
each other on sight, that's the things we do...
While Pink Floyd have made the most heavenly music in the world, and we
repeat: in all their incarnations, we have some difficulties with Pink
Floyd, the business mogul and their foul-mouthed representatives who
will not blink once when, for hard cash, they lie and deceive, to quote
one of the minor poets.
Not wanting to sound too anoraky but apparently the 1994 European
EMI CD release, pretending to have a 1992 Doug
Sax remaster, did not use that particular tape, but an old, sloppy
one from somewhere in the eighties.
Let us rephrase that again to let it quietly sip in.
Laughing all the way to the bank.
In 1994 EMI (Europe) was advertising and selling remastered Pink Floyd
CDs, only what was baked on the disk was not a remaster at all but a
murky old version (EMI modulated the volume here and there to cover up
for their cheating). This can be clearly heard on the A
Saucerful Of Secrets track that has a distinct 'snap' around the 2
minutes and 30 seconds mark, with a 5dB volume drop for about 5 seconds,
a problem that was partially solved by Doug Sax on his 1992 remaster.
The EMI fraud, we can't think of any other name to define what they
deliberately did and that may have literally run into the millions,
was not only limited to the second Pink Floyd album but perhaps on seven
so-called remasters: A Saucerful Of Secrets, Meddle, Dark Side of the
Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and A Momentary Lapse Of
Reason. A detailed overview, with links and soundbytes, can be found at
the bottom of this article.
Yes, these are the people saying that home-taping is killing music. By
the way, not a single Pink Floyd, or ex-Pink Floyd, -member objected
apparently. But of course this was twenty years ago and surely the
geriatric Floyd have gotten softer by now. Well... apparently it has
only gotten worse...
Charade you are
The thing is that Pink Floyd, and any other popular and self-respecting
band, consists of two parts, what is not always fully understood by the
fans. There is a cultural or artistic pillar with the performers
exclaiming their angst, fear, hope, friendship and love in their songs.
There is also an economic or capitalistic division where these same
performers, represented by their agents, publishing and record
companies, try to sell you as much junk as is humanly possible. Only...
they don't call it junk but Immersion
sets, compilations, remasters, even if these remasters aren't
remasters at all.
While fans were eagerly awaiting The
Endless River, the Floyd's latest album, the band and its record
company were trying to create a buzz, which has pretty much succeeded.
To the outside world at least. Hardcore Pink Floyd fans, those crusty
old dinosaurs with big wallets, felt a bit neglected.
We won't repeat everything we wrote in The
loathful Mr. Loasby and other stories... but Floyd acolytes have
been insulting, intimidating and legally threatening the Fleeting
Glimpse webmaster because he dared to publish the news of a new
album after Polly
Samson and Durga
McBroom had already done so. For the last six months, their legal
division has deleted lots of archive material from YouTube, which they
are of course entitled to (leading to much speculation about an immense
2017 Piper / Saucerful Immersion set). Floyd gave the Harvested
organisation a one day warning to stop their illegal activities, namely
archiving and restoring Floyd concerts and weeding these to the fans,
for free. Basically Harvested did what they expected Harvest to do, but
the Last
Minute Put Together Boogie Band tape that was bought and immediately
buried by EMI and/or Pink Floyd shows that they had no intent releasing
it. The Gyllene
Cirkeln tape, same story. When the Floyd buy a tape, it is not to
praise, but to bury it.
Draconian measurements, so it seems, and sometimes taking innocent
victims with them, like censoring a video
from the Men
On The Border band, because it happened to cover a Syd Barrett song.
Row, row, row your boat... Artwork: Rocco Moliterno.
The odd couple
In their interviews Gilmour and Mason look nothing like rock stars, they
are amiably chatting about their latest release, and they could easily
be mistaken for elderly countrymen, retired landlords discussing the
sweet life of rural Great-Britain. While they are quipping how sweet
their friendship was with Rick Wright and how this record is a tribute
to him, their copyright gamekeepers are shooting at the poachers. Did
Roger Waters knew he was predicting the future when he turned Pink into
a crypto-fascist on The
Wall album?
Sometimes the Floyd's hammering attempts are bluntly pathetic.
On the 9th of October one track of the album, Louder
Than Words, was premiered on BBC radio (and later repeated on a few
other stations), but unlike the seventies, people were not holding a
cassette player with a microphone in front of a transistor radio. In the
twenty-first century radio stations can be captured on the internet and
songs can be sent to the world wide web with a simple right-click.
Copies were almost uploaded immediately and put on Soundcloud, YouTube
and other places.
A day later A Fleeting Glimpse, who are again big buddies with Floyd's
management, warned their forum members that Warner would be hitting hard
on those fans seeding the track and most copies disappeared after a few
hours, except the one on the BBC website.
We shall not stop until all illegal copies of 'Louder Than Words' have
been destroyed! Artwork: Felix Atagong.
The Church is aware of at least four Pink Floyd fans who listened
to advanced copies of the album, but who were explicitly told to not to
express their opinion about it on Pink Floyd forums. This happened less
than five days before the official launch and after all great music
magazines, Q, Mojo, Uncut, Rolling Stone had already published their
reviews.
All this secrecy and bullying can only mean one thing. That the album is
a big bummer and that the record company does not want the fans to
realize that before they buy the album. And if it's not, there remains
only one question:
What the fuck is your problem, Pink Floyd?
Well, there is only one way to find out...
(This is part one of our The Endless River article, part two or the
actual review can be found here: While
my guitar gently weeps...)
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
Many thanks to Danielcaux, Rocco Moliterno, Wolfpack and countless
people on the NPF and Fleeting Glimpse forums. ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
The different versions are discussed, in detail, on the Neptune Pink
Floyd forum: "Saucerful"
on CD - defective??. Danielcaux compared
the different A Saucerful Of Secrets CD versions and posted some clips
on Soundcloud (about 34 seconds each).
The new Diet Pink
Floyd album The Endless River is conquering the world,
perhaps to the absence of any real competition. We don't think Susan
Boyle's cover version of Wish
You Were Here will pose a real threat, does it? In Holland the
album, currently at number one, sells five
times as much as the number two.
The Endless River is a slow evolving, ambient piece of work with obvious
nods to the Floyd's glorious past... one hears traces of A Saucerful Of
Secrets (Syncopated Pandemonium), Astronomy Domine, Careful With That
Axe Eugene, Cluster One, Interstellar Overdrive, Keep Talking, Marooned,
Money, One Of These Days (I'm Going To Cut You Into Little Pieces), Run
Like Hell, Shine On You Crazy Diamond and probably half a dozen more
we've already forgotten.
The familiarity of it all has created raving enthusiasm for some and
'mainly yesterday's reheated lunch' for others and this also seems to be
the opinion of the press. Mark Blake (in Mojo)
politely describes the album as 'big on atmosphere, light on songs',
Mikael Wood (in the Los
Angeles Times) states that Pink Floyd drifts towards nothingness
with aimless and excruciatingly dull fragments.
While the 1987 A Momentary Lapse Of Reason album was a David
Gilmour solo effort, recorded with 18 session musicians and with the
Pink Floyd name on the cover to sell a few million copies more, The
Endless River originally grew out of jams between Gilmour, Mason &
Wright.
Actually these were rejected jams, not good enough to include on The
Division Bell, but over the years they seem to have ripened like
good old wine. Well that's the PR story but in reality Andy Jackson,
Phil Manzanera and Martin 'Youth' Glover had to copy bits and pieces
from twenty hours of tape and toy around with every single good sounding
second in Pro
Tools to obtain something relatively close to Floydian eargasm. Phil
Manzanera in Uncut:
I would take a guitar solo from another track, change the key of it,
stick it on an outtake from another track. 'Oh that bit there, it
reminds me of Live At Pompeii, but let's put a beat underneath it.' So
then I take a bit of Nick warming up in the studio at Olympia, say, take
a bit of a fill here and a bit of fill there. Join it together, make a
loop out of it.
This doesn't really sound like an organic created piece of music, does
it? The result is a genetically modified fat-free sounding record
and while this is the most ambient experiment of Pink Floyd it will
never get extreme, despite Martin Glover's presence whose only ambient
house additions seem to be the On The Run VCS3 effect that comes
whooshing in several times. Youth isn't that young and reckless any more
so don't expect anything close to the KLF's Madrugada
Eterna, Jimmy 'Space' Cauty's Mars
or the Orb's A
Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the
Ultraworld, unfortunately.
Update April 2017: One and a half year after the record has been
released the involvement of Nick Mason can be finally discussed as well.
Pink Floyd know-all Ron Toon at Steve
Hoffmann:
Nick had nothing to do with this project except to play a few new drum
tracks basically being brought in as a session drummer. Of course he was
/ is a member of Pink Floyd but his involvement in this project was
minimal at best. The vision was David's and the other producers and Andy
[Jackson] did most of the work. Source: Pink
Floyd - The Early Years 1965-1972 Box Set.
But the music isn't the only thing that seems to be embellished. Last
week long-time Echoes
mailing list member Christopher, also known as 10past10, went on
holidays, taking with him the new Pink Floyd CD and, as reading
material, Nick Mason's Inside Out book. Then something happened
which unleashed the power of his imagination (read Christopher's
original mail).
The mid-book picture of The Endless River shows the Astoria studio with
Rick Wright, David Gilmour and Nick Mason jamming in 1993, taken by Jill
Furmanovsky. This picture has been stitched out of several shots,
the borders don't match (deliberately) and Nick Mason (or at least his
arms) can be seen twice.
Astoria session, 1993. Picture: Jill Furmanovsky.
But Christopher was in for another surprise when he looked at the fourth
picture gallery in Nick Mason's Inside Out soft-cover (or on page 313 if
you have the coffee-table edition). It shows another picture of the same
session, with Rick Wright, David Gilmour and Bob Ezrin.
Astoria session, 1993. Picture: Jill Furmanovsky.
Now look at the man in the middle, the one who doesn't like to be called
Dave. Christopher:
If you look closely at every piece of David's clothing, his hair, the
way he is holding his guitar, the chords, the lot. It all matches
exactly ... too much not be a match.
David Gilmour with double chin.David
Gilmour with single chin.
Not only does The Endless River centrefold superimposes Nick Mason
twice, but they have glued in David Gilmour from another shot (and
removed Bob Ezrin).
And still, that is not all.
Look very
closely to Gilmour's face in the 1993 picture (left) and to his
face on the 2014 release (right). Christopher explains:
The difference is in the original shot. David has a double chin. In
The Endless River shot it has been dealt with.
There will be no fat on The Endless River, not on the music and
certainly not on Air-Brush Dave.
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
Many thanks to Christopher (10past10), Ron Toon. Pictures courtesy of
Jill Furmanovsky. ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥
Sources (other than the above internet links): 10past10
(Christopher), Alcog Dave no more, mail, 2014 11 14. Bonner,
Michael: Coming back to life, Uncut, November 2014, p. 39. Echoes
mailing list: to join just click on the appropriate link on their sexy echoes
subscription and format information webpage.
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Christopher's original posting to Echoes: (Back to article)
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:00:32 +1000 From: 10past10 Subject:
Alcog Dave no more ... To: echoes@meddle.org
Hi Ho All,
I do believe there is photographic trickery afoot!
Exhibit A: The centrefold picture in The Endless River depicting
Richard, David and Nick in the studio.
Exhibit B: Inside Out; the fourth lot of pics in the paperback or p313
in hardback (1st ed), depicting Richard, David and Bob Ezrin.
Obviously it is a different pic of Richard and Bob/Nick. But I reckon
the picture of David is the same one; except for one difference.
So, I reckon, to get the wider shot for the TER CD centrefold (I don't
know how it may or may not appear in the other versions as I haven't
seen them yet), they have made a composite photo using the shot of David
rom the one Nick originally published and shots of Richard and Nick from
one or two different pictures.
If you look closely at every piece of David's clothing, his hair, the
way he is holding his guitar, the chords, the lot. It all matches
exactly ... too much not be a match.
Does this matter? Of course not. Why not do that to get what you need.
Obviously Nick himself is double exposed when you look at his arms.
Is it worth pointing out? Yes (but just because you can, not because it
will change the world). Why? Because of the one difference.
The difference is in the original shot David has a double chin. In The
Endless River shot it has been dealt with.
Some time ago I was castigated for calling David, Fat Dave. So I changed
that to Alcog Dave. He is that no more. In my more whimsical moods I
shall hence forth refer to him as "Air-Brush Dave".
When the Reverend spotted an expensive collectors limited edition
4 DVD & book set in his favourite bookshop last week there was a little
voice going in his head whispering: “Don't buy it, don't buy it...”
Unfortunately the Reverend has this problem with authority, so this good
advice was completely ignored. The moment he had paid 60 Euro (44.65£,
68.00$) he immediately regretted the purchase, but by then it was
already too late. “Told you so!”, said the voice in his head. Little
bugger.
The Reverend, Felix for the rapidly diminishing herd he calls his
friends, should have been warned by the fact that there was no author on
the cover and that the editor goes by the name of Blitz Books,
but the promise on the back that read: four DVD films packed with
in-depth rare archive interviews with the band, made him forget several
of the seven deadly sins.
So he returned to Atagong mansion with Pink Floyd: 50 Years On The
Dark Side tucked inside his overcoat and he only opened it in the
privacy of his study room.
The Book
At first sight the 110 pages coffee table book looks impressive. It
starts with an essay titled Pink Floyd In The Beginning that
covers their early history from The Pink Floyd Blues Band, although that
name may have been some kind of an urban legend, until Ummagumma, so
roughly from 1965 till 1969. It's not particularly innovative, nor
original as Barry
Miles has his 2006 The Early Years book that roughly covers
the same old ground and that is well worth the read. But, it has to be
said, the article is not bad and does quote a lot from early interviews
with the band.
The text, however, is not original, it was first published in a book
called Pink Floyd: Reflections and Echoes from Bob
Carruthers, that also had – coincidence ? - 4 DVDs packed with
in-depth rare archive interviews with the band.
We're starting to see a pattern here.
Part one ends at page 58 but, mind you, two-thirds of the pages are
filled with pictures from our friends at Pictorial
Press who, by the way, still haven't answered if they have any Iggy
Rose pictures in their archive, which we know with certainty they do.
After the quite enjoyable read about vintage Floyd and the somewhat
quirky attempts from the remaining members, plus one newbie: David
Gilmour, to find a new direction it is time for the rest of the Floydian
history. That second part start with The Wall.
Which one's Pink? Phil Rose.
The Wall?
Does this mean the book skips a whole decade, not coincidentally the one
that had the Floyd's classic albums Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish
You Were Here and the somewhat underrated Animals and Obscured By Clouds?
Apparently it does.
Blitz Books' business plan is to have some text on paper, any text, so
that they can put (coloured) photographs around. On top of that The
Wall-part mainly tells what happens on the album, song per song, so it
is not even a review. We're still trying to recover from the disastrous
catastrophe that was Roger Waters' The Wall show in summer 2013 and we
solemnly confess we didn't read this chapter because reading about The
Wall is even more tedious than listening to the album. We once tried
getting through Phil Rose's Which One's Pink that analyses the
concepts of the different Roger Waters albums, as a solo artist and with
Pink Floyd, but it only made our psycho-therapist wealthier.
Discography
The third and final part of the 50 Years On The Dark Side book is a
discography of the studio albums from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
till The Division Bell, with a (small) description of every song. The
Floyd's debut, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is described as 'deeply
disappointing' where 'two completely different, and totally
irreconcilable, musical personalities battle for supremacy'. As long as
we know where these fans really stand it is fine for us.
Not only is the page order for the A Saucerful Of Secrets review wrong,
but the (anonymous) author also seems to have found a new Floyd track
called 'Heavenly Voices', probably the ending piece of the title track
is meant, better known as 'Celestial Voices'.
The other album reviews are generally acceptable and from page 100 to
103 The Wall comes around for a second time and again all individual
tracks are mentioned with some titbits her and there.
It would have been an excellent idea to have added the track-listing of
The Endless River, but that was too much asked from the Blitz boys. To
add insult to injury the Division Bell review omits the last three
songs... because there are no more pages left in the book. Really, it
is, we're not trying to tell you a joke or something...
Conclusion
This book is an even greater insult than the history book that could be
found in the Pink Floyd 1992 Shine On box set that mysteriously
ended in mid sentence on page 107. All in all 50 Years On The Dark Side
is not a book, it is merely text on paper.
The luxurious Pink Floyd box-set Shine On (1992) had a book ending in mid
sentence.
The DVDs
After the obvious debacle that is the piece of printed paper pretending
to be a book, it was time for the Reverend to sit in front of the
monitor and have a four hours DVD watching marathon.
Inner back cover.
Theoretically the four DVDs should be well attached to plastic 'teeth'
(probably there is a more scientific term) at the inside-back-cover, but
these things are from such a poor quality that when you grab the book,
at least one DVD will lose its grip and fall with a kling klang
on the floor. Yes, Kraftwerk has build an empire on these things.
This is not really unique for Blitz Books. David Gilmour's solo album On
An Island is packed in a digibook that has a rubber round soft cap to
hold the compact disc. The only problem is that once you take the CD out
it often is impossible to slide it again over the rubber plug. It's
about the same problem as getting a cork back inside a bottle. In the
Reverend's case this lead to the situation that for years he knew where
the digibook was, but that he had lost the whereabouts of the CD.
The same situation happened with the over-expensive Pink Floyd Immersion
sets of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. While the marbles
("Marbles? Yes, marbles.") were individually packed in bubble-wrap bags
the unprotected CDs and DVDs would freely roam all over the box,
collecting scratches during the transport on plains, trains and
auto-mobiles. (Read more at: Fuck
all that, Pink Floyd Ltd.)
The Syd Barrett Years
DVD 1 (The Syd Barrett Years) seems to be a compilation of at least 2 to
4 other documentaries as one recognises people from the awful 'Inside
Pink Floyd' set, the 'Critical Rock Review' series, the aforementioned
'Reflections and Echoes', plus 'Musical Milestones - Reflections on the
Wall', although these documentaries may already share the same pieces.
It is a common trick from these low-budget companies to repackage the
same garbage. The documentary 'Pink Floyd behind the wall' is basically
the same, perhaps with some cuts here and there, as 'Pink Floyd in their
own words' to give just one example.
But actually the first DVD isn't that bad as it has interviews with
Duggie Fields, Joe Boyd, Norman Smith, Ron Geesin and the recently
deceased John 'Hoppy' Hopkins...
List of interviewees. The
Ultimate Critical Review: Atom Heart Mother.
Pink Floyd in Development
DVD 2 (Pink Floyd in Development) highlights the Floyd's career from A
Saucerful Of Secrets to Atom Heart Mother. Here is where shit really
starts to hit the fan. Basically these are interviews with people who
have absolutely nothing to do with the band whatsoever, sharing their
opinions. One could say that the presence of some journalists eases the
pain a bit: John Cavanagh (read an interview with him here: so
much to do, so little time), author of the 33 1/3 book The Piper
At The Gates Of Dawn has the most intelligent things to say,
followed by Syd Barrett & the Dawn of Pink Floyd biographer
Mike Watkinson. Chris Welch who wrote the stinker Learning To Fly
in 1994 comes in as third.
The notable exception on the second DVD is Ron
Geesin, who gives his side of the Atom Heart Mother story, but stays
gentle in regard to the boys who didn't want to put his name on the
sleeve. Ron's name can only be found in small print, on the credits for
the suite, and that duly pissed him off at the time. Geesin wrote the
sublime The Flaming Cow in 2013 and as Nick Mason provided the
introduction it seems that the problems have been solved 44 years later.
Even with Ron Geesin's testimony the second disk lingers on and on,
dragging for minutes that turn into quarters, a bit like Atom Heart
Mother itself, one might say. If you might have a 2005 DVD called The
Ultimate Critical Review: Atom Heart Mother don't bother to watch
this as it is the same material.
Getting back to the sleeve one more time. We are probably all aware
about Lullubelle the third, the iconic cow on the Atom Heart Mother
album cover. It is funny..., no we're looking for another term here, it
is pathetic that the people on the 50 Years On The Dark Side DVDs
keep on discussing the merits of Storm Thorgerson and his Hipgnosis team
without actually showing the covers. What they show are replicas of the
covers, a generic cow for Atom Heart Mother, a three-dimensional prism
for Dark Side of the Moon, a psychedelic picture of Battersea Power
Station for Animals. This is the Aldi approach, replacing the
real deal with a cheap lookalike.
Momentary Lapses
Let's be brief about the third and fourth DVDs that are called
'Momentary Lapses 1971-1977' and 'Momentary Lapses 1979-1994'. Again
these DVDs are filled with people who have absolutely nothing to do with
the band saying lots of things about the band. One wonders if these
'specialists' could talk for 52 minutes about a loaf of bread instead,
and probably they could: “This is a remarkable loaf of bread, considered
when it was made in 1975 without the technology of today. That loaf of
bread has set the standard for all other loafs of bread to come.” Ad
infinitum.
Back cover.
The only exception on these DVDs are some interviews, but not as
elaborated as the Ron Geesin one before, with Clare Torry, who
did the vocals on The Great Gig In The Sky, Snowy White who sheds
some light on his (live) work on Animals and The Wall, Andy Roberts
who replaced Snowy White as a Surrogate Band member on the 1981 Wall
shows and Tim Renwick who sessioned for the diet Pink Floyd that
emerged after Roger Waters had left the band. Don't get too overexcited
either, what they tell is something that has been rehashed in a million
magazine articles and books before.
Several of the Pink Floyd specialists are chosen a bit too incestuously.
Amongst these are people who are (or were) associated to Classic Rock
magazine and members of the prog-rock band Mostly Autumn, who –
what a coincidence! - were under contract at Classic Rock when the
Inside Pink Floyd DVDs came out. As a matter of fact the second Inside
Pink Floyd DVD tried so hard to be a Mostly Autumn promotional film that
the Reverend took a solemn oath never ever to allow any of their
mediocre albums to enter Atagong mansion.
As stated before, 'Pink Floyd: 50 Years On The Dark Side' is a
combination of four or more of these pseudo-documentaries and – on paper
– it was a good idea to weed out the crap and only to keep the
interesting stuff. Both 'Pink Floyd: Reflections and Echoes' and 'Inside
Pink Floyd' have interviews with members of the band, although coming
from other sources like the BBC Omnibus documentary, radio shows,
snippets from TV clips, parts of the KQED performance and others.
Unfortunately, all copyrighted material showing the Pink Floyd lads and
music has now been removed and only the talking heads remain. '50 years
on the dark side' is even crappier than the original DVDs it has
compiled. This is not a documentary, this is a bloody insult.
And oh, by the way... that line on the back cover saying 'four DVD films
packed with in-depth rare archive interviews with the band', nothing of
that is true, but you had figured that out by now, we think.
Conclusion
The only reason why we should advise you to buy this DVD set is to
ritually burn it, cast a spell over its makers, so that they will land
in the fourth circle of hell, where they will be tortured until eternity
by the rancid muzak of Mostly Autumn.
This image says it all, we think...
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
Syd Barrett (tripping). Picture: Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon.
For the second time in its career Swedish based Men On The Border
has a YouTube video censored by the Pink Floyd management. This time not
because they are interpreting a Syd Barrett song, which is something of
a condicio sine qua non if you are a Syd Barrett cover-band but
because they use Barrett imagery in the video-collage of their latest
song To The Promised Land.
To The Promised Land is the B-side of their latest single Dominoes,
a dreamlike evocation with friendly nods to early Emerson, Lake &
Palmer, the eerie minimalism of Mike Oldfield and The Beatles’ I Am The
Walrus, performed in their typical cool Nordic style. The song certainly
is a grower for those who can hear and watch it.
Update 2016 05 29: A reworked version of the videoclip, with Syd
Barrett cut out, has been released on YouTube: Men
On The Border - To The Promised Land (also deleted).
Men On The Border have been invited to Cambridge to play on the Syd
Barrett celebration on the 27th of October, something Pink Floyd and its
geriatric members are probably not aware of. That there is a touch of
senility roaming through the Pink Floyd ranks was already suspected when
they managed to censor
a David Gilmour track on his own website.
Just another example, now we're on it. On the 24th of April 2016, David
Gilmour added a tribute to Prince's Purple Rain in Comfortably
Numb. Fan-made recordings were quickly removed from YouTube and then
added to Gilmour's own channel, claiming to be 'official'...
And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? We call it Riding the
Gravy Train.
Some screenshots of the deleted video can be found on our supergasticIggyInuit
Tumblr page.
(The above article is entirely based upon facts, some situations may
have been enlarged for satirical purposes.)
Many thanks to Göran Nyström. ♥ Iggy ♥ Libby ♥
The Anchor is the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit's satirical
division, intended for people with a good heart, but a rather bad
character. More info: The
Anchor. Read our legal stuff: Legal
Stuff.
It passed by as a fait-divers. On the third of December Rod Harrod died
in his home village of Dinas Powys in South Wales. Many people,
especially those in Floydian spheres, will not recognise him.
In the early days of the Church, when we were still looking for Iggy, we
had an agreeable conversation with Rod about the heydays of The
Cromwellian and the other clubs Iggy used to frequent. Rod Harrod was
the man who - more or less – discovered Jimi Hendrix and who gave him a
first chance to play at the Scotch of St James Club in London. To read a
bit more about Rod Harrod you can go to these early Church archives: Rod
Harrod remembers The Crom and The
Style Council.
Our condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Rod.
2021
Twenty twenty one was a lousy weird year, with – unfortunately – also a
few deceases closer to the Floydian home. The Church also had a few good
moments, even something we could call the highlight in our thirteen
years existence.
All of these have been illustrated on our Tumblr
sister blog … and here is our annual overview:
January
2021: the long awaited Syd Barrett Lyrics book is finding its way to
the fans. It is assembled by the Moriarty of Barrett biographies Rob
Chapman, meaning that controversy is never far away. Our review: The
Syd Barrett CookbookFebruary
2021: a 2015 Syd Barrett mood-board by Manu, aka SydParrett, who has
disappeared from social media since 2016. Hope you’re doing fine, girl! March
2021: RIP Duggie Fields. Picture: Iggy and Duggie, at the Barrett book
launch, 2011. Obituary: RIP
Duggie Fields 1945 – 2021April
2021: Iggy and some musician. Picture: Mick Rock. May
2012: Orange Dahlias in a Vase. Syd Barrett painting auctioned and
sold for £22,000. Article: Orange
Dahlias in a VaseJune
2021: in June of 2021 the Church was contacted by Iggy’s relatives in
Mizoram, who had lost all connection with the British side of the family
for over half of a century. This created quite a buzz in India and the
Church was mentioned in half a dozen of newspaper articles, culminating in
the Reverend's second interview ever. Read more at: Family
ReunionJuly
2021: who could’ve guessed that The Anchor really existed in
Cambridge? August
2021: Syd Barrett wearing his notorious Yogi Bear tie. Warning for our
younger fans: this is not an original. Syd. Shopped by: Fabio Mendez. September
2021: Octopus ad, made by Hipgnosis. October
2021: the object of the Reverend’s adoration. Pills not included. November
2021: RIP Mick Rock. Picture: Dave Benett. Obituary: Rock
of AgesDecember
2021: Iggy, 2010, by Chris Lanaway, for Mojo magazine. She hated that
shooting. Always a bit of a rebel, our Iggy. RIP girl.
Anonymous, Ajay Dep Thanga, Antonio Jesús Reyes, APH, Asdf35, Barbara,
Basit Aijaz, Chandrima Banerjee, Din Nyy, Eleonora Siatoni, Elizabeth
Joyce, Elvee Milai, Euisoo's left sock, Göran Nyström, Gregory Taylor,
Hallucalation, Hmazil, Hnamte Thanchungnunga, Julian Palacios, Kevin
Arnold, Kima Sailo, Lalrin Liana, Lzi Dora Hmar, Mact Mizoram, Mafela
Ralte, Mark Blake, Matthew Cheney, Mick Brown, Myithili Hazarika,
Noeeeayo (Rinnungi Pachuau), Panjee Chhakchhuak, Park Yoongi, Psych62,
Racheliebe (Chha Dok Mi), Ramtea Zote123, Rich Hall, Rinapautu Pautu,
Rob Chapman, Rontoon, Rosang Zuala, Roy Alan Ethridge, Stash Klossowski
de Rola, Stephen Coates, Swanlee, Syd Wonder, Tnama Hnamte, VL Zawni,
Wolfpack, Younglight, Zodin Sanga, Zolad.