The Technical Team
Andy Jackson was again sound engineer. He was assisted on the Astoria by Jules Bowen, who had previously worked on The Final Cut. The legendary Keith Grant was behind the mixing desk for the overdubs recorded at Creek Recording Studios (believed to be his own personal studio) at Sunbury-on-Thames. Grant was a brilliant sound engineer closely connected with Olympic Studios, who recorded some of the biggest names in rock during the course of his long career, not least the Beatles, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie. The final mixing was shared between David Gilmour and Chris Thomas, with whom the group reunited twenty years after The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). In charge of the recording of the strings and horns, arranged by Michael Kamen, was Steve McLaughlin (an associate of Kamen’s, but also a producer, sound engineer, and composer of movie scores). Finally, the indispensable technician Phil Taylor was responsible for looking after the instruments.
The Musicians
Chris Thomas was not the only one to reconnect with the Floyd again after a gap of twenty or so years: the highly talented Dick Parry, whose saxophone playing had lit up the albums The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, was once again part of the adventure. Among the other musicians contributing to the album were Jon Carin on keyboards and programming, Guy Pratt on bass and vocals, Gary Wallis on percussion, and Tim Renwick on guitar, all of whom would perform again with the Floyd in concert. The backing vocalists were Sam Brown, Durga McBroom, Carol Kenyon, Jackie Sheridan, and Rebecca Leigh-White.
Technical Details
Following preproduction of the album at Britannia Row Studios, the group moved to the Astoria, David Gilmour’s houseboat studio, for the recording sessions proper. The multitrack was an analog Studer A827 tape recorder, the entire team preferring the resulting sound quality to that obtained from digital machines (such as the main tape recorder used for the previous album). The console was again the DDA AMR 24 used for A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The group felt at ease on the houseboat and also asked to mix some of the songs there, although Phil Taylor explains that Andy Jackson wanted to do the mixing on an automated console. Their choice therefore fell on a fifty-six-channel AMEK Hendrix. Unfortunately, the automation would play tricks on them, causing problem after problem.
The programming of the various sequences was realized using Cubase on Macintosh. Finally, Phil Taylor notes that the mics they used to record David Gilmour’s amps were Neumann U87s, Shure SM57s, and a Neumann KM86 for the Maestro Rover rotating speakers.
The Instruments
Rick Wright once again plays a prominent part on this album. In addition to his usual keyboards, his real innovation was a Kurzweil K2000, which he uses on most of the tracks. Nick Mason made a real leap forward by abandoning his Ludwig for a Drum Workshop kit: “It was time for a change. I’ve played a double Ludwig for a long time, but when Bill Ludwig III left the company, I opted for DW.”157 He uses two 22-by-18-inch bass drums, a 5-by-14-inch Edge snare drum, eight assorted toms, Paiste cymbals, and Promark sticks. His drumheads are DW Aquarian. All the drumming on the album is acoustic with the exception of “Coming Back to Life,” which is probably programmed using samples of Mason’s drum kit on the Kurzweil K2000RS.
David Gilmour uses mainly his “Red Strat” (a 1957 reissue made in 1984), as Phil Taylor has confirmed. Among the other guitars he played on this album are his 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, his Jedson lap steel, a classical guitar (believed to be his Ovation 1613-4), and a new acoustic, a Gibson J-200 Celebrity. As far as amplification is concerned, he uses two reissued 1959 fifty-watt Fender Bassman and two fifty-watt Hiwatt SA212 combo amps. He has replaced his Yamaha RA-200 with Maestro Rover rotating speakers. Finally, he uses an enormous number of effects. These are not easy to identify individually, at least in terms of the specific use he makes of them. Worth mentioning in addition to the guitarist’s usual effects pedals are the Zoom guitar multiprocessor, Chandler Tube Drivers, Tube Works Blue Tube and Real Tube, and an amazing DigiTech Whammy WH 1.
LA CARRERA PANAMERICANA
The soundtrack of this documentary, which has never been released as an album, is a combination of old and new tracks by Pink Floyd. Representing the old are “Signs of Life,” “Yet Another Movie,” “One Slip,” and “Sorrow” from A Momentary Lapse of Reason plus a live version of “Run Like Hell” from The Wall, while “Country Theme,” “Small Theme,” “Big Theme,” “Carrera Slow Blues,” “Mexico ’78,” and “Pan Am Shuffle” were written for the project.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
Among the various ideas Storm Thorgerson came up with for the sleeve of The Division Bell was a moored ship floating in the sky (a direct allusion to David Gilmour’s houseboat the Astoria, on which part of the album was recorded). Another idea consisted of three parallel pictorial strips representing each of the members of the group and containing a hidden message.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
Douglas Adams was offered £5,000 to title the album. He planned to donate the money to an NGO he supported: the Environmental Investigation Agency.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
Instead of asking for payment for his contribution, Michael Kamen simply asked Pink Floyd to lend him a sound and lighting system for a children’s opera he was hoping to stage in Notting Hill. As Nick Mason would humorously observe: “What we hadn’t realized was that the musical extravaganza Michael was planning would have made Starlight Express seem low-key…”5
Cluster One
Richard Wright, David Gilmour/5:59
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric lead guitar, programming
Rick Wright: piano, synthesizers
Nick Mason: drums
Gary Wallis: percussion (programming)
Recorded
Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London: January 1993
Astoria, Hampton: February to May, September to December 1993
Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London: September to December 1993
The Creek Recording Studios, London: September to December 1993
Technical Team
Producers: David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Keith Grant (The Creek), Chris Thomas (mixing)
Assistant Sound Engineer: Jules Bowen (Astoria)
Genesis
In an interview given in November 2004 to Floydian Slip—“a weekly radio journey through the music of Pink Floyd,” as the show describes itself—the sound engineer Andy Jackson explains how The Division Bell had been made: “When we first started collecting the jam material together, we divided it up into three categories, which were acoustic, blues and cosmic. And bits we glued together we called clusters. And the instrumentals, because they never had any reason to take on a new title, they just stayed with their old titles for a long time. And, in fact, ‘Cluster One’ was always ‘Cluster One,’ and it just stuck which was partly my doing.”158
This instrumental is the first joint composition by David Gilmour and Rick Wright since “Mudmen” on Obscured by Clouds (1972), and the first writing credit for Wright since Wish You Were Here (1975). This track could be described as a “return to the future” because the three members of Pink Floyd seem to be moving forward by repeatedly referencing a glorious musical past, and in particular Wish You Were Here (the intro to “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts I–V”). “Cluster One” has never been performed live although it was played over the loudspeakers as part of the preliminary music before the band’s concerts…
Production
The opening track of The Division Bell begins with a peculiar sound like some kind of interference gradually rising in volume. The origins of these noises are astounding, as Andy Jackson explains: “It is the sound of electromagnetic noise from the solar wind.”141 In reality, the idea came from Bob Ezrin, who had sent a message on one of the first Internet servers, hoping to track down someone who would be able to send him some noises from space. And somebody wrote back!” explains Ja
ckson. “This guy who goes and stands on the top of Mount Washington, I think, in thunder storms holding this great big metal antennae! (Laughs) Recording the electromagnetic stuff!”141 Other curious sounds (in stereo) are heard after thirty seconds or so. These are cracking noises made by the Earth that were recorded beneath the Earth’s crust by seismologist G. William Forgey.
The music does not begin until around 1:06, when synth sounds, forming a single chord, establish themselves almost imperceptibly. The mood is ethereal and almost meditative. Piano notes of a kind only Rick Wright can produce then ring out, immediately evoking the traditional Floyd sound, and that of the more “cosmic” albums in particular. “My influence can be heard on tracks like ‘Marooned’ and ‘Cluster One,’” explains the keyboard player. “Those were the kind of things that I gave the Floyd in the past and it was good that they were now getting used again.”160 David Gilmour accompanies him with various phrases and effects on his “Red Strat,” including notes that are either reversed or manipulated by means of his volume pedal. The reverb and delays are deep and long. The piece then changes gear with shifting organ pads, and from 3:44 the piano and the Strat engage in a dialogue. The guitarist’s playing is bluesy and highly inspired—as is Wright’s—inevitably bringing to mind the intro of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” Rhythmic support then arrives in a form that smacks of programming using Cubase, but is more likely to be Nick Mason’s new Drum Workshop kit. Mason is accompanied by percussion played (or programmed) by Gary Wallis.
“Cluster One” is an excellent opening track and a welcome surprise for all fans of the group’s early period, with moods and sonorities that bear the unmistakable stamp of Pink Floyd. Good-quality recording has also made a welcome return, the warmth of analog recording having been more or less lacking from A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
In The Division Bell’s original track listing released by Columbia Record Company, “Cluster One” was referred to as “Nearly Touching/Cluster One.” The Nearly touching part surely refers to the very musique concrète intro that creates a sense of imminent contact.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
In addition to its usual meanings, the word cluster is the name of an ongoing European Space Agency mission whose objective is to study solar winds and electromagnetic elements—could this relate to the intro of “Cluster One”?
What Do You Want From Me?
David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Polly Samson/4:22
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, electric rhythm and lead guitar, acoustic rhythm guitar(?)
Rick Wright: electric piano, organ, synthesizers, vocal harmonies(?)
Nick Mason: drums
Bob Ezrin: keyboards(?)
Jon Carin: keyboards(?)
Guy Pratt: bass
Sam Brown, Durga McBroom, Carol Kenyon, Jackie Sheridan, Rebecca Leigh-White: backing vocals
Recorded
Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London: January 1993
Astoria, Hampton: February–May, September–December 1993
Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London: September–December 1993
The Creek Recording Studios, London: September–December 1993
Technical Team
Producers: David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Keith Grant (The Creek), Chris Thomas (mixing)
Assistant Sound Engineer: Jules Bowen (Astoria)
Genesis
The line You can drift, you can dream, even walk on water might give the impression that in “What Do You Want from Me?” the Gilmour-Samson couple (with Rick Wright contributing to the music) has written a mystical song. At first glance the line seems to contain an obvious reference to Christ walking on water on the Sea of Galilee. Nothing of the sort! “A lot of the lyrics were the result of a collaboration between myself and my girlfriend, Polly Samson,” explains Gilmour, “… and some, unfortunately, came after moments of lack of communication between us. The title ‘What Do You Want From Me?’ came out of exactly one of those moments.”36
It is a song about the often complicated relationships between couples, whether still in their early stages or not. Do you want my blood, do you want my tears? The protagonist is unsure what his girlfriend expects of him. Does she know herself? This is far from certain. Is she reproaching him for something he is not aware of? Doubt creeps in, and with it, anxieties about how long the relationship can last. “I can’t say my greatest desire is to be innovative or break new frontiers,” David Gilmour told USA Today in 1994, “I just hope to make music that moves people a little bit and makes them think. We don’t claim to have solutions to life’s great problems.”161
Production
The rhythm section of “What Do You Want from Me?” recalls that of “Have a Cigar” on Wish You Were Here. Although the tempo is slower, the drums and bass play a similar motif to that of the earlier track, and the fact that Rick Wright is again on electric piano (a Wurlitzer on “Have a Cigar”; a Fender Rhodes modulated with wah-wah on “What Do You Want from Me?”) only adds to the resemblance. Nick Mason lays down an excellent groove on his Drum Workshop kit, with very present reverb that gives him a live sound, and is impeccably supported by Guy Pratt. David Gilmour plays an initial and absolutely mind-blowing solo in the intro. His “Red Strat” is colored by incredible spatialization (courtesy of his faithful Big Muff), and very pronounced reverb and delay. “I have always had a 3-D sound in my head,” he explained in 1994. “I like to have some element of space and depth in everything we do. I can’t seem to get away from that. And I listen to a lot of records and find them two-dimensional, just in the way they’re mixed. And the sad part is that it’s not hard to add dimension.”162 The two solos and various licks he plays on “What Do You Want from Me?” can be seen as a perfect demonstration of his approach to playing. And as always, his guitar work reflects his blues influences, in this instance the Chicago blues. In addition to the above, Gilmour also plays a distorted rhythm guitar part throughout the track, as well as an arpeggiated part on a clear-toned guitar colored in the bridge by a light chorus effect (from 3:01). For the second of these it is difficult to work out whether he is using his Strat plugged straight into the console or simply his new acoustic, the Gibson J-200. In terms of the vocals, Gilmour has rediscovered the aggressive, rugged aspect of his voice that had been missing from A Momentary Lapse of Reason. He comes across as fully in command of his powers, and is supported by the five backing vocalists Sam Brown, Durga McBroom, Carol Kenyon, Jackie Sheridan, and Rebecca Leigh-White, with Rick Wright almost certainly singing vocal harmonies. In addition to the Fender Rhodes, it is also possible to make out some organ and some strings strongly resembling the string sounds produced by the ARP Solina, which have presumably been sampled. “What Do You Want from Me?” is a very good song, and it is worth emphasizing both the fully restored group spirit and the utter complementarity between the writing of David Gilmour and Rick Wright.
Poles Apart
David Gilmour, Polly Samson, Nick Laird-Clowes/7:05
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric rhythm and lead guitar, programming(?)
Rick Wright: organ, keyboards
Nick Mason: drums
Jon Carin: keyboards, programming(?)
Guy Pratt: bass
Recorded
Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London: January 1993
Astoria, Hampton: February–May, September–December 1993
Metropolis Studios, Chiswick, London: September–December 1993
The Creek Recording Studios, London: September–December 1993
Technical Team
Producers: David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Keith Grant (The Creek), Chris Thomas (mixing)
Assistant Sound Engineer: Jules Bowen (Astoria)
Genesis
Polly Samson and Nick Laird-Clowes co-wrote the “Poles Apart” words to music by David Gilmour (who also collabor
ated on the lyrics). In a 1994 interview, Polly, Gilmour’s girlfriend, revealed that “It’s about Syd in the first verse and Roger in the second.”163 Thus the golden boy addressed in the opening verse of the song, the boy with the light in his eyes, is the avant-garde genius who presided over the recording of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, while the one leading the blind with steel in his eyes in the second verse is none other than the architect of The Wall and The Final Cut. On the one hand the memory of an enchanted time; on the other, the trauma of a breakup accompanied, if we read between the lines, by a sense of the impossibility of communication, but perhaps more importantly by the idea of liberation from an influence that had become oppressive. On the one hand a carefree Barrett who was fun to be around; on the other, a domineering, egotistical Waters. What are we to make of this? In the same interview, David Gilmour preferred to leave the meaning of the song in doubt and dodged the issue, explaining that he liked “to let the lyrics speak for themselves.”163 So listeners are free to interpret the words as they see fit.
Pink Floyd All the Songs Page 72
