Genesis and Production
“TBS14” is very much a logical continuation of the previous track. Recorded during the sessions for The Division Bell and also destined for inclusion in the Big Spliff project, like “TBS9” it failed to make it all the way to The Endless River.
This second bonus track has apparently been worked on and honed less than the first. It is an improvisation by the three members of Pink Floyd plus Guy Pratt. The group is working an initial theme, led by David Gilmour with a guitar motif that he tries to develop one way and another. The sound of his guitar (a Strat?) is strongly colored by tremolo, chorus, and a delay with generous repeats. Wright is at the synthesizer before switching to the Farfisa. At 2:25 the musicians then gravitate around a second theme with a funky character driven by Guy Pratt’s bass and Mason’s drums. Wright plays a very interesting accompaniment on Hammond organ, as does Gilmour on rhythm guitar. As with “TBS9,” the listener can feel the potential of “TBS14,” and it is a matter for regret that it was not worked up more by Pink Floyd. Interestingly, Phil Taylor recorded both “TBS9” and “TBS14.”
Nervana
David Gilmour/5:31
Musicians: David Gilmour: electric lead guitar/Rick Wright: Hammond organ/Nick Mason: drums/Jon Carin: keyboards/Guy Pratt: bass/Gary Wallis: percussion/Recorded: Britannia Row, Islington, London: January 1993/Medina Studio, Hove: November 2013/Astoria, Hampton: 2013–14/Olympic Studios, London: 2013–14/Technical Team: Producers (1993): Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour/Producers: David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, Andy Jackson/Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Damon Iddins, Phil Taylor (Britannia Row)
Genesis and Production
The third and final bonus track in The Endless River deluxe box set is called “Nervana.” This piece, which saw the light of day during a jam session during the recording of The Division Bell, evolves around a very heavy metal guitar riff by David Gilmour. It inevitably brings to mind “The Nile Song” on the soundtrack to the movie More. A more probable explanation is that it was inspired by the groups on the grunge scene that were all the rage during the first half of the nineties, especially Nirvana. Hence the title… “Nervana.”
David Gilmour plays a long, distorted intro on his 1950 Gretsch 6121 Chet Atkins, fitted with a Bigsby. After thirty-seven seconds, he launches into a riff of a relatively unusual kind for Pink Floyd. The rest of the group enters in support of their guitarist after a few bars. Rick Wright is on Hammond organ, Jon Carin on keyboards, Guy Pratt on bass, Nick Mason on his Drum Workshop kit, and Gary Wallis on percussion. Gilmour ends the instrumental, which would have benefited from being sung, with a solo on his Gretsch in the best tradition of rock ’n’ roll (from 3:34). “Nervana” is a good rock number, but lacks any great originality, and it is not difficult to see why a place could not be found for it on The Endless River.
Glossary
Bend: a guitar technique in which the guitarist pulls on a string with a finger of his or her fretting hand in order to raise a note by a semitone or more.
Bottleneck: a tube of glass (or metal) that guitarists place on one finger and then slide along the strings to produce a metallic sound. This style of playing originated with the pioneers of the blues, who indeed used the neck of a glass bottle. The bottleneck is generally used in open tuning, in other words when the instrument’s six open strings form a chord (G or D, for example).
Break: an instrumental interlude that interrupts the development of a song. A hiatus, in other words, that eventually reintroduces the main musical material.
Bridge: a musical passage connecting two parts of a song. The bridge generally links the verse to the refrain.
Chicago blues: there are several different types of Chicago blues. Electric Chicago blues, an amplified version of Delta blues, is embodied mainly by the artists of Chess Records, from Willie Dixon to Howlin’ Wolf via Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson II.
Coda: this Italian term denotes an additional section, of varying length, that concludes a song or track.
Compressor: an electronic circuit that serves to amplify low-volume sounds or, conversely, to reduce high-volume sounds during recording or mixing.
Cover: a recording or performance of a preexisting song or track, usually in an arrangement that differs from the original version.
Cowbell: a percussion instrument used in popular music (such as rhythm ’n’ blues) as well as in classical music (Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss) and avant-garde music (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Olivier Messiaen) in the European tradition.
Delay: an electronically obtained effect that retards a sound signal by feeding it back to the initial signal, repeating it the desired number of times. Similar to the echo.
Effects pedal: a small electronic device whereby the sound of an instrument is subjected to a particular effect. Generally operated by foot, as in the case of the fuzz box, there are also wah-wah, distortion, chorus, delay, and flanger pedals, among others.
Fade-in: the process of gradually increasing the sound (generally at the beginning of a song).
Fade-out: the process of gradually reducing the sound (generally at the end of a song).
Fretless (bass): a (generally electric) bass guitar whose frets have been removed in order to approximate the sound of the upright bass. One of the masters of the fretless bass was Rick Danko of the Band.
Fuzz: a distorted sound effect obtained by saturating the sound signal, mainly by means of a foot pedal known as the fuzz box. The Rolling Stones, along with the Beatles (“Think for Yourself”) and Jimi Hendrix (“Purple Haze”), were pioneers of the fuzz box. This effect is used mainly on guitars.
Groove: the moment when musicians, in total communion with one another, imbue a song or track with its own special atmosphere, an alchemical process that takes in both rhythm and harmony and is felt by all the musicians as one.
Jam: a generally informal and improvised gathering of musicians motivated as a rule by the mere pleasure of playing together.
Kazoo: a device with a membrane that modifies the sound of the voice. Originally from Africa, it was adopted by blues, folk, and subsequently rock musicians.
Larsen: a physical phenomenon that occurs when an amplified output (the speakers of an amp, for example) is located too close to an input device (especially the pickup of an electric guitar or a singer’s mic). This results in a hissing noise or a strong buzz. Since the sixties, this feedback effect has been much used by rock guitarists. The best example can be heard in the guitar intro to the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine,” which is often cited as the very first Larsen effect recorded on disc.
Lead: a term that denotes the principal voice or instrument on a song or track (lead vocal or lead guitar, for example).
Leslie speaker: a cabinet housing a rotating loudspeaker, typically used with Hammond organs. The swirling acoustic effect can be adjusted as required.
Lick: a short musical phrase within a well-defined musical style (blues, rock, country, jazz, etc.), played to complement or accompany the arrangement and/or melodic line of a song.
Mute: a technique to turn off the sound on a channel strip. Alternatively, the term is used to mean deadening a string on a guitar.
Nashville tuning: a branch of country and western music that developed in the Tennessee city in the fifties, characterized by the use of string sections and backing vocalists, and representing a clear break with authentic hillbilly.
Open tuning: an alternative method of tuning a guitar to obtain a chord made up generally of the six open strings. This technique (for example, open G, D, and A tunings) is commonly used in the blues.
Overdubbing/overdub: a procedure by means of which additional sounds (for example, a guitar part or a second voice) are added to a recording. (See also: Rerecording.)
Palm mute: a guitar technique that involves stopping the strings with the right hand (in the case of right-handed guitarists), while simultaneously playing the notes with a pick.
Pattern: a sequence that recurs throughout a
track and that can be repeated indefinitely to form a loop.
Phasing: an electronic effect that subjects the audio signal to various filters and oscillators, allowing a more rich and powerful sound to be obtained, especially on distorted guitars.
Playback: the partially or fully formed instrumental part of a song that provides the singer or instrumentalist with an adequate musical basis over which to record his or her performance.
Power chord: this type of guitar chord is made up of two notes, the tonic and the fifth, and is highly effective in rock music, above all when combined with distortion.
Premix: a rough mix or stage in the recording process that consists of mixing the various tracks of a multitrack tape recorder to gain an idea of the progress made so far.
Rerecording: a technique for recording one or more tracks while listening to a previously recorded track or tracks.
Reverb: an effect created in the studio, either electronically or using a natural echo chamber, in order to provide certain sounds (particularly voices) with a sense of space and acoustic relief during the recording or mixing process.
Riff: a short phrase that recurs regularly throughout a song or track.
Rimshot: a drumming technique that involves striking the rim and head of the snare drum (or tom) at the same time. This produces an accented, attacking sound.
Roots: this term, used as both a noun and an adjective, denotes a return to the origins of popular music, from blues to Appalachian music.
Score: a notated musical arrangement.
Shuffle: a musical style that originated in Jamaica in the fifties, a kind of rhythm ’n’ blues that can be seen as a forerunner of ska. Also, a slow rhythm practiced by slaves.
Songwriter: a term used in the United States to denote a single individual who writes both the words and the music of a song.
Strumming: a guitar technique that involves brushing the right hand (in the case of right-handed guitarists) across the strings, with or without a pick. This is one of the most widespread techniques employed on the instrument.
Sustain: the ability of an instrument to maintain a note over time. This is a property not least of electric guitars, on which it is frequently extended by various artificial means, such as distortion, sustainer pedals, and the like.
Topical song: a song prompted by a politically or socially conscious movement and dealing with a specific event.
Track listing: the list of songs on an album.
Walking bass: a style of bass guitar accompaniment (and left hand on the piano) that involves playing a single note on each beat of the bar. Boogie-woogie pianists made this style of playing their own in the honky-tonks of the southern United States during the early years of the twentieth century.
Bibliography
La liste des ouvrages ayant servi de références aux auteurs pour l’analyse des chansons tient lieu de bibliographie.
1 Blake, Mark. Pink Floyd: Pigs Might Fly. London: Aurum Press, 2007.
2 Watkinson, Mike, and Pete Anderson. Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett & the Dawn of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press, 1991.
3 Miles, Barry. Pink Floyd: The Early Years. London: Omnibus Press, 2006.
4 Wale, Michael. Vox Pop: Profiles of the Pop Process. London: George G. Harrap, 1972.
5 Mason, Nick. Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004.
6 Blake, Mark. Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Boston: Da Capo Press, 2008.
7 Chapman, Rob. Syd Barrett and British Psychedelia: Faber Forty-Fives: 1966–1967. London: Faber & Faber, 2012.
8 Jones, Nick. “Freaking Out with the Pink Floyd,” Melody Maker, 1967.
9 Fitch, Vernon. Pink Floyd: The Press Reports. Ontario, Canada: Collector’s Guide Publishing, 2001.
10 Parker, David. Random Precision: Recording the Music of Syd Barrett, 1965–1974, London: Cherry Red Books, 2001.
11 Miles, Barry. London Calling: A Countercultural History of London Since 1945. London: Atlantic Books, 2010.
12 New Musical Express (NME), June 10, 1967.
13 Interview with Norman Smith, Sound on Sound, May 2008 (cited in the Beatles Bible).
14 Perrone, Pierre. “Norman Smith: Engineer for The Beatles, Producer for Pink Floyd and, Briefly, a Pop Star,” Independent, March 7, 2008.
15 Laing, Dave. Interview with Norman Smith, The Guardian, March 11, 2008.
16 Interview with Phil May by Richie Unterberger, June 1999, www.richieunterberger.com.
17 Palacios, Julian. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe. London: Plexus Publishing, 2008.
18 Cavanagh, John. Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2003.
19 Interview with Vic Singh by Mike Goldstein and RockPoP Gallery, September 2007, www.rockpopgallery.com.
20 “A Rambling Conversation with Roger Waters Concerning All This and That,” Wish You Were Here Songbook, 1975, www.ingsoc.com.
21 Interview with Jenny Spires by Michelle Coomber, June 16, 2015, www.eyeplug.net.
22 Wilhelm, Richard. Yi King: The Book of Transformations. Paris: Health & Beauty Editions, 1994.
23 Top Pops & Music Now, November 1967.
24 NME, November 1967.
25 Povey, Glenn. Pink Floyd. London: 2008 (French translation: Denis-Armand Canal, Paris: Place of the Victories Editions, 2009).
26 Jam! Music, “All the Wright Answers from Pink Floyd’s Keyboardist,” interview with Rick Wright, December 18, 1996, www.pink-floyd.org.
27 Scott, Ken, and Bobby Owsinsky. Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust: Off the Record with The Beatles, Bowie, Elton & So Much More. Los Angeles: Alfred Music Publishing, 2012.
28 Interview by David Sinclair, Guitar Heroes, May 1983.
29 Interview by Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, February 1993.
30 Mojo, November 2004.
31 Recording Magazine, interview by Cyril Vautier, January 2004.
32 Q Magazine, December 1992.
33 Interview with Steven Cerio, www.stevencerio.com.
34 Interview with Roger Waters, ZigZag Magazine, June 1973.
35 Interview with Syd Barrett, 1968, http://forums.stevehoffman.tv.
36 MacDonald Bruno, Pink Floyd: Through the Eyes of… the Band, Its Fans, Friends and Foes. London : Da Capo Press, 1997.
37 Mojo, December 2009.
38 Interview by Melanie Geffroy, Rolling Stone, July 12, 2016, www.rollingstone.fr.
39 Mojo, May 1994.
40 Gonin, Philippe, Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother. CDNP, 2011.
41 Mojo, July 1995.
42 Chapman, Rob. A Very Irregular Head: The Life of Syd Barrett. Boston: Da Capo Press, 2012.
43 Interview of David Gilmour, September 15, 2008, www.guitarworld.com.
44 The Remarkable Roger Barrett (at 3:27), documentary, Chrome Dreams, 2006.
45 Harris, John. The Dark Side of the Moon: The Making of the Pink Floyd Masterpiece, London: Harper Perennial, 2006.
46 Shea, Stuart. Pink Floyd FAQ: Everything Left to Know… and More! New York: Backbeat Books, 2009.
47 Interview of Rick Wright, Top Pops & Music Now, September 15, 1969.
48 Interview of Barbet Schroeder by Hannah Benayoun, www.festival-cannes.co.
49 Interview of Barbet Schroeder, DVD More, M6 Video.
50 Paringaux, Philippe. Rock & Folk, September 1969.
51 Interview of David Gilmour, Classic Guitar, 2006, www.musicradar.com.
52 Beat Instrumental, January 1970.
53 Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey. London: Sidwick & Jackson, 1991.
54 Interview of Storm Thorgerson, www.nme.com.
55 Radio program presented by Nicky Horne, The Pink Floyd Story, in six episodes, broadcast in December 1976 to January 1977 on Capitol Radio, London, on www.brain-damage.co.uk/pink-floyd-band-interviews/december-24th-1976-capital-radio-pf-story-p.html.
56 Interview of Roger Waters, Sounds, October 1970.
57 The
Carillon (student magazine), October 16, 1970.
58 Interviews of Nick Mason and Rick Wright by Ted Alvy, KPPC-FM, Pasadena CA, October 16, www.pinkfloydz.com.
59 Bootleg recording of the concert on January 23, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris.
60 Geesin, Ron. The Flaming Cow: The Making of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother. Stroud, UK: History Press, 2013.
61 Interview of Angus MacKinnon, NME, February 12, 1977.
62 Interview of David Gilmour, The Sun, September 26, 2008.
63 Rock Milestones: Pink Floyd Meddle, DVD, Edgehill Publishing/Hurricane International
64 Jones, Cliff. Another Brick in the Wall: The Stories Behind Every Pink Floyd Song. New York: Broadway Books, 1996.
65 Thorgerson, Storm. Mind over Matter: The Images of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press, 2015.
66 Interview of Jean-Charles Costa, Rolling Stone, January 6, 1972.
67 NME, November 13, 1971.
68 Rock & Folk, March 1972.
69 La Vallée, DVD, M6 Video, 2015.
71 Guitar World, April 27, 2012.
72 Interview by Mark Paytress, Mojo, December 2008.
73 Interview of Adrian Maben, Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, DVD.
74 Interview of Barbet Shroeder by Jean-Michel Guesdon.
75 Guitar World, September 15, 2008.
77 Interview of Dominique Blanc-Francard by Jean-Michel Guesdon.
78 Interview of Peter Erskine, Disc, June 17, 1972.
79 Interview of Andrew Means, Melody Maker, June 17, 1972.
80 Gonin, Philippe. Pink Floyd. The Wall. Marseille, France: The Word and the Rest, 2015.
81 Uncut, “The Ultimate Music Guide, Pink Floyd,” April 2015 (Special Issue).
82 Mojo, March 1998.
83 The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon, DVD, Eaglevision, 2003.
84 www.fastcodesign.com
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