Happy Eclipse Day (For Lots of Folks)

It's finally here: the day of the total solar eclipse. Some lucky folks are in the path of totality - and I'm one of them! There are eclipse playlists galore out there - but the best is probably to just listen to Dark Side of The Moon from Pink Floyd. Really, there's nothing better.

If you are taking part in any of the science fun today, be careful and wear your special glasses and enjoy!

42 Years Of 'High n' Dry'

Well, if you want to feel ancient, I can help: Def Leppard's High N' Dry album is 42 years old. Of course the album features "Bringin' On The Heartbreak," a song that solidified the Brits as the real rock deal.

The new Def Leppard book DEFinitely has a little tidbit about the album cover for their debut On Through The Night and how the band had nothing to do with the creative concept at all. The label "took care of it" and the band wasn't pleased. From then on, the members of Def Leppard exerted creative control over their album covers and iconic art. The cover for High n' Dry was actually meant for Pink Floyd in the late 70s, but rejected by the prog legends. (The graphic designer of the cover was Storm Thorgerson. He also did the art for Dark Side of the Moon).

Def Leppard began their long partnership with the late designer Andie Airfix with the Pyromania album. 

Top Selling Rock CDs and Vinyl

Pink Floyd Live In 1975 - Rare Footage

Watch some amazing footage of Pink Floyd playing on June 28, 1975 at the Ivor Wynne Stadium in Ontario, Canada.

The film was shot on 8mm and then converted to 4K. David Gilmour is amazing here, both in voice and guitar sound. Plus, the quality of the film is astonishing for how old it is and what it was originally shot on, too.

Roger Waters - David Gilmour Feud Hits Twitter

Oh boy. It's never good when band feuds spill over into social media. We all know that Roger Waters and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd basically hate each other these days.

Well, Roger has been on the wrong side of history for quite some time regarding Russia and the invasion of Ukraine. Gilmour's wife, Polly Samson, tweeted about Roger yesterday. It should be noted Polly isn't a regular rock spouse - she's also a Pink Floyd songwriter. Samson called it straight after Roger's recent interview in a German newspaper...

Every word demonstrably true https://t.co/KWk4I3bMTN

— David Gilmour (@davidgilmour) February 6, 2023

Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching,misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.

— pollysamson (@PollySamson) February 6, 2023

Of course, media picked up on this whole thing. I actually saw it myself because I follow David Gilmour and noticed he "liked" Polly's tweet.

The decades-long feud between Pink Floyd’s former bandmates escalated Monday when Gilmour’s wife, who wrote several songs for the band after Waters' departure in 1985, publicly called Waters “tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic" https://t.co/KCgQ8vIrgw

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 7, 2023

Well, now Roger Waters is freaking out and "looking into legal action." This after the dude said Israel is just like Nazi Germany... and Ukraine is full of Nazi's too. I dunno man. Not a good look.

Roger Waters seeks legal advice on "incendiary" tweet by David Gilmour's partner Polly Samson calling Waters "antisemitic to your rotten core": Gilmour says accusation is "demonstrably true"https://t.co/4e5TAi91Zg

— Classic Rock Magazine (@ClassicRockMag) February 7, 2023

Pink Floyd Reveals 50th Anniversary 'Dark Side Of The Moon' Box

Coming out March 24, 2023, Pink Floyd will release the 50th anniversary box set celebrating Dark Side of the Moon. The new set is $300 and contains a remastered album on vinyl and CD, performance DVD and new-to-vinyl Live At Empire Wembley Pool, recorded back in 1974.

There's also a big book, replica singles, stickers and more. It's all quite cool. I will probably just order the 1974 live vinyl and call it a day. I already have a 2016 DSOTM remaster vinyl and $300 is a lot of cash but this is going to sell like crazy. You can pre-order now at the link in the post below.

Copyright Laws Give Us New (Old) Pink Floyd Tunes

The European Union has a law requiring musicians to release recordings before they hit the 50 year mark, or they lose rights to the songs. This means tracks, maybe deemed not good enough for studio release, often get shelved until the 50 year mark comes around and (these days) artists do a dump to streaming platforms. The tracks usually don't stay on platforms for too long, so check them out while you can - Variety has a nice explainer of the entire situation.

For our purposes, we are just going to celebrate being able to listen to new (old) Pink Floyd tunes that give us an insight into the band's working and creative process at the time before Dark Side of the Moon was recorded and released.

Below, you can hear "Money" before it was finalized for DSOTM. "Money (Live At The Palais des Sports, Saint Ouen, France 1 Dec 1972)."

Here's another DSOTM noodling - called "The Travel Sequence"

Here's "Time / Breathe (In The Air) (reprise) (Ultra Rare Alternative Version)"

Sunday's Best: Week 48, 2022

Thanksgiving is behind us and now we are on to the December holiday season.

A big thing happened this week: folk superstar Donovan returned to the scene with new music, including a song with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. That's our Sunday's Best for the week.

Donovan's upcoming new album is Gaelia: The Sulan Sessions and features all sorts of artists, including Gilmour. The album comes out officially December 15.

The Donovan - Gilmour track is called "Rock Me" and you can hear it below. I cherish any chance to hear new guitar work by Gilmour so this is great!