Without a doubt, the saddest moment of my week. Goodnight keyboard man, finally playing the great gig in the sky and bringing down the house.

So does everybody else know that the chords in "Breathe" came from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"?

Is it obvious? Or is it kind of like listening to "Dark Side" while watching "The Wizard of Oz"?

///Think I'll go play some "Breathe" on my piano in his honor.

notmtwain: So does everybody else know that the chords in "Breathe" came from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"?

I actually learned this from a DVD called The Making of the Dark Side of the Moon. It is a fantastic dvd with some great footage of the band.

This article has only a couple of quotes from the interview. More quotes from Guy Pratt.

damn leaky eyes.....

What a joyous gift this man gave to us.....

Shine on you crazy diamond

someone pass me a tissue please

The keyboard and guitar intro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond is one of the most beautiful and soulful instrumentals I've ever heard. I recently got Gilmour's Remember That Night concert DVD and Wright's performance is definitely one of the highlights.

Makes you realize what an absolute prick Roger Waters is.

Wish you were Here

notmtwain: So does everybody else know that the chords in "Breathe" came from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"?

Is it obvious? Or is it kind of like listening to "Dark Side" while watching "The Wizard of Oz"?

///Think I'll go play some "Breathe" on my piano in his honor.

it's in the article.


I could've sworn that I had read that the Division Bell produced a second, unreleased album of ambient works that the band was supposed to eventually release. Any plans for that or has it leaked in any form?

Been playing along to "Echoes" and "Ummagumma" all week. And "Obscured by Clouds." I see no reason to stop...

ToxicAvenger: The keyboard and guitar intro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond is one of the most beautiful and soulful instrumentals I've ever heard. I recently got Gilmour's Remember That Night concert DVD and Wright's performance is definitely one of the highlights.

Makes you realize what an absolute prick Roger Waters is.

Yes, but The Wall. Pink Floyd was like the Beatles - they were good because of the synergy between the varying elements of the band.

Pxtl: Yes, but The Wall. Pink Floyd was like the Beatles - they were good because of the synergy between the varying elements of the band.

I think Richard Wright was was essentially a studio musician for The Wall.

I wonder what role he played (and Gilmour and Mason) played for The Final Cut? I'm guessing they just stood around the studio while Waters satisfied his ego. What a pile of pretentious, self-indulgent garbage.

notmtwain: as pointed out by jonasborg, it's covered on the Making of DSotM dvd...Mr. Wright actually demonstrates the two chords (and a few other things). Very well done documentary involving Wright, David Gilmour, and even Roger Waters. I don't seem to remember seeing Nick Mason in it, though...

Pxtl: according to the INFALLIBLE wikipedia (new window):

Wright's influence was minimised, and he was fired from the band during recording, only returning on a fixed wage for the live shows in support of the album. Waters gave the reason for Richard Wright's dismissal as the latter's minimal contribution,[44] in part due to a cocaine addiction.[45] Waters claimed that David Gilmour and Nick Mason supported Waters' decision to fire Wright, but in 2000, Gilmour stated that he and Mason were against Wright's dismissal.[46] Author Nick Mason claims that Wright was fired because Columbia Records had offered Waters a substantial bonus to finish the album in time for a 1979 release. Since Wright refused to return early from his summer holiday, Waters wanted to dismiss Wright.[47] Wright was fired from the band but stayed on to finish the album and perform the live concerts as a paid musician.

My favorite part of it all:

Ironically, his fixed salary made Wright the only "member" of Pink Floyd to make any money from the Wall concerts, with the three remaining members stuck covering the extensive cost overruns of their most spectacular concerts yet.[48]

jonasborg: Pxtl: Yes, but The Wall. Pink Floyd was like the Beatles - they were good because of the synergy between the varying elements of the band.

I think Richard Wright was was essentially a studio musician for The Wall.

Yep. He was the only one who made money from it consequently.

NukkenFutz: I wonder what role he played (and Gilmour and Mason) played for The Final Cut? I'm guessing they just stood around the studio while Waters satisfied his ego. What a pile of pretentious, self-indulgent garbage.

Laff...that sounds fairly accurate. Once again, according to wikipedia (new window):

The album is predominantly the work of Waters, this being the only Pink Floyd album on which the composers' credit on every track is given to Waters alone, with no songwriting credits given to any other member of the band. Keyboardist Rick Wright played no part in the recording of The Final Cut having been sacked by Waters during recording of The Wall...

The recording of The Final Cut was marred by tension between Waters and his bandmates, particularly Gilmour, who has since expressed his dislike for much of the album...

Waters' dominance on the album is most clearly seen on the back cover, which reads: The Final Cut: A Requiem for the Post-War Dream - by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd

It seriously isn't that big of a deal. He didn't even play much on the Wall, which is really the only good album the band ever put out.

Seriously, all the keyboard wanky-ness on Wish You Were Here ruined the album for me.

I remember seeing an odd reunion (POP) of sorts (pre Live 8?) between Gilmour and Waters as an extra on the "Remember that Night" dvd.

In watching it, you can see and almost feel the tension that still exists. How awkward; you can see that they can barely maintain eye contact.

NOTE: "Remember that Night" is an excellent 2-disc dvd, with quite a few songs performed by Richard Wright (although he's present the whole concert), in addition to having David Bowie and a few others pop in for a song or two...

...also, "Live in Gdansk" (new window) comes out this Tuesday, if I remember correctly.

Valdes: It seriously isn't that big of a deal. He didn't even play much on the Wall, which is really the only good album the band ever put out.

Seriously, all the keyboard wanky-ness on Wish You Were Here ruined the album for me.

Go fark yourself you ignorant twat.

Valdes: Seriously, all the keyboard wanky-ness on Wish You Were Here ruined the album for me.

Don't forget "Dark Side of the Moon," ruined by all that singing nonsense (and keyboards, too). Seriously, do you really think his contributions were just noodling nonsense?

/Don't forget "Animals"
//or "Meddle"
///or any of 'em, really.

Don't forget "Dark Side of the Moon," ruined by all that singing nonsense (and keyboards, too). Seriously, do you really think his contributions were just noodling nonsense?

I would comment that the song Mr. Wright wrote was the most annoying and most shrill song on that entire album.

Seriously, what's the big deal? It's about the same as if the drummer of Fleetwood Mac died. Lucky SOB. Least talented member of the group.

Valdes: Seriously, what's the big deal? It's about the same as if the drummer of Fleetwood Mac died. Lucky SOB. Least talented member of the group.

I keep forgetting about the ignore list...

Valdes: It seriously isn't that big of a deal. He didn't even play much on the Wall, which is really the only good album the band ever put out.

Seriously, all the keyboard wanky-ness on Wish You Were Here ruined the album for me.

FAIL.

Okay here's another example. Take Dogs from Animals. The song is great... except when the keyboards kick in a screech the song to a crashing halt for a full five minutes.

It's like they said... "Richard, Roger's run out of material. We need to pad this song for an extra five minutes. Can you masturbate over your synth for awhile so this five song album fills up an entire record? We'll give you more coke if you need it."

Valdes: It seriously isn't that big of a deal. He didn't even play much on the Wall, which is really the only good album the band ever put out.

Seriously, all the keyboard wanky-ness on Wish You Were Here ruined the album for me.

I'm going to go with "eat a bowl of f---, you pretentious f---ing windbag. No one cares what a balding guy from accounting thinks".

Valdes: Okay here's another example Take Dogs from Animals. The song is great... except when the keyboards kick in a screech the song to a crashing halt for a full five minutes.

It's like they said... "Richard, Roger's run out of material. We need to pad this song for an extra five minutes. Can you masturbate over your synth for awhile so this five song album fills up an entire record? We'll give you more coke if you need it." of my strident asshole-ishness.

Go listed to your Black Crowes CDs and tell yourself you're not the biggest twunt in Christendom.

Valdes: Okay here's another example. Take Dogs from Animals. The song is great... except when the keyboards kick in a screech the song to a crashing halt for a full five minutes.

It's like they said... "Richard, Roger's run out of material. We need to pad this song for an extra five minutes. Can you masturbate over your synth for awhile so this five song album fills up an entire record? We'll give you more coke if you need it."

You're out of your farking mind. The whole point of that stretch is to emulate drowning slowly, pulled down underwater by a stone, while you hear barking dogs above you. It's some of the best mood-setting in a career full of great mood-setting.

tarkus1980: Valdes: Okay here's another example. Take Dogs from Animals. The song is great... except when the keyboards kick in a screech the song to a crashing halt for a full five minutes.

It's like they said... "Richard, Roger's run out of material. We need to pad this song for an extra five minutes. Can you masturbate over your synth for awhile so this five song album fills up an entire record? We'll give you more coke if you need it."

You're out of your farking mind. The whole point of that stretch is to emulate drowning slowly, pulled down underwater by a stone, while you hear barking dogs above you. It's some of the best mood-setting in a career full of great mood-setting.

Don't even talk to that pompous wanking assf---, PLEASE.

strident asshole-ishness.

Actually, Roger Waters and David Gilmour probably win the assholes of the millenium award, two milleniums in a row.

Richard Wright was the weak leak in the band. Come on. He was so coked out that he was fired from the band DURING The Wall. He had close to zero songwriting contribution, and he played a terrible instrument (synths).

Nick Mason may have been a mediocre drummer, but at least he kept his shiat together.

Valdes: strident asshole-ishness.

Actually, Roger Waters and David Gilmour probably win the assholes of the millenium award, two milleniums in a row.

Richard Wright was the weak leak in the band. Come on. He was so coked out that he was fired from the band DURING The Wall. He had close to zero songwriting contribution, and he played a terrible instrument (synths).

Nick Mason may have been a mediocre drummer, but at least he kept his shiat together.

Ok, farkface, we get it, you don't like Pink Floyd.

And now you're on my ignore list. I dare you to tell anyone sad enough not to follow suit what you consider GOOD music, you blood-stained little tampon.

Buh bye.

Valdes: strident asshole-ishness.

Actually, Roger Waters and David Gilmour probably win the assholes of the millenium award, two milleniums in a row.

Richard Wright was the weak leak in the band. Come on. He was so coked out that he was fired from the band DURING The Wall. He had close to zero songwriting contribution, and he played a terrible instrument (synths).

Nick Mason may have been a mediocre drummer, but at least he kept his shiat together.

I do not think there is a single person alive that might agree with you.

And now you're on my ignore list. I dare you to tell anyone sad enough not to follow suit what you consider GOOD music, you blood-stained little tampon.

You mean non-Canadian music? Because that country produces some fairly horrible "music"

I just got through listening to this, but I didn't hear anything that resembled "Breathe". It's perfect quality, give it a listen.

Miles Davis in Kind of Blue (new window)

dammit all the good song titles are gone

Valdes: ... and he played a terrible instrument (synths).

Up. Yours.

I know keyboards aren't the most glamorous instruments in rock, and we keyboardists are mostly content with not living in the whammy-fandango world of guitar heroes. Few of us want the Wakeman or Emerson spotlights. And I'll grant you and others that experimenting with screeching noises and fart sounds is irritating sometimes (but way fun for us).

But synths aren't "terrible" instruments. I can get a far wider palette of sounds to work with from a single Moog than any guitarist can with a field of pedals. With the right ones - yes, synths, not samplers - I can be just as expressive, too.

And while I'm on this soapbox, keys players are, on average, the most musically-trained and diverse musicians in a band. They have to inhabit a world in between the dance-pandering drums, repetitive bass riffs, and ego-tastic guitar solos. They provide the rich harmonies and voicings that make great songs interesting and multitextured, and are often the ones to write the arrangements, especially if horn sections, strings, backup singers, etc. are involved. They usually have the best ears in the group, as well.

Keyboard players have to be experts on a variety of instruments, not just one, because playing the keys themselves is only half of the performance. An array of knobs, drawbars, buttons, and sliders abound, and nowadays, you need to be running software at the same time, all while maintaining digital communication between every piece of gear in your rig. A keys player has to be an engineer, a composer, a programmer, and a musician.

It's physically-demanding work for a multi-keyboardist as well. One has to deal with the sensitive, counter-weighted action of piano keys, stiff organ keys that push back on your hand, and synths with brittle keys and different response curves - many times all within the same song. It gets even harder after a couple of hours, when feeling starts to fade from the fingers and forearms.

It's not easy work, it's largely under-appreciated work, and it's (at best) the sloppy-seconds of rock stardom.

But none of that really matters to most keyboardists I've ever spoken to or read about. We love to play, we appreciate having a gig (or three), and we know that when we get some appreciation from audience members, they really mean it - most of the time, they have to be actively listening to hear what we do.

On a final note, music appreciation isn't a contest, and it's there's little to no objective standard of judgment when it comes to what people like or don't. Go ahead and like what you like, Valdes, but there's no need to be a dick, especially when many of us are mourning in our own little ways.

You may not have been listening to Richard Wright, but some of us were.

I dunno, I'd hardly call the man "mediocre." (new window) Not repeating any drum fills (is that the right term?) in that first half of the song, even maintaining rhythm after a drumstick goes flying out of his hand around the 4:30 mark.

SynthLord: And while I'm on this soapbox, keys players are, on average, the most musically-trained ...

I'm not sure why, but this makes me think of when Ray Charles played "Am I Blue" with Dick Cavett, and he said "You start and I'll find your key." Kind of hard to do when someone basically doesn't have a key...

How would The Doors have sounded without Manzarek? But, yeah...keyboards are clearly "terrible."

/I think I lost my point, if I had one...

Very well put SynthLord

SynthLord

Just like any keyboardist, you spend a lot of time making strange sounds without getting any place remotely interesting.

Valdes: Just like any keyboardist, you spend a lot of time making strange sounds without getting any place remotely interesting.

Interesting - so, how did you hear my music?

So I just watched "The Making of Dark Side of the Moon". Thanks for the suggestion.

Looking at what Wright did on Dark Side, I can't fathom how Waters was able to or even wanted to cut him out of the band starting with The Wall. He was just brilliant on Dark Side.

Valdes: Give me all your cash and go stick a feather duster up your arse, and then we'll both be tickled.

Rick Wright helped bring a huge amount of pleasure to music fans for decades, and will continue to do so for years to come. So you (and plenty of others) don't like Floyd - no one cares. The man died, and his contributions, unlike yours, deserve respect.

Now go out into the Alaska woods and get farked to death by a moose, you tasteless twunt.

Thanks, Valdes... for allowing me the opportunity to pop the cherry on my ignore list. I've been a Farker for I dunno, 7 years maybe, and you're the first. I'll always cherish this magical moment.

Some people feel the internet gives them automatic carte blanche to be the biggest possible dickhole. I'm happy to not be one of those people.

Someone with more patience than me put together all the news articles from 1979 pertaining to the recording of The Wall and Rick's dismissal from the band. I don't have the link handy but basically the whole bad blood began when the band first convened in a meeting room to discuss the next Pink Floyd project.
First of all, Gilmour and Wright had just done their first solo records, David Gilmour in 1977 and Rick's Wright's "Wet Dream" in 1978.
Roger had been writing during all this time. When they arrived for the Pink Floyd meeting no one but Roger had anything to put forth since Rick and David shot their wads on solo records. Meanwhile Roger had two ideas fleshed out complete with demos... "The Wall" and "Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking".
He was perturbed that no one else had anything to offer.
Then supposedly Rick muttered something along the lines of "Great... more crap about his dead father" causing a glare from Roger, understandedly. Rick had a coke habit and no material to offer and was slamming ideas Roger had been working on for 6 months. Then after the band chose "The Wall" as the next project, Rick wanted to co-produce it with Roger, David and James Guthrie even though he had zero experience at producing.

Guthrie had him removed from the production room after a while.
The final straw for Roger was when Rick refused to come back from holiday to record some needed keyboard parts... That's when Roger went off the deep end and wanted Rick fired.

Roger handled it very poorly but he was under a lot of pressure and thought Rick was less than useless and made a rash decision, one he probably later regretted but is too proud to admit it.

I'm glad Rick got his life back in order and got his awesome chops back. It was evident when watching the Gilmour solo shows and his contribution to "The Division Bell" was stellar. Best track on there was Rick's "Wearing the Inside Out" IMHO.

I love the 4 of them (ok, five) and I hate the acrimony between them that stole 25 years of possible new Floyd material from us due to it. I hate that Roger is blamed the way he has been when there are two sides to the story. Roger didn't just wake up one day and wanted Rick out of the band. "The Final Cut" was a good album but it lacked the needed Rick keyboards. It should have been released as a Roger solo record which is something Roger offered to do but David and Nick didn't want that. They wanted it to be a Pink Floyd album. It's stupid of David to pan it when he was the most vocal at the time for wanting it to be released as a Pink Floyd album instead of a Waters solo.

RIP Rick. None of the nonsense needed to happen but it did and you suffered the most from it all. I was looking forward to your instrumental album you were working on when you were diagnosed and will always miss your stellar contributions to the music world.

GibbyTheMole: Some people feel the internet gives them automatic carte blanche to be the biggest possible dickhole. I'm happy to not be one of those people.

It would seem that no matter what forum you go to, there are people live for attacking whatever. I think there's some sort of checklist for it, like this:

Statement / Response
____ is my favorite band / Yeah, ____ sucks.
____ is a great actor / ____ is a no-talent hack.
____ died today. / Good riddance, ____! The world is a better place, etc.
____ my cat/dog died today. / Cats/dogs are useless.

So on and so forth. Add on whatever extra statements you can think of. I mean, honestly, what's the point of coming into a thread about the death of a celebrity and - being on the nicer side of the a$$hole factor - saying they had no talent? I'd dare guess to get some sort of thrill on making others feel like shiate.

And people wonder why I lack faith in my fellow human beings...

interesting Musicology101, i didnt know any of that. always wondered what the story really was.

Listening to the GDANSK record right now; great stuff.

And this Valdes character is a douchebag. Just go away, pal.