Pink Floyd to release "unreleased" music
(CBS) Now that Pink Floyd has decided to release some previously unreleased recordings from its archives, maybe fans will again debate whether the band was better led under Syd Barrett, Roger Waters or David Gilmour.
And perhaps the debate may be made easier by those soon-to-be-available unheard recordings, which will be released starting in September.
According to its website, the "Why Pink Floyd...?" re-releases will include "[a]ll the studio albums newly remastered including unreleased music from the archives & collectors' box sets." Between 1967 and 1994, Pink Floyd released 14 studio albums.
The releases will be launched on Sept. 26, and will include "CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, SACD, an array of digital formats, viral marketing, iPhone Apps and a brand-new single-album 'Best Of' collection." And for all you vinylphiles out there, there's a "vinyl" tab on the website.
According to the Guardian, one of the previously unreleased recordings features violinist Stephane Grappelli on "Wish You Were Here."
The studio albums have been remastered by James Guthrie, who co-produced "The Wall" and "The Final Cut," and are available individually or as a box set as "Discovery" editions.
"Experience editions are expanded versions of classic albums in a Digipak bonus-disc format. Included are the original remastered album, a disc of additional material and an expanded CD booklet," reads the website. The albums in the "Experience" editions are "Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here" and "The Wall."
Then there are the "Immersion" editions of those three albums, which are described as "the complete artistic experience."
Earlier in the year, the surviving members of Pink Floyd - guitarist David Gilmour, bassist Roger Waters and drummer Nick Mason - agreed to the sale of individual digital downloads not long after suing EMI, Pink Floyd's label, to prevent single download sales.
Founding member and guitarist Barrett left Pink Floyd in 1968. He was the primary songwriter on the band's debut, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn." David Gilmour was brought into the band a few months before Barrett's departure as a fifth member.
Keyboardist Richard Wright left the band during the recording of "The Wall" but remained a session musician on it and played on the tour. Waters left the band after the release of its 1983 album, "The Final Cut."
Gilmour put out "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" in 1987 under the Pink Floyd name with drummer Nick Mason. Wright played on the album but not as an official member. By the time of the 1994 album "The Division Bell," Pink Floyd was officially Gilmour, Mason and Wright.
In 2005, Waters joined his former bandmates, minus Barrett, for a performance at the Live 8 benefit concert. Barrett died in 2006 of pancreatic cancer. Wright died in 2008 of cancer.