"Retrospective" is an exclusive 45 minute retrospective documentary of interviews with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie about the making of the hugely successful album "The Wall"...

This documentary looks at the conception, design and live shows of The Wall performed by Pink Floyd in 1980 and 1981. It features in-depth 1980s era interviews with Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason and shows footage of The Wall performed at Earl's Court in 1980. It also features archival footage of the Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd and discusses how David Gilmour was brought into the band to initially augment their live shows when Syd became unreliable due to his drug problem and how Gilmour ultimately replaced him. A short retrospective of Pink Floyd post-Syd in included. The documentary also discusses is how Roger Waters' concept of The Wall came about and how Pink Floyd, the band, were on the verge of breaking up while performing The Wall concerts. Included are interviews with Mark Fisher (stage designer), Jonathan Park (stage designer), Gerald Scarfe (animation designer and director) and Bob Geldof and Alan Parker in relation to the making of The Wall Movie.



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'The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story' is a documentary released on DVD on 24 March 2003, produced by Otmoor Productions in 2001 as part of the BBC's Omnibus series and originally called Syd Barrett: Crazy Diamond (in the US, a slightly modified version aired as the last episode of VH1's Legends series in January, 2002). Directed by John Edginton, the film includes interviews with all the Pink Floyd members - Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright - plus the "fifth Pink Floyd", Bob Klose, who left the band in 1965. The film includes rare early television appearances of Pink Floyd and home movies.

One of the most famous creators and characters of the psychedelic era, Syd Barrett has not conducted an interview or released music since the early seventies yet his self-imposed anonymity still fascinates fans old and new. The original songwriter for Pink Floyd was only with the band for a vibrant 3 years when he left in 1968, yet when the band released their greatest hits album in 2001 Syd had written over a fifth of the tracks. It's been over 35 years since Syd Barrett left the band yet mystery still surrounds this prodigy of rock.


The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story retells the fascinating story of the start of one of the largest and most influential bands in rock and the drug induced breakdown of their original song writer and lead man. The release of this personal and candid profile of the once effervescent musician and now cult figure of Syd Barrett. Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright retell how Syd's slip from reality haunted the band for many years and this is clearly demonstrated in the tracks Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Wish You Were Here. There are also insights from former girlfriends, landlords, flatmates, producers, managers, friends and famous fans. Also featuring rare early footage of the band performing; including a live show at the UFO Club, and an appearance with former landlord Mick Leonard on Tomorrows World.

The focus of the film is Syd Barrett, the lead vocalist and guitarist of the early Pink Floyd, who created their unique psychedelic sound and most of the band's early songs, including the singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" and much of their first album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Syd Barrett's name passed into rock folklore when he quit Pink Floyd in 1968 and, after two extraordinary but erratic solo albums, disappeared from music altogether amid rumours of a drug-induced breakdown.

The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story has contributions from Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley (who played on Syd Barrett's two solo albums The Madcap Laughs and Barrett as well as Syd's final London concert on 6 June 1970 with David Gilmour, when Barrett abruptly left the stage after playing only four numbers), bassist Jack Monck who played at Syd's last ever public concert in 1972 at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, producer Joe Boyd who produced Arnold Layne, photographer Mick Rock who photographed Barrett for The Madcap Laughs cover, and artist Duggie Fields who shared an apartment in London's Earls Court with Barrett in 1968 and witnessed his changing mental state at close hand.

According to his sister, Barrett actually watched the documentary when it was broadcast on the BBC. He apparently found it "too loud", although he did enjoy seeing Mike Leonard, who he referred to as his "teacher". He also enjoyed hearing "See Emily Play" again.

A little about Syd ...

Born Roger Keith Barrett in 1946 in Cambridge, Syd Barrett obtained his nickname from regulars at a local jazz club who when finding out his surname, christened him after as old drummer from the area. Aged 17 he moved down to London to attend the Camberwell Art School. In London he met up with old friend Roger Waters, who he had an understanding with since they were young that they would start a band together. Syd consequently joined up with the people Roger was playing with.

Syd quickly became the main songwriter, and named the band after two Georgia blues men Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Their experiments with feedback and electronic sound quickly made them the hippest band among London’s early psychedelic set. Whilst Pink Floyd were experimenting with sound and light they also started experimenting in the other side of London’s psychedelic set - drugs. Some thought that with the aid of drugs Syd was more liberated and had the freedom to write memorable songs. Nevertheless his grasp on reality was slipping away. He didn’t turn up for interviews and started to refuse to perform though he’d quite happily practise. His behaviour became so erratic that an American tour had to be cut short.

The band was in a dilemma; Syd was becoming a liability yet he still wrote the majority of their songs. Their solution in January 1968 was to excuse him from performing to concentrate on song writing. Dave Gilmour was asked to join the band to cover for Syd. Two of the songs that he wrote Vegetable Man and Scream The Last Scream were not released by EMI but their apparent autobiographical style was not lost on many. Pink Floyd admit that their style back in the late sixties was if there was a problem they would ignore it, then one day it came to a point where they did ignore the problem by not picking Syd up.

Syd went on to release two solo albums The Madcap Laughs and Barrett in 1970. After the poor reception of the second album Syd retreated to his mothers house in Cambridge. Back at home he joined up with some Cambridge musicians and formed The Stars. But Syd's involvement was like his attention span, short. During the following years Syd moved between London and Cambridge staying on friends’ floors. In the mid 70s he even turned up at the studios where Pink Floyd were recording Shine On You Crazy Diamond the song written about Syd.

In 1978 he got tired of London and walked back to Cambridge, where he now lives, calling himself Roger Barrett having left Syd behind. The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story is a moving portrait of a cult figure.


References :

• The Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story : Wikipedia
• The Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story DVD : Pink Floyd.org

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Wish You Were Here is one of Pink Floyd's best albums ever with the classics "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", "Have A Cigar" & one of my top floyd favorites ever, "Welcome To The Machine" ... extremely well written about our machine like modern society where we love following patterns and trends much like programmed machines ...

The concept behind "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" suggested the use of a handshake (an often empty gesture), and George Hardie designed a sticker containing the album's logo of two mechanical hands engaged in a handshake, to be placed on the opaque sleeve. The album's cover image was inspired by the idea that people tend to conceal their true feelings, for fear of "getting burned", and thus two businessmen were pictured shaking hands, one man on fire.

"Getting burned" was also a common phrase in the music industry, used often by artists denied royalty payments. Two stuntmen were used (Ronnie Rondell and Danny Rogers), one dressed in a fire-retardant suit covered by a business suit. His head was protected by a hood, underneath a wig. The photograph was taken at the Warner Bros. studios in Los Angeles.

Here is a documentary all about the making of Wish You Were Here ... the film starts with a brief background on Floyd's Epic release, The Dark Side of the Moon following which came their next mega album "Wish You Were Here" capturing the imagination of millions all over ... as always ... :)




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Pink Floyd : The Making of the Dark Side of the Moon is a documentary about the making of the classic album, "Dark Side of the Moon" which also happens to be one of the largest selling albums of all time ...

This documentary is part of the Classic Albums series, released by Isis Productions/Eagle Rock Entertainment. This one does manage to unite the band under one single film, albeit only via separate interviews at various different locations. It also features interviews with the album's engineer Alan Parsons, two music journalists, the former chairman of their record label and Storm Thorgerson.

Produced for the Classic Albums series that originally aired on VH-1, this thorough and thought-provoking study highlights a track-by-track dissection of the LP's master tapes (including the spoken-word passages that bookend the album), superbly interlaced with archival footage, early demo tapes, concert animations, and latter-day acoustic performances by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright to demonstrate each track's contribution to the final mix--a sonic exploration that extends to the illuminating bonus features. Informative interviews abound (including Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke), and much-deserved credit is given to saxophonist Dick Parry, solo vocalist Clare Torry, and former Capitol Records chairman Bhaskar Menon, who fostered the album's U.S. commercial success.


Dark Side of the Moon released in March 1973, remained on the charts for nearly 14 years ...


" Dark Side of the Moon was an expression of political, philosophical, humanitarian empathy that was desperate to get out ... "

~ Roger Waters




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