Pink Floyd News and Notes


9-16-2008

Obituary - Richard Wright, 65, Pink Floyd keyboardist

By Jon Pareles - International Herald Tribune

Richard Wright, the keyboardist whose somber, monumental sounds were at the core of the art rock by Pink Floyd that has sold millions and millions of albums, died Monday in London, where he had lived. He was 65.

The cause was cancer, said his publicist, Claire Singers.

Wright was a founding member of Pink Floyd, and his spacious, enveloping keyboards, backing vocals and eerie effects were essential to its musical identity.

Though Syd Barrett and then Roger Waters wrote most of Pink Floyd's songs, Wright shares credit on the improvisatory psychedelic studio works the band composed collectively, and he sang a few lead vocals, including on "Astronomy Domine" from the band's debut album, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn."

Wright was also sole songwriter on "The Great Gig in the Sky," a hymnlike track with a soaring, wordless female vocal at the center of "The Dark Side of the Moon," the 1973 Pink Floyd album that has sold some 40 million copies.

David Gilmour, Pink Floyd's guitarist and singer, said in a statement Monday: "In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten. He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognized Pink Floyd sound."

Wright was born in London in 1943 and taught himself to play keyboards, developing an early interest in jazz. He attended a school for haberdashers, then studied architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic College.

With fellow students at Regent Street - Waters on guitar or bass and Nick Mason on drums - he started a group, at first playing American rhythm-and-blues songs. Barrett joined them in 1965, reshaping the music and naming the band The Pink Floyd Sound, after the U.S. bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

Barrett's whimsical, asymmetrical songs and the band's fondness for experimental sounds placed it at the center of London's underground psychedelic movement in the mid-1960s. "Music was our drug," Wright once said.

"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" was released in 1967 and yielded pop hits in England, but LSD use and mental illness made Barrett so unstable that he left Pink Floyd in 1968.

Pink Floyd continued to thrive through the 1970s, and Wright released his first solo project, "Wet Dream," in 1978. Pink Floyd's 1979 album, "The Wall," eventually sold 23 million copies in the United States alone.

Waters, who had increasingly taken control of Pink Floyd, reportedly threatened not to release "The Wall" unless Wright resigned his full membership in the band. He does not appear on the band's 1983 album, "The Final Cut."

After that album, Waters left Pink Floyd. Amid lawsuits, Gilmour and Mason regrouped under the Pink Floyd name; Wright rejoined them for the 1987 album "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" and "The Division Bell" in 1994.


3-13-07

Top 200 'Definitive' albums

Last week, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, which represents more than 7,000 music stores in the United States, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame put out the Definitive 200 list. It spans the past 50 years of modern popular music, ranking the top 200 albums.

Rank Artist Album Title Release Date Genre
1    BEATLES SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND 1967 Rock
2    PINK FLOYD DARK SIDE OF THE MOON 1973 Rock
3    MICHAEL JACKSON THRILLER 1982 Pop
4    LED ZEPPELIN LED ZEPPELIN IV 1971 Rock
5    U2 JOSHUA TREE 1987 Rock
6    ROLLING STONES EXILE ON MAIN STREET 1972 Rock
7    CAROLE KING TAPESTRY 1971 Adult Contemporary
8    BOB DYLAN HIGHWAY '61 REVISITED 1965 Rock
9    BEACH BOYS PET SOUNDS 1966 Rock
10    NIRVANA NEVERMIND 1996 Rock
11    PEARL JAM TEN 1991 Rock
12    BEATLES ABBEY ROAD 1969 Rock
13    SANTANA SUPERNATURAL 1999 Rock
14    METALLICA METALLICA 1991 Rock
15    BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BORN TO RUN 1984 Rock
16    PRINCE PURPLE RAIN 1984 Pop
17    AC/DC BACK IN BLACK 1980 Rock
18    ROLLING STONES LET IT BLEED 1969 Rock
19    DOORS DOORS 1967 Rock
20    GRATEFUL DEAD AMERICAN BEAUTY 1970 Rock
21    SHANIA TWAIN COME ON OVER 1997 Country
22    WHO WHO'S NEXT 1971 Rock
23    STEVIE WONDER SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE 1976 R&B
24    FLEETWOOD MAC RUMOURS 1977 Pop
25    PINK FLOYD WALL 1979 Rock
26   
ALANIS MORISSETTE
JAGGED LITTLE PILL
1995
Pop
27    NORAH JONES COME AWAY WITH ME 2002 Pop
28    EMINEM MARSHALL MATHERS LP 2000 Rap
29    OUTKAST SPEAKERBOXX-LOVE BELOW 2003 R&B
30    DR. DRE CHRONIC 1992 Rap
31    BEASTIE BOYS LICENSED TO ILL 1986 Rap
32    GUNS 'N ROSES APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION 1987 Rock
33    DIXIE CHICKS WIDE OPEN SPACES 1998 Country
34    MILES DAVIS KIND OF BLUE 1959 Jazz
35    EAGLES HOTEL CALIFORNIA 1976 Rock
36    DEF LEPPARD HYSTERIA 1987 Rock
37    SOUNDTRACK GREASE 1978 Soundtrack
38    MARVIN GAYE WHAT'S GOING ON 1971 R&B
39    BEATLES WHITE ALBUM 1968 Rock
40    SOUNDTRACK SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER 1977 Soundtrack
41    JIMI HENDRIX ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? 1967 Rock
42    BEATLES REVOLVER 1966 Rock
43    BOSTON BOSTON 1976 Rock
44    BON JOVI SLIPPERY WHEN WET 1986 Rock
45    U2 ACHTUNG BABY 1991 Rock
46    WHITNEY HOUSTON WHITNEY HOUSTON 1985 R&B
47    LED ZEPPELIN LED ZEPPELIN II 1969 Rock
48    DAVE MATTHEWS BAND CRASH 1996 Rock
49    ROLLING STONES STICKY FINGERS 1971 Rock
50    GREEN DAY DOOKIE 1994 Rock
51   
LED ZEPPELIN
HOUSES OF THE HOLY
1973
Rock
52    JONI MITCHELL BLUE 1971 Rock
53    ELVIS PRESLEY ELVIS PRESLEY AT SUN 2004 Rock
54    AEROSMITH TOYS IN THE ATTIC 1975 Rock
55    LAURYN HILL MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL 1998 R&B
56    BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BORN IN THE U.S.A. 1984 Rock
57    50 CENT GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' 2003 Rap
58    AC/DC HIGHWAY TO HELL 1979 Rock
59    NOTORIOUS B.I.G. LIFE AFTER DEATH 1997 Rap
60    VAN HALEN VAN HALEN 1978 Rock
61    GREEN DAY AMERICAN IDIOT 2004 Rock
62    BLACK SABBATH PARANOID 1975 Rock
63    EMINEM EMINEM SHOW 2000 Rap
64    JEWEL PIECES OF YOU 1995 Pop
65    COLDPLAY RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD 2002 Pop
66    MEATLOAF BAT OUT OF HELL 1977 Rock
67    USHER CONFESSIONS 2004 R&B
68    KID ROCK DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE 1998 Rock
69    GEORGE HARRISON ALL THINGS MUST PASS 1970 Pop
70    BILLY JOEL STRANGER 1977 Pop
71    EAGLES HELL FREEZES OVER 1994 Rock
72    VAN MORRISON MOONDANCE 1970 Rock
73    REM AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE 1992 Pop