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Shout out of necessity
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger has a fairly rare beast — an interview with Bob Ezrin. It is published in German, so all the usual caveats about reverse translation fully apply here.
Today, studio technology is very different from when you started out with Alice Cooper. In the 21st century, you no longer capture performances live in the studio; you create them on the screen.
For the new Deep Purple album «=1» I actually put together a collage of the best performances from different versions of the song, without losing the spontaneity of the first versions. But my work on the computer is not that different from that with analogue tapes. In 1973 I edited the piece «I Love The Dead» for Alice Cooper from song snippets that were all only four bars long. So please don’t say anything against digital recording technology. I love the tools that are available to me today.
Read the interview on tagesanzeiger.ch in German, or via Google Translate in other languages.
Thanks to Tobias Janaschke for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I didn’t know that Bob’s Jewish roots reach back into Ukraine and that his parents were lucky/smart enough to have moved to the US before WW II.
August 8th, 2024 at 22:37Yo,
So it remains, that cut & paste remains cut & paste in the digital-age, only a heck-of-a-lot-quicker, & no-need for sticky-tape !
Peace !
August 9th, 2024 at 01:25“In the studio he also coaxed some of guitarist David Gilmour’s very best solos, for example on «Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)» and «Comfortably Numb»”.
August 9th, 2024 at 23:47David Gilmour needs ‘coaxing’ to produce a stunning guitar solo does he? That is news to me & many others no doubt. Me thinks it was Ezrin just letting Gilmour do what he does best.
I have to admit to avoiding as much as I can, any comments about Roger ‘the dodger’ Waters. After reading or listening to a Ezrin interview a month or two ago, where he went on about it too much. The same with Waters, I avoid any of his rants. For me it is the music etc. I can understand people having their feelings hurt. Sensationalist journalism, have to loathe it don’t we. Cheers.
@3…
It’s quite possible that DG needed some coaxing through those sessions with “The wall”.
The rumours of-the-time indicate that the band was nearly broke, due to poor investments made by management.
And even if DG earned a massive amount of guitar-god mojo from the sublime performances found throughout “Animals”, Roger Waters was steering this baby all-the-way, so no-doubt some coaxing was needed to inspire him, especially with Rick Wright being fired…Not a happy work-place yo !
Those circumstances & financial pressures would have deflated anyone’s focus, especially if you were thinking you were to be next to be fired…
Thankfully, all that bollox passed with some most excellent recordings made, & it likely surprised Roger Waters that the band wanted & did continue on successfully without him.
That said, “The Final Cut” is imo their best effort ever, & “The Endless River” a spectacular collage of their career.
Peace !
August 11th, 2024 at 13:41I think by The Wall it was just like Herr Gregster says increasingly difficult to get David Gilmour to commit to anything in the studio regarding Waters’ songs, he’s made no bones about it that he considered it a Roger Waters and not a Pink Floyd album, and one huge ego trip at that. Which it was.
I believe Pink Floyd without Waters lacked depth, but good ole Roger can be UNBEARABLY full of himself, never mind his musical accomplishments. And I don’t consider him an antisemite, but you can still act plenty like an idiot without being antisemitic (an inane ideology like any form of racism) on top of it. Waters’ old-man-rants even about marginal things are hard to take.
https://guitar.com/news/music-news/guitar-magazine-bob-ezrin-comfortably-numb-misquote/
Still, without him Pink Floyd just sounded like Pink Floyd, but really wasn’t.
August 11th, 2024 at 20:05David Gilmour is a resilient character indeed & he was determined to get it right as much as possible, with The Wall. That concept was put to the band along with The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking material. To choose which one they would like to do. Gilmour picked The Wall. Material that was rather basic of course & not even that according to what we have read. They forged on even though the megalomaniac was present well before that period. Animals is a masterful record indeed, it has Waters ranting & raving or should that be Raving & Drooling, a temporary name for one of the songs that ended up on Animals. Gilmour along with Wright released solo albums before The Wall, Waters was busy compiling ideas for the next Floyd excursion. I think it was more Waters not wanting to work with Gilmour’s ideas rather than the other way around. Until he heard the music that Gilmour had for what became Comfortably Numb & no doubt other pieces also on the album.. Gilmour is all over The Wall musically & he also has his share of lead vocals & production credits. The Final Cut is deemed a Waters ‘solo’ album & it certainly has his dominating songwriting & lead vocal & production aspect to it. The Wall part three to many people, myself included. It has some wonderful moments on it & Gilmour’s guitar playing is rather aggressive in parts & majestic as always, probably due to the frustrations that were still there, all over again. Too much political doom & gloom though & after The Wall, that was too much for most people. Bob Ezrin as we know mediated between everyone involved with The Wall, both sides of the coin & it worked out good. Someone had to keep some sanity to proceedings. Ezrin has a lot of time for Gilmour, both personally & musically. Can you image The Wall album without Gilmour on it? A later band member of both camps said when pressed in a interview, what is the difference between those two, musically. The answer is a good one I thought, “Gilmour is about the melody & sound’ ‘Waters about the narrative & theatre’ of it all. I had the pleasure of witnessing Floyd in 1988 in Brisbane, a superb concert & one of the best I have ever attended in many ways. I was glad they went on, simply to get back on the road with new material & do what they used to do, before Roger the dodger Waters attempted to put an end to it all. Didn’t Deep Purple do a similar thing a few years later, although Blackmore NEVER attempted to stop the band in a silly courtroom hearing, he walked away. Something Waters should have done & he said so himself many years later. Band politics eh, you have to admire it, well perhaps not. Cheers.
August 12th, 2024 at 00:04Speaking of Roger Waters’ best friend and favorite guitarist: His new single is all danceable and rhythm & bluesy:
https://youtu.be/mUHMNgKRHbQ
August 12th, 2024 at 13:14@5…
I quite like Roger Waters, & think it quite funny that the “people” who begrudge him because of his “missing his father” themes, are the same people that say PF without him were without depth…
Confused ???…Or is it, some people are never happy perhaps…
My Dad thankfully is still alive, & I couldn’t imagine my life without him being around, but that doesn’t mean that a lyric that contains words to the effect of “Looking through the back of the old-cupboards-photo-drawer, & finding a letter signed by King George with his own rubber stamp” doesn’t bring a tear or two to one’s eyes…Or many of the other themes explored & revealed through The Final Cut. Certainly not pop-rock, & the politicians deserve getting fried, the useless SOB’s.
The Final Cut is just as important today, as it was when released, if nor more so.
@6…
Many interviews reveal that the band all thought they were over-&-done-with after the successes of Dark side of the Moon. “They were at the top, & where do they go from here “? -was the attitude held by most of them, as the interviews revealed during the “Wish You Were Here” sessions. No one was turning-up to record, & when they did, often an afternoon of squash was preferable to sitting down & getting some work done. This is pretty-much when Roger grabbed the helm once again, & steered the PF ship into an equally impressive follow-up album, once again, on the basis of a concept & bookending it with an opening-track reprise. And “Animals” follows in a similar fashion, though they apparently made a conscious decision to strip-back the production due to the inflow & popularity of the punk invasion…
It appears that hassles & politics plagued “everyone” during these times after 1975, but some incredible music was somehow made…
Look at “Come Taste the Band” for instance…Or “News of the World”…
History shows / indicates that the re-union of Mk-II, as initiated by RB, was for financial gain only…The other 4/5 members were in for the long-haul, & happy to be together again, for better or worse, as evidenced today. Nearly 30-years with Steve making awesome contemporary Rock is a monumental achievement, yet alone with more things to come with Simon & Don.
Peace !
August 12th, 2024 at 13:52I think Waters was important for PF, but the album he likes least (“too much guitar”) is my favorite one: Wish You Were Here. Probably the transcendental Krautrock aesthetics of that record’s music speak to me, it’s also their most popular album in Germany. I’m neither much of a Dark Side Of The Moon (too glossy) nor a The Wall (too much a musical for me) fan, Animals, dark and brooding as it is, is alright though. Meddle I have heard so often in the 70s with people smoking pot to – PINGGG! – Echoes that I swear I still smell it when I hear the song today! 🤯 🤣
That’s another thing, Pink Floyd was THE absolute pothead band. Take album out of record sleeve, put it on, start rolling a joint, cough … – it was a ritual that went hand in hand.
August 12th, 2024 at 22:18Pink Floyd’s afterglow from Dark Side was evident at that time. Until Gilmour hit upon those four notes that eventually became Shine On You Crazy Diamond & also coming up with that acoustic guitar thing for the title track. Inspiration can come from anyone or anywhere & Water’s had to also get things going again thematically & with his ever productive mind, it worked for a good few years too come. It was an incredibly constructive time for the Floyd as most of the Animals material was also conceived at that time of 1974. Those early live versions of Raving & Drooling (Sheep) & You’ve Got to be Crazy (Dogs) are wonderful. The Final Cut is a good effort, but it suffered from the timing of it’s release after The Wall album, film & concerts. Probably a bit too much of the same thing again for poor ole Blighty & also many others no doubt. In hindsight it probably should have been kept for Waters as a later official solo album. Tony Iommi playing that SBS riff sparked Sabbath’s conundrum in 1973. They couldn’t get going again apparently, although there would have been other hedonistic issues there clouding their minds no doubt. Cheers.
August 12th, 2024 at 23:29Regarding the new David Gilmour tracks, yes I have listened to those. Steve Gadd on drums on a couple of songs. Apparently Gilmour is possibly not going to be playing older classic Floyd on this tour. And he never plays anything from his early solo albums, the 1978 & 1984 releases I have always noticed. Keeping everything more recent, so probably material from the 1990’s onwards me thinks. Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 00:02@ 9- yes indeed Uwe, the smoke haze was ever present with a few bands, especially Floyd. I have not heard that Waters comment regarding WYWH. Too much guitar? I would have thought Animals would be that, it is a lot more prevalent & to the fore on that album. WYWH is my favourite & for Gilmour & Wright too. No surprises there, it was the last collaboration from Wright (classic lineup) regarding songwriting input. A wonderful all round album it is. Shine on. Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 06:19@9…
People often forget just how good “Obscured by Clouds” is in preference for “Meddle”…Both are superb albums imo. The former was imo the first proper PF album that had some proper song writing & strong band development coming through with DG in there. “Atom Heart Mother” saw them steadying the compass to do this.
“Ummagumma” is the record that you really need to be inebriated to get into. If not, it’s throw-away garbage that lacks any threads to hang-on-to…But some threads do appear once stoned for sure.
“Zabriskie Point” also indicates how diverse the band could be, & how well Rick Wright could compose & perform. This one & “Obscured by Clouds” secure the top-spot for early PF for my tastes. The others rarely get air-time here.
Peace !
August 13th, 2024 at 13:38yes indeed both Obscured By Clouds along with Meddle are some of my favourite Floyd albums. Very good songs & instrumental passages on those albums. The film soundtrack More album has some good folk & blues style permeating through it, a personal favourite for me in that older pre 70’s Floyd. Ummagumma & the studio material has one or two nice songs but overall too much avant-garde experimental noodling going on there. I struggle to get into Atom Heart Mother, a difficult album in many ways, orchestral & I am not sure it worked that well. There are a couple of shorter songs that I like on that album. Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 22:53Yo,
Indeed, one of the most repeated themes of life that still runs true today, & likely all through time itself is the “femme fatal” & drug-addict ultimately under control of the dealer, with the disenchanted lover going through tough-life-lessons…Some make it through ok, others don’t, yet Mr.Wolfe could care less. Cautionary tale indeed !
It’s not a bad album to listen to “More”, though it doesn’t flow as well as the other soundtracks mentioned for my tastes, yet it’s much more enjoyable listening than “APatGoD”. A “SfoS” has its moments also, but they’re certainly feeling there way around, even struggling maybe without Syd perhaps. Soundscapes instead of tunes per-se, but this got them into the movies lol .
Peace !
August 14th, 2024 at 09:55