Mark Brown
Roger Waters fans, it looks like the long drought is truly ending. Not only did Waters
tour this summer and last, but the live album from the tour is a certainty — and he's
started work on the next studio album.
"There are actually two different ones we're working on," says Waters' guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, who is out on tour with the former Pink Floyd frontman. "We recorded in the Bahamas and started his next studio record. We're also doing a live record now." He declines to say which — if either — will contain "Each Small Candle," the new Waters composition with which the band has been closing its current shows.
Despite Waters' reputation for being a demanding perfectionist, Bramhall finds his vision refreshing.
"Working with Roger is one of the greatest experiences," he says. "He's one of the most gracious, inspiring, talented people I've ever been around. I can't even tell you how much it's helped me. He's dealing with the visual aspects, production, arranging, all of it. It's effortless with him; he just does it, and everything comes together. It's the sign of a great artist; I wish I had one-tenth of that vision."
But Bramhall, who formerly fronted the Arc Angels with fellow Texan Charlie Sexton, has seen his own career picking up steam, too. Since he got his act together, sobering up and marrying singer Susannah Melvoin, top artists in rock have been calling on his skills. Although last year's solo outing Jellycream sank without a trace, a few months ago, Bramhall got an unexpected ring from Eric Clapton, who'd gotten his hands on a copy of the disc.
"I didn't even know Eric," Bramhall says. They had a meeting, and Clapton immediately popped a stunning proposal: "I want to do a couple of your songs, and I want you to play on this record with me and B.B. [King]." Thus King and Clapton's Riding With the King sessions were born.
"It was surreal," Bramhall says. "I don't get overwhelmed by much, but that was really an experience for me. I was playing with two of the top 10 guitar players of all time. I was supposed to play on only two songs, but he liked the way it was going so much that he hired me for the whole record." Clapton came out to see Bramhall's band play, and also ended up hiring Melvoin and her sister, Wendy (known for her work with Prince), for backing vocals.
"The first day of the session, I went into the studio, and there was B.B. and Eric, and they were playing one of my songs," he says. "It was just a trip. And I got to hang out with those guys and play with them. It's an honor."
The rest is history. Two songs from the album that Bramhall thought he'd never see again ended up on the Clapton-King collaboration and debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard charts.
"They debuted at 3,003 on my record," he laughs.
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(6/19/00, 5 p.m. ET) - One of rock's great recent legends is the eerie synchronicity between Pink Floyd's classic Dark Side Of The Moon and the film The Wizard Of Oz. Floyd fans have for the past several years maintained that the album, if started at the exact right point of the movie, synchs directly to the film as a kind of soundtrack. Now the cable network Turner Classic Movies and Capitol Records are embracing the symbiotic relationship with a special airing of The Wizard Of Oz at 11 p.m. ET/PT July 3, with The Dark Side Of The Moon available as an alternate soundtrack.
Dark Side will be available on the Second Audio Program (SAP) channel, which will be available to DirecTV subscribers and to cable systems that have the DVS system. Those without either system can use their own copy of Dark Side, as TCM host Robert Osborne will give viewers instructions on how to use either system, and he'll also discuss some of the interesting connecting points between the album and movie.
TCM's website (turnerclassicmovies.com) will feature information on both the film and the album, and the network says it plans to make the Oz/Dark Side airing an annual event. The members of Pink Floyd have repeatedly denied that they deliberately synched Dark Side to The Wizard Of Oz, and that any connection between the film and album is purely coincidental.
-- Gary Graff, Detroit
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(4/18/00, 10 a.m. ET) - The new album Is Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81, chronicling the seven nights Pink Floyd performed The Wall at London's Earl's Court, is available today. The band has been an influence on many modern rock acts since its heyday in the '70s.
For example, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is an avowed fan of Pink Floyd, so much so that he was asked to induct the band into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1996. While taking a quick swipe at most of the music from the '70s, Corgan told the audience what Pink Floyd meant to him:
"When people would say `Pink Floyd,' before I even heard a note, there was a certain reverence that surrounded this band," he noted, continuing, "they were a strange anomaly in the '70s, filled with this horrible, awful music which some of you in this room are responsible for."
At the ceremony, Corgan keyed in on The Wall as being one of the defining moments in rock history: "It's one of the bravest records I've ever heard, and I really can't point to anything else that's ever summed up everything that's f--ked up about life, everything that's f--ked up about rock. It takes on politics, hero worship, rock 'n' roll, and our desires to connect with the universe, all in one fell swoop. It really, truly is an amazing testament to how far they were willing to go to reach the outer limits of what's important."
For Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright, The Wall-era Pink Floyd is a mixture of both happy and sad memories. Wright was on thin ice with singer-bassist Roger Waters then, and it's unclear whether he was a full member of Pink Floyd at the time or if he, in fact, was out of the band and played The Wall shows a hired sideman. However, fans have always considered Wright's keyboard playing an integral part of the band's sound, and they always let him know how much they appreciate his contributions to The Wall.
Wright told LAUNCH that people always want to know why he thinks The Wall was as big as it was. "We're always asked `Why? Why is it so popular?' And it's very difficult to analyze, particularly as I played on it, but it touched a nerve and there's something -- the movement and a flow to it -- that is very seductive."
-- Bruce Simon, New York
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