Richard Wright: "The soul of Pink Floyd"
December 24, 2015 4:49 PM   Subscribe

A loving retrospective of the life of Pink Floyd keyboardist, songwriter and vocalist Richard Wright [PDF], scanned from the December 2008 issue of MOJO magazine. This is followed by Wright's final - and candid (given his reputation as 'the quiet one') - interview with the magazine, given the year before his death, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
posted by paleyellowwithorange (11 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
[As this is hosted on David Gilmour's website, I assume the scan is kosher.]
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 4:50 PM on December 24, 2015


...the heart of the sun
posted by clavdivs at 5:34 PM on December 24, 2015


I always loved the tender musicality of Wright's work with Pink Floyd. Meddle is to me the best of Floyd and Echoes is the best of Meddle. Also loved watching him space out at Pompeii making beautiful music.
posted by Nelson at 5:58 PM on December 24, 2015 [9 favorites]


I spent most of yesterday listening to Echoes on repeat. The Wikipedia article for the song is what led me to this MOJO article. In the article, the interviewer asks, "Just what is it about that song?", and I liked Rick's initial response: "It's the way it just rolls." It's just a magical piece of music, for all of its 23 minutes.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 6:06 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


2015 has been my first year of serious Floyd immersion, and there are few things I've enjoyed more. Thanks for this!
posted by terretu at 1:42 AM on December 25, 2015


2015 has been my first year of serious Floyd immersion, and there are few things I've enjoyed more. Thanks for this!

Interesting as they tell us that recorded music has no value.
posted by lilburne at 2:04 AM on December 25, 2015


I enjoyed the following lead in the linked article to You're The Reason Why, Wright's first song from 1964.

Realising he had little interest in architecture, Wright quit the polytechnic and signed up at London's Royal College of Music. The move paid off when he sold one of his songs, You're the Reason Why, to a Liverpudlian vocal trio, Adam, Mike & Tim. "Rick wrote a proper pop song and sold it," says Nick Mason. "He'd written a single before the rest of us were even properly operational."

This in turn lead to this performance of Breakthrough, the last song from Wright's last solo album recorded in 1996, and here performed with David Gilmour in 2002.
posted by fairmettle at 2:56 AM on December 25, 2015


YMMV, but to me, Wright is the only member Pink Floyd couldn't live without. Before Gilmour they had Barrett, and each pushed the band way ahead in a different way. Waters after WYWH started to think he was the band, and he's not remotely as good as he thinks he is. Mason was reliably always there. On the other hand, without Wright they had the two worst releases in their catalog: The Final Cut and A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
posted by lmfsilva at 8:24 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


To me, they were all indispensable in some way or another. Thankfully, enough of Syd lived on in everybody else that they managed to keep some of the experimental nature of the thing through the vast majority of their run, even (to a much lesser degree than elsewhere, but still there) in TFC and AMLoR.

In a way I guess you could say Roger turned out to be the least integral to the project. The Division Bell is a thing that exists, does have some pretty great moments, and has that Floyd sound after all. However, I can't help but see how his influence would have tightened things up in a few places and made a better record.
posted by wierdo at 8:54 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I think he could have slightly improved TDB (which is a fine record, even fantastic if we consider the band was, what 20 years past their peak?) and I doubt Pink Floyd would have survived the prog-rock era without his (pre head-in-ass) lyrics, but if I had to choose anyone to be replaced and impacting the band the least, Roger would be the first pick.
If only, for all the milking Roger did of Syd, and not knowing him personally, it sometimes feels like he gave the less shits about him from all four. Gilmour and particularly Wright seemed the most affected by him burning out, Mason too. Roger at times seemed more like he loved having another story to cry about. Maybe he's just more of a pragmatist, but how unceremoniously he dumped Syd (although understandable) and Rick, and then throwing a fit because the others were willing to continue without him makes me queasy.
posted by lmfsilva at 4:12 PM on December 25, 2015


Wright did some very nice keyboard understatement. While other Prog keyboardists indulged in extravagant rococo flourishes, Wright held down the fort.
posted by ovvl at 7:30 PM on December 27, 2015


« Older Strip Magic: The Gathering   |   Christmas Will Break Your Heart Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments