Unheard Pink Floyd songs released
Unreleased material by rock legends Pink Floyd is to see the light of day as part of a huge reissue campaign this summer, as a result of the band settling its lengthy legal row with EMI.
The hoard of unheard recordings includes a version of classic track Wish You Were Here featuring jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.
The reissues begin in September and feature expanded versions of the original albums on CD with DVDs and digital formats, which had originally proved a sticking point with the band.
The resolved legal row partly hinged on the band members’ unease about their back catalogue being exploited digitally, with tracks being released individually rather than as part of an album.
However they finally came to an agreement last year.
All 14 of the group’s studio albums, from 1967’s The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn to 1994’s The Division Bell will be released on September 26, as well as a box set.
In addition there will be enhanced versions of three of the band’s most successful releases, The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall released over the coming months – either in “Immersion” versions with six-disc box sets with DVD and Blu-Ray, or “Experience” two-disc sets.
The extra discs will include unreleased demos and live recordings.
Grappelli’s performance will be released on the Wish You Were Here rerelease in November. The Parisian gypsy-jazz maestro recorded a solo for the title track of the 1975 album but it was eventually put so low in the mix it was inaudible and he was not credited for his contribution.
Fans will be tantalised to hear that a previously unreleased version of The Wall in demo form will form part of that album’s luxury version when it is issued in February of next year.
The band became one of the most important acts in the world in the 1970s with its ambitious concepts and experimental song structures.
Bass player and main songwriter Roger Waters left the band in the early 80s, following the conceptual masterpiece The Wall but rejoined for a one-off performance at Live 8 in Hyde Park in 2005.
Waters is due to play the album in its entirety live in London tomorrow at the O2 Arena. Floyd keyboard player Rick Wright died in 2008.
Roger Faxon, CEO of EMI Group, said: “This is a unique collaboration between EMI and one of the most creative and influential bands in history.
“We have worked together for more than a year on this programme which incorporates all the elements that have made Pink Floyd one of the most inspiring forces in modern music.”
A greatest hits album, A Foot In The Door, will also come out in November.
