Pulse & Spirit - Pink Floyd News - Interview David Gilmour The Sun 2008

26.09.2008: In einem Bericht der The Sun über Gilmour Live In Gdansk finden sich viele interessante Aussagen über Wright, "Echoes", "A Great Day For Freedom" und anderem ...

Gilmour über Rick und wie "Echoes" ihn aus seiner Schale lockte: “As we played Echoes throughout the tour, it brought Rick out of his shell more and more,” believes David. “He was stamping his personality and forcefulness on the whole thing but Echoes was where it showed the most.

“Seeing Rick come to the fore was really great. We did Echoes a few times on the Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour in the late Eighties but it didn’t ever quite gel for some reason. On this tour, it was the highlight of the show, such good fun to play.”

In einer Stellungnahme an Rick Wrights Todestag schrieb Gilmour: “The blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy reached their first major flowering in 1971 on Echoes (from the Meddle album). In my view, all the greatest Pink Floyd moments are the ones where he is in full flow.” Für Gilmour waren die größten Momente von Pink Floyd die in denen Wright voll involviert war!

Über Lech Walesa: “I don’t think diplomacy is one of his strong points. He’s still very forthright, very blunt. He said something about shaving being the only masculine thing he could do . . . perhaps we shouldn’t go there.”

“It was a fantastic thrill to be invited to celebrate something that started a domino effect which changed the world. I’m not what you’d call anti-communist particularly but I’m anti any sort of regime that’s not democratically chosen.”

“That song is really about the aftermath (of the fall of the totalitarian state). First, it was a joy and a release for the people with the freedom of democracy but then it became horribly marred by the ethnic cleansing and genocide, particularly in Yugoslavia.

“We only rehearsed it that afternoon. I did a run through of the solo, quite tricky to get in the right rhythm. It’s a very, very slow tempo and I was getting ahead of it all but the performance turned out good.

“It’s a song we could have done more. I love it and it was just great actually singing it because I stood on that stage and could see that whole audience and the Solidarity memorial lit up over in the background. I really meant it when I was singing it.”

Fat Old Sun wollte Gilmour auf der "Echoes - The Best Of .." haben, aber die anderen entschieden sich dagegen. “I’ve always liked the song, one of the first I ever wrote. I tried to persuade the rest of the Pink Floyd guys that it should go on Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd but they weren’t having it. I played the drums on the original recording but the drums are so bad.”

“I think I probably have, at least when I get into proper practice. I can be the laziest person. I pick up a guitar and doodle every day but I don’t practise proper scales and so on. I do get rusty and my fingers aren’t as fluid as they should be but that is often balanced out by being more inventive.”

Gefragt nach seinem Lieblingssolo meinte er, dass es lange Zeit Comfortably Numb gewesen sei, nun aber schätzt er Castellorizon, On An Island und The Blue: “For a long time, I would have thought Comfortably Numb was the most fun but I’ve probably played that too many times. I’ve explored the chord sequence so fully that it’s hard to start playing it and not fall into established patterns.

“Now I love playing the opening of Castellorizon over an orchestra. Not really a solo but lovely to play. And the solos on On An Island, particularly The Blue, are great to play.”