Nick Mason
I went to see Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets which is a massive deal for me. I’ve been a Pink Floyd fan for decades, have all the albums, special editions and several dozen books. As noted in Part 76 of this blog, I met Nick at a book signing in Edinburgh, at the time his personal history of Pink Floyd, called Inside Out was released. It was published on 7th October 2004 so I imagine it was shortly after that the signing took place. The actual date is lost to me right now. It was in Fopp records, which at the time was located in Rose Street. I remember queuing up while the whole of The Dark Side of the Moon was played and then Nick appeared. If you have read this blog you probably know that folk spelling my name wrong is a thing, but he got it right, we shook hands and off I went, the proud owner of the hardback, coffee table edition. I’ve since bought the paperback which was released in 2005. I believe there is a later version still, with further updates so will need to look into obtaining a copy.
I’m one of those fans who is equally at home with all periods of Pink Floyd’s music. Pre-dark side or post-dark side it doesn’t matter to me, I love it all. Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets is all about a band playing the music of Pink Floyd from 1967-1972. As long as it is pre The Dark Side of the Moon from 1973, we are good to go. Many of those songs had never been played live so this was a real treat. The band generally stayed faithful to the original recordings, with some tweaks here and there which added to the performance. I got a chance to hear some sixties psychedelia live which was just the best experience ever, while reflecting prior to the show, just how many years I have been listening to this music. It has sound tracked my life. I don’t obsessively play Floyd every day. I have a large music collection so do vary it week in and week out. But Pink Floyd is a main feature, hence my excitement in attending this gig. There is a double cd and dvd collection released in 2020 – Live at the Roundhouse – which features the gig in London from 2019. I was hoping to see the band in Edinburgh in April 2020, but Covid and lockdown put paid to that before I got a ticket. Fortunately, the band did go back out on the road and I got a ticket for the show in Glasgow at the SEC Armadillo.
The album of the Roundhouse gig rapidly became one of my favourites and I have played it a lot over the last few years. I was pleased to hear there were a couple of new tracks featured in the latest tour, that are not on the album, notably Echoes, which I could blog all day about. The reaction of the audience on hearing the opening note I will never forget, along with the standing ovation at the close of the piece, was a special moment. Simply magnificent.
We were treated to an unreleased Syd Barrett demo from 1966. Remember Me, was a demo the band had submitted for a competition. They had lifted his voice from the old cassette tape and played along with it. They also played The Scarecrow which was a real surprise. Note that there is a live version of this by Pink Floyd on the 1968 box set. Being able to enjoy live versions of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and A Saucerful of Secrets with the added addition of an extended guitar solo at the end was just the best. They also played Atom Heart Mother, which was such a good version given they didn’t have an orchestra with them. They started it off with If, and then ended the track with a reprise of If, which was a nice touch. I also loved the extended introduction to Obscured by Clouds. Works so well. See Emily Play, one of my all-time favourites, was also given an outing.
Nick chatted to the audience a couple of times and there was none of the exaggerated, over-the-top cliches that musicians tend to come out with when addressing the crowd. Nick simply chatted away as if you and he were in a pub somewhere having a pint. The mutual respect between artist and audience was obvious. He loved being there, doing what he was doing, and we all loved the fact he was.
I’ve been thinking how best to describe the experience. It’s like they have taken these old songs, and blown the dust away, leaving them shiny and new again. The piano parts in Remember a Day for example, can be heard on the original recording, but live, they have been brought up in the mix and you can really appreciate just how good the song is and the talent of Rick Wright who wrote and played on the original Floyd recording. Overall, the sheer breadth and invention of melody and abstract sound effects that characterised this period of Floyd was a joy to be present at. I would recommend checking out the Live at the Roundhouse album and also go back to the original Pink Floyd recordings. There are so many great tracks to experience from the pre-dark side period and it’s great to see these songs being promoted again.
The Fiction Factory 