Former Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason looks back on ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’
The early psychedelic music of Pink Floyd will be explored by Nick Mason and his band Saucerful of Secrets next Friday night at the Benedum Center.
Photo by Jill Furmanovsky
Nick Mason, the onetime drummer of Pink Floyd.
If you own a Pink Floyd album, odds are it无毛视频檚 无毛视频淭he Dark Side of the Moon无毛视频� or 无毛视频淭he Wall,无毛视频� which between them have sold more than 60 million copies.
And if it无毛视频檚 not one of those, it无毛视频檚 one of the two in between 无毛视频� 无毛视频淲ish You Were Here无毛视频� or 无毛视频淎nimals.无毛视频�
A much less celebrated part of the band无毛视频檚 oeuvre are the albums they released before they became arena-rock deities and were pioneers in the psychedelic sounds that were pulsing out of Swinging London in the aftermath of the Beatles无毛视频� 无毛视频淪gt. Pepper无毛视频檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band.无毛视频� For their first two albums, they were led by the gifted and mercurial Syd Barrett, who descended into LSD-accelerated madness and died a recluse in 2006.
It无毛视频檚 this part of Pink Floyd无毛视频檚 legacy that Nick Mason, the band无毛视频檚 former drummer, hopes to reclaim.
无毛视频淚 think that无毛视频檚 particularly the case in America,无毛视频� Mason said in a phone interview from Virginia last week. 无毛视频淏ecause what happened with 无毛视频楧ark Side无毛视频�,无毛视频� it became so big that it obliterated everything else.无毛视频�
To that end, Mason has been out on tour with a five-piece band, playing songs from 无毛视频淎 Saucerful of Secrets,无毛视频� the second Pink Floyd album, along with other selections from the group无毛视频檚 maiden days. Next Friday he无毛视频檒l perform at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. The tour is being carried out on a smaller scale than the stadium spectaculars Pink Floyd staged until the band was put on ice in 1994, but Mason said that confers some advantages 无毛视频� this show leaves more room for improvisation, he explained, sidestepping note-for-note renderings of songs designed to please fans in the furthest reaches of the upper deck.
无毛视频淲hat无毛视频檚 quite nice is it无毛视频檚 relatively fresh, this early music. It无毛视频檚 a bit freer than the later albums, that became more accurate in the playing and in the structure of them.无毛视频� said Mason, who is now 78 and first signed on to Pink Floyd in 1965. He added that he无毛视频檇 like to explore other areas of the band无毛视频檚 output 无毛视频渙nly if they fall into that early period. It only makes sense to stick with the era that we want to explore, rather than wandering off into what I call tribute-land, if you start picking some of the later music.无毛视频�
During the making of 无毛视频淎 Saucerful of Secrets,无毛视频� Barrett left the band and embarked on a solo career that lasted for two albums before fizzling out. After Barrett无毛视频檚 departure, Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour took center stage in the group and drove it to its greatest success. They were also participants in one of rock music无毛视频檚 most vicious and long-running feuds. After Waters was kicked out of the band in 1983 amid creative and personal differences, Waters unsuccessfully sued to stop the group from using the name Pink Floyd, but it carried out on through two subsequent albums as a trio, with Gilmour and Mason joined by keyboard player Richard Wright. The whole band came back together just once, with Waters rejoining them for a reunion at London无毛视频檚 Live 8 concert in 2005. The possibility of another complete band reunion was foreclosed with the death of Wright from lung cancer in 2008.
And even though the three surviving members are all pushing 80, they无毛视频檙e apparently not ready yet to let bygones be bygones. A remixed and expanded version of 无毛视频淎nimals无毛视频� released this month was delayed amid raging disagreements between Waters and Gilmour over the package无毛视频檚 liner notes, a battle that Mason said he sidestepped.
Still, Mason said if Waters and Gilmour settled their differences and asked if he would like to participate in a reunion, he无毛视频檇 be glad to get onboard.
无毛视频淥h yeah,无毛视频� Mason said. 无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 still really proud of what we did with Pink Floyd, and there无毛视频檚 still a huge audience out there of people who love it. It only works if everyone wants to do it, and wants to do it together. I can无毛视频檛 see that really happening. The only other way there might be some way of working together would be the equivalent of Live 8, when it无毛视频檚 about something more important than musical differences.无毛视频�