Above: Agreed upon last time Syd Barrett was seen alive, 1990
On December 1, 1990, Syd Barrett had an interview with the BBC in which his wellbeing was brought up since the interviewer saw he looked sickly, to which Barrett explained that he had HIV and he was on the verge of death. Syd was not open with his sexuality to the band during his time with them, but some members believed he might have been bisexual. Roger Waters and Nick Mason remembered one time where he showed up to their recording studio and said that he was a homosexual. Regardless Syd's love life was a mystery to almost everyone. Syd Barrett died at his Oxford home from computations with HIV on December 14, 1990. Not only Pink Floyd but everyone was shocked his sudden death. Waters visited him on the 6th of December in response to his interview which he said "I couldn't believe it. I was hoping it was a crude joke. I talked with him about a week before his passing and he told me it was far from any joke. I remember just sobbing all the way home." Syd was cremated and his ashes were given to his family along with the band.
The band conversed about breaking up their first session after Barrett's death. Waters instead presented lyrics to the band to make a couple of songs about Syd. The songs were intended to make up their final album which lasted from January 1991 to March 1991. Sometime mid recording Kevin Ayers walked into the studio and sheepishly asked if he could add a song to the album, which they agreed. Also added for run time was the Barrett written See Emily Play, which at the end of the song one member is heard weeping. One mean of promotion of the album was the EP release of the 9-part suite, Shine on You Crazy Diamond (which would become the highest selling EP of all time).
Shine on You Crazy Diamond is the first and only EP from British rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on May 4, 1991, under EMI Records in the U.K. and under Columbia Records in the U.S. The EP was recorded at The Astoria and Abbey Road Studios.
Pink Floyd - Shine on You Crazy Diamond Producer: Pink Floyd, Bob Ezrin
U.K. Charts: N/A
U.S. Charts: N/A
Total Time: 26:00
Side A: 13:32
1: Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5) 13:32 (Gilmour, Wright, Waters, Mason) [1]
Side B: 12:28
2: Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-9) 12:28 (Wright, Gilmour, Waters, Mason) [1]
Wish You Were Here is the thirteenth studio album by British rock band Pink Floyd. The album was recorded from January to March 1991 at The Astoria and Abbey Road Studios. Wish You Were Here was released in the U.S. under Columbia Records on June 2, 1991, and in the U.K. under EMI Records on June 7, 1991. Wish You Were Here / Oh! Wot a Dream was released as a single on July 17, 1991.
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Producer: Pink Floyd, Bob Ezrin
U.K. Album Charts: #1
U.S. Album Charts: #3
Total Time: 37:15
1^Side A: 19:12
1: Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5) 13:32 (Gilmour, Wright, Waters, Mason) [1]
2: Oh! Wot a Dream 2:48 (Ayers, Waters) [2]
3: See Emily Play 2:52 (Barrett) [3]
1^Side B: 18:03
4: Wish You Were Here 5:35 (Waters, Gilmour) [1]
5: Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-9) 12:28 (Wright, Gilmour, Waters, Mason) [1]
References: [1] Wish You Were Here, 1975
[2] Bananamour, 1973 [3] See Emily Play (Single), 1967
Other Notes: 1: For CD releases, tracks 1-5 are all on Disc 1.
Before the release of Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd among many other artists played a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on May 23, 1991. Titled Games for May the concert was a benefit concert for Syd Barrett. Among Pink Floyd's contributions for the concert was Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5) and Wish You Were Here and later on performing Barrett's compositions Matilda Mother and Flaming before all artists played See Emily Play and Arnold Layne as an Encore.
After Wish You Were Here was released, some of the band wanted to go on tour which the others would argue not to do. The leading member against touring was Roger Waters, and by the time the band had an agreement the band would tour but Roger Waters wouldn't be present. Instead, the bassist for Pink Floyd on the tour would be Guy Pratt.
The Wish You Were Here Tour began with a European leg from late August to mid-November 1991. After a 2-month hiatus for the holiday season the band toured Australasia from late January to mid-March 1992. A North American leg began after, mainly with concerts at lower capacity venues starting in early April and ending in early June. A handful of shows in Europe followed thought August rounded out the tour.
After the Wish You Were Here Tour, Pink Floyd would take a yearlong break. No members would release any solo music but after David Gilmour met his soon to be wife, Polly Samson, they began writing music together. The band joined back together in June 1993 and began recording for an album. The songs recorded then were mostly from Gilmour and Samson. Like the past few albums, it would be recorded at Gilmour's houseboat The Astoria along with Abbey Road Studios. These sessions lasted from June 1993 to March 1994.
The Division Bell is the fourteenth studio album by British rock band Pink Floyd. The album was recorded from June 1993 to March 1994 at Abbey Road Studios and The Astoria. The Division Bell was released in the U.K. under EMI Records on April 9, 1994, and in the U.S. under Columbia Records on April 13, 1994. Three singles were released from the album, Take It Back / What Do You Want from Me was released as a single on April 28, 1994, High Hopes / Marooned was released as a single on May 14, 1994, and Lost for Words / A Great Day for Freedom was released as a single on July 1, 1994.
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell Producer: Pink Floyd, Bob Ezrin
U.K. Album Charts: #1
U.S. Billboard 200: #1
Total Time: 66:23
Other Notes: For double vinyl releases, tracks 1-3 are on Side A, tracks 4-6 are on Side B, tracks 7-9 are on Side C, and tracks 10 and 11 are on Side D.
The tour to procede The Division Bell began in late May of 1994. The first of two legs were in North America where it would last from May to September 1994. The last leg of the tour was the European leg which started in early October and ended in mid-December of the same year. The tour most notably is remembered for the late member Syd Barrett's composition played live during the tour along with the band not playing the album that they were touring for track listing.
After the Division Bell Tour, Pink Floyd would enter a ten-year hiatus. Rick Wright would be the only member to release a solo album during this time which was Broken China that he worked on throughout 1995 and releasing in February of 1996. Roger Waters would continue working on his opera, Ça Ira (Released in March 2007). Waters would also go on many tours that featured The Wall; other members would sometimes join these tours on special occasions.
The band would release a lot of material during this time, the first in 1996, Pulse which was a live album recorded during the Division Bell Tour. In 1999, In Concert: The Pink Floyd Live Box Set was released, it was a live box set including: Live at Pompeii (including film), Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-1981, The Delicate Sound of Thunder, and finally Pulse. The final release was in 2001 with Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, a compilation album of their greatest hits.
On July 2, 2005, at Hyde Park, unknown to the world the entirety of Pink Floyd would reunite to play Live 8. They played Speak to Me, Breathe, Time, Money, Wish You Were Here, and finally Comfortably Numb. The band were delighted to come back together so soon after they began working on an album. These sessions would be mostly at David Gilmour's houseboat, the Astoria, along with some sessions at Abbey Road Studios and they would last from August 2005 to May 2006.
On An Island is the fifteenth studio album by British rock band Pink Floyd. The album was recorded from August of 2005 to May of 2006 at the Astoria and Abbey Road Studios. On An Island was released by EMI Records in the U.K. on June 11, 2006, and by Columbia Records in the U.S. on June 16, 2006. On An Island / Smile was released as a single on July 25, 2006, and Louder than Words (No B-Side) was released as a single on September 1, 2006. The only Roger Waters song on the album, To Kill The Child, was intended to be a single by Waters, but the rest of the band thought it would be too political, so they scraped it. On An Island is the last studio album by Pink Floyd.
Pink Floyd - On An Island
Producer: Pink Floyd, Bob Ezrin
U.K. Album Charts: #1
U.S. Billboard 200: #5
Total Time: 44:17
Disc 1: 44:17
1: Castellorizon 3:54 (Gilmour) [1]
2: On An Island 6:47 (Gilmour, Samson) [1]
3: To Kill The Child 3:31 (Waters) [2]
4: Where We Start 6:46 (Gilmour) [1]
5: Smile 4:03 (Gilmour, Samson) [1]
6: Things Left Unsaid 4:27 (Gilmour, Wright) [3]
7: It's What We Do 6:17 (Gilmour, Wright) [3]
8: Ebb and Flow 1:55 (Gilmour, Wright) [3]
9: Louder Than Words 6:37 (Gilmour, Samson, Wright, Waters, Mason) [3]
References: [1]: On An Island, 2006 [2]: To Kill The Child / Leaving Beirut (Single), 2004
[3]: The Endless River, 2014
Other Notes: For vinyl releases, tracks 1-4 are on Side A, and tracks 5-9 are on Side B.
The tour following the release of On An Island began on September 1, 2006, with its first European leg that lasted until early October. The tour began again in mid November and lasted until early December. The final European leg began in mid January 2007 and lasted until early February. The last official concert from Pink Floyd with Rick Wright was played at Gdansk, Poland on June 2, 2007. Not long afterward, Rick Wright would begin working on his third solo album, but on September the 2nd of 2008, Richard William Wright would die of lung cancer, at the age of 65. Soon after on November 22, 2008. 1 Pink Floyd would release a live album of their unknowingly last concert at Gdansk called The Last Echo (after the concert Echoes was never played by the band).
Above Left: Richard Wright, 2007 Above Right: Kevin Ayers, 2012
After the On An Island Tour was finished the Pink Floyd would go their separate ways. As previously stated Richard Wright would die on September 2, 2008, of cancer. The band shocked of his death refused to produce any music together without Wright. Later that year the band released their live album; TheLast Echo. Wright had many unreleased recordings stored up that he was planning on being his third solo album. So the rest of the band released this instrumental album as a Richard Wright album. The Endless River was released on October 7, 2010 under Parlophone Records and was well received by audiences, topping out over #5 in both the U.S. and U.K. album charts. The album like many Pink Floyd albums was produced by Bob Ezrin along with the band itself (individuality credited due to the album not being by the band.)
After Kevin Ayers worked on Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, he would release his solo album, Still Life with Guitar, in 1992. A few years later Ayers would move to Southern France and would begin a life of isolation. In the mid 2000's Ayers would begin to work on another album which was released in August 2007 as The Unfairground to critical acclaim. The Unfairground would unknowingly be his last album as Kevin Ayers would die in his sleep February 18, 2013, aged 68.
