‘The Wall’ to fall for cameras in Athens

Roger Waters plans to end his marathon tour of “The Wall” in Athens, filming the gig for a possible DVD or theatrical film.

In London, ex-Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined Waters onstage May 12. Gilmour played on “Comfortably Numb,” and Mason came onstage for the closing song “Outside the Wall.”

On the recording front, Sony has in the works an eight-disc Waters solo box set.

The sudden addition of the July 8 show at the Olympic Sports Complex caused Waters to move up several concerts set for early July in Milan, Italy.

“The Wall” filming first spools up for Waters’ May 11-18 shows at the the O2 in London (another Olympics host facility).

For both of these recorded events, management is telling fans to leave their cameras, recorders and smartphones at home, fearing the effects of flashes from the crowd on the filming and the screen projections.

In April, Waters’ show inspired some new controversy in Holland via the part of the “Wall” concert in which he points a fake machine gun at the audience. Earlier on the day of the first show, a gunman opened fire with a machine gun at a Dutch mall, killing six. The fan site pinkfloydz.com reports that local media tagged Waters’ use of the gun as “shameful” and “insensitive.”

In other news, Sony is releasing Roger Waters’ “The Album Collection” as an eight-disc box set. This is a Europe-only product, but online retailers already are taking preorders for the imported set at $48. Sony pushed back an April release date in Europe to May 30. In the States, “The Album Collection” surfaces June 7.

The box set contains the solo albums “The Pros And Cons Of Hitch-Hiking” (1984), “Radio Kaos” (1987), “Amused to Death” (1992), “In The Flesh” (2000) and “Ca Ira” (2005). There’s also a DVD of a 2000 performance of “In the Flesh.” Online retailers list the DVD as PAL/Region 0, which is tech talk for it’ll work in your player, wherever you are.

The Wall falls: Gilmour, Waters reunite

In what’s being called a temporary reunion, ex-Pink Floyd leaders David Gilmour and Roger Waters agreed to swap appearances at each other’s shows.

The sudden detente led to speculation that Pink Floyd might reunite at some point, however unlikely that might be.

Waters’ turn to perform came July 10, when he joined Gilmour at a charity event in Oxford, England.

Backed by a band, the duo sang “Wish You Were Here,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)” for an audience of about 200.

The oft-battling bandmates also broke out “To Know Him Is to Love Him,” the Phil Spector-penned song that they reportedly played — with some irony — at Pink Floyd soundchecks.

“I think it was David himself, came up with this ‘Wouldn’t it be funny’, idea,” Rogers wrote on his Facebook page. “What if he were to sing the old Teddy Bears song ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’ with me, what with us having been so famously at each other’s throats for years and years.”

Rogers says he was terrified of singing the song in two-part harmony. Gilmour apparently talked him into it by vowing to do a walk-on at one of Rogers’ upcoming “The Wall” concerts.

“Well! You could have knocked me down with a feather,” Rogers continued. “How fucking cool! I was blown away. How could I refuse such an offer. I couldn’t, there was no way. Generosity trumped fear.”

Rogers admitted their performance of song was “fucking great” after all — adding cryptically: “End of story. Or possibly beginning.”

Any hopes for a Pink Floyd reunion would be muted by the loss of keyboardist Richard Wright, who died in January 2009. Previously, the psychedelic pioneers re-formed for charity, at 2005′s Live 8.

The July benefit, at a country estate, raised something like 350,000 pounds for the Hoping Foundation, which supports Palestinian children and youth in refugee camps.

More Pink Floyd content:
Pink Floyd walls off its concept albums
“Atom Heart Mother” review

No. 50: ‘Atom Heart Mother’ suite

The year 1970 found Pink Floyd in search of a title for their latest musical exploration, a psychedelic suite of sorts.

Roger Waters picked up a copy of the Evening Standard newspaper, in which he found a story about a woman about to receive a nuclear-powered pacemaker.

Voila!

And so we have “Atom Heart Mother,” one of the band’s most-debated works, a sprawling suite that’s by turns exhilarating, monotonous, hypnotic, pretentious and primeval.

Waters, creator of “The Wall,” later suggested that the piece should “never (be) listened to by anyone ever again.” Guitarist David Gilmour called it “pretty horrible” — “absolute crap.”

Rolling Stone agreed, calling the suite “awful schmaltzy” and “a step headlong into the last century … a dissipation of (Pink Floyd’s) collective talents.”

So of course plenty of Pink Floyd diehards love the “Atom Heart Mother” suite, all 24 minutes of it.

In 1970, Pink Floyd had been performing in concert an extended piece that would come to be variously known as “Theme From an Imaginary Western,” “Epic” and “Amazing Pudding.” Gilmour and Waters reportedly wanted to write a classically structured work around its themes, but came up frustrated. They turned to British avant-garde composer Ron Geesin, who’d done an offbeat side project with Waters.

Geesin arranged the work, calling in the John Aldiss Choir and an orchestral brass section, which collectively soared above the psychedelic band’s basic tracks of guitar, drums and keyboards. Of the Pink Floyd members, only Gilmour gets a solo section. Other key instruments in the piece are French horns and cello.

The suite consisted of six parts, the parameters of each on the fuzzy side:

1. Father’s Shout
2. Breast Milky
3. Mother Fore
4. Funky Dung
5. Mind Your Throats, Please
6. Remergence

Father’s Shout sneaks in with 30 seconds of near-silence — a faint buzz. French horns manage a woobly fanfare, soon set straight by a display of of Pink Floyd’s rock muscle. We hear horses and motorcycles moving through as the French horns play bravely on, establishing the “Atom Heart Mother” theme.

Breast Milky offers a cello part, framed by Richard Wright’s loopy organ riff and a supple bass. Gilmour’s slide guitar turns things back to rock, with the horns reasserting the suite’s theme.

In Mother Fore, the choir sings as if in Mass, backed by Hammond B-3 organ. Here is the softest of these six passages. The rock band returns in the lengthy section’s final minute, providing much-needed relief.

Gilmour’s guitar and Wright’s B-3 take the wheel in Funky Dung, a white boy blues jam straight out of 10 Years After. The chorus goes native, descending into an aggressive chant right out of “The Exorcist.” The main theme returns in full throat, drums pounding as the French horns slice the air. Here is “Atom Heart Mother” at its best.

The section Mind Your Throats, Please, at first recalls the Beatles’ “Number Nine,” electronic noodling evolving into metallic din. The careful listener is rewarded here … while others may flee. Gilmour again wields his slide, coaxing band, choir and horns back to full power. The choir ends it all with a heroic burst that’s straight out of a swords-and-sandals score.

While the critics stood about unimpressed, the “Atom Heart Mother” album went to No. 1 in Britain. Stanley Kubrick was among the fans of the curious suite: He sought permission to use the work in “A Clockwork Orange,” but was denied. (The director subsequently refused to let Waters borrow images from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”)

Despite Gilmour’s dumping on the suite over the years, he turned up to play his guitar part when pal Geesin revived “Atom Heart Mother” in 2008, complete with chorus and orchestra.

Roger Waters hitting ‘The Wall’ again

“Thirty years ago when I wrote ‘The Wall,’ I was a frightened young man,” Roger Waters says of the Pink Floyd classic.

Waters isn’t afraid anymore. He’s taking “the story of my fear and loss” on the road this fall, bringing an Internet-era version of the lengthy album to 35 cities.

The tour starts Sept. 15 in Toronto, with stops in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

The English musician relaunched his rogerwaters.com Web site for the tour and is writing a tour blog. It includes a signup for the lottery to access presale tickets for “The Wall.” Fans can register for up to five cities.

Waters also asks fans to provide pictures of loved ones killed in a war — soldiers or civilians — for use in the show. He’s including a photo of his dad, Eric, as one of the “Fallen Loved Ones.” The “Wall” story begins with Eric’s death in World War II.

Pink Floyd fans of a certain age remember the band touring the double-disc concept LP in 1980. A 40-foot brick wall was constructed during the show, as inflatable animals drifted overhead — included the famed Orwellian pig that resurfaced recently in the film “Children of Men.” As the concert concluded, the wall came tumbling down, revealing the band once again.

Key songs from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” include “Is There Anybody Out There,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Another Brick in the Wall (1 & 2).” Most were written by Waters.

The 81-minute work reflected Waters’ paranoia and alienation (hence the wall). Pink Floyd had visited the dark side from time to time, but “The Wall” proved a major departure into acrid sounds.

“It took me a long time to get over my fears,” Waters blogged. “Anyway, in the intervening years it has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with its concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns: Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, Whatever!”

“The Wall” tour dates:
Sep 15:
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, ON

Sep 20:
United Center
Chicago, IL

Sep 21:
United Center
Chicago, IL

Sep 26:
Consol Energy Center
Pittsburgh, PA

Sep 28:
Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, OH

Sep 30:
Boston TD Garden
Boston, MA

Oct 05:
Madison Square Garden
New York City, NY

Oct 08:
HSBC Arena
Buffalo, NY

Oct 10:
Verizon Center
Washington D.C.

Oct 12:
Nassau Coliseum
Long Island, NY

Oct 15:
XL Center
Hartford, CT

Oct 17:
Scotiabank Place
Ottawa, ON

Oct 19:
Bell Centre
Montreal, PQ

Oct 22:
Schottenstein Center
Columbus, OH

Oct 24:
The Palace of Auburn Hills
Detroit, MI

Oct 26:
Qwest Center
Omaha, NE

Oct 27:
Xcel Energy Center
St Paul, MN

Oct 29:
Scottrade Center
St Louis, MO

Oct 30:
Sprint Center
Kansas City, MO

Nov 03:
Izod Center
East Rutherford, NJ

Nov 08:
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, PA

Nov 09:
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, PA

Nov 13:
Bank Atlantic Center
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Nov 16:
St Pete Times Forum
Tampa, FL

Nov 18:
Philips Arena
Atlanta, GA

Nov 20:
Toyota Center
Houston, TX

Nov 21:
American Airlines Center
Dallas, TX

Nov 23:
Pepsi Center
Denver, CO

Nov 26:
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas, NV

Nov 27:
US Airways Center
Phoenix, AZ

Nov 29:
The Forum
Los Angeles, CA

Dec 06:
HP Pavilion
San Jose, CA

Dec 10:
GM Place
Vancouver, BC

Dec 11:
Tacoma Dome
Tacoma, WA

Dec 13:
Honda Center
Anaheim, CA