Pink Floyd's Rick Wright RIP

65yo, taken down by cancer:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7617363.stm

Intro to "Shine on you crazy diamond" was one of the primary things that got me into synthesisers & electronic music. For that alone, he was a star to me. What a fucker to read about this.

depressing

whoa, no idea. wrote some great songs too.

gonna play Paintbox on the radio today.

I didn't know he was ill either. RIP

I had no idea he was ill, no. I think I'll crank up "shine on..." on the way in tomorrow

Oh man. :-(

Well damn - looks like I'll be playing some Floyd bootlegs today at work.

Really sad news. RIP.

I always loved Wright's explanation of the "Breathe" chord sequence (starting at around :40 of the below Youtube clip):

I'm really glad we all got to see a proper Floyd reunion.

Adding to all this -- the most underappreciated member in the end, I think, from the chaotic swirls on Piper to all the glazed serenity noted above. Damn shame, and RIP.

RIP

Oh snap. Wright was my favorite Floyd vocalist. Remember a Day, Summer '68, etc. RIP

I am heartbroken, he was their secret weapon. Waters was such a dick to him for so many years too, he really got treated like crap during the Wall period and had some very rough years. RIP, Rick, thanks for all the beauty.

FUCK FUCK SHIT... :( :( :(

I'm really messed up about this... sigh. He basically made what I really liked about my favorite band.

Those Glimour-Wright harmonies, silenced for eternity. Waah.

I always loved Wright's explanation of the "Breathe" chord sequence

me too.

the most underappreciated member in the end, I think, from the chaotic swirls on Piper to all the glazed serenity noted above.

otm. and bonus sympathy points for having to deal with all the floydian soap opera.

Remember a day before today
A day when you were young.

one of my first threads on ILX...

Pink Floyd's Richard Wright, forgotten genius?

I really loved his few songs, his organ playing, and that beautiful voice!

sad too cuz i finally found a post syd pink floyd record i could really get into: meddle...been listening to it a lot lately. PF never really stuck with me that much before outside of piper and saucerful

Meddle is still my favorite and one of the few actual discs of PF's I still have around after all this time. Definitely will be giving it an ear tonight.

Just thinking of things like his chilly notes ratcheting up the tension on "One of These Days" and that introductory solitary note for "Echoes" -- marvelous.

wow, very sad. He was a really underrated force in that band, IMHO. As mentioned above, Waters treated him like shit, and he was forced to suffer horrible public humiliations for a band that he helped found. Finally, the Great Gig in the Sky comes to be.

I suppose it's appropriate that the last ever Floyd performance was with him singing "Arnold Layne" at the Syd tribute. Everything full circle?

Very sad news indeed. Guess that means the ultimate end of the band, which doesn't mean that much other than no more opportunities to see them live.

Richard Wright's absence was very much noticed on "The Wall" and "The Final Cut". Both albums suffered from the lack of Wright's keyboard sound* that made the earlier 70s stuff so great, and he also wrote some great songs early on.

*Yes, I know he was in the band on "The Wall", which also contains some organ here and there, but not the same amount of synths as on "Wish You Were Here" and "Animals", and it would have been better with more.

why are the assholes in this band living the longest

RIP

Oh, Rick Wright was my favorite Pink Floyd member by a mile, and one of the all-time best at making gorgeous, heartbreaking sad songs. One of the few songwriters who really opens something raw and rare in me, something gentle but bitter to ponder. I love you, buddy, RIP.

why are the assholes in this band living the longest

I think the only real asshole in the band was Roger Waters. By all accounts, everyone else was just fine.

Battling both personal problems and an increasingly rocky relationship with Roger Waters, he was forced to resign from Pink Floyd during The Wall sessions by Roger Waters, who threatened to pull the plug on the album's tapes if Wright did not leave the band. However, he was retained as a salaried session musician during the subsequent live concerts to promote that album in 1980 and 1981. Ironically, Wright became the only member of Pink Floyd to profit from those hugely spectacular shows, since the net financial loss had to be borne by the three remaining "full-time" members.

Arf.

Wet Dream sounding pretty great this morning. especially "Holiday". need to hear Broken China.

.. and remained the best looking Floydman to the end...

How fucking depressing.

I mean he was 65, not 29 or anything, but still.

Still too young. I always enjoyed having the same name as him; remain "Rickey" in part because shortening it seemed like jumping his turf. Very touching to read everyone's favorite things by him here; I especially love "Paint Box" and "Remember a Day." They define early Floyd in my mind as much as anything this side of "See Emily Play" itself. Rest in peace.

One of the greats...RIP

Remember a Day...

Everyone owes it to themselves to track down any good-quality recording of the 1972 tour when the opening song was the "Obscured By Clouds" title song with an extended Moog solo/drone from Wright which is just gorgeous.

will track down, thanks for the tip.

my 1st radio set today:

Remember A Day
Up The Khyber
Paintbox
Mudmen
It Would Be So Nice
Summer Of '68

Paintbox is such a brilliant song, yet I read that he considered it "rubbish."

Thanks you for all the beautiful music, Rick. Rest well.

Didn't realize he wrote "Us and Them." Great song. Something of a slept on member. Sleep on, you slept on member.

wow, didn't know that about "Us and Them", which is for me the highlight of the record. I remember reading a while back in Mojo about how Waters gave him the shaft, and it made me very sad.

Damn, man, that's too bad. Guess I'll be listening to "Sisyphus" tonight for sure.
RIP

A ramble. It is interesting to reconsider all this music from such a distance now.

thanx Ned, nice eulogy.

Oh, and don't forget "Two of a Kind", the song he gave to Syd!

Sad. RIP Rick. The talented ones are dying out first, Waters is due to go sometime around 2050 at this rate.

Book your tickets now for 2041's 100 Years Of Mike Love extravaganza? "Are you implying that I won't survive that long? I'll sue you! TM will make me live for a thousand years! If you don't believe me ask the Maharishi oh hang on a minute"

I couldn't find "Dark Side of the Moon" or "Wish you were Here", so I brought in The Pink Floyd Early Singles instead (cough, cough) - Wright's signature style from the early days, that wandering organ lead, is still pretty much unique - I've never heard anyone try to knock it off. The transitional records they made - just post-Barrett - can be a mixed bag, but when they do that English pastoral thing, Waters "Julia Dream" being a prime example, it's a lovely sound. Wright's playing on these pieces, and the bell-like organ registration he'd sometimes use is somewhat redolent of misty heath on a sunday morning, church bells faintly audible in the distance. I think his distinctive style got a bit buried in the later records, which is a shame.

"Early Singles" comp incl "Paint Box" and "It would be so nice", IIRC it was only available with that box set of albums from the beginning of the nineties - did it ever get issued seperately?

The 70s albums have largely shared writing credits, which makes it hard to decide exactly who contributed the most. Wright wrote several great songs during the late 60s/early 70s transitional period though.

"Early Singles" comp incl "Paint Box" and "It would be so nice", IIRC it was only available with that box set of albums from the beginning of the nineties - did it ever get issued seperately?

Yes. I got it in one of those HMV sales once. I agree with everything that's been said about his singing, songwriting and keyboard playing.

Other members of Floyd used to tease him about how his 'Turkish Delight' keyboard solos all sounded the same.

Cf. organ on title track of "Saucerful of Secrets" with early Tangerine Dream; Ash Ra Tempel; Cosmic Jokers; early Klaus Schulze.

His playing on "Interstellar Overdrive" is almost as nuts and out-there as Syd's.

Also compare opening and closing of "Sisyphus" with TDream's "Atem".

Ha, I forgot about the dream knocking early floyd off something rotten in the early days.

Without the "Turkish Delight" keyboard lines, early Floyd wouldn't have been as good! It was a real strong part of their sound.

lol at Gilmour wearing Gilmour t-shirt in first video above

(RIP of course)

Gilmour plays "Remember A Day" yesterday

Yes, I watched that. Jools rudely shoehorning Gilmour in because of "time" and "scheduling" just so we could get two songs by Elbow. Fucking BBC.

There's also great recordings of PF playing a totally nuts version of Biding My Time circa 1969, where (I presume) RW plays really cool and wonky Bonzo's style rude trumpet in the chorus then it all goes into a big 'Roadhouse Blues style' outro, fantastic!

Thanks for the video, Elvis. Awesome. Is that Manzanera on 2nd guitar?

Thanks for the video, Elvis. Awesome. Is that Manzanera on 2nd guitar?

Yes.