Rick Wright

[Kara Zor El]

Terrible loss to music. Just when he was coming back into his own, with a bit of a rebirth on Dave Gilmour's last tour.

I love his early work. Remember a Day on Saucerful is a beautiful song as is the B-Side Paintbox, which is on Relics., great madcap piano on that one. And I really love Summer of 68 on Atom heart Mother. Great Brass section on it, and goes from gentle to pompous a few times, which Water later used to great affect.

His work on Obscure by clouds is nice too. Songs like Stay and his harmonies with Gilmour on songs like Echoes are such an integral part of the Pink Floyd.

I love all his Turkish Delight solos on the early songs too.

It Would be so nice is an obvious rip off Wouldn't it be Nice by the Beach Boys but I still dig it. The only one I'm not too fond of is See Saw but it's still pretty cool when your tripping!

His Keyboard sounds on Wish You Were Here travel right through the spine in a delicious way.

Obviously his work on Darkside is well known but that early stuff is magical.

It's a shame he wasn't more prolific like Waters.

I really like his stuff on Division Bell too.

And it was a joy to see him doing Roger's vocals on Comfortably Numb on the Gilmour solo tour.

Wet Dream was a great solo album, with a song about Syd on it and some cool solos from Snowy White but I found Broken China to be a failed attempt at making a Floydesque album. Though there are a couple of nice songs on it.

I believe he was working on a new album, I wonder how complete it was?

David Gilmour is doing a tribut to him on BBC2 tonight. Friday 26 September on Jool's Holland show. He's doing Remember a Day, which I'm really looking forward to. Syd played slide guitar on the origional. So double tribute really.

Any other fans of his Floyd and solo work want to share some thoughts on his music? I'd like to hear what people think about his earlier works.

[Sanagi]

Some disconnected thoughts:

He was probably the purest musician of the Floyds. I suppose it makes sense that he clashed with Waters, the most verbal.

One memorial I read pointed out that the two Floyd albums that most lack that ineffable quality of "Floyd-ness" are The Final Cut and Momentary Lapse of Reason - The ones that Rick Wright didn't contribute to.

I am really glad that Wright was a major presence on Gilmour's last tour. From watching the DVDs, he seemed more in his element than in the Pulse concerts. And they brought back Echoes, which was fantastic.

It also pleased me to see many major publications take note of his passing, including Time magazine.

[david r]

My favorite Richard Wright moments are on Animals. The keyboard that opens "Pigs", and then his memorable piano interlude afterward that song, where you can hear sheep "baayy"-ing is a great part. His style totally fit the more "out there" Pink Floyd moments, and I too will really miss Rick Wright.

[Kara Zor El]

My favorite Richard Wright moments are on Animals. The keyboard that opens "Pigs", and then his memorable piano interlude afterward that song, where you can hear sheep "baayy"-ing is a great part. His style totally fit the more "out there" Pink Floyd moments, and I too will really miss Rick Wright.

I love his keyboard parts on Animals. Which interestingly is the first album he didn't write or co write on. Did Roger tell him what to play or did Rick come up with his parts on that album I wonder?

[david r]

I suspect the song "Pigs" was Roger Waters' idea. So Richard was probably following Waters' plans. However, Wright's instrumental part AFTER that song was surely all Richard Wright. I just love that part.

Does anyone know why Roger Waters and Richard Wright had a row, and Waters fired him from Pink Floyd?

[Kara Zor El]

Does anyone know why Roger Waters and Richard Wright had a row, and Waters fired him from Pink Floyd?

Yeah, it was because Wright wasn't writing anymore and Roger felt that he and Gilmour were carrying him. Also Wright had lost his confidence, which affected his playing. Water's and Gilmour had a meeting in which, Water's said he wanted Wright out of the band due to his lack of offerings in recent years. Water's threatened to hold The Wall tapes and not release the album if he didn't agree. Water's said Gilmour replied by saying, "Why not get rid of Mason, while we're at it." Which Roger refused. Anyway,Wright still went on The Wall tour as a paid session musician, which meant he made money, and the rest of Floyd lost, because The Wall tour didn't go into profit, due to its high running costs.

Wright didn't come back into the band until A Momentary Lapse Of Reason was almost complete, so has no input into that album but he does have some great input on The Division Bell.

[berk]

The only one I'm not too fond of is See Saw but it's still pretty cool when your tripping!

His Keyboard sounds on Wish You Were Here travel right through the spine in a delicious way. Yes, his keyboards on all those long instrumental tracks on that album are great. Those long, extended chords can create a hypnotic effect when you're in the right mood for it.

See Saw Land is one of my favourite songs, although it doesn't really sound like Floyd. Bit of an early Moody Blues feel to it, almost, I find, which is no bad thing, to my ears.

[Kara Zor El]

See Saw Land is one of my favourite songs, although it doesn't really sound like Floyd. Bit of an early Moody Blues feel to it, almost, I find, which is no bad thing, to my ears.

It's a song that he and the rest of Floyd looked back on with some embarressment. Interesting about the Moody Blues likeness. Because at that point they were struggling to find direction and it seemed that Wright was willing to try out some different styles to see if any stuck. Like the Beach Boys sound on It Would Be So Nice and Painbox has an interesting style. Anyone know what it is?