Pink Floyd peacemaker Nick Mason on reunion and 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon
WHEN it comes to Pink Floyd, Nick Mason can safely be described as the man in the middle.
At opposite ends of the spectrum, however, are Roger Waters and David Gilmour, whose decades-long feud has reached new levels of bitterness.
Yet, with all the Floyd flak flying around him, Mason is gracious enough to praise the recent endeavours of both his old bandmates.
I’m talking to the affable drummer, 79, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the fourth best-selling LP of all time, The Dark Side Of The Moon.
Mason describes Waters’ contentious re-recording of the prog-rock classic, due out later this year, as “terrific”.
And he marvels at Gilmour’s “extraordinary skill” in pulling together last year’s standalone Pink Floyd single in support of Ukraine.
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Hey, Hey, Rise Up! features vocals recorded a cappella in Kyiv by singer/soldier Andriy Khlyvnyuk, with Gilmour, Mason, Guy Pratt (bass) and Nitin Sawhney (keyboards) adding their parts in the UK.
“What David managed to do was a triumph of engineering. Remarkable really and a nice thing to be associated with.”
I’ve always thought of Mason as keeper of the flame, the only surviving member who would jump at the chance of a reunion.
When asked if the band has unfinished business, he replies: “You never know what will be thrown up. I’m tempted to say I’m available for anything.”
But don’t hold your breath. Mason has virtually no chance of getting the old adversaries to kiss and make up.
Their latest spat revolves around arch-antagonist Waters’ punchy stance on both Israel and Ukraine, which led Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson to vent her fury on Twitter.
“Sadly, Roger Waters, you are anti-Semitic to your rotten core,” she raged. “Also a Putin apologist.”
She followed up with an eye-watering list of accusations, end- ing on “megalomaniac”, which Gilmour supported by commenting: “Every word demonstrably true.”
‘It was a group project’
Cue a swift riposte: “Roger Waters is aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments which he refutes entirely. He is currently taking advice as to his position.”
Of course, what is lost in all this kerfuffle is the still incredible The Dark Side Of The Moon, now given sumptuous box set treatment with a sparkling remaster and a richly atmospheric live performance as the centrepieces.
Originally released on March 1, 1973 and housed in its iconic prism sleeve, the album draws on life’s big issues against a backdrop of overwhelming music.
The passage of time, mortality, greed, the futility of war, inequality, insanity — they’re all addressed in Waters’ unflinching lyrics.
But Dark Side was never just about him (even if he thinks so!) because Pink Floyd at their peak were greater than the sum of their parts.
Gilmour contributes sublime guitar and vocals, Mason endlessly inventive drumming and the late Richard Wright some of rock’s most memorable keyboard passages.
“I think Roger sees the album as the point he began to march off to do his own thing,” says Mason. “But he would concede that it was a group project.”
If Waters became an autocratic songwriter by the time of his later Floyd albums such as Animals and The Wall, the deep themes explored on Dark Side have a more democratic origin.
Mason continues: “I don’t want to make it sound as if I’m trying for extra points but there was a band meeting at which it was decided to tackle these subjects.
“We didn’t want to do, ‘Gotta get you, babe’, which was what nearly everyone else was doing!
“So Roger went off [to write the lyrics] after we’d agreed on this.”
By any stretch, he returned with something quite extraordinary . . . the words to Breathe (In The Air), Time, Money, Us And Them and Brain Damage among rock’s most compelling.
Mason says: “It is extraordinary that Roger wrote lyrics that were as relevant to a 60-year-old as they were to him as a 29-year-old.”
How on earth did he do it? I venture. “Well, you can try asking him to see if you can get any sense out of him, if you’re brave enough!” comes the answer.
Confirming that he recently received a copy of Waters’ freshly recorded revision of Dark Side, Mason adds: “There’s been a lot of rumour about it, suggesting Roger means it to be a spoiler of the original. I’ve only run through it once but I’ve immediately connected with it and think that it is a really great add-on to what we did 50 years ago.
“It’s just terrific, not a spoiler at all. There are slight developments in the lyrics, which make perfect sense to me.”
Waters has devised extra spoken-word elements, including for the previously instrumental-only On The Run and Any Colour You Like.
He’s also dropped guitar solos to place greater emphasis on the album’s “political and emotional message”.
“I love the idea of a piece of work being re-engineered,” says Mason, continuing his endorsement.
“This explains my slight disapproval of tribute bands spending so much time trying to recreate what was there before.
“You’re never more than 50 metres away from someone who can play the Comfortably Numb guitar solo!”
As for Waters, he thought the reboot idea was “f***ing mad” before deciding to take it on.
He writes on his website: “It’s not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable.
“But it is a way for the 79-year-old man to look back across the intervening 50 years into the eyes of the 29-year-old.
“And it is also a way for me to honour a recording that Nick and Rick and Dave and I have every right to be very proud of.”
I ask Mason if he realised back in 1973 that Pink Floyd had come up with a special eighth studio album.
“We came from an era in which no one thought any piece of rock music would last longer than a couple of weeks,” he answers.
“But I have to say, thinking of 50 years, Dark Side sounds so fresh.
“We did think it was really good, the best thing we’d done so far,” he recalls. “But it was beyond our imaginations to think it could run and run.
“At that stage, we hadn’t cracked America and there was no expectation that this would do it.”
Of course, the album’s jaw-dropping sales show that it was a huge hit around the globe, including The States, and still is.
By my latest estimate, Dark Side has sold at least 50million copies worldwide (based on the official 2013 figure of 45million) and is currently 15 times platinum in the UK.
Despite its coherent feel, the album endured a fragmented creation, as Mason explains.
“We would record for three weeks, then go on tour, then have a holiday and then go back into the studio. It was a bits and pieces approach.
“We also played the songs live, particularly something like On The Run, in order to develop them.”
Crucial to Dark Side’s success was that The Beatles’ second home, Abbey Road, also became Pink Floyd’s musical playground.
The luminous percussion at the start of Time was enabled, says Mason, “because someone left rototoms (shell-less, rotating drums) in the studio. I thought, ‘Yeah, let’s have a go at these.’”
He also praises engineer Alan Parsons and mix supervisor Chris Thomas who were “not old school but of a new breed”.
And, of course, we mustn’t forget the simple but strikingly effective cover design by Hipgnosis artist Storm Thorgerson.
Mason says: “Storm and Co came down to the studio to show us a few ideas they could develop. Everyone spotted the prism and said, ‘That one!’ It was agreed there and then.”
Another aspect of Dark Side indelibly etched into the minds of those who hear it is the sound effects — heartbeats, jangling money, clocks, disembodied voices.
“With the heartbeat, we tried using a stethoscope but peoples’ heartbeats are far too fast,” says Mason.
“We wanted it to be more measured but generally you’d need a cardiologist if you were beating at that rate.
“So the sound you hear is a soft beater on the bass drum, my finest moment — I’m ready for the award ceremony now!”
‘Macca too distinctive’
Mason maintains it was he who assembled the bracelet of pre-decimal coins, now a museum exhibit, to be heard on Money — despite a counter-claim from Waters.
“Well, Roger and I discuss this at length, almost every time we meet, but I definitely made it, yes!”
To get the snippets of voices, Pink Floyd asked random people questions like, “What is the dark side of the moon? Are you mad? When did you last hit someone?” Among them, reports Mason, were Paul and Linda McCartney who were recording the Wings album Red Rose Speedway in Abbey Road’s Studio 2.
“But they were too distinctive. We didn’t want people to pick up on a celebrity element.
“Interestingly enough, Henry McCullough (Wings guitarist) and his wife were used on our record.”
Next Mason turns to Gilmour and Wright’s significant contributions to Dark Side.
“David had terrific guitar parts and did some terrific singing — he can pitch beautifully.
“And Rick produced all sorts of extraordinary things in his unusual, unique style. If there is an unsung hero, he’s it.”
I suggest that Wright was “probably the quiet one” in Pink Floyd. “Probably is not the right word — he was absolutely snowed under by Roger and David, Roger in particular,” says Mason, correcting me.
Wright wrote The Great Gig In The Sky, matching his gorgeous piano and organ parts to Clare Torry’s full-throated wails.
“Clare was more classical than session singer. It was all done with three or four passes in one session.”
So does Mason have a favourite Dark Side track? “Probably the intro to Breathe,” he replies. “That lazy drum thing and then Dave’s vocal coming in. It sets the scene for me.
“And Money’s interesting to play. There’s something about the way it swings into action that I really like.”
As we speak, Mason’s in between legs of the Echoes Tour by his band Saucerful Of Secrets, which plays early Pink Floyd.
He says of the outfit he formed in 2018: “Not that it’s better than being in Pink Floyd, but it has so many of the qualities I loved about what we did in the early years.
“It was total deja-vu when we went on stage for the first time, like being in a time machine to 1967.
“We’ve done about 80 or 90 shows and we’re not stagnating but still developing.
“I intend to avoid the trap of finding myself playing Comfortably Numb!”
Finally, Mason returns to The Dark Side Of The Moon, 50 years in orbit and still resonating: “It’s humbling when people tell you how important the album is to them.
“I’m only sorry I won’t be here for the 200th anniversary . . . unless they make a medical breakthrough!”
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once but I’ve immediately connected with it and think that it is a really great add-on to what we did 50 years ago.
“It’s just terrific, not a spoiler at all. There are slight developments in the lyrics, which make perfect sense to me.”
Waters has devised extra spoken-word elements, including for the previously instrumental-only On The Run and Any Colour You Like.
He’s also dropped guitar solos to place greater emphasis on the album’s “political and emotional message”.
“I love the idea of a piece of work being re-engineered,” says Mason, continuing his endorsement.
“This explains my slight disapproval of tribute bands spending so much time trying to recreate what was there before.
“You’re never more than 50 metres away from someone who can play the Comfortably Numb guitar solo!”
As for Waters, he thought the reboot idea was “f***ing mad” before deciding to take it on.
He writes on his website: “It’s not a replacement for the original which, obviously, is irreplaceable.
“But it is a way for the 79-year-old man to look back across the intervening 50 years into the eyes of the 29-year-old.
“And it is also a way for me to honour a recording that Nick and Rick and Dave and I have every right to be very proud of.”
I ask Mason if he realised back in 1973 that Pink Floyd had come up with a special eighth studio album.
“We came from an era in which no one thought any piece of rock music would last longer than a couple of weeks,” he answers.
“But I have to say, thinking of 50 years, Dark Side sounds so fresh.
“We did think it was really good, the best thing we’d done so far,” he recalls. “But it was beyond our imaginations to think it could run and run.
“At that stage, we hadn’t cracked America and there was no expectation that this would do it.”
Of course, the album’s jaw-dropping sales show that it was a huge hit around the globe, including The States, and still is.
By my latest estimate, Dark Side has sold at least 50million copies worldwide (based on the official 2013 figure of 45million) and is currently 15 times platinum in the UK.
Despite its coherent feel, the album endured a fragmented creation, as Mason explains.
“We would record for three weeks, then go on tour, then have a holiday and then go back into the studio. It was a bits and pieces approach.
“We also played the songs live, particularly something like On The Run, in order to develop them.”
Crucial to Dark Side’s success was that The Beatles’ second home, Abbey Road, also became Pink Floyd’s musical playground.
The luminous percussion at the start of Time was enabled, says Mason, “because someone left rototoms (shell-less, rotating drums) in the studio. I thought, ‘Yeah, let’s have a go at these.’”
He also praises engineer Alan Parsons and mix supervisor Chris Thomas who were “not old school but of a new breed”.
And, of course, we mustn’t forget the simple but strikingly effective cover design by Hipgnosis artist Storm Thorgerson.
Mason says: “Storm and Co came down to the studio to show us a few ideas they could develop. Everyone spotted the prism and said, ‘That one!’ It was agreed there and then.”
Another aspect of Dark Side indelibly etched into the minds of those who hear it is the sound effects — heartbeats, jangling money, clocks, disembodied voices.
“With the heartbeat, we tried using a stethoscope but peoples’ heartbeats are far too fast,” says Mason.
“We wanted it to be more measured but generally you’d need a cardiologist if you were beating at that rate.
“So the sound you hear is a soft beater on the bass drum, my finest moment — I’m ready for the award ceremony now!”
‘Macca too distinctive’
Mason maintains it was he who assembled the bracelet of pre-decimal coins, now a museum exhibit, to be heard on Money — despite a counter-claim from Waters.
“Well, Roger and I discuss this at length, almost every time we meet, but I definitely made it, yes!”
To get the snippets of voices, Pink Floyd asked random people questions like, “What is the dark side of the moon? Are you mad? When did you last hit someone?” Among them, reports Mason, were Paul and Linda McCartney who were recording the Wings album Red Rose Speedway in Abbey Road’s Studio 2.
“But they were too distinctive. We didn’t want people to pick up on a celebrity element.
“Interestingly enough, Henry McCullough (Wings guitarist) and his wife were used on our record.”
Next Mason turns to Gilmour and Wright’s significant contributions to Dark Side.
“David had terrific guitar parts and did some terrific singing — he can pitch beautifully.
“And Rick produced all sorts of extraordinary things in his unusual, unique style. If there is an unsung hero, he’s it.”
I suggest that Wright was “probably the quiet one” in Pink Floyd. “Probably is not the right word — he was absolutely snowed under by Roger and David, Roger in particular,” says Mason, correcting me.
Wright wrote The Great Gig In The Sky, matching his gorgeous piano and organ parts to Clare Torry’s full-throated wails.
“Clare was more classical than session singer. It was all done with three or four passes in one session.”
So does Mason have a favourite Dark Side track? “Probably the intro to Breathe,” he replies. “That lazy drum thing and then Dave’s vocal coming in. It sets the scene for me.
“And Money’s interesting to play. There’s something about the way it swings into action that I really like.”
As we speak, Mason’s in between legs of the Echoes Tour by his band Saucerful Of Secrets, which plays early Pink Floyd.
He says of the outfit he formed in 2018: “Not that it’s better than being in Pink Floyd, but it has so many of the qualities I loved about what we did in the early years.
“It was total deja-vu when we went on stage for the first time, like being in a time machine to 1967.
“We’ve done about 80 or 90 shows and we’re not stagnating but still developing.
“I intend to avoid the trap of finding myself playing Comfortably Numb!”
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Finally, Mason returns to The Dark Side Of The Moon, 50 years in orbit and still resonating: “It’s humbling when people tell you how important the album is to them.
“I’m only sorry I won’t be here for the 200th anniversary . . . unless they make a medical breakthrough!”