Nick Mason über das Phänomen Pink Floyd

8.6.2011: Das Bilboard Magazin berichtete bereits im Mai darüber, dass Nick Mason zu Gast in den “Capitol Records” Aufnahmestudios in Hollywood war. Vor geladenen Gästen, denen auf einer Super-Soundanlage eine Songselektion der bevorstehenden Pink Floyd “reissues” vorgespielt wurde, sprach Mason u.a. über die Zusammenarbeit mit Waters und Gilmour, und seinem Treffen mit den Beatles. 

Laut Mason fand man einen guten Weg bei der Zusammenarbeit an den Pink Floyd “reissues”. Alle Wege liefen über James Guthrie, Floyd-Toningenieur seit 1979. Die Songs bei denen sich Waters, Gilmour und Mason nicht einigten wurden isoliert, das waren 3 – 4 Songs. Später “beschäftigte” man sich auf eine zivilisierte Art und Weise damit.

On Pink Floyd’s enduring appeal.

Nick Mason: “Romanticism and abstraction. People can use their imagination when they listen.”

Getting along with Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

Nick Mason: “We found a good way to work together. James Guthrie, our engineer since ’79, was the focal point and everything went through him. We’re quite good at working out what we want to argue about. We isolate the areas we want to work out and whittle it down to three or four songs to argue about. It’s a civilized process.”

Meeting the Beatles.

Nick Mason: “They were in Studio two and we were in studio one recording ‘Piper’s. Met them while they were recording ‘Lovely Rita’ and sat at he back of the studio and wondered how do they do it? How do they sound so good?”

The discovery of a recording of “Wish You Were Here” with jazz violinist, Stephane Grappelli.

Nick Mason: “One of the triumphs of this enterprise (was finding) tapes I thought had been recorded over. It’s a tribute to Abbey Road (studios) how good the quality is. This was from one of those Abbey Road moments when (jazz violinist) Stephane Grappelli was working with (classical violinist) Yehudi Menuhin. Yehudi was to nervous to improvise but it was Stephane’s bread and butter.”

Highs and low of Roger Waters’ early songwriting.

Nick Mason: “‘Set Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ (from 1968’s ‘Saucerful of Secrets’) is one of my favorites. That’s the real blossoming of Roger Waters’ songwriting. ‘Doctor, Doctor’ (‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk’) is one of his less great works. His lyrics are extraordinarily grown up.”

On the loss of founder Syd Barrett.

Nick Mason: “We found a half-dozen demos from 1965, early ’66 and it’s amazing to think we survived without him. We changed enormously after Syd left. He was very involved in the (expansive) film score (style songs). There is a that spirit from Syd that still wanders through all our work.”