Roger Waters - the multi-instrumentalist

[Hudini]

I clearly remember watching a interview where he spoke how he wanted to sing much more on pre-Animals albums. But he said he was frequently put down by Gilmour and Wright. He wanted to sing more on the Dark Side Of The Moon he said, particulary to sing a song Time.

I've been thinking about this since you posted it and I've come to a conclusion that DSOTM might have even been more iconic had it been Waters who sung the verses in 'Time'. It would have given the album a much even flow since Gilmour's, Wright's and Waters' vocal duties would have been more evenly distributed throughout the album. But I guess we can only imagine how that would have sounded like.

[Follix]

Nah Time is perfect like it is, maybe the Dmaj7 section with Rick but F#m is epic with Dave's vocal.

[jtull]

I belive Breathe Reprise was a perfect tune for Roger to sing it. It would give the better flow, and more epic feeling to the whole DSOTM.

[kjek1]

I've heard Roger's time demo and him singing that would have been every bit as tragic as when he tries to sing Wish You Were Here!

No way he wanted to sing more and wasn't allowed to either, Roger "my way or the highway" Waters? If he wanted to sing those then he would have. The story from the other band members was that he'd ask Dave to sing most of the tunes, presumably because he's stronger in that area

[Phantom Turnip]

I've heard Roger's time demo and him singing that would have been every bit as tragic as when he tries to sing Wish You Were Here!

No way he wanted to sing more and wasn't allowed to either, Roger "my way or the highway" Waters? If he wanted to sing those then he would have. The story from the other band members was that he'd ask Dave to sing most of the tunes, presumably because he's stronger in that area

Adding to that, I'm pretty sure David had to pressure Roger into singing "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse" just just so he'd have more of a vocal presence. Otherwise, Roger would have sang exactly as much as he wanted to on the album: zilch.

[jtull]

I've heard Roger's time demo and him singing that would have been every bit as tragic as when he tries to sing Wish You Were Here!

He is not that bad when he sings Time, even now when he's an old man.

No way he wanted to sing more and wasn't allowed to either, Roger "my way or the highway" Waters? If he wanted to sing those then he would have.

In the time of DSOTM creation he still wasn't dominant figure. The band was pretty much very democratic at the time.

[ZiggyZipgun]

And here is the big surprise I never explored back in the days I created my Pink Floyd record collection: It is Mr Roger Waters playing a Japanese instrument, a so-called "shakuhachi".

I searched for the internet for more information on Roger playing the shakuhachi, and just ended up back here. I would like to unequivocally state that it's actually the E-mu Emulator II from 1984; the shakuhachi was one of the factory samples that came with it, and was also used by Dire Straits and Peter Gabriel. I had always assumed it was a sample, because he occasionally plays more than one note at a time, which you can't physically do on a woodwind instrument. However, before today I didn't know that actually he put "shakuhachi" in the credits, like no one would know the difference. Maybe he did it to be funny, but...wow.

[ZiggyZipgun]

Also, for those that would like to say that Waters really did play bass on everything, in spite of what Gilmour has claimed, just think about the fact that he used four session bassists on Amused to Death, including Randy Jackson (yes, that Randy Jackson)...on what are not particularly complicated basslines.

[space triangle]

Also, for those that would like to say that Waters really did play bass on everything, in spite of what Gilmour has claimed, just think about the fact that he used four session bassists on Amused to Death, including Randy Jackson (yes, that Randy Jackson)...on what are not particularly complicated basslines.

Gilmour had brought seventeen(17) Additional musicians for 'his' A Momentary Lapse of Reason album.

Richard Wright – piano; backing vocals ("Learning to Fly", "On the Turning Away" and "Sorrow"); Kurzweil; Hammond organ (tracks 1, 2, 5, 9, 11)
Bob Ezrin – keyboards; percussion; sequencers; production
Jon Carin – keyboards
Patrick Leonard – synthesizers
Bill Payne – Hammond organ
Michael Landau – guitar
Tony Levin – bass guitar; Chapman Stick
Jim Keltner – drums
Carmine Appice – drums
Steve Forman – percussion
Tom Scott – alto saxophone; soprano saxophone
John Helliwell – saxophone (credited as "John Halliwell")
Scott Page – tenor saxophone
Darlene Koldenhoven (as Darlene Koldenhaven) – backing vocals
Carmen Twillie – backing vocals
Phyllis St. James – backing vocals
Donnie Gerrard – backing vocals

[ZiggyZipgun]

Gilmour had brought seventeen(17) Additional musicians for 'his' A Momentary Lapse of Reason album.

I think you missed my point.

[ZiggyZipgun]

Notice how there's only one other guitarist on the album. And he's discussed how he brought in Michael Landau to play on the intro to "One Slip", and Lee Ritenour on "One of My Turns", because he wanted very unusual rhythm guitar parts that were well outside of his normal approach. Both were pretty much the best session guitarists working at those times.

Roger liked the song "Yet Another Movie" so much, he hired Patrick Leonard to play on Amused to Death.

[space triangle]

Also, for those that would like to say that Waters really did play bass on everything, in spite of what Gilmour has claimed,

Ziggy, you have here a great old thread ''Who Played Bass On What Songs...''.

viewtopic.php?t=326


RW - 66/72 - 92%
DG - 6/72 - 8%

[ZiggyZipgun]

Alright, there are other threads about it, but since they mainly just bicker back and forth without providing much information, I'll post this here.

The whole Who played bass? debate comes from one article, which was originally published in Musician magazine in August 1992, with excerpts being published in others, such as Rock Compact Disc in September '92. The original was titled Careful With That Axe: David Gilmour Chops Through Pink Floyd's Past to Build a New Future by Matt Resnicoff. In December of that same year, he published Roger and Me: The Other Side of the Pink Floyd Story.

Both of these have often been quoted in these discussions, but out of context. I'm only posting the relevant portions of each interview, one in response to the other, as they were given.

MR: Was Roger an effective bassist back then?

DG: He had developed his own limited, or very simple style. He was never very keen on improving himself as a bass player and half the time I would play bass on the records because I would tend to do it quicker. Right back to those early records; I mean, at least half the bass on all recorded output is me anyway.

MR: This is not a widely acknowledged fact.

DG: Well, I think it's been said, but it's certainly not something we go around advertising. Rog used to come in and say, "Thank you very much" to me once in a while for winning him bass-playing polls.

MR: Did you play the fretless bass on "Hey You"?

DG: Yeah. Hmm. Roger playing fretless bass? Please! (laughs)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MR: Is James Johnson actually Jimmy Johnson, the great five-string bassist?

RW: Yeah. He likes to be called James. I call him Steve. He's a very gentle man, and on 'What God Wants' I was going, 'This has got to have more aggression. What you're doing is too "Jimmy"; I want this to be more "Steve."' He's a great player. But the part I wanted more 'Steve,' somebody else played it. It's interesting, because it's the same bassline as 'Another Brick'; listen to it."

MR: In the video you're playing bass.

RW: Well, it's a pretend, but those videos always are, eh? I'd always thought it would be nice just to have cameras running the whole time we were recording, so that it was real. That would be the most watchable. But these things get made largely for MTV, and I'm not sure that they'd be interested in that sort of thing. They're much more interested in style and tennis shoes and baseball hats than music. I was never a bass player. I've never played anything. I play guitar a bit on the records and would play bass, because I sometimes want to hear the "sound" I make when I hit a string on a bass with a pick or my finger; it makes a different sound than anybody else makes, to me. But I've never been interested in playing the bass. I'm not interested in playing instruments and I never have been.

[Annoying Twit]

Also, for those that would like to say that Waters really did play bass on everything, in spite of what Gilmour has claimed,

Ziggy, you have here a great old thread ''Who Played Bass On What Songs...''.

viewtopic.php?t=326


RW - 66/72 - 92%
DG - 6/72 - 8%

Having revised that article, I don't believe that those statistics are accurate.

[space triangle]

Having revised that article, I don't believe that those statistics are accurate.

What is not accurate in RRPITI's songs analys? Which songs are wrong when it comes to who played a bass on them?