Hey Hey Rise Up

[DarkSideFreak]

It seems that something big happened in 2016 after all, not just the prearranged scheduling changes to the tour band?

Yes, Jon Carin has made many comments, pertaining to authorship of songs and his presence on the three albums he was involved in. Not the right thread for it but this has been discussed at length on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, apparently not as much here.

Anyway, what a surprise. Heard the song on the radio. In the end, it does not sound not like Pink Floyd, as somebody once said.

[Hadrian]

In the end, it does not sound not like Pink Floyd, as somebody once said.

CBS representative Stephen Ralbovsky, directly to David Gilmour and Bob Erzin during a face to face meeting in November 1986, after listening to the initial A Momentary Lapse of Reason demos: "It doesn't sound a fucking thing like Pink Floyd".

[Hadrian]

Also curious that David's reversed himself on his position about Pink Floyd's existence without Rick. He's always been adamant that the band can't exist without him... (though maybe he now feels that so long as Pink Floyd has something to say they can still exist? If so then that's a sentiment I can also respect, but it for sure wouldn't be the same Pink Floyd without Rick...)

This is not the only flip-flopping by Gilmour over the years. He has been unapologetically critical of The Final Cut for its political content, which he deemed unsuitable thematic avenue for Pink Floyd, and he also labelled it as too personal (Roger's father) for the band. 40 years later, "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" single is far more directly daily political than anything on that 1983 album, and it is very personal too (Gilmour's Ukrainian family via his daughter-in-law, and by extension, his grandchildren).

The moral of the story, we get more Pink Floyd from Gilmour with severe events (death of Wright gave us The Endless River, 2022 reforming over the war in Ukraine) that personally matter to him. For that reason, I would not exclude more Pink Floyd in the future. If there is some large event to collect funds for Ukraine soon, I would not exclude the possibility of Pink Floyd playing live there now (David and Nick, supported by Guy Pratt, and others).

[DarkSideFreak]

This is not the only flip-flopping by Gilmour over the years. He has been unapologetically critical of The Final Cut for its political content, which he deemed unsuitable thematic avenue for Pink Floyd, and he also labelled it as too personal (Roger's father) for the band.

I think that's how he felt at the time, but I also remember a quote of his where he said he agreed with Roger on the topic of the Falklands War, and was mostly unhappy with the quality of the songs and that he couldn't contribute to the writing.

[Gslatner]

I think saying flip flopping is harsh and uncalled for. It is a bit of a stretch to call it a Pink Floyd song but I’m fine with them doing so for a good cause because at the end of the day it’s nice see them playing together. The solo is excellent and Nick does a great job on drums. At this late stage of the game that should be enough for any Pink Floyd fan.

[theaussiefloydian]

I think that's how he felt at the time, but I also remember a quote of his where he said he agreed with Roger on the topic of the Falklands War, and was mostly unhappy with the quality of the songs and that he couldn't contribute to the writing.

Fully agree. His statement "if it wasn't good enough for The Wall, why is it good enough now?" is the keystone in terms of Gilmour's relationship with The Final Cut. And keep in mind he had no problem with the socio-political commentary on Animals.

he also labelled it as too personal (Roger's father) for the band. 40 years later, "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!"... is very personal too (Gilmour's Ukrainian family via his daughter-in-law, and by extension, his grandchildren).

I mean... yes? But I feel there is a difference in context. Gilmour is offering all of the proceeds to the single for humanitarian aid for an absolute travesty he happens to be connected with by family. Waters had no such personal connection with the Falklands - I would argue that his commentary on his father was rather gracelessly shoehorned into that album (especially since "When the Tigers Broke Free" was added to the album after the fact - something I can't stand personally because the album flowed so much better without it). Or maybe having a large family has changed Gilmour's perception of what is 'too personal' for Pink Floyd. Either way I feel like labelling this change as a flip flop feels wrong to me. The only attitude change I'm concerned about is Rick, but I also reckon would Rick still be alive he would have been on this track without Gilmour even having to ask him.

[Hadrian]

My sense is that Wright would've been happy to do more Pink Floyd in whatever form, just like Mason always is. Just before he died in 2008 Wright went to British Grove Studios to record a missing piano part for Shine on You Crazy Diamond (found only on the SACD WYWH 2011 release), which was essentially his very last Pink Floyd involvement.

[Keith Jordan]

Am I being thick, or has Pink Floyd's song fall out of the top 100 this week so far?

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/

[Hadrian]

Strange, because this was posted just yesterday (April 10): https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-ne ... ek__35718/

[theaussiefloydian]

Am I being thick, or has Pink Floyd's song fall out of the top 100 this week so far?

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/

Yeah I just had a look and they aren't there. Harry Styles is still sitting pretty at No. 1, which doesn't take me by any measure of surprise really. (Being of the younger generation I actually don't mind Styles that much but it's a bummer to see Pink Floyd fall off the charts so quickly all the same.)

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

Well hopefully this week it charts? I was mistaken (more or less a week ahead) into thinking when it would appear.
It's Comfortably Numb with a sampled voice and the best guitar solo Gilmour's played since his last five albums.
I hope it charts and I appear to be on the other side of the No Rog No Floyd camp.
If it had physical release (there is a manufacturing crisis in the record plant industry I've heard, but know nothing more about) it would probably be a different ball game.
But it's the future. It's instant and can be downloaded.

[Jimi Dean Barrett]

A piece from NME online.

https://www.nme.com/features/music-feat ... ct-3202018

Why new Ukraine benefit song ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ could be Pink Floyd’s perfect final act
The lumbering Goliath of a band have revived their name for the track, which features Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk. It's a noble cash-in

By
Mark Beaumont
11th April 2022

You might well have thought you’d clicked on some obscure eastern European Eurovision entry from 2007 by mistake. The band shot might be indistinguishable from the blues covers band that played last night in your thatched village pub. Yes, there is a gaping hole where famously domineering bassist Roger Waters should be. But can we please stop making the new Pink Floyd song all about Pink Floyd?

‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ was guitarist David Gilmour’s brainchild, born just a matter of weeks ago when he heard that Andriy Khlyvnyuk, singer with the Ukrainian band BoomBox (with whom Gilmour had played a benefit show in 2015) had taken up arms in the fight against the Russian invasion. Taking vocals from a video Khlyvnyuk had made in full battle-ready kit, singing WWI protest song ‘The Red Viburnum’ into camera, Gilmour put the track together with Floyd drummer Nick Mason, bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney at a pace that’s long felt unimaginable for this lumbering Goliath of a band: a Floyd song in a fortnight is like getting a Brexit benefit before 2082.

It might be their first freshly written material since 1994’s ‘The Division Bell’, but from the internet’s reaction you’d think it expected Gilmour to single-handedly pull a new billion-selling concept opus out of the back pocket of some old jeans overnight. “THIS IS NOT PINK FLOYD” chorused the purists, somehow dismayed by the non-appearance from Waters 37 years after he left the band. “A stain on Pink Floyd’s legacy!” others crowed about a song that only really relates to the band’s history via Gilmour’s sad-seagull guitar.

To be honest, it didn’t help that this notoriously anonymous band, so often hiding behind grand stage props and epic imagery, put out a band shot at all, featuring a couple of blokes – session bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney – who clearly never got nicked in the ear by any stray artillery in the Wall Wars of 1979. Or that the track itself plods along like ‘Comfortably Numb’ inching perilously close to amputation, and comes as a standalone piece rather than part of any grand scale conceptual project, making it unlike everything they’ve released since about 1967 debut single ‘Arnold Layne’.

But none of that matters. This is a humanitarian exercise, not (particularly) a creative one. ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ is all about flexing an almighty muscle – the name ‘Pink Floyd’ itself – to see how strong it is, for a damn good cause. Had it been released as Gilmour, Mason And Friends, or even as part of some glittering all-star line-up of Eltons and Bonos, it wouldn’t have caused the cultural echoes it has, topping iTunes charts across the globe and threatening, as we speak, to follow in Sam Fender’s wake on the first rock invasion of the UK singles chart since the nation lost its shit to what we now call ‘indie sleaze’. With the legendary Floyd moniker attached, however, there are roughly 45 million record buyers who have to hear it.

If anything, ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ is the perfect final (?) act for Pink Floyd. Records like ‘The Wall’, ‘The Final Cut’, ‘Us And Them’ and ‘The Dogs Of War’ contained strong anti-war sentiments; the pigs of 1977’s Orwellian ‘Animals’ satirised callous despots; ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ dealt with isolation and desperation of numerous shades. Theirs is a name loaded with socio-political righteousness and capable of devastating impact, so it’s deeply fitting that it should be dusted off and deployed at a time of war in Europe, cashed in to save Ukrainian lives.


In effect, ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ isn’t about the music at all; it’s about one of the UK’s biggest bands finally fulfilling its purpose. It exists not as any continuation or addendum to the Floyd’s magnificent canon, but purely to make you need to listen to it. So why not hit ‘play’ once more time?

[Wolfpack]

I think saying flip flopping is harsh and uncalled for. It is a bit of a stretch to call it a Pink Floyd song but I’m fine with them doing so for a good cause because at the end of the day it’s nice see them playing together. The solo is excellent and Nick does a great job on drums. At this late stage of the game that should be enough for any Pink Floyd fan.

Mason doing a great job? For me, it's the worst drumming he ever did for Pink Floyd. Just shocking.

Boooring! As if he's a beginner, doing the same dull and boring drum pattern over and over again. Rather driving a race car.
If I wouldn't have seen him in the video, I would have thought that some terrible outtake for 'Comfortably Numb' was used.
For me, Mason's limited skills ruin the whole track.
Gilmour would have been wiser to use a better drummer, but then it wouldn't have been "Pink Floyd"...

Mason's done much better drumming. For example, 'Remember a Day', 'Mother' and 'Two Suns in the Sunset'...
Or did Pink Floyd use another drummer there, because those compositions already were too difficult for him?

I've never heard him drum as good as on 'The Piper on the Gates of Dawn'.
Maybe this has to do with an unpredictable Barrett, preventing him from getting lazy.
Or... maybe there's some more drumming by someone else. Not just only the drum roll on 'Interstellar Overdrive', by Norman Smith.

Nick Mason, most overrated drummer of all time.

[Hadrian]

I'll admit that I ripped the YouTube video for audio capture, and extracted David's guitar solo part (circa 01:22-03:07) to listen in a loop a number of times (quite a few). That is wonderful indeed, more new Pink Floyd of The Endless River era to my ears . The rest I just find unlistenable.

[theaussiefloydian]

The rest I just find unlistenable.

I could not disagree more. I find the incorporation of the Ukrainian folk song into the proceedings fascinating. It took me a minute to get used to it, but once I did I found that I love its unique quality. "Hey Hey Rise Up" is not the best thing Pink Floyd put out by any means, but it's a good track through and through to me.