Nick Mason Solo Box Set

Some Nick Mason news for you today:

"Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason has announced that he will be releasing a brand new box set collection of his solo albums, "Unattended Luggage", on August 31.

The limited-edition offering compiles the rocker's 1981 release, "Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports," 1985's "Profiles" and 1987's "White Of The Eye" soundtrack in both 3CD and 3LP vinyl packages for the first time in over 20 years".

Of most interest here I guess is "Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports" recorded in 1979 and released on Harvest in 1981. Among the musicians we find Robert Wyatt, Carla Bley, Michael Mantler and Gary Windo.

Rock Bottom For Forty Years

Today we celebrate that Robert Wyatt´s album "Rock Bottom" (Virgin 26 July, 1974) has been in this world for 40 years, and is still sounding fresh!

The personnel (what a gang!):

Robert Wyatt – vocals, keyboards, percussion, slide guitar
Mike Oldfield – guitar
Gary Windo – bass clarinet, tenor sax
Ivor Cutler – voice, baritone concertina, harmonium
Alfreda Benge – voice
Mongezi Feza – trumpets
Fred Frith – viola
Hugh Hopper – bass guitar
Richard Sinclair – bass guitar
Laurie Allan – drums

Nick Mason: Producer

Alfreda Benge: Cover (both original and 1998 re-issue)

The very same day that "Rock Bottom" was released, Robert Wyatt and Alfreda Benge got married. Congratulations to them on their 40th wedding day!

I´m A Believer

The February issue of Uncut (2014) has three pages on the making of Robert Wyatt´s version of the Neil Diamond penned song (and Monkees hit) "I´m a believer" (Virgin 1974).

Key players: Robert Wyatt (voc), Nick Mason (drums, production), Fred Frith (guitar, violin), Dave MacRae (piano) and Richard Sinclair (bass).

"It hit No 29, did it? I´m too posh to think about charts...It´s not the chart side of music that interests me, it´s the music itself and what it means to people" (Robert Wyatt).

Robert Wyatt on Top Of The Pops here (spot Andy Summers, he´s not on the record), The Monkees´ version here and Neil Diamond´s here.