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41 " Rick played trumpet as a schoolboy, and always maintained that he played the piano before he could walk… but would then add that he didn’t walk until he was ten. "
― Nick Mason , Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd
42 " In his autobiography, Is That It?, Bob also tells the story of one scene in the film in which an American actress, keen on method acting, had to show that she was frightened of Pink. She asked Alan Parker what her motivation for doing this was. Alan sighed and told her, ‘The money’. "
43 " In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me. "
44 " Storm also recalls that Syd adored the Beatles, at a time when most of his friends preferred the Stones. "
45 " We were becoming increasingly conscious of crowd control, security and safety. With up to 80,000 people swilling around it’s like being elected mayor of a small town for the night, with all the attendant responsibilities including car crashes, petty theft, children being born… There’s even some live music if you’re lucky. "
46 " It was still rare for musicians to be allowed anywhere near the mixing desk, and not unknown for session players to be brought in to save on studio time: the Beatles had begun changing this, as their success convinced record companies to interfere less and less. Virtually every subsequent band owes a huge debt of gratitude to the Beatles for creating an attitude where popular music was made by the artists, and not constructed for them. "
47 " There was, though, a sharp divide between classical and pop in the upper echelons; although the pop releases were subsidising the classical recordings, the staff who created them were treated like other ranks by the top brass. The chairman, Sir Joseph Lockwood, must take a lot of credit for bringing down this antiquated hierarchy. To put things in context, two years before he joined EMI, the board had decided there was ‘no future’ in the long-playing record. "
48 " By mid-April Peter, Andrew and ourselves had felt obliged to run a spoof ad entitled ‘Freak Out-Schmeak Out’ to poke fun at them, but even so promoters who were jumping on the bandwagon, or just plain dumb, failed to get the joke, and their ads were still blithely using the line ‘Turn up, shell out, get lost "
49 " In the Hilton in Scottsdale, we fell back on any opportunity for a wager – I recall David riding a motorbike through our hotel restaurant for one particular bet. The diners either thought that this was normal, or that he was packing a gun, because they completely ignored him. "
50 " One still unused experiment from this time was an exploration of backward vocals. A phrase written out backwards letter for letter and then read out will not sound correct when reversed, but a spoken phrase recorded and played backwards can be learnt and recited. This gives a very odd effect when it is in turn played backwards. ‘Neeagadelouff’ was one I remember: it should come out as ‘fooled again’. "
51 " Curiously we did it all over again when we made the Live At Pompeii film, this time using another dog, called Mademoiselle Nobs. On the positive side, even when hard pressed, at least we resisted the temptation to construct an entire album of barking dogs, and to audition a clutch of session dogs desperate to make it in the music business. "
52 " As a climax to the show the octopus was inflated and came rearing out from the lake. The moment would have been improved if a number of over-enthusiastic and mind-altered fans had not stripped off and taken to the water; in scenes reminiscent of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, these lunatics got tangled with the air pipes and threatened to spoil the performance by thoughtlessly drowning. "
53 " As on the first tour, we had almost no equipment, once again victims of empty promises from agents and record companies. It was Jimi Hendrix who saved us. Hearing of our problems (his managers also handled the Soft Machine) he sent us down to Electric Lady, his recording studio and storage facility on West 8th Street, and told us to help ourselves to what we needed. There are some real rock’n’roll heroes. "
54 " The subtleties of inner-sanctum passes are a degree subject in their own right. Access All Areas means about halfway in, VIP one level further. A laminate trumps a stick-on and a green dot lets you through another gate. After that it helps if you are either part of the show, a family member, or have that demented look that ensures that there are always a few lunatics who make it to where they absolutely should not be. "
55 " I headed out front to watch Paul McCartney and U2 perform ‘Sgt Pepper’ and even as a fully paid-up, jaded and jaundiced veteran of the music business, was moved by the power and strength of what was happening both on stage and in the audience. "
