David Gilmour Featuring Richard Wright

If I was a betting man, I’d place a hefty wager on the fact that when any of he pop stars that rule and charts today kick the bucket, there would be little brouhaha other than perchance a smallish obituary in the showbiz pages.

Luckily I’m not, but as harsh as it may sound, today’s pop stars are a for the most part forgettable lot, and few will be remembered 50 years from today. However, when I heard of Richard ‘Rick’ Wright’s recent death, it seemed as if an era of usual music was coming to an end.

Wright, a musician most widely known and esteemed for his association with progressive rock giants Pink Floyd, was a quiet person rather dissimilar from his rock star contemporaries. That seemed true both in his on and offstage persons.

Though Floyd was eclipsed by front-men Roger Waters and David Gilmour and their rock star-sized egos, Rick Wright’s role in shaping Pink Floyd can not be understated. He was a founder fellow member of the band and was percentage of the initial line-up, featuring the eccentric and perchance overrated talent of the late Syd Barrett.

Wright’s Principal instruments remained by keyboards and synthesizers, while he also now and again contributed vocals as well as to the band’s song-writing. And for those with even a surface cognition of the Pink Floyd sound, it is crystal clear that Wright’s synth lines were a distinctive feature of songs that will go down in history as mileposts of frequent music.

Rick Wright’s playing was clean and methodical, even though not mechanical, and apart of the flamboyance, of his contemporary musician, synth player Rick Wakeman – a prodigiously gifted man – of Yes. It set the stage for Waters’ legendary lyrics as well as Gilmour’s voice and ace guitar playing and Nick Mason’s percussion to weave pure magic on tape.

Some of his most unforgettable moments came on tracks like the protoindustrial Welcome to the Machine, from 1975′s landmark record Wish You Were Here, with it is disturbing drones that painted a bleak, Orwellian picture. The textures structure of Shine of you Crazy Diamond – all parts – was again anchored by Wright’s Keys, and his solos stay memorable.

But perhaps his defining moments came earlier, on 1973′s Dark Side of the Moon. Wright shared lead vocals on the epic Time with Gilmour, while he co-wrote another classic from the legendary album, Us and Them, remembered for it is resonant saxophone solo as well as a gorgeous piano solo by Wright.

He was eased out of Pink Floyd for the duration of recording sessions for the band’s iconic album. The Wall in 1979, primarily due to divergences with Roger, Waters and was humiliatingly scaled down to the status of a sessions musician for the duration of the album’s subsequent tour. This is the cruel, cruel reality of rock star politics.

Wright re-entered the Floydian fold in the late eighties after Waters spilt with the band and Gilmour, Mason and co. started playing beneath the Pink Floyd moniker.

He likewise freed two solo attempts – 1978′s Wet Dream and 1996′s Broken China.

Richard Wright left this world on September 15, 2008, aged 65 at his home in the United Kingdom. He will be remembered by Floyd fans and aficionados of ordinary music as a man who contributed to one of the seminal bands of progressed standard music – a rock royalty which includes such names as Black Sabbath, Rush, the Clash and respective others. Rick Wright helped make Pink Floyd, a band with few parallels in innovative music.

Thanks for the music and shine on you crazy diamond.

David Gilmour Featuring Richard Wright Image

David Gilmour Featuring Richard Wright Image

David Gilmour Featuring Richard Wright Image

David Gilmour Featuring Richard Wright Pic