Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Rick Wright remembered (1943-2008)



17 Seconds would like to extend its' heartfelt sympathy to Rick Wright's family. The Pink Floyd keyboardist passed away yesterday at the age of 65.

Though much of the coverage of Pink Floyd over the years has focused on founder member Syd Barrett (whose solo albums Wright contributed to), and the power struggle between bassist Roger Waters and guitarist David Gilmour, the contributions made by Rick Wright (and drummer Nick Mason) to the band cannot be underestimated. Floyd's albums have (mostly) dated extremely well, and it should be remembered that rick Wright has been an important factor in that.

Though he tended to focus more on performing keyboards, he also contributed to songwriting in the band, one of his earliest contributions being 'Paint Box' the b-side to third single 'Apples and Oranges.' 'The Great Gig In the Sky' and 'Us and Them' from The Dark Side Of The Moon. The only Floyd album to which he didn't contribute was 1983 The Final Cut, having been effectively kicked out of the band by Waters in 1979.

We salute you sir, here are two Pink Floyd related tracks, the aforementioned 'paint Box' and the opening track from their 1967 debut The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, 'Astronomy Domine.' Although this wasn;t credited to him, Rick Wright actually sang lead vocals on this track.

Pink Floyd -'Paint Box.' mp3

Pink Floyd -'Astronomy Domine.' mp3

Rick Wright at Wikipedia

4 comments:

Peewit said...

Rick's sister used to be the music teacher at my wife's school up to a few years ago. She now suffers from Parkinson's disease which may explain the very restrained announcement of Rick's death

Ed said...

It has seemed restrained so far. Have been playing Meddle and Wish You Were Here this evening. Such brilliant stuff...

Grimnir said...

A very sad loss indeed.
I went to see the Floyd live in Manchester in 1988 and they were out of this world!

A great man and a true musician.

Respect where due.

Ed said...

Never got to see them live, and now I never will, alas...