The Wife Of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. By Chester Kamen
Chester Kamen, Former lead guitarist with Roger Waters band and last seen playing With David Gilmour on the 2016 Rattle That Lock tour has been busy writing and working on his forthcoming album,
In early 2021, we have seen the release of “Child Of The Damned” and “Stories” which are both featured on the “Take This “ album which is currently in progress.
Now in July 2021 we have “The Wife Of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold“
As Chester says briefly “It’s my latest attempt to write a blues like Dylan that has been covered by Jimi. (Well you’ve got to aim at something!) Drums by Saleem Raman and bass by Jovan Radujko, thanks to them both. Backtrack recorded on 8 track tape, Shepherd’s Bush pre COVID, lyrics added post-COVID on radar 24 track. Once again there is much found footage as well my own filming contained in the video.“
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
Presented by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, who wrote and performed megahits like ‘Gold’ and ‘True’, and Guy Pratt, a bass player who shaped songs for the likes of Madonna and Pink Floyd, you’ll hear exclusive stories of life on the road, in the studio and what really happened behind the scenes from artists who wrote, performed and produced the some of the biggest classic rock and pop tracks of all time.
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
This weeks upcoming episode is Number 46 and features guest Martin Kemp
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
Presented by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, who wrote and performed megahits like ‘Gold’ and ‘True’, and Guy Pratt, a bass player who shaped songs for the likes of Madonna and Pink Floyd, you’ll hear exclusive stories of life on the road, in the studio and what really happened behind the scenes from artists who wrote, performed and produced the some of the biggest classic rock and pop tracks of all time.
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
This weeks upcoming episode is Number 45 and features guest Harry Shearer
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
Presented by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, who wrote and performed megahits like ‘Gold’ and ‘True’, and Guy Pratt, a bass player who shaped songs for the likes of Madonna and Pink Floyd, you’ll hear exclusive stories of life on the road, in the studio and what really happened behind the scenes from artists who wrote, performed and produced the some of the biggest classic rock and pop tracks of all time.
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
This weeks upcoming episode is Number 43 and features guest Richard Thompson
Rockonteurs is a weekly podcast all about the real stories behind real music. Presented by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, who wrote and performed megahits like ‘Gold’ and ‘True’, and Guy Pratt, a bass player who shaped songs for the likes of Madonna and Pink Floyd, featuring exclusive stories of life on the road, in the studio and what really happened behind the scenes from artists who wrote, performed and produced some of the biggest classic rock and pop tracks of all time.
Guests include rock gods Jon Bon Jovi and David Coverdale, AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson, Duran Duran’s John Taylor, guitar hero Johnny Marr and billion-dollar hitmaker Nile Rodgers.
Having started the podcast amidst the uncertainty of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Rockonteurs has proven itself to be one of the most listened to podcasts online, with episode number 41 featuring ex-Oasis songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher shooting them to the top of the Itunes Top 10 Podcasts.
Recently Guy and Gary have been nominated for the Listeners’ Choice Award – By The British Podcast Awards supported by BBC Sounds, You can vote for your favourite podcast byClicking Hereor the Image Aboveand searching for it by, filling in your details and clicking the confirmation link that is emailed to you. You can only vote for a podcast once.
The winner will be revealed on Saturday 10th July 2021 at the British Podcast Awards, powered by Amazon Music.
Held 16 years ago today, Live 8 saw a string of historic concerts take place in the G8 states on July 2nd 2005. The run of shows were iconic for a number of reasons, a time when the great and the good of music came together to fight against global poverty which even saw Pink Floyd’s full line-up reunite for one last time at London’s Hyde Park.
The Hyde Park concert saw the likes of Paul McCartney performing with U2 as well as a solo set from the former Beatle. The Who also took to the stage as did The Killers, Snoop Dogg, Madonna and a bizarre duet of T. Rex’s ‘Children of the Revelation’ from Elton John and Peter Doherty. Despite the big names in attendance, it was Floyd’s reunion that was the show-stealer.
For Bob Geldof to get the band to reunite was a coup. With the broken relationship of Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and David Gilmour well documented, the pair hadn’t communicated in years let alone shared a stage. In fact, while the preparations were going ahead, the two had become so distant that after Waters was approached about possibly reuniting the outfit he had to ask organiser Bob Geldof for his former bandmate’s phone number.
Geldof had some trouble in convincing Gilmour to get on board with the project, the guitarist allegedly likened linking up with Waters again to “sleeping with your ex-wife”. Waters, however, managed to get Gilmour to come around to realise this was much bigger than Pink Floyd and he saw the wider picture. The show would be the first time that the iconic line-up of David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright performed together since their 1981 concert at Earl’s Court in London.
Artists were only granted a 20-minute set which made it difficult for the band to narrow it down to just a few songs to perform at Hyde Park, a topic which led to further clashes between Gilmour and Waters. Gilmour downright refused to play ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ as he didn’t believe the message was appropriate for Live 8.
“Anyway, I don’t like it much. It’s all right but not part of the great emotional oeuvre,” Gilmour said in a 2006 interview. “The songs that Roger wanted were not the ones I thought we should do. The arrangements of the songs were not the way Roger wanted to do them. But I kind of insisted.”
Floyd finally settled on four songs which were The Dark Side of the Moon’s ‘Breathe’ and ‘Money’ followed by ‘Wish You Were Here’ before concluding their set beautifully with ‘Comfortably Numb’.
A poignant moment came during the set when Waters paid a tribute to the band’s original leader, the late Syd Barrett: “It’s actually quite emotional to be standing up here with these three guys again, after all these years – standing to be counted with the rest of you,” Waters said as they began to play ‘Wish You Were Here’ before he added: “Anyway, we’re doing this for the people who’re not here – and particularly, of course, for Syd.”
Live 8 was the perfect way for them to bid farewell to Pink Floyd for good and reunite one more time before Richard Wright’s passing three years later in 2008. The band were offered a staggering $150 million for a US tour following their appearance at Hyde Park but decided against it as they believed this was the ultimate fashion to bow out.
About Face is the second solo studio album by the Pink Floyd singer and musician David Gilmour. It was released in 5 March 1984 by Harvest in the UK and Columbia in the United States, a day before Gilmour’s 38th birthday.
The album was followed with a supporting tour, which lasted from 31 March – 16 July 1984, covering Europe and North America.
A VHS was released in September 1984 entitled “David Gilmour Live 1984”. The film is mainly a concert performance from The Hammersmith Odeon in London in April 1984. It also features promotional clips. Lastly, a documentary called After The Floyd which followed Gilmour on the 1984 solo tour and includes interviews with David on tour buses (the bus driver referred to David as ex-guitarist of Pink Floyd) and in hotel rooms. Also included is more live footage of concerts and soundchecks in Europe. It is now out of production.
The VHS was not released in Europe, apparently due to “lack of commercial interest”. This concert footage is now to be found on DVD, released by Crime Crow Productions.The DVD, however, does not contain the extra footage that could be found on the VHS.
Similarly, Sony Music has shown little interest in releasing the title on DVD in the US, possibly due to the age of the concert as well as Gilmour’s own dislike of About Face as an album.
We have recently been in contact with Michael Beers a Former Freelance writer with JAM Magazine and keen photographer enthusiast who has shared his personal collection from the tour for the first time online.
Click on the thumbnails below to view images in full size.
David Gilmour at the Kabuki Theater in SF on June 29, 1984.
David Gilmour at Cal Expo amphitheater in Sacramento on June 28, 1984
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
Presented by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, who wrote and performed megahits like ‘Gold’ and ‘True’, and Guy Pratt, a bass player who shaped songs for the likes of Madonna and Pink Floyd, you’ll hear exclusive stories of life on the road, in the studio and what really happened behind the scenes from artists who wrote, performed and produced the some of the biggest classic rock and pop tracks of all time.
Rockonteurs is a podcast all about the real stories behind real music.
This weeks upcoming episode is Number 42 and features guest Marianne Faithfull
David Gilmour released Rattle That Lock , the fourth solo album, in the summer of 2015.
His French fans especially remember the song that gives the album its title because it incorporates the jingle of the SNCF , the national railway company. The four musical notes that make up the jingle (C, G, A flat and E flat) have been used by the SNCF since 2005, in particular to introduce announcements in stations.
It was precisely taking the train in the summer of 2013 in Aix-en-Provence that David Gilmour fell in love with the melody. He urged his managerPaul Loasby to research the rights. It turned out that the melody was created by Michaël Boumendil , a specialist in jingles for companies, also author of a ringtone for Samsung mobile phones, music on hold for Orange, etc …
A very profitable business: his company Sixieme His Communication , created in 1995 just 23 years after leaving Edhec, achieved a turnover of 4.5 million euros in 2018, with a net margin of 19%.
David Gilmour‘s manager contacted Michaël Boumendil . They met on October 31, 2013 and made him listen to a first version of the song. On December 5, 2014, a contract was signed between David Gilmour and Michaël Boumendil . According to the agreement, the Frenchman would have been “co-author” of the song, would have received 12.5% of the proceeds and, even, 25% for the exploitation of the music alone. Then, Michaël Boumendil signed an agreement with the SNCF that granted his authorization free of charge. Finally, on 23 June 2015, Michaël Boumendil went to the Astoria , David Gilmour‘s boat / recording studio moored on the Thames near London, where the Pink Floyd guitarist played him the final version of the song.
With great pride, Michaël Boumendil told his story to the RTL TV station on July 9, 2015, just before the song was released: “It makes me really happy […] David Gilmour told me: ‘what you have done is truly unique , it’s very well done, surprisingly groove, and it made me want to write a song ‘” . In the interview Michaël Boumendil assured: “It is not a question of money at all” . In addition, the SNCF was also launching a competition to win tickets to a David Gilmourconcert.
But Michaël Boumendil‘s interview with RTL didn’t please David Gilmour‘s entourage ; they believed that the Frenchman had violated the confidentiality agreement while the song had not yet come out; as a result, they excluded him from promoting the album.
Relations between the two deteriorate. In December 2016, Michaël Boumendil denounced David Gilmour for “counterfeiting” before the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, asking € 493,619 in damages. He argued that the agreement signed two years earlier only covered copyright but not its production right. In other words, he claimed to have only granted the musical score (the four notes), but not their recording (the jingle that David Gilmour had recorded at the station and then inserted into his song).
Instead, on May 31, 2019, the court rejected Michaël Boumendil‘s claim , condemning him to pay 40,000 euros in legal fees. In the sentence, the judges observed that, the day after the meeting with Gilmour , “Michaël Boumendil had expressed the memory of the meeting in a message, leaving no trace of surprise or disappointment” . Furthermore, the sentence still states that the enthusiasm expressed during the interview with RTL “does not appear to be compatible with the hypothesis of violation of the contractual provisions, negotiated between professionals under conditions that do not lead to the presumption that the rights of the producer would have been ‘forgotten. ‘, as claimed ” by Michaël Boumendil .
Who did not give up and appealed, but again in vain. The Paris Court of Appeal has just rejected him, condemning him to pay an additional € 10,000 in legal fees. The appellate judges noted that the contract “states that David Gilmour is authorized to integrate the sample, modify it and use it; therefore, the sample can be understood as the excerpt of the sound recording ” of the SNCF jingle .
Rockonteurs is a weekly podcast all about the real stories behind real music. Presented by Spandau Ballet’s 
Held 16 years ago today, Live 8 saw a string of historic concerts take place in the G8 states on July 2nd 2005. The run of shows were iconic for a number of reasons, a time when the great and the good of music came together to fight against global poverty which even saw Pink Floyd’s full line-up reunite for one last time at London’s Hyde Park.
