Shaking things up in the rock scene, Body Count, the heavy metal band led by rapper Ice-T, has released a new single today, an interesting rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” featuring the one and only David Gilmour guest soloing on guitar! Although this collaboration may seem unexpected, it provides a unique take on the classic song. David is quoted saying: “The initial contact from Ice-T was for permission to use the song, but I thought I might offer to play on it as well. I like the new lyrics, they’re talking about the world we’re living in now, which is quite scary.” You can listen to the song here:

Anthony Moore, a frequent collaborator with the Floyd, known for his work on A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, as well as Rick Wright’s Broken China, is set to release a new album next month. Home of the Demo from Drag City Records is out on October 25th and features the single “Earthbound Misfit” — an early version of Pink Floyd’s 1987 hit “Learning to Fly”, which Moore co-wrote.

Home of the Demo unpacks ten tracks from what we might otherwise call a lost era: subtitled “from the dawn of bedsit recording, on the cusp of the analogue-to-digital shift” and sounding nearer to DIY than we’d hear from any of your fancy modern kit! Using “a few hundred quid’s worth of gear balanced precariously on bookshelves and tabletops in bedrooms and basements”, as Anthony puts it, he produced a spread of well-appointed, ambitiously clever songs between 1978–1984 for himself and others — such as his friend David Gilmour, who used a couple pieces from Home of the Demo for Pink Floyd’s 1987 comeback album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Forty-some years on, we find these songs marvellously mellowed by time and latter-day mastering: from the heavenly stretches of “Me and Neil Diamond”, featuring one of those hot young Bunnymen on vocals, to an irresistible version of “Judy, Judy” with soaring lead guitars from the ominously monikered “Page The Oracle”. Hmm hmm!

Let’s talk about that “Earthbound Misfit”, though — because really, folks, it’s as if Anthony knew he was demoing a song that was gonna scale charts around the world! The unique journey of this track is a head-turner, flying from Anthony’s basement into Gilmour’s houseboat-turned-studio to later become a Pink Floyd favourite. Before that though, there was this “Earthbound Misfit”: the drum machine dry and austere, the keyboards sucking you into the vastness of space, the guitars stretching backwards through time. The lyrics feature a suitable Floyd-ishness; but even on its own, the chorus couplet “Can’t keep my eyes from the circling sky/Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I” feels carved from eternal rock.

Perhaps the songs on Home of the Demo aren’t so much “secret” as they were too “extra” for the basic cut of the proceedings at the time; nevertheless, Drag City’s happy to be responsible for hawking this particular stroke of extras. The inconvenient truth of Anthony Moore lets loose on October 25th, 2024! Pre-order your copy by clicking these links: LP | MP3 | FLAC

Last night at the Neptune Inn in Hove, Romany Gilmour, daughter of David, performed a brief set during the open mic night, during which David made an unexpected appearance, and together they played “Wish You Were Here.”

Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt is back! In this very special episode with David Gilmour, who makes his one and only podcast debut, Gary and Guy accompany David at his stunning studio, ‘Astoria,’ located along the River Thames, for an engaging discussion about the studio’s history and the newly released David Gilmour album, ‘Luck and Strange,’ featuring Guy’s contributions once more. You can listen on whichever platform you get your podcasts, and also watch the full released video here: