May

Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports

In May 1981 Nick Mason became the third Floyd member to release a solo album when Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports was released. ‘Fictitious’ was something of a pun as the main writer of the jazzy tracks was pianist and composer Carla Bley. ‘I wanted to make a record of stuff that I like, by musicians that I like, in which I played a hand in putting together,’ Mason told International Musician in July 1981, although he was peeved that there had been a delay of 18 months from the album being finished until it was released. Musically, a garden fence rather than a wall...

June

Final Performance With Waters

Although Roger Waters would later tour The Wall as a solo artist its last performance by Pink Floyd took place at Earl’s Court in June 1981. These five shows were staged specifically for the proposed The Wall movie which, at that moment, proposed to have footage of the band playing as narration. Amazingly, all the footage, including material shot by a crane that rose over the wall every night to show the audience, was deemed unsatisfactory. Although no one knew it at the time, this was Waters’ last performance with Gilmour, Wright and Mason until the Live 8 concert in 2005.

November

A Collection Of Great Dance Songs

To cash in on the success of The Wall EMI released A Collection Of Great Dance Songs. This strangely named compilation contained a version of ‘Money’ which, the lack of, was much in the thoughts of Floyd and manager Steve O’Rourke. Between 1972 and 1979, Floyd had invested a large proportion of their earnings with investment firm Norton Warburg who had speculated in a number of ventures and allegedly mismanaged their finances. Floyd were reported to have lost over £1 million and this financial can of worms also interfered with future tax planning. The Wall tour also lost money….

Personalities | Introducing Pink Floyd
Personalities | Pink Floyd | The Waters-Led Era (1982) | Key Events