Here Comes The Flood - a weblog about music

photo: deep_schismic

Rick Wright has joined the great gig in the sky.

Pink Floyd's keyboardist and occasional singer and songwriter Rick Wright has died aged 65.
The musician, who formed the influential band with Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Syd Barrett in 1965, passed away today (September 15) after battling with cancer.
A spokesman said: "The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer.
"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."
As well as playing keyboards, Wright contributed a number of songs to the band in their early years, including 'Paintbox', 'Remember A Day' and 'Summer '68', and also contributed prominent vocals to the band's 1971 23-minute classic 'Echoes'.

Watch a video clip for Paintbox filmed in Belgium.

MP3: Pink Floyd - Summer '68

» NME | BBC Obituary
» en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wright_(musician)

photo: Jean Lannen

Todd Rundgren carried a magic wand in the seventies, releasing a string of classic albums and producing tons of artists, including Patti Smith's Wave and Meat Loaf's (he still considers this album as a joke, refusing to believe that people took it seriously). He is a pioneer by heart, with videos, staging the first ever cablebroadcast of one his live shows, experimenting with enhanced CDs, interactive tours and the world first direct music subscription service (way back in 1998).

Todd Rungren is now 60 years old and - cliche allert - still going strong. Through all his extracurricular activities you should almost forget that he is a riff-based guitar player. His new album Arena has more memorable licks than Death Magnetic or any other rock guitar album of 2008. He aims for your guts and eardrums with thirteen songs that are big engough to reach the upper balconies of any stadium. Rundgren has been following the current state of world affairs, incorporating into anthemic songs like Mad, Strike and Gun. The slower songs are big on the layered vocal parts, like Weakness that starts like a Zappa song ca 1974.

Unlike many other acts that have been around as long as he has, Rundgren is still creating new sounds upon his trademark guitar tone. He is no jukebox rehashing his past.

Arena drops September 29th on Cooking Vinyl (September 30th in the USA on Hi-Fi Recordings). He will be on tour this Fall.

1. Mad
2. Afraid
3. Mercenary
4. Gun
5. Courage
6. Weakness
7. Strike
8. Pissin
9. Today
10. Bardo
11. Mountaintop
12. Panic
13. Manup

Alas no MP3s allowed. You can stream stuff from his MySpace.
For those of you who like free stuff: retroblog is doing a giveaway of the album. Yes, they are autographed.

» tr-i.com
» myspace.com/toddrundgrenmusic

Want a blues guitar lesson by Joe Bonamassa?

Joe Bonamassa is one of the premier blues-rock guitarist of his generation. At the early age of 12 he was already a touring pro, opening for the legendary B.B. King. Since then, Joe's incendiary playing has earned him a loyal legion of fans and numerous albums in Billboard's Top 10 blues chart. Also a gifted singer and songwriter, Joe Bonamassa was named Best Blues Guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine's readership in their annual Readers Choice Awards for 2008, and recently released From Nowhere in Particular, a 2-CD live album recorded during his fall 2007 U.S. tour and released on his own J&R Adventures label. The CD debuted at #1 on the Bilbvoard Blues Charts. Joe also hosts "Daily Cup Of Joe" as well as, a Monday-Friday show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Blues Channel 74 that airs from 12-12:15 PM (ET).

September 17, 2008 @ 7PM
Guitar Center Hollywood
7425 Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA

Watch a live clip of Bridge To Better Days.

» jbonamassa.com
» guitarcenter.com

photo: Nancy Giroux

Mark Erelli from Somerville, Massachusetts , has gone back to his own kind of music after being a sideman for Lori McKenna. His seventh album Delivered is yet another addition to the overflowing Americana market. But Mark Erelli has a thing that makes his stand out among his peers and that is his voice. He vocal chords can soothe and accuse, the latter comes in handy for Volunteers, the best track of the album about a soldier who was sent to Iraq.

The material on Delivered sounds best when he follows his own path. He became a father of and so it's no wonder you get a few songs about that, like Man of the Family. You might want to skip the last two tracks, that sound like throwaway songs by Paul Simon and Bob Dylan.

Delivered is released on Signature Sounds. Release date: September 16th.

1. Hope Dies Last
2. Baltimore
3. Shadowland
4. Volunteers
5. Five Beer Moon
6. Not Alone
7. Delivered
8. Man of the Family
9. Once
10. Unraveled
11. Abraham

• 09/16 Zack Hickman’s House of Ill Repute - Lizard Lounge Cambridge, Mass
• 09/27 The Living Room, New York, NY
• 09/28 Iota Club & Cafe Arlington, Virginia
• 10/03 Me & Thee Coffeehouse Marblehead, Mass
• 10/10 Iron Horse Music Hall Northampton, Mass
• 10/18 Vanilla Bean, Pomfret, CT
• 10/25 First Encounter Coffeehouse, Eastham, Mass
• 11/06 Bieroc Cafe, McCook, Nebraska
• 11/07 Listening Room, Hastings, Nebraska
• 11/08 Folk On Mass House Concert Series, Lawrence, KS
• 11/09 Blue Door, Oklahoma City, OK
• 11/15 Valley Players Theatre, Waitsfield, VT
• 11/16 Hooker Dunham Theatre, Brattleboro, VT
• 11/20 Ashland Coffee & Tea, Ashland, Virginia
• 12/06 North Star Cafe, Portland, Maine

MP3: Mark Erelli - Volunteers
MP3: Mark Erelli - Five Beer Moon
MP3: Mark Erelli - Baltimore (live at WRSI)

» markerelli.com
» myspace.com/markerelli