Mammoth New Pink Floyd Remasters On The Way

Pink Floyd have announced a schedule of reissues, which kicks off on 26 September, encompassing CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, SACD, an array of digital formats, viral marketing, iPhone Apps and a brand-new single-album 'Best Of' collection.

The releases, under the banner "Why Pink Floyd...?", are designed to appeal to first time listeners who can enjoy the standard remastered releases, while super-deluxe box sets will cater for the more "dedicated" fans, with alternate takes, unreleased tracks, restored live concert screen films and a live recording of the legendary The Dark Side Of The Moon performance at Wembley in 1974.

In addition to individual remastered CDs called 'Discovery' and the 'Immersion' CD / DVD / Blu-ray / memorabilia box sets will be a series of 'Experience' Editions – coupling one classic album with a further disc of related content from that album to offer a "deeper listening experience".

Storm Thorgerson, the band's longtime Art Director, has overseen the visual design, including new booklets for all the CDs, new artwork for the box sets and menus for the DVD content. Respected photographer Jill Furmanovsky, has edited books of original unseen photographs. Pink Floyd collaborators James Guthrie (in the US) and Andy Jackson (in the UK) have been in charge of digital remastering to the highest audio and audiovisual standards. Pink Floyd film archivist Lana Topham has supervised the painstaking restoration of many historic films from Pink Floyd's classic era, included in the 'Immersion' box sets for The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

First to be available on 26 September 2011 will be:

The expanded deluxe and special edition versions of The Dark Side Of The Moon in a 6-disc 'Immersion' box set and 'Experience' 2-disc versions, as well as a collectors' vinyl LP and various digital formats.

Plus all 14 studio albums, digitally remastered will be available separately or as a brand new box set.

On 7 November 2011 Wish You Were Here will be released as 'Immersion' 5-disc and 'Experience' 2-disc editions, both of which will include bonus material from the band's 1974 Wembley dates, including a 20-minute live rendition of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', as well as a unique recording of 'Wish You Were Here' featuring the legendary jazz violinist, Stephane Grappelli. A collectors' vinyl LP will also be available, as will various digital formats.

Released at the same time will be A Foot In The Door - The Best Of Pink Floyd, a collection of their most well known songs, contained on one album for the first time.

The long-awaited 5.1 SACD version of Wish You Were Here, mixed by James Guthrie, will also be released via independent label Acoustic Sounds.

The Wall will then get a huge reissue on 27 February 2012, with deluxe packages including a 7-disc 'Immersion' set and a 3-disc 'Experience' edition.

If you need to get a decent Pink Floyd fix before all that, though, then you could do worse that heading over to the British Music Experience this month for a brand new exhibition.

To coincide with Roger Waters' The Wall shows at The O2 Arena, The British Music Experience and Rockarchive have gathered together a huge selection of images both of and inspired by the band's music from the mid 1960's to their Live 8 reunion in 2005.

The exhibition includes rare images of reclusive founder Syd Barrett by Mick Rock, artwork from Storm Thorgerson/Hipgnosis studio, as well as a candid images by Jill Furmanovsky, who has opened up her largely unseen archive to cast light on the dynamics in the band as they record Wish You Were Here at Abbey Road and the Dark Side of the Moon tour in the UK in the mid-70's.

Entrance to the exhibition is free for every Roger Water ticket holder and guests will have an exclusive opportunity to view the entire British Music Experience for just £5 (usually £10). The exhibition runs from 11th May until 11th July.

You can find out more HERE