The April 2015 edition of German rock magazine Eclipsed (just published) includes the result of their work on the Top 150 Concept Albums - 'The Big Ranking', and with thanks to BD regular Michael Nickel we have more details for you.

The Eclipsed team distilled the 150 relevant or most appropriate albums, from a compiled list of 500 concept albums, and then decided on the final order. Pleasingly, and not entirely surprisingly, Pink Floyd came in at the coveted number one spot, with 1979's double album The Wall.

The band did well in the poll, as did solo works from Roger Waters, with the following further entries:

No 6 - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
No 12 - Wish You Were Here (1975)
No 21 - Roger Waters - Amused To Death (1992)
No 26 - Animals (1977)
No 89 - Roger Waters – The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking (1984)

Our thanks to Michael for the info about this latest poll...

Pink Floyd emerged winners yesterday in the 2015 Echo music awards, in the category for Best International Rock/Pop Band, and broadcast on Das Erste ("The First"), or Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen ("First German Television"), which is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany. The Echo awards are run by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. Winners are determined by the previous year's sales.

The Floyd's recent album, The Endless River, was up against Coldplay (Ghost Stories), The Common Linnets, Sunrise Avenue (Fairytales - best of 2006 - 2014), and U2 (Songs of Innocence), but emerged the winner as announced by German band The Scorpions (who of course started Roger's 1990 The Wall Live In Berlin concert).

As you can see in the video (which comes with a German voiceover) Nick does express a certain disappointment at not winning the Best Newcomer category, but he does state how thrilled he was that The Endless River was acknowledged, particularly as it formed a tribute to the late Richard Wright. Praise is also given to the record company (which is now Warners) for their part in the album's success, and to the German fans for their constant support.

You can view the video of Nick receiving the award through this link.

Way back in March 2010 we updated you on the result of an auction which had on offer a recording session with Jon Carin, renowned producer and musician for the likes of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, and David Gilmour, which was won by BD regular Mark Owen Nutto.

Mark told us then that "recording with Jon was a blast and it was much more than I expected it to be. Up front, I had a little apprehension, so I'll tell you a few things of my experience that [others] might find of interest. After winning the auction, I sent Jon three of my songs, in a demo form, and he provided guidance on the one he thought best for recording. I sent him the song in a Pro Tools file in advance of our recording session. When the day finally came to record in a professional studio in Manhattan NY, I didn't quite know what to expect, as I have never hung out with any “rock stars” before. Would he bite off the head of a bat like Ozzy Osbourne? How was the song going to turn out? How much time would we have?

"Well, Jon is quite the professional, not only on how he approaches music, but on how he conducts himself. Musically, it was quite interesting on how he built the song up by recording tracks that started with a shaker track, then moved on to tambourine, snare drum, bass guitar, Kurzweil keyboards, lap steel, harmony vocals, and lead and rhythm guitar played with his trusty Gibson Firebird. It was quite amazing on how, in the space of a few hours, Jon built the song up until it became a quite beautiful and moving song. The next day was spent on mixing in Pro Tools HD and Jon went at it again using DigiDesign plug-ins and his expert ear.

"All along the way he was asking me what I thought and was open to any suggestions and input I had. In addition, Jon was relaxed in talking about all things Pink Floyd and even gave me a pointer or two on guitar playing. When I was a 15 year old lad, it was listening to David Gilmour's leads on Shine on you Crazy Diamond that led me to pick up guitar playing and subsequently to become a huge Pink Floyd Fan (saw the Animals, Wall, MLOR, Division Bell, and all the solo tours). So now, a few decades down the road, having an opportunity to record with a member of Pink Floyd is a dream come true and in some ways completes a full circle."

Well, the CD - Pavlov's Chalkboard by The Unemployed Teachers - is now available to buy, having been released at the end of 2014, and features special guest appearances by Jon Carin (on guitars, vocals, keyboards and percussion!) on Running With The Wind, and Greg Hawkes of The Cars, on Little Child. It's a really interesting album, quite heavily acoustic but with a variety of instrumentation used throughout. There's one track which is reminiscent of Wish You Were Here, betraying Mark's love of the Floyd! You can order it now from Amazon.com and also CDBaby.

Released at the tail end of last year, by ACT Music, was the album Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon, by Nguyên Lê with Michael Gibbs and the NDR Bigband.

The idea behind a new reading of Pink Floyd's 1973 classic album came from ACT director Siggi Loch and NDR producers Stefan Gerdes and Axel Dürr, whose radio Big Band is no secret for jazz fans. Their idea was bold and aimed at linking tradition with today, combining Michael Gibbs – composer and arranger – with Nguyên Lê, a guitarist known for jumping stylistic borders. Lê draws on influences embracing all continents, and is painted with colours drawn from jazz, rock, and a kind of world fusion permeated with light.

Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon demonstrates this well, with the album not just covered, but adapted, and expanded in places they felt it was needed for their own experimentation. We heard all sorts of different sounds and influences in it - and at times, it felt like some of the late, great Frank Zappa's more jazzy pieces. Certainly makes for an interesting difference and we're all for novel and unusual interpretations of Pink Floyd's music.

You can order this album now through these direct links: Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon Espana and Amazon Italy.