Some great news for a number of you - Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets have just revealed more dates for their 2022 Echoes Tour. There are no less than twenty six new dates, taking place in the US and Canada.

Tickets for the newly announced shows, detailed below, go on sale through the links given in two waves. Broadly speaking the first half of the tour goes on sale Friday, October 29th, with the exception of the Philadelphia date, and the Cincinnati date, which both go on sale the following Friday, November 5th, with the rest of the dates. We suspect tickets will sell quickly, as they are playing a number of relatively small, and more intimate, venues than some artists would tend to go for, with some of the venues being particularly historic and beautiful!

NEW NORTH AMERICAN DATES:

• 18 January 2022 - Massey Hall, Toronto, ONT, Canada - TICKETS Oct 29
• 19 January 2022 - Théâtre St-Denis, Montreal, QC, Canada - TICKETS Oct 29
• 21 January 2022 - Shubert Theatre - Boch Center, Boston, MA, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 22 January 2022 - Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, RI, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 24 January 2022 - Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 25 January 2022 - Merriam Theater, Philadelphia, PA, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 26 January 2022 - Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, PA, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 28 January 2022 - Beacon Theatre, New York City, NY, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 30 January 2022 - The Anthem, Washington, DC, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 1 February 2022 - Springer Auditorium, Cincinnati Music Hall, Cincinnati, OH, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 2 February 2022 - Akron Civic Theatre, Akron, OH, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 4 February 2022 - The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 6 February 2022 - Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI, USA - TICKETS Oct 29
• 8 February 2022 - Stifel Theatre, St Louis, MO, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 9 February 2022 - Cannon Center For The Performing Arts, Memphis, TN, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 10 February 2022 - Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, Kansas City, MO, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 12 February 2022 - Texas Trust CU Theatre, Grand Prairie, TX, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 15 February 2022 - Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 17 February 2022 - Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix, AZ, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 18 February 2022 - The Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 21 February 2022 - Balboa Theatre, San Diego, CA, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 23 February 2022 - Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, CA, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 24 February 2022 - Fox Theater, Oakland, CA, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 26 February 2022 - Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 27 February 2022 - First Interstate Center For The Arts, Spokane, WA, USA - TICKETS Nov 5
• 28 February 2022 - The Orpheum, Vancouver, BC, Canada - TICKETS Nov 5

Following on from the successful June release of Still Wish You Were Here, a project that gathered various classic, prog and art rock musicians together to cover that album, the people behind it have brought together a similar mix of musicians to cover Pink Floyd's 1977 album, Animals. Animals Reimagined - A Tribute To Pink Floyd is set for release on November 19th, 2021, on both CD and digital with a vinyl version coming in 2022.

The previous album, Still Wish You Were Here - whilst dividing the Floyd fanbase - got a number of plaudits for its approach to the music, and with its success it is no surprise that another of the Floyd's albums would undergo the same treatment.

As before, a fairly diverse line-up can be heard on the album, with the likes of jazz-rock guitarist Al Di Meola, psych-rock godfather Arthur Brown, world renowned drummer and percussionist Carmine Appice, UFO's Vinnie Moore, Bauhaus's David J, Dream Theater's James LaBrie, the legend that is Rick Wakeman, and Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet all coming together to give their unique flavour to this magnum opus.

For a taster, you can hear their version of Dogs, a 17-minute version sung by Rainbow's Graham Bonnet with Vinnie Moore on guitar, Utopia's Kasim Sulton on bass, Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess on keyboards, and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto. Click here for your choice of streaming service to hear Dogs.

Arthur Brown (best known for his band The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, and their UK and US hit single Fire) gives a particularly spirited performance on Sheep, which if you know Arthur, won't come as much of a surprise!

Here's the track list, with the names of the musicians playing on each of them:

1. Pigs On A Wing 1 - Nick van Eede (Cutting Crew) & Martin Barre (Jethro Tull)
2. Dogs - Graham Bonnet (Rainbow), Vinnie Moore (UFO), Kasim Sulton (Utopia), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) & Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson)
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones) - James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Al Di Meola, Joe Bouchard (Blue Öyster Cult), Patrick Moraz (The Moody Blues) & Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
4. Sheep - Arthur Brown, Rick Wakeman (Yes), Jan Akkerman (Focus), David J. (Bauhaus) & Carmine Appice (Cactus/Vanilla Fudge)
5. Pigs On A Wing 2 - Jon Davison (lead vocalist for Yes), Albert Lee & Billy Sherwood (Yes)

If this has intrigued you, orders are now being taken through the following links, which help us out with the ongoing running costs of Brain Damage without costing you a thing - and we really appreciate the help! The album will be available on CD in a 6-panel deluxe digipak, digitally as MP3 files, and a vinyl LP is coming next year (but not yet available to order).

The new issue (number 120) of the UK's Shindig! Magazine is in stores now, and as its cover picture shows, has an item of interest to Pink Floyd fans.

Within the pages of the magazine is an eight page feature looking at the Floyd's work over their early years creating accompanying music to a range of films, with a focus on Peter Whitehead's Tonite Let's All Make Love In London, Barbet Schroeder's More, Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point, and Schroeder's La Vallee (which lead to the album Obscured By Clouds). There's the odd mention of other work they did (such as touching on The Committee).

The article is an interesting summation of their work on these films, how they approached the writing of the songs, and how the recordings were done - in some instances, with very little time to come up with suitable music to accompany the onscreen action, or with demanding director's who dismissed each offering with a different criticism..

Elsewhere in the magazine are features on XTC's Andy Partridge, Dion, and The Move. It's in all good UK stores now, and available to purchase online worldwide via Silverback Publishing's website.

In an upcoming auction at Cheffins Auctioneers in Cambridge a range of Syd Barrett items are going on sale. One of the items - a 12-string Yamaha acoustic guitar - is being sold with all proceeds being split between Mind, the mental health charity, and the Arthur Rank Hospice. It's being sold by his nephew Mark Barrett.

Mark said the guitar was stored with his father, Alan Barrett (Syd’s brother) after the Hills Road house was sold in 1974 but Syd "never collected the guitar". Alan continued to store it over three subsequent house moves, eventually offering it to Mark after Syd's death. Mark told the Cambridge News that "I finally collected it from my father's house in November of 2020, shortly before he died. Unfortunately, I never got to know my uncle Roger, though I would have loved to, but he was a recluse in his later years." The guitar has a serial number of 1090448 with a date code for October 21st 1969. There's a (surely extremely low) selling estimate of £5,000-10,000 for this instrument.

There are five other, quite diverse items for sale in the auction. There's a mono copy of Piper given to Viv 'Twig' Brans, Barrett's girlfriend in the mid-1960s (estimate £300-500); a pair of wall-mounted spotlights from Barrett's basement studio in Hills Road (estimate £100-200); a garden table and two folding chairs (estimate £200-400); a programme for a school production which included Barrett as 'Tom Twist' along with a school photo from May 1959 featuring Barrett, Roger Waters and Storm Thorgerson.

The last of the six items is believed to be the final artwork created by Barrett before his death in July 2006. The watercolour and pencil drawing - Still Life With Lemons And Green Bottles - is initialled and dated "RB Jan '06", and measures approximately 30cm x 42cm. It was found at his home in St Margaret’s Square, Cambridge, where he lived for the last three decades of his life. Initially sold during the auction of the contents of his home in 2006, it is now being sold by a private collector. It has a pre-sale estimate of £4,000 - 6,000, again a figure we suspect is extremely low and expect it to sell for much more than this.

There's also another item that might be of interest - a pair of Jokers Wild business cards, one with David Gilmour's name and old phone number on it. These have an estimate of £100-200, and can be seen here.

The auction will take place on Thursday October 28th at 10am. For more details visit Cheffins.co.uk. Our thanks to all those who contacted us about this sale!