'The Black Knight featuring The Fishermen' - Copenhagen, Denmark - August 1st 1988

Sound Quality : B- (Sound guy sucked)

Performance: C+ (unplanned, odd selection of tracks, what can you say)

Overall: 2/5 Storage

I figured I would start with some very strange for my reviews and this fits the bill, see the info at the bottom of the post but basically on the MLOR tour in '88 the band played a little impromptu jam session at a club in Amsterdam. The backing vocalists from the tour did the singing on all tracks. The vocals are strong but sadly the guitar work (as mentioned in notes) really gets drowned out most of the time. I love Gilmour yelling at the sound guy but he never gets it right.

For me this just has novelty value, its good to see the band let their hair down and have some fun, I wish the song selection would have been better though, more blues tracks would have good but that is just my taste, I know Dave can belt out a great blues number. My other problem with it is way too much sax, a problem which I also had with the sax on Delicate Sound Of Thunder, Scott Page is a good saxophone player but it way too over stated, Dick Parry who played on the original DSOTM and also the Pulse tour is much more refined and that sound works a lot better.

The stand out track for me (again because of my taste) is 'Blues' - Track 3. Dave's guitar work is still drowned out but he gives a lot of feel.

Other notable mentions  - Track 4 is a medley of various tunes, including a rap section, this is certainly surprising to say the least, Durga McBroom does a pretty fair job throughout the track and also Track 5, it is cut off but has some good guitar work from Dave.

Ultimately I probably wont ever listen to this again, not my taste and not good enough sound quality to pull out the blues track either. To sum it up, if you like Floyd and you like this kind of music, go for it - otherwise walk on by.

First review in the books, more to come. Something more conventional next time I think.

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The Black Knight featuring The Fishermen 

Copenhagen, Denmark - August 1st 1988 

(HHOCD001)

This CD contains a previously unreleased mixer board recording of the Floyd performing as ìThe Fishermen at a night club in Copenhagen on the early morning of August 1st 1988 (The Floyd played at Gentofte Stadium in Copenhagen on the evening of July 31).

The performing artists for the night include David Gilmour (who speaks), Rick Wright (having some difficulties with his Keyboard), Jon Carin, Guy Pratt, Gary Wallis, Scott Page, Durga McBroom and an unidentified second singer. We are not sure if it's Margret Taylor or Rachel Fury.

The band performs several R'N'B covers such as Respect, Can't Get Enough of Your Love and Superstition. The quality of the tape is generally in very good condition, with a fair amount of tape hiss, which we decided not to remove. 

Heres a bit of the story: 

On the morning of August 1st 1988, several members of the touring Pink Floyd was invited to a small party at Annabels Night Club (Lille Kongensgade 16 at Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen.).

This party was arranged by the Danish branch of EMI, most likely as a Birthday party for the Floyd's personal security manager Barrie Knight. The low-key Fishermen gig was most likely not a planned event. Like so many times before The Fishermen seem to have taken to the stage using the in-house equipment, in a spur of the moment.  The reason I guess this is because the person at the mixer board spend the first 20 minutes of the show

struggling to get the different levels up. Guitars, vocals and piano (specifically) go

up and down to a point where the otherwise, silent, David Gilmour, barks at the person at the mixer board.

The set for the evening consist of the usual Fishermen set of old Rhythm and Blues and Motown classics, including Aretha Franklins Respect and Rock Steady and the unique rendition of Sugarhill Gangs Rappers Delight (First and only time you will hear the Pink Floyd play rap music).

The tape was bought on Ebay two months ago from a seller claiming to have gotten the tape from people working for the Danish branch of EMI. The tape also looks to be the original recording. However we believe it to be a 1st or 2nd gen recording.

Tracks:

1. Respect

2. Can't Get Enough

3. Blues

4. My Girl

5. Rock Steady - Rapper's Delight - Le Freak - Rock Steady

6. Master Blaster

7. Superstition