Pink Floyd update: “Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?”

EMI have no answers and no clue when it comes to questions put to them by Pink Floyd fans

Pink Floyd and EMI are hoping that some of the most devoted fans will open their wallets next month and spend hundreds of pounds on the new Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here Immersion Editions and the Discovery Box Set.

However, it has become apparent that they have no interest, or even more worryingly, are not able to answer some basic questions about the Pink Floyd archive or future release plans. These were questions from you the fans, submitted to EMI by superdeluxeedition.com.

The former shows disdain for the very people they wish to sell their product to, while the later would indicate that at least 9 months into this process they have no idea what they have and how they plan to use it.

We had consolidated a list of almost 100 questions from our previous post, down to a more manageable 22. People close to the band have been superbly helpful – engineer Andy Jackson came back on the same day with answers to some of your questions. But the corporate machine that is EMI took almost a month to reply and answered only one question out of the list of 22.

Let’s be clear, we didn’t get a “don’t know” or “it could happen” with the other questions, they simply would not, or could not answer. We were not necessarily expecting a detailed response to all questions, but we’ve highlighted five (below) that were asked by many people, and were generally speaking, broad enough to warrant some kind of response.

FIVE KEY PINK FLOYD QUESTIONS THAT EMI CANNOT / WILL NOT ANSWER

• Why is there no 5.1 mix of The Wall in the forthcoming Immersion Box spec? No one seems to  know, EMI cannot provide any answers. James Guthrie may or may not have it in his schedule…a big mystery.

• Will any of the other quad mixes from the 1970s be released in the future? EMI cannot provide any answers.

• Do high quality In The Flesh tour recordings exist? EMI could not answer – meaning they do not know if these recordings are in the archive, never mind if they will ever be released.

• Will Immersion Editions of other albums be released? They will not commit to any future Immersion Editions. No even a guarded “quite likely”.

• What is the “array of digital formats” ? Six weeks before Dark Side of the Moon is available for purchase there are no details forthcoming. Are we getting MP3s, FLAC, Apple Lossless, WAV files? Who knows?

None of these questions should be difficult to answer. This blog has attempted to manage a conversation between the fans and the record company. But only one side wishes to talk.

We are very disappointed at this apathy towards some genuine and enthusiastic fans. If you share this disappointment, then please let us know by leaving a comment and giving us your thoughts.

To anyone at EMI who might be reading this – it is not too late to engage with the fans and provide some answers. Contact me on [email protected].