1981 - A Collection of Great Dance Songs

[The Piper]

Ordering Information
Release date: 23 November, 1981

Pink Floyd had achieved mammoth success with Roger Waters' concept piece, The Wall (which would be in production as a film for some time). However, none of the band members were willing or able to fulfill the record companies' requests for follow-up material in time for the lucrative Christmas season, so David Gilmour compiled this LP to fill the gap instead. Its title and brief tracklisting underscored the irony of Pink Floyd releasing their "greatest hits" — pretty strange practice for an album-orientated group. Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd essentially superseded this release twenty years later, so Dance Songs may only be worth newer fans' interest for its Hipgnosis-designed sleeve artwork and some minor deviations from the original recordings, including unique versions of "Another Brick in the Wall, Part Two" (combining an extended introduction from the original single version with a longer ending taken from the album version) and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (with Parts I through VII edited down to less than eleven minutes).

Most curious of all is the updated recording of "Money" on this album. Capitol did not grant permission for Columbia Records to release material from the original Dark Side of the Moon, so Gilmour and James Guthrie produced a copycat rendition that features David playing all the instruments (except Dick Parry's sax solo). Some markets even released this oddity as a single, with the curse word judiciously edited out. Roger Waters was reportedly not pleased with this blatant cash-in on the band's previous successes.

Tracks:

• One of These Days (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)
  
  Vocals by Mason.
• Money (1981 Version) (Waters)
  
  Vocals by Gilmour.
• Sheep (Waters)
  
  Vocals by Waters.
• Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Edit) (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)
  
  Vocals by Waters and Gilmour.
• Wish You Were Here (Waters, Gilmour)
  
  Vocals by Gilmour.
• Another Brick in the Wall, Part II (Waters)
  
  Vocals by Waters and Gilmour.

Musicians Featured:

• David Gilmour: Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards, Drums (on "Money"), Bass (double-tracked with Roger Waters on "One of These Days")
• Nick Mason: Drums, Vocals (on "One of These Days")
• Roger Waters: Bass Guitar, Vocals
• Rick Wright: Keyboards
• Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams: Vocals (on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond")
• Stéphane Grapelli: Violin (at the end of "Wish You Were Here")
• The Children of Islington Green School: Vocals (on "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II")