1996 - Broken China

[The Piper]

Release date: Autumn 1996 (UK)

Recorded and composed at: Studio Harmonie, France

"To all those brave enough to face their past"

The cover by Storm Thorgerson shows a woman diving as it were into a depression and as a result being shattered, broken in pieces, while the back of the booklet shows the rising from that depression. Broken China is a four-part song cycle, dealing the theme of surviving depression, and it was, according to Wright's own words "inspired, sadly, by my personal experiences with a close friend which was suffering from depression." Wright turned to Anthony Moore to write most of the lyrics.

Rick Wright: "I wanted to express my feelings about what I was seeing. It wasn't a healing process, as such, as I wasn't the person suffering, but it made me come to terms with my own feelings about what I was witnessing. I feel very confident about what I've done with Broken China. I'm proud of it. I like it a lot and I'm now having to live with it. There are already a few little things I might have changed, but not nearly as many as I thought there would be. This has really given me a lift. Next year I will be doing another album or possibly a film soundtrack. If the Floyd happens again, it happens, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. In the meantime, I am going to continue writing."(August 1996, interview by Mark Blake, copyright by EMI Records Ltd.)

Tracks:

• Breaking Water (Wright/Moore)
  
  [02:28]
• Night of a Thousand Furry Toys (Wright/Moore)
  
  [04:22]
• Hidden Fear (Wright/Gordon)
  
  [03:28]
• Runaway (Moore)
  
  [04:01]
• Unfair Ground (Wright)
  
  [02:22]
• Satellite (Wright)
  
  [04:07]
• Woman of Custom (Moore)
  
  [03:44]
• Interlude (Wright)
  
  [01:17]
• Black Cloud (Wright)
  
  [03:19]
• Far from the Harbour Wall (Wright/Moore)
  
  [06:10]
• Drowning (Wright)
  
  [01:38]
• Reaching for the Rail (Wright/Moore)
  
  [06:31] Vocals by both Sinead O'Connor and Rick Wright.
• Blue Room in Venice (Wright/Gordon)
  
  [02:47]
• Sweet July (Wright)
  
  [04:13]
• Along the Shoreline (Wright/Moore)
  
  [04:37]
• Breakthrough (Wright/Moore)
  
  [04:20] Vocals by Sinead O'Connor.

Musicians Featured:

• Richard Wright: Vocals, Keyboards and Programming
• Anthony Moore: Computer Programming, Arrangements
• Manu Katche: Drums
• Pino Palladino: Bass
• Dominic Miller: Guitars
• Tim Renwick: Guitars
• Steve Bolton: Guitars
• Sinead O'Connor: Vocals on "Reaching for the Rail" and "Breakthrough"
• Kate St. John: Oboe, Cor Anglais
• Sian Bell: Cello
• Paz Palladiono: Backing Vocals