Friendship and music for the collaboration between Gilmour and Manzanera

Friendship between Phil Manzanera, guitarist of Roxy Music And David Gilmourformer member of Pink Floyd, It has deep roots that date back to over fifty years ago. Their first interaction dates back to the 1960s, when Manzanera was an emerging young guitarist.

Over the years, their friendship has evolved into significant musical collaborations. Gilmour has transformed a demo song by Manzanera into “One Slip“, present in the 1987 Pink Floyd album,”A Momentary Lapse of Reason“.

Subsequently, Manzanera co-produced Gilmour’s albums “On an island“(2006) and”Rattle That Lock“(2015), in addition to contributing with acoustic guitar and being one of the producers of the Pink Floyd album”The Endless River“Of 2014.

Manzanera recalls their first meeting and how, after entering Roxy Music, he restored contacts with Gilmour. “I met David for the first time at the age of 16 and then I started my career,” remembers Manzanera today. “Five years later I entered the Roxy Music and I got closer to him when I heard Chris Thomas who mixed the album “Dark side of the moon“At the Air Studios in London, where we were making the second album of the Roxy Music. I entered the control room of Studio Due and there was none of the Floyd. There was only Chris and made me listen to the song ‘Money‘. When I heard the guitar solo, I thought: “Jesus, it’s fantastic! So I sent a telegram to David saying:” Do you remember me? Now I am part of a band called Roxy Music “and we have restored the contacts. So I have known him for a long time”.

Since then Manzanera, who entered Gilmour’s circle, has been able to assist closely to his development as guitarist. “I saw his style evolving all the time,” he says. “I remember that the first time I heard the guitar solo of ‘Another Brick in the wall, part 2’ I thought: ‘Cabbage, how the hell did he do?” “Syd Barretthe was more experimental and outside the box than David and not so oriented to the blues – he points out his friend Phil – but David brought a sort of blues sensitivity to the Pink Floyd and then he had to do experimental things. So he evolved in his own way, creating strange and wonderful sounds. ”

When Gilmour started working on his third solo album, he invited Manzanera to contribute to production and play in three songs. Manzanera also participated in the Gilmour tour, which allowed him to appreciate his friend’s execution technique. He noticed that the sound of Gilmour derives not only from the distortion and echo, but also from the way in which the notes sounds and from his attention to the aging. Gilmour is described as a guitar master, with a unique use of the lap steel, which stands out in the musical context in which it operates.

Gilmour’s search for perfection extends to every aspect of his music, from writing to recording. Manzanera, in an interview with Guitarplayer, explains that Gilmour has a palette of guitars and that he dedicates time to recreate the sound of his demo, using both digital recorders and high quality amplifiers (“Valve amplifiers and expensive stuff” as Manzanera says).

Their collaboration is based on the confidence of the Ricipoca sound research and in the musical taste of both “Gilmour has a clear vision of what he wants. And this is how we worked together, finding the meeting point between the demo and the finished product. Because David knows what he wants.”