When Tony Levin played with Pink Floyd

During an interview with Vulture, the bassist Tony Levin he explained how he helped David Gilmour to carry on i Pink Floyd after leaving the band Roger Waterscollaborating on the album “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” published in 1987.

The 78-year-old mustachioed American musician said: “David Gilmour asked me to play bass on the album after Roger Waters had left the band, thinking it was over. I wasn’t part of any of the band’s internal intrigue, I was just excited to enter that world trying to play in the appropriate way for the context of Pink Floyd but also to remain somehow myself”.

Levin explained that there was some difficulty adapting to the style of the Pink Floyd “I remember one occasion when I had to do a long repetition of notes and I played a few more.

I’m not talking about a fast bass riff, I’m talking about a couple of notes. After the take, when we gathered to listen, David said smiling, ‘Tony, in Pink Floyd you don’t have to do those extra notes.’ I had the right idea, but I had done it too quickly. He was silently telling me, ‘You don’t know it, but we do.’”

About his collaborations – Tony Levin has worked with David Bowie, John Lennon, Stevie Nicks, Tom Waitsjust to name a few – in 2022 Mitch Lafon asked him if he approaches every project the same way or if he prepares differently for each one. The rocker responded by arguing: “Good question. I don’t have that thing of saying, ‘I’m Tony Levin.’ I probably don’t wake up and think, ‘Well, I’m me, and this is the way I am.’ Usually, I want to go in and listen to the music. For example, I hadn’t listened to Genesis before playing Peter Gabriel’s music. I hadn’t heard of Robert Fripp yet I heard King Crimson. I’m not an expert on Pink Floyd, but I actually listened to them a little before going into it, mostly for fun, before starting the recording session So yes, somehow it’s a combination. I don’t have any thoughts like, ‘It’s me and I have to do this.’