David Gilmour is ‘thrilled’ Pink Floyd discography is ‘out of his hands’ after sale to Sony

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A sale between Sony and Pink Floyd has left guitarist David Gilmour “thrilled”, but not just because of the finances.

The lucrative $400million sale was finalised last year, with fans receiving a much-needed release of Pink Floyd at Pompeii earlier this year. But it’s not the financial implications which Gilmour is delighted by, but the “peace” it has brought him. Gilmour says the fact these archival releases are now “out of his hands” is a relief as he no longer has to butt heads with former musical collaborator and Pink Floyd founder, Roger Waters. The bassist and Gilmour have rarely seen eye to eye in recent years, with their last performance as a band together now twenty years ago. A reunion certainly isn’t on the cards, and if it were, the chances of it coming to be are very slim. But the band selling their discography means the pair are no longer fighting about which songs are and are not released.

Speaking to Rolling Stone Magazine, Gilmour confirmed the deal had lifted a weight from his shoulders. He said: “The entire Pink Floyd catalog, as I say, these desk tapes, all sorts of stuff is now out of my hands. Whatever Sony wants to do with it is what will happen.

“And I’m thrilled to not have that responsibility and to have a life that is more peaceful and at peace with itself than all the arguing and aggravation that’s gone along with helping to curate that over the last 40 or 50 years. I don’t make any suggestions to them and if they want to ask me anything they undoubtedly will.”

Gilmour would also admit that getting on the same page with former bandmates Waters and Nick Mason is “certainly” a challenge. An infamous example of this butting of heads is an Animals remaster from 2018, which was not released until 2022.

Waters would claim liner notes written by Mark Blake were a point of contention for Gilmour, who refused to sign off on the release unless it was removed. He said: “Gilmour has vetoed the release of the album unless these liner notes are removed.

“He does not dispute the veracity of the history described in Mark’s notes, but he wants that history to remain secret. This is a small part of an ongoing campaign by the Gilmour/Samson camp to claim more credit for Dave on the work he did in Pink Floyd, 1967-1985, than is his due.

“Yes he was, and is, a jolly good guitarist and singer. But, he has for the last 35 years told a lot of whopping porky pies about who did what in Pink Floyd when I was still in charge. There’s a lot of ‘we did this’ and ‘we did that’, and ‘I did this’ and ‘I did that’.”