Roger Waters says he was ‘in awe’ of one talent David Gilmour used on The Dark Side of the Moon

A surprise talent from guitarist David Gilmour left Roger Waters “in awe” of his bandmate while Pink Floyd recorded The Dark Side of the Moon.

The veteran bassist remains complimentary of his ex-bandmate despite the bad blood between the pair, saying in an interview given to Uncut Magazine that the guitarist would “follow his instincts” when in the studio. Gilmour, who provided lead vocals to many of the songs featured on The Dark Side of the Moon, was also responsible for some of the all-time greatest guitar solos. Speaking with the outlet in 2007, Waters would heap praise on the Time and Money guitarist, saying it was the instincts that guided Gilmour to the iconic melodies that keep Waters in awe of the veteran performer. The pair would work together in Pink Floyd until Waters left the band in 1985. They would perform together just a few times more after he left the band.

Waters said of Gilmour’s talent: “Dave is a great singer. He has a very acute and sensitive ear for harmony. A lot of those double tracks and the harmonies where he sings through The Dark Side of the Moon… or on lots of the records – I sat back while he did that and he’d follow his instincts and produce these great harmonies. I was always somewhat in awe of that. It takes great talent to be able to do that, and it’s something that I really appreciate.”

Waters would also confirm he and Gilmour’s differences of opinion in the studio had them put aside a very different version of a hit song from The Wall. Waters said: “There was an argument. We cut the track, sent it to Michael Kamen in New York, who wrote and recorded the string charts.

“They sounded fantastic, almost the best thing that Michael ever did. I love it. Dave said he thought the track was sloppy, or something, and he wanted to recut the drums, the bass, this, that and the other.

“At this time I was working in Jacques Loussier’s studio doing vocals because we realised that we had to split the work up. Dave was still in Bear Studios, doing keyboard. He recut the basic rhythm of the piece and stuck it together and went, ‘There you go.’

“I listened to it and I hated it. It had suddenly become, for me, very wooden; just not moving at all. And that was the big argument. I went, ‘No, the way it was, was great. This is bad.’ He said, “No, the way it was, was terrible. This is great.’ So the song ended up with four bars of his and four bars of mine… the whole track is like that. It was a weird sort of bargaining thing between he and I.”