Recently, David Gilmour, the seventy-eight-year-old multi-instrumentalist and singer of Pink floyd he performed at Circus Maximus in Rome, during a series of concerts tied to the release of his new solo album, “Luck and Strange”.
It's certainly not Gilmour's first time in Rome, but there was a truly special one. It happened when in 1969 Metro Goldwyn Mayer called Pink Floyd for the soundtrack of “Zabriskie Point”.
We are not entirely sure whether Gilmour was present in Rome on that occasion, but he certainly contributed to the creation of the sound materials produced by the band, which were then collected in an unofficial album.
The “value” of Pink Floyd
In recent weeks the media have returned to talking about Pink Floyd not only for Gilmour's tour, but above all for another significant event: Sony has acquired the rights to the entire catalog of the band for $400 million.
Despite the well-known disagreements between Gilmour and Roger Waters, that have lasted for four decades, Sony has succeeded in reuniting the rights to the band. A previous attempt in 2022 had failed.
After having acquired, for a similar sum, the rights to the catalogues of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd represented the last missing link for Sony to reach and cross different generations.
Roger Waters' Activism
The Roger Waters, bassist of Pink Floyd and considered the heir of experimentalism of Syd Barrett and the original spirit of the band, has returned to the center of attention in Italy in recent weeks.
For the national team's soccer match with Israel, he sent a vibrant protest for the choice to play the match. Waters is a radical supporter of the Palestinian cause, to the point that some accuse him of anti-Semitism.
For 2024, Waters had planned a world tour, “Under the Rabble,” a Israel's complaint about Gaza. On his social channels he posted a video of himself recording a demo of the song of the same name.
However, the idea of the tour, which also included some Italian stops (Naples and Rome were mentioned), was abandoned because it was too divisive in light of what was happening in world public opinion.
In the 2023, the Russian government had invited Waters to address the UN General Assembly to present the “real” reasons behind the war in Ukraine. His positions partly reflect Russian propaganda.
But what interests us here is not so much his geopolitical ideas, but a particular event that happened in Rome in the winter of 1969, which saw Roger Waters, who now lives in Switzerland, among the protagonists.
Antonioni's obsession with music
Like Kubrick, Antonioni was obsessive in choosing the music for his films, considering them the other side of the story. He was always looking for experimental sounds and avant-garde composers.
An example is “La notte”, where he uses dodecaphony and ambient sounds for the scenes shot in Milan and Giorgio Gaslini's free jazz for those in the nightclub and in the villa in Brianza.
For the “Zabriskie Point” soundtrack, Antonioni had toyed with the idea of Rolling Stones, but MGM couldn't afford to cover the costs of such a band, being already over budget by a considerable amount.
While filming “Blow-Up” in London, the director had the opportunity to hear the Pink floyd attending one of their concerts and also meeting the band's manager, Steve O'Rourke.
O'Rourke received an invitation from MGM, but asked for a fee so high that it made the major's executives blanch. But Antonioni's iron determination in wanting the English band won him over.
So, let it be Pink Floyd
In the spring of 1969, Pink Floyd were in a particular phase of creative transition, after the exit of Syd Barrett and the entrance of David Gilmour. They were looking for a new musical identity.
MGM's offer for “Zabriskie Point” was an opportunity to consolidate it after “Ummagumma”, the double album from 1969. Working for Antonioni would have given him the notoriety necessary for this purpose.
Il group arrived in Rome on November 16, 1969, but there was very little time available: the film was due for release the following Christmas and Pink Floyd had to compose the soundtrack in a very short time.
The director had asked for an original score that would not overwhelm the images of some sequences: the opening scene, the incidents on campus, the take-off and the flight over Los Angeles, the love scene and the final explosion.
Pink Floyd offered to compose, however the entire soundtrack of the film, and Antonioni, confident and optimistic, strangely agreed. It had never happened in any other film by the director that the music had a single author.
He had one brought to him camp bed in the recording studio so as not to miss even a minute of the sessions. His constant, active and critical presence, however, did not have the effect hoped for and sought by the director.
Too much English
Antonioni, meticulous and obsessed with control, began to enter a state of increasing irritation and nervousness. The band's first sessions produced nothing usable, at least from his point of view.
The musicians played, yes, improvising without a precise direction and without a clear connection with the narrative needs of the film. This chaotic approach, distant from Antonioni's expectations, began to agitate him.
Then the music came like a river in flood: Pink Floyd composed four hours of material. However, from the first chords of progressive rock that Antonioni heard, the director began to doubt his choice.
He felt that the music had a too “English” imprint for the film's subject. In particular, he was not entirely convinced by the seven versions composed by Waters for the love scene in the desert.
The slow-paced, seven-minute sequence, featuring naked bodies rolling down the dunes of Death Valley like a ballet, represented the libertarian spirit of Californian counterculture and the hippie experience.
“Love Scene”, Waters’ first psychedelic and dreamlike song, was eventually abandoned by the director in favour of a less experimental composition by Jerry Garcia, guitarist, singer and leader of the Grateful Dead.
The music of the Californian band reflects many of the ideas and values of the counterculture, including free love, the contestation of consumerist society and the search for transcendent experiences.
Eventually
In early December 1969, Pink Floyd returned to London convinced they had composed the definitive soundtrack for the film. They continued to work on it at Abbey Road Studios before sending eight tracks to the production.
However, Antonioni had not said yes to the songs composed by Pink Floyd. When it's not yes it's generally no. In fact, in the meantime the director from Ferrara had explored other solutions.
He eventually decided to include only the following in the final soundtrack: three songs by the band. Many of the other compositions remained unpublished or were published in later collections or used as bases for other pieces.
He also rejected “The Violent Sequence” a magnificent piece written and set to music by Richard Wright for the police beating on campus. The piece later reappeared as the melodic basis of a very famous piece “Us and Them”.
For the final climax with the explosion of all the symbols of the affluent society Antonioni opted for the re-arrangement of an old piece of the group, “Careful with That Axe, Eugene”, renamed to “Come in Number 51, Your Time Is Up”.
The eight original pieces prepared by Pink Floyd are known as “The Zabriskie Point Lost Album”, the lost album of Zabriskie Point. They are included in the 2 CDs of the unofficial collection “A Total Zabriskie Point Of View – The Complete Collection".
If for Antonioni the experience did not achieve the desired effect, for Pink Floyd it was a crucial moment turning point, which pushed them to experiment with new instruments and sounds, as evidenced in their later works.
All experiences, even the most complex and problematic ones, bring with them an enrichment, even for us who only read about them or see them even after many years.
