Pink Floyd - “Chit Chat With Oysters“ - December 1971 (Studio Europa Sonor, Paris, France)

A previously unreleased interview from December 1971 of Pink Floyd at Studio Europa Sonor in France, is now available in full on YouTube for the first time. Only a few edits had to be made, consisting of cutting out some of the Live at Pompeii footage due to copyright. Big thanks to Adrian Maben and Cinémathèque Française for this release! You can find the original 52 minute video here: Notes: In December 1971, Pink Floyd found themselves in the small Europa-Sonore studio in Paris to improve the quality of the multi-track mixing of the film Live at Pompeii, shot by Adrian Maben. With recording engineer Charles B. Raucher, they wanted to overdub music and sound effects on the original soundtrack. David Gilmour and Richard Wright doubled their voices for the song Echoes, part I and II, Roger Waters and Nick Mason remaining in the booth. From the eight tracks recorded at Pompeii, they obtained twenty-four. This film is a portrait of the group as it was more than a year before the release of the album The Dark Side of the Moon. It bears witness to one of the most fruitful periods in its existence. The recording session was filmed with a Coutant camera on 16mm black and white reversal stock. The rushes were found again by the filmmaker and are now preserved at the Cinémathèque française. They have never been seen except for a ten-minute excerpt used in the director’s cut of Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. Adrian Maben goes back over this experience: “I succeeded in filming this session that bears witness to the extraordinary complicity that existed at the time between all the members of the group. They made fun of me, of journalists’ clichés, the public, drugs and themselves. They were the kings of understatement, their dry humour was devastating, destabilizing and merciless. Especially that of Roger Waters. Richard Wright, more discreet, kept a bit apart from the others. Later on, he acquired the nickname ’The Quiet One’. It was a long day. To give themselves strength, they sent the ’roadie’, Chris Adamson, out to buy a few dozen oysters and beer at the Brasserie Lorraine. Suddenly, the oyster feast became the epicentre of a hilarious, explosive conversation. They talked and talked: Pompeii, computers replacing musicians (or not), the arrival of David Gilmour after the departure of Syd, oysters crossing national borders, the Berlioz chorale, money and the astute methods they had invented to stop fighting! In short, there was a bit of everything and anything for a half-day of shooting. It must be understood that, at that time, Pink Floyd did not speak to the public, never gave interviews. For them, newspapers were devoid of interest, journalists were old and understood nothing about their music. Publicity was useless because their concerts were always sold out, word of mouth sufficing to fill the halls. This simple, amusing document is unique. The rushes did not require much editing and capture the inner spirit of the four-man band. All things considered, Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii could be shown after Chit Chat With Oysters, one being the counterpart of the other. Is this a film, a reportage or putting a disc into pictures? Forty years later, I still don’t know.“