Roger on guitar video (around 1968/1969)

[aspanishdavid]

Found on Tumblr. I haven't seen this before, anyone knows what is this from? thanks!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/10de25df...14to1_400.gifv

[aybesea]

Nice one! I've never seen this either.

[Alanko]

It is a brief clip from a bewildering jump-cut filler piece from French TV. I think it's the clip paired with that brief mystery studio cut of Reaction in G, but I could be wrong. I've not seen it for a long time and can't now find a copy.

At a guess it is taken from a rough copy of some backstage footage from their Tous en Scene performance. The white Strat and length of Roger's hair makes it later in 1968 than the Bouton Rouge footage. It could be from 1969 but I can't think of a French TV appearance where they used their own equipment.

[RarePinkFloyd]

At first I thought it was an extract from the broadcast of the "hot spot" programmes of 24 August and 7 September 1974. This would explain the quality of the tape.



During this programme, extracts from the French TV broadcasts of 6 September 1968 were shown.
We can see on the photos taken backstage that this corresponds to Roger's look (with his scarf)



And on the second photo taken on the set with loosely the same decor.



However, the drumheads (with the pink Pink Floyd logo) do not match what he used during his appearance (here at the Theatre 140 in Bruxelles)



In fact, the sequence comes from the opening credits who include two very short clips of David and Roger (interspersed with 'other footage') in what looks like a test-shot of the cameras as the band rehearses (or passes the time). Some have suggested that this may be a clip from the famous UK programme "For schools and college - Science Fiction: Let's Make Pop" recorded on 17 December 1968 at EMI Studios and broadcast on the BBC on 5 March at 2.05pm. What pleads for this hypothesis is the late-1968-Roger's look (length of his hair and his scarf), the late-1968-gears used (David's white Strat, Nick's drum head) and the background behind Waters which looks like one of the rooms of the recording studio as it was at the time (the glass of the control room is clearly visible). Finally, it was not uncommon for French and British TV (ORTF and BBC) to exchange musical sequences for their own broadcasts (the French programme Discorama of March 1968 uses a sequence of the band miming Paintbox on a BBC set for example).
The opening credits is visible on my Vimeo Page:

(the Roger's sequence begins at 00:25)

[Alanko]

I can get behind that theory! The audio of 'Lets Make Pop' is that studio session where they play the intro of Cirrus Minor and a bit of More Blues?

Cirrus Minor reuses a guitar passage from 'Roger's Boogie'. In the Let's Play Pop audio it sounds like that guitar part is played on an electric guitar. Therefore, Roger maybe played it on Dave's Stratocaster for the sake of the programme, having composed the defending guitar line?

A total stretch; and I wonder why David is seen on the studio floor in that longer clip.


Edit: found the audio here: https://youtu.be/ZHXBgSKmrNk

After the Cirrus Minor intro section there is some piercing, heavily echo's slide guitar bursts. I bet that lines up with the footage of David on the floor with a slide and his Binson Echorec.

[goldenband]

Wow, I think this is the real thing. Play the following YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/kKDbkbU4OjQ?t=218

And start the Vimeo video at the cued time of 3:38. Everything lines up: the guitar slides, the cut to the engineer saying "We'll take it again, Roger", the reel-to-reel startup, and the transition to the shot of Roger on guitar. I think this is legit. Amazing!

[Alanko]

Cue the inevitable question... is more of this footage languishing in a French TV archive?

[escapist]

With credit to the detectives in this thread - I have sync'd the audio and video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDtcM6uyXh8

It's insane to think that this has been hiding in plain sight for so long. I remastered the audio back in February 2014 and shared on Y! It's great to put it (or at least part of it) to some video, despite the short length.

[neonknight]

Great minds think alike. Here's another version. Again using the 2014 escapist restoration (a better analogue to digital transfer of marbal's tape was shared by me on Y in November 2015). My video source may differ slightly to the Azerty Vimeo. I have also added some previously unpublished facts about the session to my post.

https://youtu.be/A0VnE3Lfn1g

[Alanko]

This looks pretty definitive! The footage runs a bit fast as Roger appears out of sync in both clips. Too marks to both of you for quickly scrambling into action.

What looks a bit like him abruptly stopping is likely him hitting the low E string after the descending arpeggio passage, which happens in the audio just after the videos at the moment.

The guy chilling in his car is presumably totally unrelated footage!

[neonknight]

The guy chilling in his car is presumably totally unrelated footage!

I'm sure you're right 😁

It's not my area of expertise and I did a 20 minute job on the film, and gave more thought to the text. For the sync, I think I did quite well with the sliding notes at the beginning, control room, "Right we'll take it again Roger...", and the click as the head of the reel to reel recorder engages.

If anyone here wants to attempt a more professional job they would be welcome to use my 2015 transfer of marbal's tape.

[escapist]

The sync on the guitar playing was bugging me, but it could be that the audio was never sync'd in the first place. Especially when he appears to stop playing and the notes in the audio don't appear to match what is being played.

All this does make me wonder if maybe the BBC would have ever licensed the original film to France (maybe it could have been dubbed and turned into a French schools program!) I wonder if the BBC archive could hold the answer to such a question? If they kept it for at least another 5 years for compiling Point Chaud, who knows where it could have ended up! The sequence was clearly kept intact rather than doctored or recut.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I think you're right : French location and studios, BBC dubbed movie with their own logo.

[Chorale]

Nice detective work!

There's a messy film join with a visible glue line just before the shot of the tape machine, which looks similar to the edit out of the BBC material at the end. Maybe Point Chaud clipped a bit out of the BBC footage at that point, which would knock the end out of sync again? (Perhaps hiding a VTR offlock, since the picture wobbles vertically for a few frames after that...)

I assume there's also an uncropped 4:3 version of the video around somewhere, since the GIF version shows more picture at the top and bottom?

[neonknight]

You're right about the 4:3 version Chorale and therein lies a lesson in how I shouldn't have rushed and completed the edit in 20 minutes because that's exactly the version I started with! Here's a replacement link:

https://youtu.be/40EbwIelX48