Nick Mason is best-known as the drummer, sonic fiddler and unofficial\/de facto archivist of Pink Floyd. (He currently leads his own group, the amazing Saucerful of Secrets.) But his interests and passions have long extended beyond the Floyd. Mason \u2013 who is in fact the only musician to have appeared on every single Pink Floyd recording dating back to its 1966 beginnings \u2013 has also been a racing car driver, automobile collector, author and \u2013 most relevant here \u2013 record producer. Over the years Mason has lent his behind-the-recording-console skills to a surprisingly varied array of artists. In honor of Nicholas Berkeley Mason CBE \u2013 who celebrated his 80th birthday on January 27 \u2013 here are five tracks from among his notable production credits.<\/p>\n
Robert Wyatt \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m a Believer\u201d (single, 1974)<\/strong>
\nJazz-leaning Soft Machine were contemporaries of Pink Floyd in the earliest days, with the two groups often sharing bills. Some years later when drummer Wyatt launched a solo career, he enlisted old pal Mason to produce a number of recordings, including this non-LP single, a faithful cover of the Neil Diamond pop song popularized by The Monkees. Note than in this video from Top of the Pops<\/em>, Wyatt is singing from a wheelchair; paralyzed by a fall from a window; he didn\u2019t let that stop him from continuing to make music. And that\u2019s Nick Mason behind his Pink Floyd drum kit.<\/p>\n