“Roger was always taking much of his frustrations out on Rick and I slowly observed Rick’s resolve breaking over the years. Somehow, I don’t think he liked being a punching bag. Who would?
I remember when each of them had been gifted Cartier watches. Later, we were all sitting by the pool, having lunch at Roger’s house in the South of France, while the band was there to record The Wall. Some of us rented a home while the Floyd recorded their next creative cycle for the album. Roger was in one of his moods, and he asked if he could look at Rick’s watch. As Roger was holding it in his hand, he leaned over the pool and dropped it in the water. Rick said nothing. Roger’s expression on his face was one of silent satisfaction. He had won that round.
I think on that day, I began to lose my tolerance for the psychological games they often played between each other for fun.”
~~Ginger Gilmour, Memoirs of the Bright Side of the Moon
“We had a studio in the south of France where Rick was staying. The rest of us had rented houses 20 miles away. We’d all go home at night, and we’d say to Rick, Do what you like, here’re all these tracks, write something, play a solo, put some stuff down. You’ve got all evening, every evening to do it. All the time we were there, which was several months, he did nothing. He just wasn’t capable of playing anything.”
~~ David Gilmour, Mojo, May 1994
Wright: I wanted to work, but Roger was making it very difficult for that to happen. I think he was already thinking of trying to get rid of me.
Ezrin: I saw it happening and it really made me quite ill. I felt that so much pressure was being put on Rick that it was virtually impossible for him to live up to expectations. It was almost as though he was being set up to fail. Under the circumstances, I don’t see how anybody could have survived.
