Aubrey Powell is reflecting on Pink Floyd’s imperial phase: the enormous successes of Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Specifically, he is considering the impact these achievements had on his old friend, David Gilmour. “When he first made money with Pink Floyd, he bought a little old farm. He had two shire horses on it. It was beautiful. Humble. You could go round any time of the day and there’d be somebody like Steve Marriot or Jerry Shirley around: a lot of interesting people. That’s where he discovered Kate Bush. But he’s never been the rock star, never.”

Presumably such a becalmed environment provided a welcome retreat from the demands of Floyd; particularly, the increasing psychodramas dominating Roger Waters’ final years with the band.

“David appears to be laid back but he’s a very determined person,” notes Phil Manzanera. “He’s like a dog with a bone when he wants to do something. He’s no push over and its not surprising that Roger maybe found him tricky. He’s got his opinions. Even though he won’t necessarily shout them out, he’ll quietly assert them.”

“David is stubborn, by his own admission,” adds Po. “When Roger decided to fold the band, David and Nick said, ‘Hang on a second. This belongs to us all of us.’ So David decided to fight for it. There was a lot of soul searching. It was a very painful time.”

From a distance of 30 years, Gilmour himself can now afford to be relaxed about the battle for ownership of Pink Floyd. But tellingly, his responses to questions about that period are delivered with a certain formal, lawyerly tone. “From the moment Roger sent his letter, in December, 1985, to the record company saying that he forthwith was no longer a part of Pink Floyd, we felt we were released and we could start to look forward to making an album.”

What were the pros and cons of assuming creative control of the Floyd?

“You’d have to be a bit mad when you know the difficulties,” he reflects. “We were down to a two-piece for a while, Rick having gone his own merry way for reasons that have been explained in great length and tedium before. So getting Rick and Nick back in were important. It was a tricky old period of time. There’s a myth that at some point we decided to turn a David Gilmour solo album into a Pink Floyd album. That’s not strictly correct. There were a few pieces of music that I had that helped us to get started. It’s a good album, it’s got some really good moments to it.”

“David was extremely anxious when they made Momentary Lapse Of Reason,” says Po. “That first tour they did, David was extremely concerned they’d be able to crack it, especially in America, without Roger. Of course, it was phenomenally successful for them. Then they went on with Division Bell, which was Pink Floyd back to where it had been in the Dark Side Of The Moon days, but without Roger.”