Binson Echorec and Pink Floyd

July 30, 2012, 11:57 am

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Binson Echorec

Check out this shot of the Binson Echorec. This is the Holy Grail of the Pink Floyd Guitar Sound; first, Syd Barrett used one to amazing effect and then David Gilmour. The Echorec 2 was manufactured by Binson between 1961 and 1979. When Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in early 1968 he continued with the same setup Syd Barrett had been using for some years, – Telecaster, Selmer amps, Vox Wah Wah, Fuzz Face and the Binson Echorec 2.

The Echorec is a amazing piece of engineering! The engineers invented their own unique magnetic drum storage unit that offered superior reliability and stability over 1/4″ tape used in all other tape echo units. The mixing and amplifier circuitry is an amazing combination of functionally and reliability – there are 7 miniature B9A tubes inside the unit. All the tubes inside the unit are still readily available being manufactured today.

Please go HERE to read more about Syd Barrett's gear.

 

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Pink Floyd Alexandra Palace 7-29-67

July 30, 2012, 7:20 pm

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Pink Floyd Alexandra Palace

Pink Floyd Alexandra Palace - London, 7-29-67 with The Animals, Brian Auger Trinity with Julie Driscoll, Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Creation, Tomorrow, Blossom Toes, The Nervous System, Apostolic Intervention, Sam Gopal Dream, Ginger Johnson Overhead Lightshow. 

Another in a long line of largely forgotten 60s events, overshadowed by the more well known 14 Hour Technicolour Dream, which was staged at the same venue and on the same date in April.

Pink Floyd played their set as scheduled despite reports of Syd Barrett being "indisposed" - due to sitting in the dressing room in a state of catatonia. The band had to travel to the venue from Norwich, where they had played earlier in the evening.

Fortunately we have this excellent eyewitness report from Mike Godwin of Bath which clears up this matter...

"Yes, the Floyd did indeed play at that gig. However, it was the first Floyd performance that I had attended where I picked up any intimation that all was not going well in the group, as they played a notably uninspired set - a real contrast to the 'Games for May' show where they were at their stunning peak." 

To read more about this show go HERE.

Rick Wright Gets His Due in Early Pink Floyd

August 13, 2012, 4:14 pm

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Rick Wright

THIS ORIGINALLY STARTED OUT AS A POST IN THE AMAZING MADCAPS LAUGHING FACEBOOK GROUP. JOIN THAT GROUP HERE. WRITTEN BY VICTOR:

[Think I initially put this on my Timeline which means it reached friends that don't have the slightest idea what they received...I know long posts tend to get ignored but when I begin to type I just cun't stop meself.]

While Kiloh has some interesting ideas re: the Floyd getting back together again with Waters, Nick, Dave and a new keyboardist it just will never be my old Floyd without Syd and Rick. The following is a mixture of the old and some new and is rather lengthy so do with it what you will!

Rick's definite jazz influences which I think went largely unnoticed for several reasons, not the least of which was the "push" for the band to continue that "trippy" track it found itself on. But he had to do it all alone after "Piper" because after all Syd was "gone", Mason had no leader and Waters' ego had yet to truly discover itself.

SFOS was Rick's album and the "FUSION" direction in which the Floyd were headed was dead after Syd went north for his long, cold loving winter. Gone were the Miles Davis, T. Monk, Copeland influences and entered the J.S. Bach-Baroque style that carried Mathew Fisher/Procul Harem and several other acts of the time. But one of the many "tragedies" of Syd's demise was Wright's concomitant musical loss of altitude...the incredible improvisational excursions that Syd and Rick took off on Pow R Toch, Stethoscope et.al., were unprecedented and can only be described as a mixture of Rock and Jazz unlike anything done before...and were simply left on the vine....think of the chronology of the "rock-fusion" genre....what were it's roots, it's beginnings?

When was Piper released? October of '67?...I'm probably wrong on this exact date but my point is that Richard Wright and Syd Barrett were the driving force behind the very first album by a band that really embraced both true jazz influences and rock music. Rick Wright was an unquestionable pioneer of the rock/jazz fusion "movement". Take away the gnome and matilda stuff (which I cherish just as much for different reasons) and Piper was a new kind of experimental jazz rather than a "trippy" melding of "weird" sonic machinations with jazzy underpinnings. Plus the MOFO rocked. I just can not agree with Kiloh that Syd's Piper was a step down from Arnold Layne and Emily and was the next stepping stone down the road to Syd's ultimate descent into madness.

Contemporarily it had no equivalent. The live jams of Cream wouldn't come until later and were no match for what Syd and Rick were doing years earlier anyway...

In madcapslaughing@yahoogroups.com, "julianindica" wrote:
Wright had working knowledge of cello, trombone, guitar and violin. Largely self-taught, like Barrett, Wright learnt to play scales and chords in his own idiosyncratic fashion. Wright had grown up entranced by jazz and classical music,
listening to Duke Ellington and Aaron Copeland. He taught himself to play while laid up with a broken foot. Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis' 1959 masterpiece, [i]Kind of Blue[/i], featuring John Coltrane on saxophone and Bill Evans on piano, was a seminal influence. The modal structures of that album were to prove a key influence on Wright's keyboard style.

Wright told Mark Blake, `When I was first in The Floyd I wasn't into pop music at all - I was listening to jazz and when The Beatles released `Please Please Me' I didn't like it at all. I thought it was utterly puerile.' Growing up in the days before rock and roll, Wright listened to classical music before getting into traditional jazz players like Humphrey Lyttelton and Kenny Ball. `Then I discovered Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue album and got very excited. Porgy and Bess is a brilliant record - the nearest thing to a trumpet made to sound like the human voice. The influences in The Floyd came from different areas. Syd was more into Bo Diddley; I had the more classical approach.' When time came to play with Wright, they would find their interests dovetailed well. Barrett's glissandi circling clusters of sparse root chords played by Wright.

Wright's keyboard style had a unique melancholic grandeur. He had an ear for exotic sounds, bringing in Middle Eastern Phrygian scales into his mix. Never one to play lightning fast or pound the notes out, Wright conjured up his unique style with patience. What was left out was as important as what stayed in, and Wright took a calm and methodical approach. The influence of Davis sideman Bill Evans introspective, melancholic piano was strong. Modal jazz had minimal chords and relied on melody and intervals of different modes. A slow harmonic rhythm opened space in the music, in contrast to bebop's frenzy.

Wright would develop a strong interest in the splinter free jazz movement, listening to Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk's albums. Add to this his taste for classical composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Béla Bartók and there was an interesting and unusual convergence of styles in Wright's playing.

Wright's organ proved an ideal counterpoint to Barrett's guitar. Pink Floyd's core sound stemmed from Wright as much as Barrett. Wright has not received proper credit, often matching Syd note for sustained note. Wright became intuitive and agile, with a strong melodic sense, his languorous chords contrasting with flurries of scales. Jenner: `That Farfisa and all the pedal notes and sustaining chords he used combined with the echoes from Syd, who was much more sparkly.'

Wright accompanied rapid alternating fluid leads and cacophonous textures in Barrett's guitar playing. Barrett would switch to static rhythm while Wright unleashed colour washes. Composer Phil Salathé says, `Wright's approach was highly scalar, often built from chromatically-inflected modal forms that remained more or less stable throughout a particular solo. Barrett, by contrast, favoured direct chromaticism, taking a set of pitches from a particular scale or mode and transposing them by fixed amounts, most often a semitone.'

Wright used, in his words, `chordal progression and melodic lines just above them' to weave his web. Wright incorporated Charles Mingus' radical innovations like pitting flatted-fifth intervals outside the chord, out of context, creating floating intervals that suggest their presence without a literal presence inside the chord. Wright would play the `blue tones' with his right hand, articulating a tone foreign to the home key, Say, an E-flat, while his left hand held down simple progressions in C.

Wright learnt much of this from playing along with pieces such as Aaron Copland's [i]Four Piano Blues[/i], which incorporate these and similar devices. The implications of bitonality would appear and disappear like a mirage. Together, they used dissonance as suggestion, with chord sequences that hover at the edge of resolution, or resolve on the most unexpected chords. Salathé notes, `Indeed, one
of Wright's most enduring virtues is his penchant for surprising and non-stereotyped harmonies, and much of this probably derives from his early exposure to this music.'

Wright added, `American classical composer Aaron Copland's 1962   'Appalachian Spring ' is his most famous work. I discovered him back in the late '60s after hearing something on the radio. Like all my favourite music, there's something in his material that touches me. I think it's the chordal progression and the melodic lines just above them that do it for me here - and it's very peaceful. When I listen to the stuff that I've played over the years I feel I've been heavily influenced by Copland, albeit subconsciously.'

As Gilmour said, 'Rick Wright was the soul of Pink Floyd.' A
sublime musician, whose elegant and economical melodic lines are a sonic marvel, Rick Wright will be sorely missed.

   

Set of Nine Pink Floyd Fillmore 1967 Tickets

August 14, 2012, 7:40 am

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Pink Floyd Fillmore

Check out these nine Pink Floyd Fillmore 1967 tickets from their run in San Francisco. Actually, one set is from the Winterland. The first American tour was a disaster from the beginning. A first set of dates, scheduled for October 22 to November 1, had to be canceled when the band failed to get their work permits ready on time. Bill Graham was furious with the screw up and canceled dates, and threatened to ban the group for life if they didn’t make it back for the next set of shows. They returned to the Britain and did one off-gig as long as they were waiting around 10/28/67 Dunelm House, Durham University, Durham, Co. Durham, England.

But the 'Floyd DID make it back! According to Peter Albin, bass player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, Pink Floyd were at the Fillmore on Thursday, November 2nd, but did not play that night because all of their equipment had not yet arrived.

Check out this quote from somebody who was there:

As I replied to Chris earlier in an e mail. I saw the HP Lovecraft & Procol Harum show at Winterland either Friday or Saturday 11/10-11/1967. The Posters & Handbills would place PF in SF for three weeks? From October 26 through November 11. Three separate weekends?

The show I saw was strange. My friends I were huge fans of "Piper" yet something was wrong that night. I think Syd found some LSD in SF. They played most of the entire Piper LP. “Interstellar Overdrive” went on forever. The sound was a mess, Syd was 10 times louder than his mates and he could not control the feedback from his guitar. I remember this distantly from my vantage point from the balcony. Syd looked really wasted and Roger (the Band) looked really embarrassed by his performance. The lights were done by "Holy See" which was incredible. Needless they dressed incredible in Velvet & Satin jackets and pants (Like all UK acts during this era)

I also asked my friend Jeff who also attended this show (he now lives in Georgia) He remembered which show as we both have Art Of The Fillmore book's which were never accurate with the bills that BGP would always change especially with British groups. I remember HP Lovecraft at this show but not Procol Harum. I didn’t see them until Fillmore West. (Somebody else played that night I'm pretty sure)

Sadly this show that I witnessed was a big letdown. I have never forgot how bad I thought they were. I'll be on the look out for any photos.

To read more about these shows go HERE and HERE.

I Hate Pink Floyd

August 27, 2012, 10:06 pm

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I Hate Pink Floyd

I Hate Pink Floyd. 

Custom Framing Phoenix: Phoenix Custom Framing of Pink Floyd LP Cover

September 6, 2012, 1:53 am

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Custom Framing Phoenix: Phoenix Custom Framing of Pink Floyd LP Cover: Check out this shot of Pink Floyd's first LP cover framed by Esprit Decor. This is a giclee print taken direct from the Photographer's negat...

Bernard White Letter About Syd Barrett

October 8, 2012, 2:53 pm

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2/8/1995 letter by Bernard White, to Mark Jones, about Syd Barrett.

Syd Barrett

Pink Floyd Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Chapter 7: The Wind in the Willows

October 12, 2012, 6:46 pm

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Pink Floyd Piper at the Gates of Dawn

An excerpt from Chapter 7 of The Wind in the Willows where Syd took inspiration for naming the Pink Floyd Piper at the Gates of Dawn album.

It should be noted that the two chapters of this classic that are most associated with Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Wayfarers, have been left out of some editions of the book and excluded from most adaptations.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn finds two of the animal characters in pursuit of Portly, the son of their buddy Otter who is, you guessed it, an otter. The pup has been missing for days and so the duo set out on the river by the moonlight seeking him along the shore. And then a strange thing happens on their journey: a beautiful melody overcomes them, leading them forward to a small island where they find the small otter laying at the feet of a Pan-like being, playing his pipes in the morning light. Before they see him, they hear the music and feel an undesirable sensation, described by Grahame:

Then suddenly Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror - indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy - but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very, very near.(Grahame 134-135)

Then the sensation vanishes as the sun rises, and the memory of it is all but erased from the three friends' minds. Still, they retain a shred of emotional recall:

...Mole stood still a moment, held in thought. As one wakened suddenly from a beautiful dream, who struggles to recall it, and can recapture nothing but a dim sense of the beauty of it, the beauty! Till that, too, fades away in turn, and the dreamer bitterly accepts the hard, cold waking and all its penalties... (Grahame 138)

Possibly Syd was moved by this book, and specifically this chapter, because it's an excellent example of what excites people in art, the invoking of some sort of transcendence, a breaking-through into another realm of existence which cannot be described in words, only suggested.

Here is some discussion on this topic from the Laughing Madcaps Facebook Group:

Victor Reyes: What a magnificently, prophetic allegory...Syd was genius...Andre is indeed correct....RKB's talent lies in leaving so many little clues and delightful phantasmagorical detours.

Rick Kilgore: Many offerings from those years have fallen to the side, but Syd's creations remain for me veritable wonderlands of continually rewarding exploration. And I had mentioned previously that this passage was like an allegory for my journey into that world between worlds. I just wish the illustration actually had the oars in Mole's hands instead of Rat's.

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Roger Waters' Muse - Syd Barrett?

October 17, 2012, 4:31 pm

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Syd Barrett

From Victor E Reyes in the Laughing Madcaps Facebook Group:

Roger Waters learned just about every thing he knows about music from Syd Barrett...Listen to the pristine brilliance of Piper and then the awkward imbalanced form of SFOS...How long did it take them to hit their stride again...Most people believe DSOTM was Pink Floyd's FIRST ALBUM. Which was an exploitative piece of shit that made a mockery of a man going through some very difficult times.

It's well known that the mention of the "old times" would give Syd anxiety attacks, unless his sister was fabricating the whole thing. Why do you think people were discouraged to quit their fucking stalking and camping on his lawn? Then Waters puts out this "dark" LP where lunatics were in the hall and on the lawn with the Boris Karloff or better yet Igor the hunchback laughter, making sport of it all, "you lock me up and throw away the key, there's someone in my head but it's not me." NICE one Waters...you don't think RW was wondering how Syd might take THAT one???
HAVE YOU GOT IT YET?

If that's not sufficient, let's tour all over the fucking world and paste your picture upon 20' screens and see how the world views you now?? If indeed RW thought Syd was Schizophrenic (and he has been quoted) then he is either one of the stupidest (read: IGNORANT) men alive or the cruelest, since the disease is one of the most insidious mental conditions known to medical science. I'd like to hear his explanation of this piece of artistic sadism, known as "Dark Side of the Moon" ( Where the reference has always been about lunacy, not Astronomy!)

WYWH is really a patch work of poor, poor Roger's feelings of alienation from other people (read I can't relate to the idiots of the world) plus his feelings about RKB's breakdown where he ultimately refers to Syd's "cold steel rail" as opposed to the beauty of "a green field"....or a" smile from a veil" ..."Do you think you can tell"? These sound like rhetorical sarcasms rather than any tribute I've ever heard. The song is a left handed slap to RKB's face. Tribute my ASS. RW admitted the inspiration for the song came from visits to his dying mother who kept calling him by his father's name on her death bed. "And did you exchange a walk on part in a war, for a lead role in a cage?" Is it possible that Waters' main influences were his father and Syd, and was tremendously angry with them both for leaving him? How the fuck should I know?? Do I look like Sigmund Freud?

Ultimately he segues into "Crazy Diamond" which has become, tragically enough, Syd's anthem. I prefer "Jug Band Blues" where Syd, in a gentlemanly manner, tells them basically to shove it up their collective asses!

"I'm wondering who could be writing this song"?

Pink Floyd Fillmore Auditorium 1967 Poster - Original Art

November 17, 2012, 4:17 am

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Pink Floyd Fillmore

 Check out this original art for the poster promoting the Pink Floyd's 11/26-28/1967 run of shows at the Fillmore Auditorium. These concerts featured performances by the Floyd along with Lee Michaels and Clear Light. This is a one-of-a-kind artifact from the psychedelic sixties. This Pink Floyd Fillmore original art is by Bonnie MacLean for the BG90 poster. It was also the first Fillmore appearances by Pink Floyd. This was the infamous 1967 US Tour by Pink Floyd where, it is generally accepted, that Pink Floyd decided that they had to DO SOMETHING about Syd Barrett. Bill Graham was so "impressed" with them that he didn't book them again until 1969.

This image is hand drawn in pen & ink on thick illustration board and measures approx. 19" x 25". The image measures a full 14" x 21"; exactly the same size as the poster. Original art for many of these psychedelic posters exhibits a much finer detail than the final posters themselves and this one is no exception. It must be seen it in person to be fully appreciated. The piece remains in precisely the same, beautiful condition as the day it was completed over 45 years ago. Here's a direct quote from Bonnie about the creation of the image: "This poster had a two-fold inspiration: 1. England and 2. the name Pink Floyd; the name inspired the choice of a male figure; the English influence came from the work of the artist, William Morris, famous for his paisley fabric designs, which inspired the pattern on the jacket." Bonnie signed the work "in the plate" back when she originally created it and she has signed it once more at lower right, just above the bottom crop line, in the manner in which she would sign one of her paintings. See the additional photos of the signature and of Bonnie signing it in her studio.

A bit of history: in a cosmic twist of bittersweet irony, Bonnie's former husband Bill Graham unexpectedly presented her with all of her original poster art as a Christmas gift in 1990. Tragically, Bill would perish less than a year later in a helicopter crash, on October 25, 1991. To the best of my knowledge, only a tiny handful of pieces of original art for any Fillmore poster have ever been offered to the public, for one simple reason....Bill Graham retained them all. They are now in the permanent possession of Wolfgang's Vault, never to be shared with the public.

  

Pink Floyd UFO Poster - Hapshash and the Coloured Coat

November 18, 2012, 6:57 am

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Pink Floyd UFO

Here's an original (first print) silkscreen poster (the layered inking around the little paisleys is obvious) that was printed in 1967 by Osiris Visions (OA114). It was designed by Hapshash & The Coloured Coat (Nigel Waymouth & Michael English), and was used to promote a July 28, 1967 Pink Floyd show at the UFO Club in London (where Pink Floyd was more or less the house band in the Syd Barrett days). This is an ORIGINAL and very rare 1967 Osiris poster designed by Hapshash and the Coloured Coat for the great Pink Floyd (with Syd Barrett) at the UFO Club in London. Original first printings of this heavily bootlegged poster are extremely rare (more info below) and of course the fact that it's a concert poster for Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd make this one of the most collectible posters by Hapshash in the Osiris series (the highly acclaimed and collectible psychedelic posters made in London in 1967/68, printed and distributed by the Osiris Agency. )

Commissioned by International Times to design posters for their underground UFO club on London’s Tottenham Court Road, Michael English and Nigel Waymouth were true creative originals, on a par with San Francisco’s famous Family Dog collective. Pink Floyd’s UFO performances before a sympathetic audience helped cement an increasing popularity. A week later, their first album ‘Piper At The Gates of Dawn’ was released.

Here's a (very) partial Set List from that Pink Floyd UFO show:

• Reaction In G
• Pow R. Toc H

This poster measures approximately 19 5/8" x 29 3/4", and is in good condition. I think the photo does an adequate job of displaying the various edge issues. This poster comes from the collection of Brad Rodgers and is the real deal. There are so very few of the true originals of this poster around (most are reprints).

Late in 1966 the London underground newspaper International Times held a launch party for their new paper. After the success of that event the promoters opened their own underground club, the UFO. Upon learning that other clubs in the US were printing posters for their events, they decided that this was a necessity for their events as well. In early 1967 Michael English was introduced to Nigel Waymouth and the two agreed to work together designing posters for these promoters. The two first chose the name 'Cosmic Colors', but produced only one poster under that  name. Next they chose the name 'Jacob and the Coloured Coat', but produced only two posters using that name. In about March of 1967 the settled on 'Hapshash and the Coloured Coat', the name by which they are best known. Around the time that the two began working together the International Times formed an off shoot company to handle it's poster design and printing for the UFO club and others, it's name was Osiris Visions. Included in this series of posters are a few that the various artists did before Osiris Agency was formed. Also included are a few posters by artists other than English and Waymouth. Most notably Martin Sharp, Mike McInnerney and Greg Irons. Osiris lasted until the fall of 1968 when the demand for all things psychedelic had completely dried up. Osiris numbered their posters in five different series using a variety of numbering schemes (including omitting one or several numbers at a time).

At present, there are a number of Hapshash and Osiris posters around that are, IN MY  OPINION, bootlegs. That is, they have been created well after 1967 and likely in the late 1990's in order to sell to an unsuspecting and unknowing public. These posters all have the following traits listed below, but the most obvious and telling trait is that they seem brand new, like they were made yesterday, (which they probably were). These are available from a variety of sources on e-bay as well as occasionally in the traditional auction house market although I've noticed that most of the reputable houses are no longer selling them.

The bottom line on these posters is that unless you are an expert yourself, or are incredibly sure of where a particular poster has been for the last 40 years you should assume that the poster you are buying is a bootleg. This holds especially true of posters bought on E-bay.

Here is a list of all of the ways to distinguish the bootlegs from the original printings..  These are  in no particular order of significance.

1. I've heard at least three stories about where these are coming from. The latest is the widow of one of the artists. Well, Nigel Waymouth and Michael English are both still with us so they don't have widows yet. I also heard the aunt of someone at the printer. I also heard the son of the aunt of the printer. None are true, they are being printed up this year.

2. The posters measure 19 1/2 by 29 1/2. Real ones come in at around 19 3/4 by 29 7/8 up to 20 by 30. This tells me that the process they are using to duplicate them causes some loss to the image size.

3. Fine details that exist on the first printings do not exist on these. I.E.  on the Tomorrow poster there should be more dots in the lettering than is actually there. There should also be more line detail on the bird. I have a white one that is for sure real to compare to and it is obvious that there has been some degrading in the image quality.  Further, on these there is quite a lot of spillover between the inks. Lots of silver on the black etc. There is no spillover on the originals. You can see each print run on the originals. I suspect these are printed in one run instead of the 2-4 that would be required the other way.

4. These posters are brand new. They are not Mint condition, they are brand new. There is not a single fold, crease, smudge, bent corner, wave, bend or curl. No matter how well they were stored over the years it's just physically not possible for them to all be perfect. I've picked up quite a collection of Hapshash items, and other paper goods for that matter, over the years and none of them come even close to being this nice.

5. The biggest problem to me though is the paper. It's not the right stock. It should be a little thicker. Not a lot, just a little. But where I know they're not right is when I turn them over. They are white as snow. Not off white, not faded white, but bright white. There is just no way that ANY paper produced in 1967 could look like that. It's impossible. Paper is made using various chemicals that will eventually cause it to age. No matter what. These haven's aged a bit. That's why I believe they are being printed this year. If you smell them they don't smell 35 years old either. They smell brand new. Go get your nicest LP from 35 years ago and smell it. It smells like it is 35 years old. That is a hard thing to duplicate.

6. The colors are just a little bit off. The Julie Felix that is around has an olive green through gold coloration. The one shown in Ted Owens's book is yellow. That is a big problem. Of course one vendor says that they "were all printed during different print runs" etc. etc. That's true, they were created in a print run 35 years later. Hah.

7. The Arthur Brown of the 500 series is on the same paper stock as all the rest basically. I have a Hendrix of the 500 series that is for sure real that is printed on more of a newsprint type stock. It has yellowed and looks like it is 35 years old.

8. The double size Pink Floyd at the UFO club is printed on the same paper stock as some of the others, that is: one side is plain white matte paper and the other is a semi gloss or "waxie" texture. What are the odds that the same paper stock would be used on a poster from 1967 and another from a couple of years later.

9. I've noticed that one of the key methods to determine a bootleg from an original is to look for any overspray of ink colors. On most of the bootlegs you can see a very fine overspray on colors. That is, there will be a very fine mist of one color on top of another i.e. black on top of silver or gold on top of black etc.

10. The other key method to determining a bootleg from an original is to see how many layers of ink there are, or how many print runs were required to print the poster. On the originals you can clearly see where one layer of ink ends and another starts or overlaps it. On the bootlegs it looks like the colors are all part of the same print run with no depth or layering.

  

Pink Floyd UFO 1967 Poster

November 21, 2012, 6:38 am

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Pink Floyd UFO

Pink Floyd UFO

I am now proud owner of this Pink Floyd UFO poster. It's off to be restored when I get it! This is a copy of my buddy's (framed) poster! Feast yer eyes!

 

Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire Guitar Up Close

November 28, 2012, 6:32 pm

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Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire

Syd was fond of many guitars during his career but the guitar that he admitted feeling "most close to" was his dynamically customised Fender Esquire and (almost in tribute) his successor in Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, used a sunburst Fender Esquire; which he later modified with an additional pickup. Syd’s Fender Esquire was refinished in metallicsilver and featured a series of 15 mirrored style metal discs stuck to the front of the body and on the scratch plate (this singular disc also featuring a small yellow sticker), giving the guitar an "other worldly"look that worked beautifully with the music that the group were producing at the time with the help of Syd’s Zippo lighter and some echo equipment. This guitar is known as "The Mirror-Disc Telecaster"but the mirror discs WERE NOT ACTUALLY GLASS MIRRORS AND THE GUITAR WAS NOT A TELECASTER! 

Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire

The Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire was created by applying a silver plastic sheeting which was shrunk into place (byheat), this was a material commonly used to insulate Radios and other electronic equipment.

The Silver plates (mirrors) were actually thin, polished, metal plates having a bit of an opaque reflectiveness (believe it or not these plates were a bit of a hippy fascination item in the 60's, people glued them to anything from doors, pants pockets to hats and car wheels! They were everywhere in London in the mid to late Sixties as the Hippy Era came in. You'd get little ones stuck on dresses, big ones on bags, they were stuck on hats, all sorts of stuff, because you could go into a "head shop", buy them singularly and stick them all over anything you wanted. Syd would polish them prior to shows to play with the light effects that Mark Leonard projected. Besides that, the only modifications he seemed to make to the guitar was the pickup height (closer to the strings makes the tone thicker).

Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire

It's a good question as to where the original is right now. As far as I read from several books, Syd once quoted that he gave it away for a black telecaster he ended up having (however rarely played, seemed he played it finally when he did his last gigs with 'Stars' before they split after about 3-4 gigs).

Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire

Rolling Stone has kind of an interview with Syd in Issue No. 98. December 23rd, 1971. He talks about his new guitar he bought and about the mirror disk esquire and tells where it went. This it what it says:

He produces a guitar and begins to strum out a new version of "Love You" from Madcap. "I worked this out yesterday. I think it's much better. It's my new 12-string guitar. I'm just getting used to it. I polished it yesterday." it's a Yamaha. He stops and eases it into a regular tuning, shaking his head. "I never felt so close to a guitar as that silver one with mirrors that I used on stage all the time. I swapped it for the black one, but I've never played it."

Syd, in another interview somewhere mentions (I paraphrase): "the discs had gotten worn".

Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire

Well yes, they would if you didn't polish them all the time, they're metal, they get roughed up, scuffed, and lose their reflective quality.

Syd Barrett Mirrored Esquire

Pink Floyd UFO Poster Being Restored

November 30, 2012, 7:56 am

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Custom Framing Phoenix: Pink Floyd UFO Poster - Phoenix Archival Framing: Phoenix archival framing Here's an original (first print) silkscreen poster (the layered inking around the little paisleys is obvious) of a Pink Floyd UFO poster. Click the above link to go to that blog post.

Pink Floyd USA Tour 1967 Itinerary

December 1, 2012, 10:19 am

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Pink Floyd USA Tour 1967

There has been a lot of discussion and speculation about the, ill-fated, first Pink Floyd USA Tour in 1967. The first American tour was a disaster from the start. A first series of dates scheduled for 22oct to 1 nov 1967 had to be canceled when the band failed to get their work permits ready on time. This resulted in the first week of shows being cancelled. Evidence shows they arrived in the US around the 2nd and left shortly after the 11/12 show so they only played 5-6 shows plus some TV appearances.

The tour of America was rife with stories of Syd's eccentric behavior. The band played on 'American Bandstand' and Syd refused to lip sync the words to 'See Emily Play'.  He stood facing the camera, lips impassively shut. Later, when the band were taken on a tour of Hollywood and reached the corner of Hollywood and Vine, Syd wandered about wide eyed and said, 'Wow! It's great to be in...Las Vegas!'  Syd was slipping into his (well documented elsewhere/everywhere) "problems"; no doubt accelerated by his prodigious consumption of LSD.

On a second TV appearance on the 'Pat Boone Show' the band played their song and Pat Boone came to banter with the band.  Boone's comments were greeted by silence with Syd who seemed to be staring straight through him.

Please remember that you can click on any document and view it in much larger size!Thanks to Mark Scobac for the newspaper clippings and advice.

PINK FLOYD USA TOUR 1967:

23 October      PF      Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA (cancelled)
24 October      PF      Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA (cancelled)
26 October      PF      Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA (cancelled)
27 October      PF      Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA (cancelled)
28 October      PF      Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA (cancelled)
28 October     PF     Dunelm House, University of Durham, Durham, England
30 October      PF      KPFA Benefit, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA (cancelled)
30 October      PF      Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA (cancelled)
31 October      PF      Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA (cancelled)
1 November      PF      Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA (cancelled)

I've never seen one ad for any of the three reported Whiskey shows in the LA area underground papers. The Cheetah show is in several. The Cheetah ad says ``On Sunday The Pink Floyd makes the L.A. debut direct from England''. According to producer Malcolm Jones, the Abbey Road Studio logs show Pink Floyd recording Apples and Oranges at Abbey Road Studios in London on October 30, and November 1, 1967.

2 November      PF      Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA (cancelled)

Peter Albin, of Big Brother, remembers seeing them backstage at the Fillmore but they did not play because all their equipment hadn't arrived.

3 November      PF      Winterland Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA

3 November      PF      Caves Club, Chislehurst Caves, Chislehurst, England (cancelled)
4 November     PF     Winterland Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA
5 November     PF     Cheetah Club, Venice, Santa Monica, CA, USA (Groovy, KHJ Channel 9 TV, broadcast 16 November) Two Shows. 

They did party with the Alice Cooper Group after the show at the Cheetah. John Speer said they played great but Syd was in poor shape after the show. The "other'' LA appearance at the "Cheetah Club'' in Venice (Santa Monica), on November 5th, is documented in print. A review of the show (wildly positive!) appeared in the LA Free Press newspaper. The reporter states that this gig is (was) the only area appearance for the band. Strange he should forget about the one at the Whiskey 4 days before...

Pink Floyd USA Tour 1967

Pink Floyd USA Tour 1967

6 November     PF     KHJ TV Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA (Pat Boone In Hollywood, KHJ Channel 9 TV, broadcast 4 December)

This is the most famous early Floyd TV appearance, even though it's never been since its original broadcast. Pink Floyd headed off to the States for a November tour, which was a disaster from the word go, with several dates cancelled and rescheduled due to to late arrival of of permits. Syd Barrett, suffering from what was later described as nervous exhaustion, failed to perform to any consistent standard, and the band were recalled to England. On this occasion, Barrett stared blankly at Boone during a Qand A session and later remained motionless as they mimed See Emily Play, his arms hanging limply by his side as he refused to mouth the words. Roger Waters spared Boone's embarrassment by stepping up to the mike.

The other show was Perry Como's show. Next to no details exist for that one save for a handful of vague memories that they mimed and Como spoke about them with his audience in a rather patronizing manner. It is possible this may still exist someplace, but been no sight nor sound of it.

7 November      PF      Cafe Au Go Go, Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA (cancelled)
7 November      PF      ABC TV Studios, Burbank, Los Angeles, CA, USA (American Bandstand, ABC Channel 7 TV, broadcast 18 November)

Dick Clark stated twice during his interview with the Pink Floyd on American Bandstand that they had only been in the country 2 days. This is an important piece of information because it contradicts the long standing belief that the American Bandstand appearance was on Monday, November 6th. Since American Bandstand was generally recorded on a Saturday (delayed broadcast was on Thursday nights), that would put the American Bandstand appearance on Saturday, November 4th, and Clark's comments would support the arrival date of November 2nd.

Also on the American Bandstand appearance, Dick Clark asked Syd Barrett how long they would be in the U.S., and Barrett replied that they were here for 10 days. Richard Wright also stated during this interview that they were going to New York. Since their New York date was at the Cheetah Club on November 12th, for them to be in the country for 10 days as Barrett indicated, they would have arrived on November 2nd. This second American TV performance followed the format of the previous day's show. After miming to See Emily Play the group participated in an insane question and answersession with host Dick Clark.

This was followed by a mimed performance of their latest single, Apples And Oranges. A poor qualityblack and white film of the latter song has recently surfaced but the rest of the show remains unseen since its original transmission. The visual evidence of Syd's wasted stat confirms that his days with the band indeed were numbered.



8 November      PF      Cage Au Go Go, Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA (cancelled)
8 November      PF      KHJ TV Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA (Boss City, KHJ Channel 9 TV, broadcast 11 November)
9 November      PF      Cage Au Go Go, Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA (cancelled)
9 November     PF     Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USA
10 November      PF      Cage Au Go Go, Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA (cancelled)
10 November     PF     Winterland, San Francisco, CA, USA
11 November      PF      Cage Au Go Go, Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA (cancelled)
11 November     PF     Winterland, San Francisco, CA, USA Fans remember this show.
12 November      PF      Cheetah Club, NYC

It is a factthat the band caught a flight back to NYC to play the Cheetah Club on 11/12/67 (see the Vanity Review below). Home would be 3,000 miles closer and they could make some money. There is anarticle from Variety Magazine talking about how the band did an hour long set at theNY Cheetah before going back to London. For those of you who need more "proof"; please see an actual eyewitness account to the Cheetah Club, NYC gig. Click on it to view full size. Thanks to Mark Scobac for clearing this up.

Pink Floyd USA Tour 196

12 November            Cage Au Go Go, Manhattan, New York City, NY, USA (cancelled)

By the way, here's info on Pink Floyd's other TV appearances (from Long Beach newspapers that list the Los Angeles TV channels).

Saturday, November 11, 1967, 6:00pm KHJ, ch. 9 LA
9 (C) 'Boss City'
Sam Riddle (host), the Standells, Pink Floyd, the Stone Poneys, Bobby Hebb.

Thursday, November 16, 1967, 6:00pm KHJ, ch. 9, LA
9 (C) 'Groovy'
Michiel Blodgett, Pink Floyd, the Clingers

Monday, December 4, 1967, syndicated series shown 2:30pm on KHJ-9 LA9 (C) 'Pat Boone in Hollywood'
George Jessel, Joanie Sommers. Pat Collins, Lou Holtz, the Pink Floyd

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Pink Floyd Tower Records Adverts

December 6, 2012, 6:37 pm

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Pink Floyd Tower Records

Pink Floyd Tower Records

Check out these two, Pink Floyd Tower Records, 1967 promo ads in newspapers about Pink Floyd. Remember that you can click on the pictures to view the image files in original size.

Tower Records, a subsidiary of Capitol Records, was in turnowned by EMI Records in England, issued Pink Floyd's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in the U.S., stripping it of its title and calling it just Pink Floyd, cutting off the songs "Astronomy Domine," "Flaming," and "Bike," and adding the recent single "See Emily Play." The result is a distortion of the Floyd's intent that, thankfully, has passed out of print and been replaced in the U.S. by the U.K. version of the album (Capitol C2-46384). Tower released Pink Floyd records between the years 1967 and 1969. There were a total of twenty seven different Pink Floyd records released on Tower Records (this figure is based on alternate label variations. If you count cover variations, there are more).

Title of track A3 printed incorrectly, instead of "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk".

Pressing Plant & Stamper/Matrix Information: (side 1 / side 2)
A) Capitol Records, Los Angeles, California
1) ST-1-5093 S-1546 / ST-2-5093 S-1547 (both written)
Release Date: October 21, 1967
Release Information: Original stereo issue. This is the U.S. version of the album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, with some songs replaced by others and the songs in a different order.

The promo release of this album is identical in every respect except that it has the words "Promotional Records" stamped in large letters on the back cover.

Songs:
Side 1: See Emily Play, Pow R. Toc H., Take Up My Stethoscope and Walk, Lucifer Sam, Matilda Mother.
Side 2: The Scarecrow, The Gnome, Chapter 24, Interstellar Overdrive.

Description:
Front Cover: Kaleidoscope picture of the band. In the upper right corner are the catalog number and the Tower Record logo. In the bottom center it says "Pink Floyd."

Back Cover: Syd Barrett drawing with album title, credits, and song titles. In the upper right corner are the catalog number and the Tower Records logo. At the bottom right is a number.

Back Cover Number: 6 or 14
Spine: Title. Catalog number.
Labels: Brown Tower label.

To the left of the spindle hole is the Tower Record logo.
Above the spindle hole it says "Pink Floyd."To the right of the spindle hole it says:

STEREO

ST-5093

This record was also issued with a label that has no space between STEREO and the catalog number (back cover number 6):

STEREO
ST-5093

Both the words STEREO and the catalog number are in a medium bold type size. To the right is a large number 1, indicating the side.

On Side 1, the song title for the song See Emily Play is above the spindle hole, while the rest of the song titles are grouped together under the spindle hole. On Side 2, all the song titles are underneath the spindle hole. The song titles are in a bold font, followed by (ASCAP) and the song timings in a regular font. Underneath the song titles are the writing credits in a regular font. Text across the bottom edge of the label says: Mfd. in U.S.A.

Syd Barrett - The Chemical Brother

December 16, 2012, 4:36 pm

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Syd Barrett

Q Magazine January 2004.
(Transcript thanks to Natalie Lyons)

The Chemical Brother

He was a pin-up on London’s underground club scene.  But when Syd Barrett zonked out live on US TV, neither Pink Floyd or their acid-frazzled singer would be quite the same again.

It’s 5 November 1967; the English night sky is ablaze, as it is every year, a carnival of crackling lights and burning anti-heroes.  Several thousand miles away, in a television studio in Los Angeles, the newly crowned “Light Kings Of England” are preparing to put a rocket up Middle America.  From the psychedelic cellars of underground London, they are The Pink Floyd, an esoteric “light and sound” experience and the embodiment of flower power’s remarkable efflorescence that summer.

But on this day, Syd Barrett, the group’s guitarist, songwriter and brightest star, refused to ignite.  “He knew perfectly well what was going on,” reckoned bassist Roger Waters, who saved face by miming the vocal at a moments notice.  “He was just being crazy.”  Then the show’s host Pat Boone asked Barrett some questions.  Nothing, just a deadened gaze.

The following day, the group were being filmed for Dick Clark’s influential American Bandstand show.  Out of sync, out of sorts and free falling into pop mythology, Barrett was at it again.  But was this “being crazy” or something more disturbing?  Fixing the camera with a penetrating stare, this shock-haired, lampstand-thin refusenik epitomised the confrontational side of the counter-culture.  But that stare – which friends recall with as much dread as they remember the bounce in his step with affection – is jarred by Barrett’s intermittent blinking, reminiscent of those unsuspecting victims of the camera’s gaze in Michael Powell’s voyeuristic masterpiece, Peeping Tom.  It is a tic of the haunted, suggesting imminent emotional collapse.  Syd Barrett was clocking the camera, but he was staring into the abyss.

The year of 1967 was when pop made its great escape.  The Beatles had grown up, and so had their audience.  Sgt Pepper raised the possibility of pop as an art form.  While hallucinogenic drugs proved that reality was only a state of mind.  Being crazy was de rigueur in ’67 hippy heaven.  “It was fashionable for everyone to sit around with staring eyes… like everyone was demented and totally out of their minds,” noted Daevid Allen, then of The Pink Floyd’s peers, The Soft Machine.

“The oblivion factor was very tempting,” admits in-crowder and Barrett intimate Jenny Fabian.  “It’s a sensual, decedent thing, and you’re very tempted by a bit of that when you’re young,”  And LSD, the drug of choice for the era’s pleasure seekers, served up an exceptionally seductive oblivion.  “It was a drug you didn’t want to come down from, because once you’d been to the land of beyond, reality was not a nice place to come back to.”

Most of that generation’s tripped-out hedonists eventually dropped back into the real world.  Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett has too, in a reclusive kind of way.  But there’s little doubt that the Cambridge-born art student, a natural aesthete, cheerful and poet-prince handsome, was altered forever by the psychedelic experience.  On Jugband Blues, one of his final Pink Floyd recordings, Barrett is a ghostly presence.  Gone are the upbeat, wide-eyed wonderment and witty wordplay.  Instead, he delivers a solemn, valedictory lyric directed towards the band, the world, and, it seems, to himself.  “I’m wondering who could be writing this song,” he muses, his voice flat with resignation.  

“The pain that comes from that song is so raw,” explained David Gilmour to this writer in 2000.  Barrett’s musical foil in Cambridge during the early ‘60s, Gilmour eventually replaced his friend in Pink Floyd and co-produced Barrett’s two post-Floyd albums and he has played a key role in Barrett’s life.  Gilmour insists that “Syd’s story is a sad story romanticised by people who don’t know anything about it”.  But try telling that to David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Jimmy Page, various Sex Pistols, Michael Stipe and Graham Coxon; all of whom have been touched by Barrett’s inspirational genius.

Dubbed “The mystery man of the group – a gypsy at heart… totally artistic” by Disc & Music Echo in July 1967, Barrett trod the high road in search of total sensory experience.  That’s why, for over 35 years, his has remained one of rock’s archetypal tales.  Rich in juxtaposition – international fame / provincial obscurity, genius / madness, psychedelic drugs / psychotic palliatives, youth / maturity and, most powerful of all, that tricky life / art conundrum – it’s a wonder neither Johnny Depp nor Leonardo DiCaprio have optioned the story.

In his heyday, Barrett existed in a kind of poetic reverie.  His brief career charts the course of 1967 perfectly.  “The Pink Floyd were playing the perfect music for what was happening,” insists film-maker Peter Whitehead, who also knew Barrett back in Cambridge.  “People were going to their gigs stoned out of their minds on acid, and that changes your perception of time.”  Audiences got lost in music.  Performers, too…

Barrett’s reputation largely rests on the dozen or so pop-sized songs he wrote and sang for The Pink Floyd.  As idiosyncratic as those dreamlike vignettes are, this distorts history, undermining the abandon of the band’s stupefying live shows.  One critic even suggested that the Floyd’s two hit singles were a ruse that their real intent was to “make the night hideous with a thunderous, incomprehensible, screaming sonic torture”.  Roger Waters was well aware of the effect of the largely improvised live sets, admitting to The Times late in 1966 that the band’s music “may give you the screaming horrors or throw you into screaming ecstasy”.  But he was in little doubt of its purpose: “Definitely a complete realisation of the aims of psychedelia.”

Syd, himself, took psychedelia very seriously.  Always keen to feed his head, he began to trip regularly from summer 1965.  One early LSD experience, where he closely examines his pulsating hands and covers his eye sockets with mushrooms, was filmed and subsequently issued on video.  A Dylan obsessive, he’s still short-haired and dressed in black.  Little more than a year later, he’d blossomed into a flamboyantly attired peacock, a painter/poet poised to enter psychedelia’s promised land.

“He was just incredibly beautiful to look at and represented something that we girls wanted to save,” says Jenny Fabian, who first saw The Pink Floyd late in 1966 at the self-styled London Free School in Notting Hill.  “You could see straight away he had the doomed look about him.”  Such was Barrett’s effect on women that other scene-makers, such as Tiles DJ Jeff Dexter, openly admit to “following where Syd went in the hope of picking up one of his cast-offs”.  But doomed, dashing looks were only half the story.  “A lot of things he said were poetic, and he spoke in a poetic way,” adds Fabian.  “In retrospect, I now see him as a symbol not of hopes but of dreams, a world we thought we could escape into.  He represented fairyland, and not growing up.  You could probably get quite Freudian about it.”

Indeed.  Of the many women in Barrett’s life, none was more important than his mother Winifred who was keenly supportive of her son’s early artistic endeavours – reading, writing, painting and music, initially on piano.  “His imagination, Cambridge and his home life – I’m sure all those things were major ingredients,” says Gilmour.  The death of his father – a pathologist with a passion for painting – when Barrett was 12 added another, more unsettling influence.  Outwardly sociable, Roger began to fill the house with a steady stream of friends, who’d join him on his £12 Hofner acoustic and bash out skiffle and rock’n’roll hits.  Actively independent, ‘Syd The Beat’ took country walks and strolled around the Botanical Gardens, performing everything from Shadows covers to R&B in a succession of local bands, while showering his sweetheart Libby Gausden with letters.  “Don’t think I’m one of those people who say I’ll be rich and famous one day,” he declared in one.  Syd The Beat had set his sights way beyond that.

The lure of pop accelerated late in 1962 when Barrett heard The Beatles’ Love Me DO, but the effect was nothing compared to his Dylan mania the following year.  “Dylan inspired others to explore new avenues,” says Gilmour, “but he was so good at it that he intimidated people.”  But not Barrett, who Gilmour remembers being “the bright light of the Cambridge scene.  Syd had a natural poetic gift for words; he’d effortlessly knock out stuff.”  When the pair busked in the south of France, Gilmour remembers his mate writing “things like, I’ve got the aches in Aix-en-Provence, and, Stayed too long in Toulon.  Constant badinage.”

Summer 1965 and the balmy St Tropez air was thick with Beatles covers.  But the reconciliation of the fellow Cambridge art students was brief.  Gilmour was enjoying local success with Jokers Wild, and Barrett was about t begin his second year at Camberwell Art College in South London.  More importantly, he returned to rejoin the group he’d been playing with intermittently since the previous winter.  Known variously as The Pink Floyd Blues Band, The Tea Set and The Pink Floyd, the name they’d settle on late in 1965, they’d played a few college dates and beat contests, though there was little to distinguish them from most other R&B-inclined hopefuls.

Three things changed all that.  Syd started writing songs.  The cover versions got longer.  And, as The Pink Floyd began to augment their performances with films, slides and, in time, a full-blown liquid light show – a first for the UK, although the norm in San Francisco for months, pioneered by acid-rock groups such as The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead.  When David Bowie caught one of The Pink Floyd’s early performances, at the Marquee Club’s Sunday afternoon ‘Spontaneous Underground’ happenings in the spring of 1966, he was struck by the frontman with “his white face and his black eyeliner… this strange presence singing in front of a band that was using light shows”.  The starched critics at the back weren’t so impressed: “substandard beat music… highly pretentious nonsense,” sniffed one.

By the autumn, the nonsense was being taken very seriously.  With the support of two well-connected managers, Andrew King and Peter Jenner, The Pink Floyd now had the heady rush of a psychedelic movement gathering momentum around them.  They began to draw an inquisitive crowd to a church hall in Notting Hill, new site of the London Free School.  Playing there weekly throughout October and November, their reputation as Britain’s premier psychedelic group spread quickly throughout alternative London and beyond.  “I saw them there at All Saints Hall on my very first acid trip,” remembers Jenny Fabian.  “So drugs and The Pink Floyd hit me simultaneously.”

With and audience eager for heightened sensation, The Pink Floyd’s light and sound experiments grew wilder.  “It all comes straight out of our heads,” Barrett explained, “and it’s not too hard to understand… Most people understand that what we play isn’t just a noise.”  Ace Kefford from The Move, who supported The Pink Floyd at the Roundhouse around this time, remembers it differently.  “Some people thought their music was absolute shite,” he says, “but when you’re tripping and you see Syd onstage with his head bowed, and all the ink blots and shadows, it made sense.”

To Arthur Brown, a regular performer at UFO, the underground hangout that winter, it all seemed like the forward march of progress.  “They were drawing on Karlheinz Stockhausen, Walter Carlos and electronics, as well as the latest technological advances.  Throw in LSD, the work of late-‘50s jazz pioneers, the notion of an unconscious mind which was only just being accepted, and youthful optimism, and it felt like we were going to change everything.”

Barrett had spent much of 1966 experimenting with acid, perfecting his guitar technique by running his Zippo lighter up and down the fretboard then manipulating the sound with an echo unit, and filling his loose-leaf notebook with lyrics.  Constantly evolving jams had been the group’s calling card, but by the start of 1967, The Pink Floyd had a repertoire of Barrett originals ready to be refined in the studio.  “It’s pop, but very free and full of improvisation,” said Waters, seeking to reconcile the irreconcilable.  It was split that divided audiences and, more seriously, Barrett himself.

Syd eased the passage of the band’s transition from the jasmine-scented world of the underground to the Top Of The Pops studio.  Every inch the modish pop star in his striped trousers, silk scarf and psychedelic shirt, he was a peculiarly English equivalent of The Doors’ Jim Morrison, a pop pin-up whose faraway eyes suggested he didn’t belong at all.  The hits told a similar story.  March 1967’s Arnold Layne and the enchanting See Emily Play, a Number 6 hit in the summer, were both neat and hook-laden, yet full of surreptitious experimentation that belied their obvious charm.  Arnold Layne was “just a beginning”, Syd told his sister Rosemary.  But by the summer, he complained that if John Lennon didn’t’ have to promote his records on Top Of The Pops, then neither would he.

Pop innovator or avant-garde pioneer?  Barrett was probably too busy (The Pink Floyd played around 200 gigs in 1967), or too stoned to work that one out.  Lost in the band’s live performances by night, roaming from one hippy hash-den to the next in the daytime, his inexorable flight from normality was virtually complete.

But where had it got him?  Stories of week-long LSD binges, being locked in cupboards for his own safety and imprisoning his girlfriend for days carry a whiff of exaggeration – but not much.  “The music would have held together and been successful if Syd had not simply gone on a 24-hour trip every day,” insists Peter Whitehead.  “And that’s what finally blew it.”

By the time the remarkable debut album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, gave a further twist to Pink Floyd’s orientation, Barrett was in trouble.  The album was, said Paul McCartney, “a knockout”; the 21-year-old man who’d written 10 of its 11 songs, the incredible energy and imagination of each, still impressive four decades on, was out of it.  The “strange charisma” noted by early Floyd member Bob Klose had now become full-blown catatonia.  The first person Pete Townshend had ever seen “totally gone” onstage, the brother who “had disappeared”, the partner suffering from “chronic schizophrenia”, the band member who, said Roger Waters, was “completely off his head”, psychedelia’s perfect prodigy was fast fading.

On 28 July, Barrett walked out on a Radio 1 recording session.  Later that evening, he barely bothered to sing or touch his guitar at UFO.  Dashing off an apology to the BBC, citing the singer’s “nervous breakdown”, Peter Jenner cancelled the group’s August engagements and packed Syd off to Spain to recuperate.  But it wasn’t only Barrett’s psychedelic summer that was spinning out of control.  Two Rolling Stones members had been jailed on drugs charges, UFO and the pirate radio stations were shut down by the authorities, and the underground was becoming a magnet for opportunists.

While meandering pieces such as Interstellar Overdrive and Pow R Toc H mirrored the acid experience, Barrett’s final songs for The Pink Floyd reflect the era’s messy fragmentation.  The stuttering Scream Thy Last Scream was sung by drummer Nick Mason, with Syd reduced to a bizarre “She’ll be scrubbing bubbles on all fours” cameo.

Vegetable Man was stranger still, a slice of blank generation philosophy 10 years too early.  Quizzed about his future for Go magazine, Barrett had been non-committal.  “It’s better not having a set goal,” he replied.  “You’d be very narrow-minded if you did.  All I know is that I’m beginning to think less now.  It’s getting better.”  Stop completely, warned his inquisitor, and you’ll become a vegetable.  “Yeah!” said Barrett.

“Vegetable Man was a description of himself,” Peter Jenner later told Barrett chronicler David Parker.  “That was when we realised we had a serious problem”.  The song was Warholian in its lyrics.  “It’s what you see… it’s what I am”, Barrett wrote philosophically.  The verses had a wittily self-depreciating side, too (In my paisley shirt / I look a jerk… my haircut looks so bad”).  But such ideas were amusing only as long as you disregard its subtext: “I’ve been looking all over the place for a place for me,” he sang dispiritedly, “but it ain’t anywhere.”  He meant it.

After that autumn’s traumatic American sojourn, and the desperate attempts to record a follow-up single to Emily (they eventually settled on Apples And Oranges, a masterclass in acid-pop brinkmanship)  The Pink Floyd joined Jimi Hendrix and The Move for the last great British package tour.  Ace Kefford, himself going through and acid-induced breakdown that would soon force him out of The Move, remembers that “Syd’s head had gone completely by then.  He’d sit in a corner playing with a steam engine that puffed out real smoke.  I tried to talk to him about the engine, but he seemed scared stiff.  You can always tell by the eyes.  Full of fear, man.  Paranoia.  That’s what acid does to you when you’re feeling vulnerable.  You’re scared of everybody, scared of everything.”

Sometimes Syd wouldn’t go onstage, so the band would press-gang The Nice’s Davey O’List into action.  By the end of the year, they’d called in David Gilmour.  “We did five gigs, I think, as a five-piece,” he remembers.  “My brief was to sing the songs and play the rhythm parts, and let Syd play what he wanted.  It was a terrifying time.”  By mid-January 1968, The Pink Floyd were back to a four-piece – with Syd now at home ostensibly in some vague Brian Wilson songwriting role.  It didn’t work out.  In April, it was announced that Barrett was no longer part of the group.

“Singing is a gas,” he claimed a few years later, “but so is doing nothing”.  With Gilmour’s help, Barrett released two extraordinarily stark solo albums.  He played a small handful of chaotic live performances and, more recently, has scrawled his surname 320 times for a limited-edition photo-book.  But for over 30 years, he’s largely remained oblivious to the cult – in part fostered by the Floyd, who dubbed him the “Crazy Diamond” on 1975’s Wish You Were Here album – that’s grown up around him, preferring his own company and a paintbrush.  He still has an acoustic guitar, though no one’s sure if he plays it.

If anything, the myth that’s grown up around Syd Barrett has tended to magnify his greatness.  In a rock world stuffed with dilettantes and charlatans, he did that rare thing and embraced creativity as a way of life.  And that is how myths are made.  “Syd was the archetypal doomed poet who burned too bright and overdid the sacrament,” says Jenny Fabian now.  And The Pink Floyd?  “Nice songs, but never the same after he left.”

The Top 40 Albums, 1954-1969
Number 10: Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
EMI Columbia, 1967

The defining album of British psychedelia.

A surprisingly cohesive blend of acid-pop and space-themed, avant-garde epics, Pink Floyd’s debut was largely the product of Syd Barrett’s drug-frazzled imagination.  Though parts of it are nursery rhyme sweet, and the title comes from a chapter in Barrett’s favourite book, The Wind In The Willows, the record packs an eerie undertow.  Its appeal has barely waned, with Julian Cope, The Cure’s Robert Smith and Spaceman 3/Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce queuing up to pay their respects.

Discovery! What Record Syd Barrett Was Playing for the Mick Rock Photo Session

December 26, 2012, 6:25 pm

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Syd Barrett

Have you ever wondered what Syd Barrett was playing for Mick Rock when he (Mick) came over to Syd's room to take The Madcap Laughs photos? Well... Two enterprising members of the Laughing Madcaps Syd Barrett group have sussed it out! LM Members -  Göran Nyström and Giulio Bonfissuto deserve some MASSIVE praise for that! It turns out Syd was spinning Taj Mahal - The Natch'l Blues on the Direction (Columbia subsidiary) label.

Syd Barrett

How did they figure this out? They are obsessive-compulsive Syd experts with too much time on their hands is how! They got down into the grooves! This LP was released December 23, 1968

Syd Barrett

Track Listing:

Side 1
    "Good Morning Miss Brown"
    "Corinna" (Mahal, Jesse Ed Davis)
    "I Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Steal My Jellyroll"
    "Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue"
    "Done Changed My Way of Living"

Side 2
    "She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)" (Mahal, Yank Rachell)
    "The Cuckoo" (Traditional)
    "You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til Your Well Runs Dry)" (William Bell)
    "Ain't That a Lot of Love" (Homer Banks, Deanie Parker)

Personnel:
    Taj Mahal - harmonica, Miss "National" steel bodied guitar, vocals
    Jesse Ed Davis - guitar, piano, brass arrangements
    Gary Gilmore - bass
    Chuck Blackwell - drums
    Al Kooper - piano
    Earl Palmer - drums

Don't forget to join the Laughing Madcaps Group, the oldest and greatest Syd Barrett group in the world; going strong since 1999. Look:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/101944269844707

Early Pink Floyd Velvet Underground Connection?

December 27, 2012, 7:29 am

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Pink Floyd

On the amazing Laughing Madcaps Group (join the group by clicking the name), Ken Sutera Jr. thought that Pink Floyd's Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk sounds a lot like the Velvet Underground's European Son. He asked if the 'Floyd might have been exposed early Velvet Underground.

Ken Sutera Jr. said:

Is it just me or are stethoscope and the VU's European son very similar pieces of music? even a lot of the guitar style.? think he (Syd) may've been exposed to some early velvets stuff by way of Kate Heliczer but I'm not too sure.. and I know it's (TUTSAW) credited as a Waters composition. Just wondered if anyone knew if there was anythin in it? The treble on the guitar tone is very similar as well though. Just on that tune mind. Syd seemed to favour echo-drenched reverb on a lot of his PF stuff, but he could do (Lucifer Sam's verses come to mind) tougher more punchy phrasing also.

It turns out that Joe Boyd had a copy of the Scepter Studios demos that he brought over to England and was shopping around. The Scepter Studios demos (basically) contained the Banana LP tracks in earlier form. An acetate of these tracks (bought at a garage sale) recently went for big money and is now included in the latest VU box set. So many box sets... But wait, the VU's motto was that they wanted to leave audiences wanting LESS rather than more. But that isn't possible! Lou farting in the bathtub in 1966? Bring it on!

But annnnnnnnnyway, this Scepter Studios tape made a big splash over in England when Joe Boyd began playing it around. It was subsequently stolen and became a "hush-hush" affair for decades.

Richie Unterberger interviewed Mick Farren, of the Deviants, and he (Mick) is quoted below:

Joe Boyd [producer of Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, and numerous other late-'60s bands] brought over some tapes of the Velvet Underground, which we stole off him, and somebody immediately stole off us. That was the most interesting thing that seemed to be a similar kind of synthesis, coming from the same sort of background. [The tapes] were pre-first album (ED: i.e. predating the Velvets' famed "Banana" LP).. I was almost beginning to think I'd dreamed them. Everybody denied all knowledge of them. We performed a song called "Prominent Men" for a while that we took off those tapes. And suddenly they resurfaced. They're the very first tapes on the Velvet Underground box set. [The tape] was ["Prominent Men"], three or four versions of "Venus In Furs," the very strange acoustic version of "Waiting For The Man," "Prominent Men," "All Tomorrow's Parties."

[We were] a bunch of guys who'd really come out of the sort of British North London art school R&B band scene. Like the Pretty Things; that was really our heritage. We were trying to like push it in simultaneously a more demented and more intelligent direction. 'Cause we couldn't really be spending our time recycling old Jimmy Reed tunes. So we were looking for something to do. I think basically Lou and Cale got in there first. It was very much a sort of parallel development, London and New York. That's where we felt things were happening the most.

You know, we were pretty incompetent at the start. We were pretty incompetent at the end. But more money came in. The amplifiers got bigger. We all got ourselves fierce amphetamine habits, and at that point, kind of ear-bleeding noise took over for a while. Plus we were also kind of listening to Zappa, which definitely affected the way we made the first album.

In the book, Dark Globe, it says that a woman named - Kate Heliczer brought a Velvet Underground "demo tape" to Hoppy Hopkins' flat and they would often listen to it. Kate Heliczar was a Warhol "Factory" person and acted in several of Andy's films. Undoubtedly, this is a different tape than the Boyd tape described by Mick Farren.

David Bowie covered "I'm Waiting for the Man" as early as 1967, which turns out to be before the first VU lp even came out in the United States. These Velvet Underground tapes obviously got around. David Bowie has said, "The nature of [Reed’s] lyric writing had been hitherto unknown in rock...he supplied us with the street and the landscape, and we peopled it."

So, yes it is obvious that the early Pink Floyd heard one (or both) of these Velvet Underground tapes making the rounds in England in 1966, early 1967. It is also entirely possible that Roger Waters borrowed something from European Son for his song.

Syd Barrett 1974 Sessions Revealed

January 17, 2013, 2:29 pm

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Syd Barrett 1974 Sessions

In August 1974, Peter Jenner convinced Syd Barrett to return to Abbey Road Studios in hope of rekindling his career. However, little became of the Syd Barrett 1974 sessions, which lasted three days and consisted of blues rhythm tracks with tentative and disjointed guitar overdubs (the only titled track is "If You Go, Don't Be Slow"). Unbelievably, the original plan was that over this period, Syd would make an album: do the guitars in one day, the bass the next, then the drums and keyboards, and on the final day he'd sing. However, it seems that nothing got any further than a few guitar and bass overdubs.

My understanding is that EMI wanted another album out of Syd. It had been a few years, the Floyd had made it big, the solo albums had been reissued, and there was interest. I think he was still under contract as well. Syd agreed to it but got bored once he was there.Pink Floyd was taking forever to produce a followup to "Dark Side" and the record company wanted to have another Syd album, or at least a few new tracks for a repackage, something, anything. Syd finally agreed to go into the studio, and so they booked a few days to lay down some tracks.

Syd Barrett's Last Recording Session - Abbey Road Studios 08-12-1974. One of the many biographies I have read about this session (arranged for three days, but only worked on for one) said that all they could produce from Syd is "a few unfocused licks". Well, it's a bit more than that. If I remembercorrectly again, he was using a stratocaster in these sessions.

Setlist:

Boogie #1
Boogie #2
Boogie #3
If You Go #1
Ballad (unfinished)
Chooka-Chooka-Chug-Chug
If You Go #2
Untitled
Slow Boogie
John Lee Hooker
Fast Boogie

Source: Peter Jenner's Mixdown Reel

This was released a few years ago as: You Got It Now which is, obviously, a play on the Have You Got It Yet? set. While they tell a sad story, all the 1974 tracks have a certain something about them. I also thought it was interesting that "Boogie 2" seems to share a bit of a chord sequence with Word Song. My highlight, though, is at the end of "Ballad (unfinished)" where Syd can clearly be heard saying "Can you, um, have you got the chords?" and sounding no more or less together than he did in 1970.

The story behind the 11 tracks on this reel is that on the second day of recording, Syd didn't turn up. This meant that producer Peter Jenner and engineer John Leckie were at a loose end, and so they assembled a reel of 'highlights' from the previous day's recording - those highlights being the 11 tracks we have here. Jenner subsequently gave a cassette dub of this reel to Bernard White, and presumably that's how we have the tracks now. (The same day, Jenner and Leckie also did mixes of Scream Thy LastScream, Vegetable Man and various then-unreleased solo outtakes, which also made their way, via Bernard, to a number of bootleg LPs in the '70s and '80s, and ultimately to HYGIY).

So, the tracks on the Jenner reel aren't quite Syd's last ever recordings - the sessions continued for a further two days before all concerned gave up the ghost. The results of these last two days of sessions have never left EMI's 16-track reels, but presumably they are in a similar vein to what we have.

The only person I know of who has heard more material from the '74 sessions than this 11-track 'highlights' tape is Phil Smee, who listened through a lot of this stuff when he was assembling the Crazy Diamond box set. He told me that there's a lot of silence, and most of what's on the tape sounds like what you'd get if you gave a small child a slide guitar for the first time. There are no vocals at all. Syd can be heard speaking occasionally, but in a very vague, indistinct sort of way - like "ummm... dunno, I'm not sure really...". Smee says that if there was any kind of worthwhile soundbite, even Syd saying "I can't cope with this, I'm going home" or whatever, then he would have included it as an unlisted track on Crazy Diamond. However, there wasn't even anything like that. There was one bit where Syd said something like "Was that enough, or shall we tape over it" which Smee considered using, but he decided against in the end.



Any lingering hope of a fruitful session disappeared when Syd arrived with a string-less guitar. A set of strings was eventually procured from Phil May of The Pretty Things but Pink Floyd Biographer, Barry Miles, described how the proceedings degenerated into a grim charade: "When everything seemed in order they began. Syd had asked someone to type his lyrics to his new songs for him. This they had done using the red ribbon of the typewriter. When the sheet was handed to Syd he thought it was a bill, grabbed the guy's hand and tried to bite his fingers off."

On the one hand, he wasn't very prepared--he had lyrics, but on the evidence of what we can hear (and these are what Jenner selected as the "best bits" from several hours of tape), he was still working out the music. The engineers couldn't quite figure out if he really even wanted to be there; still, he did seem to take it seriously. The original plan was that he would play all the instruments himself, and in fact he had a bass and drum kit. It never got that far, but that was the plan. He quickly lost interest, and that's where work on the third album stopped.


 
The material put down on tape was described as 'extremely weird' and had a 'strong hardly-begun feel to it.' Only the backing tracks were recorded, no vocal tracks at all, and there is some doubt as to whether Syd even bothered to turn up on the third day. The material never reached the stage where it could be mixed and consequently remains unissued except on bootleg. Once again, Barrett withdrew from the music industry. He sold the rights to his solo albums back to the record label and moved into a London hotel. The termination of Syd and the re-incarnation of Roger was not far away.

Jenner saw the sessions as a painful exercise in futility. He had tried to play the understanding, liberal, Producer but Barrett was unhappy even under Jenner's relaxed command and he frequently disappeared for brooding walks around the studio. According to Peter Jenner: "The engineer used to say that if he turned right he'd be back but if he went left he'd be gone for the day. He was never wrong." It's just a shame that Jenner - or someone - wasn't able to guide Syd through these sessions in a way that might have helped nurture these half-finished ideas into something a little more complete. Turning up at Abbey Road with nothing prepared and trying to do a whole album, alone, in a week just seems like an absolutely crackpot scheme. If only someone had just gone up to Chelsea Cloisters with a 4-track or something.

Peter Barnes (on Syd's last recording session): "It was an abortion. He just kept over-dubbing guitar part on guitar part until it was just a total chaotic mess. He also wouldn't show anyone his lyrics - I fear actually because he hadn't written any."



Around the same time, one of Syd's old Cambridge friends was driving along Oxford Street when he suddenly spied him loping along the pavement. Braking to a halt, the friend leaped out and scurried after the retreating figure of Syd who stonily ignored his greeting. His forward gaze did not falter, nor did he slow down. Finally the perplexed friend asked Syd where he was walking to. Barrett stopped, turned, and fixed his piercing green eyes on the pursuer. "Far further than you could possibly imagine," he said before striding off purposefully.

Bryan Morrison once asked Syd if he'd written any new songs since the final, abortive November 1974 session and Syd replied: "No".



During this period, several attempts to employ him as a record producer (including one by Jamie Reid on behalf of the Sex Pistols, and another by The Damned, who wanted him to produce their second album), were all fruitless. In 1978, when the money ran out, he walked back to Cambridge to live in his mother's basement. Barrett returned to live in London again in 1981; however, this only lasted a few weeks, and he soon returned to Cambridge for good. Until his death, Barrett still received royalties from his work with Pink Floyd from each compilation and some of the live albums and singles that had featured his songs; Gilmour has commented that he (Gilmour) "Made sure the money got to him all right".