Not you. You love Dark Side and the increasingly manic-depressive albums that followed. But this isn't about you and your Army Surplus rucksack albums. It's about the Pinks' Imperial Period, from that stunning, unprecedented first album through to Meddle. Music, mostly, to lie down to. On Malc's Mum's front room carpet after she'd gone to bed, where we skinned up and followed the Floyds on their trip to the heart of the sun, seeing the universe in the static of the T.V. screen. By Dark Side, it was all over, and the Floyds were once again a pop band, but not in a good way.
The B.B.C. Archives/Sessions are Primo Pinkness, recorded for the Bakelite Boffins at the B.B.C. with electric microphones and hot tea from an urn. Them wus th' days, eh? Kids today? Cuh!
EDIT: As an added FoamBonus©, this swell live recording from 1970 is now available for grifting in th' comments!
This post made possible thru th' ægis of Handy Harv's Collectible Collectibles, Fishpelt, OR.
Wot? No link? Wack!
ReplyDeleteCordially,
mc hammered (TM)
I'll this loadup as soon as I finish this here 1:1 scale model of the PL-11 Airtruck which I intend to use as a planter.
ReplyDeleteIt will be a very accurate model on account I'm using an original plane for parts.
DeleteHi Throckmeister - Syd on the cover of Point Me At The Sky? LOL
DeleteIt's a fake-real compilaion of early Floyd tracks, called Point Me At The Sky. Imagine the reaction if I'd used a non-Syd photo for the cover? (LOL)
DeleteThe art of hand crafting a Stealth Link© is now largely forgotten. The Young People Of Today don't have the patience or the indeed the desire to learn what they think of as an "old-fashioned" practice far removed from their exciting world of "apps" and "tweets". Yet there remain pockets of civilisation where the traditional Stealth Link© is manufactured with all the pride and skill of times gone by! Such a place is th' Isle O' Foam©, where lissome young women in scanty bikinis roll the link between their velvety thighs until it attains the compactness and firmness relished by connoisseurs!
ReplyDeleteNever has a link been more enticing!!
Delete"where lissome young women in scanty bikinis roll the link between their velvety thighs until it attains the compactness and firmness relished by connoisseurs!"
"Spaciness not prog" is spot on, although the first band that comes to mind that fits that bill to a tee is Hawkwind. (And no, that's not a cue to trigger a river of ribald ribbing about Stacia's movable assets.)*
ReplyDelete______
*Of course it is.
Stacia, from front n' center, was a force of nature. Unforgettable.
DeleteHawkwind lept to mind here also also the Amon Duul earlier stuff up to say 1973 and Nektar, in a different way also Jade warrior and Tangerine Dream
DeleteI have all the Jade Warrior albums (I think), but Nektar and Amon Düül are unknown quantities. Archie Valparaiso has some opinions on th' Düül. Maybe he'll write a piece. Maybe he'll be too busy scraping algae from his püül.
DeleteWhat kinda füül do you take me for? Although now you mention it, it's not a definite no. Could be fun to do. I'll have to müül it over.
DeleteIt'd be cüül!
DeleteSaw Hawkwind in 1974 with Stacia front and center. Hubba, hubba, hubba.
DeleteWindy & The Willows!
ReplyDeleteMr. Toad & The Weasels.
Syd was the real madcap and nobody ever reciprocated on his level.
They weren't capable.
So, he refused to answer the door. That way they could take credit for leaving him behind...when it was the other way around.
They couldn't continue with him because he wanted out (for whatever reasons). Wasn't their choice. So they went on, and became one of the world's most popular rock acts without him, so let's not overstate his importance. His solo albums were cult successes, ie not exactly setting the charts alight. Because they are damaged goods, and people can sense that. They either value him in a protective way because of that, or they say, as millions did, hey, this isn't all that great, and move on. I love the first album (and this comp) but it's the later albums (up to Dark Side) that I got "immersed" in back then, and still do.
DeleteI think Syd was more interested in 'inner space'(turning ON) than in rock music. There was overlap between the two but it wasn't roomy enough. FAME? I don't think he ever thought of it. And, where do all real psychedelic warriors want to be after the 2001:Dave phase is over? Back at their home, with their mums. By the time he was back in Cambridge, he didn't need anything but a shopping list for the errands he made to the village. His two solo albums aren't anything but the genuine article. PURE aftermath. I was a little disappointed in Dave Gilmour's brutal honesty with his help on Madcap...particularly the false starts at the beginning of If It's In You. But, Syd might have insisted that it be included. So, a little extra pipe-polar realism is entitled to him.
DeleteI love the Pink Floyd without Syd. I know it wasn't their choice for him to leave. I think Jugband Blues was a bone that he threw them so that fans wouldn't realize that he wasn't there anymore. They didn't even have a competent lyricist. That's why Saucerful has always been avoided by me. But, they went on to rectify that in a very capable manner. But was Wright, Mason or Waters ever on Syd's wavelength? Hardly...
Roger Waters couldn't even manage 'lunacy' without help(Roger The Hat...the lunatic vocal parts from DSOM). These are the pros and cons of hitch-hiking on a Madcap's coattails!
Strange Daze: After The Doors first album was released, Jim Morrison also told his band that he was finished...that he had nothing else that he wanted to say. Fucking military brat!
Pink Floyd, sans Syd, was always more than the sum of its parts. None of them was a virtuoso musician (nor was Syd), but they combined sympathetically and imaginatively to make that massive, cosmic sound. Hard to believe sometimes it's just four blokes and some pretty primitive electronics.
DeleteYou're unfair about their lyric abilities. They're way above competent, avoiding blues/shoes tropes and occasionally getting close to printable poetry. Just one example:
Echoes
Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant time comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine
And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light
Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you
And what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can?
And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
No one speaks and no one tries
No one flies around the sun
Not only are they beautiful, the lyrics support and meld with the music. Synergy everywhere.
The lyrics were competent. In fact, Syd might have lasted longer if Waters and Wright had been writing early enough for the first album. Syd could have taken some guitar lessons with the extra time. Piper's weakness is that all of the songs sound like they were written by the same person during the same sitting. But, there was nothing as awful as Corporal Clegg. So, Syd already knew that he was out of ideas. But, the music was secondary to him anyway...while SOUND was the key to astral projection. The leftovers(Vegetable Man, Scream Thy Last Scream) were red flags signaling that the pilot had already crashed the magic carpet. Brylcreem and Mandrax, anyone? You're right. I was unfair. The Sydless Floyd did a great job of recovering the fumble.
DeleteCorporal Clegg is not only awful in itself, but hinted at Waters' depressing arc, from cosmic ruralist to bitter chronicler of society's worst failings. Still, thanks to the magic of digital file formats, you can consign the song to the Dumpster O' Doom, as I've done. Love the rest of the album.
DeleteEchoes is THE Floyd track for me, not just because of the synergy factor you describe, which is indeed perfect, but mostly cos when the album came out I transferred it to tape ahead of a camping holiday in Cornwall and we listened to it on one of those crappy Philips portable cassette players with the one big transport lever in a cave dripping with reverb and soaked in LSD. It was a major event in my musical life and I love that track to this day. I still have that original UK release LP and it still always sounds great. Even without the cave and the Philips and the LSD.
DeleteTry this for size, Del!
Deleteyou want words??
Deletehere's the best-ever psych lyrix/psych song ever!
Me got no use for any moment of PF without Mr Barrett
who is one of the greatest originalest writers/singers/guitarists
to ever live
Loons [losers] Rule! The sane [successful] so oft suck
Octopus
Song by Syd Barrett
Trip to heave and ho
Up down, to and fro'
You have no word
Trip, trip to a dream dragon
Hide your wings in a ghost tower
Sails cackling at every plate we break
Was cracked by scattered needles
The little minute gong
Coughs and clears his throat
Madam you see before you stand
Hey ho, never be still
The old original favorite grand
Grasshoppers green Herbarian band
And the tune they play is "In Us Confide"
So trip to heave and ho
Up down, to and fro'
You have no word
Please, leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride
Isn't it good to be lost in the wood?
Isn't it bad so quiet there, in the wood?
Meant even less to me than I thought
With a honey plough of yellow prickly seeds
Clover honey pots and mystic shining feed
The madcap laughed at the man on the border
Hey ho, huff the Talbot
The winds they blew and the leaves did wag
They'll never put me in their bag
The raging seas will always seep
So high you go, so low you creep
The wind it blows in tropical heat
The drones they throng on mossy seats
The squeaking door will always squeak
Two up, two down we'll never meet
Please, leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride
Please, leave us here
Close our eyes to the octopus ride
For me...it was MEDDLE, and MEDDLE only. That's the LP I bought, played to death, in particular the ECHOES side; side 1 was a bit "pop" although I LOVED "One Of These Days". Another record where nothing else sounded like it. I was 15. When DSOTM came out...(March, 1973...)I sort of missed the moment. We began to listen to Mott The Hoople...also British...not the usual Bay Area hippie noodly music...but it put me on a different path, back to Lou Reed....through Roxy Music, Sparks, anyway...a path that led to PUNK, dropping out of UC Berkeley...anyway...I never bought DSOFTM.
DeleteI'll see your Octopus and raise you Tommy Hall's Slip Inside This House:
DeleteBedoin tribes ascending
From the egg into the flower
Alpha information sending
State within the heaven shower
From disciples the unending
Subtleties of river power
They slip inside this house as they pass by
If your limbs begin dissolving
In the water that you tread
All surroundings are evolving
In the stream that clears your head
Find yourself a caravan
Like Noah must have led
And slip inside this house as you pass by
Slip inside this house as you pass by
True conception, knowing why
Brings even more than meets the eye
Slip inside this house as you pass by
In this dark we call creation
We can be and feel and know
From an effort, comfort station
That's surviving on the go
There's infinite survival in
The high baptismal glow
Slip inside this house as you pass by
There is no season when you are grown
You are always risen from the seeds you've sown
There is no reason to rise alone
Other stories given have sages of their own
Live where your heart can be given
And your life starts to unfold
In the forms you envision
In this dream that's ages old
On the river layer is the only sayer
You receive all you can hold
Like you've been told
Every day's another dawning
Give the morning winds a chance
Always catch your thunder yawning
Lift your mind into the dance
Sweep the shadows from your awning
Shrink the fourfold circumstance
That lies outside this house don't pass it by
Higher worlds that you uncover
Light the path you want to roam
You compare there and discover
You won't need a shell of foam
Twice born gypsies care and keep
The nowhere of their former home
They slip inside this house as they pass by
Slip inside this house as you pass by
You think you can't, you wish you could
I know you can, I wish you would
Slip inside this house as you pass by
Four and twenty birds of Maya
Baked into an atom you
Polarized into existence
Magnet heart from red to blue
To such extent the realm of dark
Within the picture it seems true
But slip inside this house and then decide
All your lightning waits inside you
Travel it along your spine
Seven stars receive your visit
Seven seals remain divine
Seven churches filled with spirit
Treasure from the angels' mine
Slip inside this house as you pass by
Slip inside this house as you pass by
The space you make has your own laws
No longer human gods are cause
The center of this house will never die
There is no season when you are grown
You are always risen from the seeds you've sown
There is no reason to rise alone
Other stories given have sages of their own
Draw from the well of unchanging
Its union nourishes on
In the right re-arranging
Till the last confusion is gone
Water-brothers trust in the ultimust
Of the always singing song they pass along
One-eyed men aren't really reigning
They just march in place until
Two-eyed men with mystery training
Finally feel the power fill
Three-eyed men are not complaining
They can yo-yo where they will
They slip inside this house as they pass by
Don't pass it by
Draftervoi, hit the link in my comment to Del above ("try this for size").
DeleteHa! -Slip into this ultra psychedelic house if you dare
DeleteHaunted House
I just moved in my new house today
Movin' was hard but I got squared away
Bells started ringin' and chains rattled loud
I knew I'd moved in a haunted house
Still I made up in my mind to stay
Nothin' was a-gonna drive me away
When I seen somethin' that give me the creep
Had one big eye and a-two big feet
I stood right still and I did the freeze
He did the stroll right up to me
Made a noise with his feet that sound like a drum
(Say, you'll be here when the mornin' come?)
Say yes, I'll be here when the mornin' come
I'll be right here and I ain't gonna run
I bought this house now you know I am bold
Ain't no haint gonna run me off
In my kitchen my stove was a-blazin' hot
The coffee was a-boilin' in the pot
The grease had melted in my pan
I had a hunk of meat in my hand
From outer space there sat a man
On a hot stove with the pots and pans
"Say that's hot" I began to shout
He drank a hot coffee right from the spout
He ate the raw meat right from my hand
Drank a hot grease from the fryin' pan
He said to me "Now, you better run"
(Don't be here when the mornin' come)
Say yes, I'll be here when the mornin' come
I'll be right here and I ain't gonna run
I bought this house now you know I am bold
Songwriter= Robert Geddins
I don't wanna step on Archie_V's toes but I have a nice Amon Duul comp that could be a trip of the week if that would be helpful.
ReplyDeleteYou fight it out with him, but he's a lazy-assed bum who will be pleased to give you the work.
DeleteMy ass may be lazy but my toes are Kevlar-plated. The mighty Dúüls were my first love but, in the spirit of the ararcho-syndicalist commune from which they sprang, I make no claims of exclusive ownership, so you do with them what you will, Psychfan.
DeleteListen! The sound of Archie The Fifth weasling out!
Deleteso where's the link? Did i mis(read) it????
ReplyDeleteStealth Link© embedded in comment June 21, 2021 at 2:29 PM
DeleteA ⭐️ yOu are! Cheers!
Delete
ReplyDeleteAnuthamuthagumma
What is the story behind the Echoes DL? very nice.
ReplyDeleteIt's my remix, FoamFeatured© antecedently maybe a couple of times. I'm glad you like it. I was particularly happy with Gilmore's guitar replacing the football crowd chants on Fearless, and the way Embryo leads into Echoes, musically and lyrically. You might like Burning Bridges, too (search feature).
DeleteFor no good reason, it reminded me of the 2 hour remix of various versions of "Albatross" that's out there somewhere on the interwebs. Personally, I think "World In Harmony" is a far superior piece of music, but you can't argue with the Charts.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of its title, "Echoes" is the Meddle album, with the Dog Barking The Blues track edited out, and Embryo edited in, and a lot of mixing in of other contemporary Floyd-created sounds, so it's a long way from extended single-song remixes.
DeleteYeah, it was all familiar, if not sufficiently ingrained in my psyche to notice all the niceties. Damn good stuff, all in all. A friend I never met used to make tapes of albums played on two turntables simultaneously, and by meticulously adjusting the speed controls make pretty cool phase shifty versions of things like this... I'll dig up some mp3's to share, if you're interested.
DeleteDamn right I'm interested!
DeleteTook me long enough.
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/TMwf9tFEhMn
We knew him as AlbumWil, a faceless voice on the early internet, one of a shifting collection of people that gathered to jabber about music and unrelated topics in a neglected backwater of a commercial website chat room. His unusual hobby was taking two copies of the same LP, a pair of turntables, and a tape deck, and creating customized versions of some favorite records. Echo effects and phase shifting can provide trippy effects, and what is listening to music for, if not experiencing trippy effects? So anyway, he shared some duped cassette copies with some of us, and I have a couple. The fidelity is not great, but that's beside the point. You already have high fidelity copies of these.
As it happens, AlbumWil had severe back pain from injuries, and the doctors couldn't fix it, so he took the only escape he had available; the day after Christmas, some years ago. I hope sharing these creations of his will help keep his memory alive a little longer, and farther.
Thanks, HD, also for the AlbumWil story, which thanks to you is kept alive. Yup, dying is mostly a shit, depressing, painful business. So is being born, and we forget about that. We'll forget about dying, too.
DeleteI CANT COPY THE WHOLE LINK
ReplyDeletehttps://werelateforclass.bandcamp.com/album/6-set-the-controls-for-the-heart-of-the-sun-
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun As Played By Vanilla Fudge Imitating Iron Butterfly When Fudge Were Forced To Open For Butterfly At The Fillmore West After In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Went Top Ten
Delete"Sorry, that something isn’t here.
Please start at the beginning and you’ll certainly find what you’re looking for."
But never mind - We're Late For Class never made me late for class.
just search ...
DeleteThanks, but as I said, I'm not a fan of We're Late For Class.
DeleteStealth link is a shit link. No workie.
ReplyDelete