Big Folder but not to be missed: Pink Floyd Story 1967 - 1977 (Spoken Word + Music) & Syd Barrett - In The Woods 1968-1974 Complete Rarities

Pink Floyd UFO Concert Poster Osiris UK 1967

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Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music. Distinguished by their use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, and elaborate live shows, they are one of the most commercially successful and musically influential groups in the history of popular music.

Founded in 1965, Pink Floyd originally consisted of students Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. They first gained popularity performing in London's underground music scene during the late 1960s, and under Barrett's creative leadership they released two charting singles and a successful debut album. 

NME Advertise 1967

David Gilmour joined as a fifth member in December 1967; Barrett left the band in April 1968 due to his deteriorating mental health. After Barrett's departure, Waters became the band's primary lyricist, and by the mid-1970s, their dominant songwriter, devising the original concepts behind their critically and commercially acclaimed albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979) and The Final Cut (1983).

Wright left Pink Floyd in 1979, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd and Wright subsequently joined them as a paid musician. They continued to record and tour through 1994; two more albums followed, A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994). Inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005, by 2013 they had sold more than 250 million records worldwide, including 74.5 million certified units in the United States.

After nearly two decades of acrimony, Pink Floyd reunited in 2005 for a performance at the global awareness event Live 8. In 2006, Gilmour was interviewed for an article printed in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that declared that Pink Floyd had dissolved. When asked about their future, Gilmour explained that the band was finished making music, and that at the age of 60 he preferred to work on his own. Since then, both he and Waters have repeatedly insisted that they have no plans to reunite with the surviving former members. Barrett died in 2006 and Wright in 2008. In 2011, Gilmour and Mason joined Waters at one of his The Wall Tour shows at The O2 Arena in London.

The Pink Floyd - Japan Single 1967

1963–67: early years
Formation
Roger Waters met drummer Nick Mason while they were both studying architecture at the London Polytechnic at Regent Street. They first played music together in a group formed by Keith Noble and Clive Metcalfe with Noble's sister Sheilagh. Keyboardist Richard Wright, a fellow architecture student, joined later that year and the group became a sextet named Sigma 6, the first band to include Waters, who was at this time playing lead guitar; Wright, who at first played rhythm guitar since there was rarely an available keyboard; and Mason on drums. The band started performing during private functions, while rehearsing in a tearoom in the basement of the Regent Street Polytechnic. They performed songs by the Searchers and material written by their manager and songwriter, fellow student Ken Chapman.

In September 1963, Waters and Mason moved into a flat at 39 Stanhope Gardens, near Crouch End London, owned by Mike Leonard, a part-time tutor at the nearby Hornsey College of Art and the Regent Street Polytechnic. Mason moved out after the 1964 academic year, and guitarist Bob Klose moved in during September 1964, prompting Waters' switch to bass. Sigma 6 went through a number of other transitory names, including the Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, and the Spectrum Five before settling on the Tea Set. In 1964, as Metcalfe and Noble left to form their own band, guitarist Syd Barrett joined Klose and Waters at Stanhope Gardens. Barrett, two years younger, had moved to London in 1962 to study at the Camberwell College of Art. Waters and Barrett were childhood friends; Waters had often visited Barrett and watched him play guitar at Barrett's mother's house. Mason said this about Barrett: "In a period when everyone was being cool in a very adolescent, self-conscious way, Syd was unfashionably outgoing; my enduring memory of our first encounter is the fact that he bothered to come up and introduce himself to me."

Pink Floyd - Sacramento (1968)

Noble and Metcalfe left the Tea Set in late 1963, and Klose introduced the band to singer Chris Dennis, a technician with the Royal Air Force. In December 1964, they managed to secure their first recording time, at a studio in West Hampstead, through one of Wright's friends, who let them use some down time for free. Wright, who was taking a break from his studies, did not participate in the session. When the RAF assigned Dennis a post in Bahrain in early 1965, Barrett became the band's frontman. Later that year, they became the resident band at the Countdown Club, near Kensington High Street in London, where from late night until early morning they played three sets of ninety minutes each. During this period, spurred by the group's need to extend their sets in order to minimise song repetition, came the band's "realisation that songs could be extended with lengthy solos", wrote Mason. After pressure from his parents and advice from his college tutors, Klose quit the band in mid-1965 and Barrett took over on lead guitar. The group first referred to themselves as the Pink Floyd Sound in late 1965. Barrett created the name on the spur of the moment when he discovered that another band, also called the Tea Set, were to perform at one of their gigs. The name is derived from the given names of two blues musicians whose Piedmont blues records Barrett had in his collection, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

By 1966, the group's repertoire consisted mainly of rhythm and blues songs and they had begun to receive paid bookings, including one for a performance at the Marquee Club in March 1966, where Peter Jenner noticed them. A lecturer at the London School of Economics, Jenner was impressed by the sonic effects Barrett and Wright created, and with his business partner and friend Andrew King, he became their manager. The pair had little experience in the music industry and used King's inherited money to set up Blackhill Enterprises, purchasing about £1,000 worth of new instruments and equipment for the band. It was around this time that Jenner suggested they drop the "Sound" part of their band name, thus becoming the Pink Floyd. 

The Pink Floyd - US Promo Single 1967

Under Jenner and King's guidance, the group became part of London's underground music scene, playing at venues including All Saints Hall and the Marquee. While performing at the Countdown Club the band had experimented with long instrumental excursions, and they began to expand upon these with rudimentary but visually effective light shows, projected by coloured slides and domestic lights. Jenner and King's social connections helped gain the band prominent coverage in the Financial Times and an article in The Sunday Times which stated: "At the launching of the new magazine IT the other night a pop group called the Pink Floyd played throbbing music while a series of bizarre coloured shapes flashed on a huge screen behind them ... apparently very psychedelic."

In 1966, they strengthened their business relationship with Blackhill Enterprises, becoming equal partners with Jenner and King and the band members each holding a one-sixth share. By late 1966, their set included fewer R&B standards and more Barrett originals, many of which would be included on their first album. While they had significantly increased the frequency of their performances, the band was not widely accepted at the time. Following a performance at a Catholic youth club, the owner refused to pay them, claiming that their performance wasn't music. When their management filed suit in a small claims court against the owner of the youth organisation, a local magistrate upheld the owner's decision. However, they were much better received at the UFO Club in London, where a small fan base began to build up around the band. Barrett's performances were enthusiastic, "leaping around ... madness ... improvisation ... [inspired] to get past his limitations and into areas that were ... very interesting. Which none of the others could do", wrote biographer Nicholas Schaffner.

Signing with EMI
In 1967, Pink Floyd began to attract the attention of the mainstream music industry. While in negotiations with record companies, IT co-founder and UFO club manager Joe Boyd and Pink Floyd's booking agent Bryan Morrison arranged for and funded the recording of some songs at Sound Techniques in West Hampstead. Included were the standout track "Arnold Layne" and "Candy and a Currant Bun" as its B-side, both of which they recorded on 29 January 1967. Three days later Pink Floyd signed with EMI, receiving a £5,000 advance. EMI released the band's first single, "Arnold Layne", on 10 March 1967, on its Columbia label. The song's references to cross-dressing led to a ban by several radio stations; however, some creative manipulation by the retailers who supplied sales figures to the music business meant that the single peaked in the UK at number 20.

EMI-Columbia released Pink Floyd's second single, "See Emily Play", on 16 June 1967. It fared slightly better than "Arnold Layne", peaking at number 6 in the UK. They performed on the BBC's Look of the Week, where Waters and Barrett, erudite and engaging, faced tough questioning from Hans Keller. They appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops, an immensely popular programme that controversially required artists to mime their singing and playing. Though Pink Floyd returned for two more performances, by the third, Barrett had begun to unravel, and it was around this time that the band first noticed significant changes in his behaviour. By early 1967, he was regularly using LSD, and Mason described him as "completely distanced from everything going on".

Pink Floyd's 1st Album 1967 Article

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Main article: Link
Morrison and EMI producer Norman Smith negotiated Pink Floyd's first recording contract, and as part of the deal, the band agreed to record their first album at EMI Studios in London. Mason recalled that the sessions were trouble-free. Smith disagreed, stating that Barrett was unresponsive to his suggestions and constructive criticism. EMI-Columbia released The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in August 1967. The album peaked at number 6, spending 14 weeks on the UK charts. Pink Floyd continued to draw large crowds at the UFO Club; however, Barrett's mental breakdown was by then causing serious concern. The group initially hoped that his erratic behaviour would be a passing phase, but some were less optimistic, including Jenner and his assistant, June Child, who commented: "I found [Barrett] in the dressing room and he was so ... gone. Roger Waters and I got him on his feet, [and] we got him out to the stage ... The band started to play and Syd just stood there. He had his guitar around his neck and his arms just hanging down."

Forced to cancel Pink Floyd's appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival, as well as several other shows, King informed the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Waters arranged a meeting with psychiatrist R. D. Laing, and though Waters personally drove Barrett to the appointment, Barrett refused to come out of the car. A stay in Formentera with Sam Hutt, a doctor well established in the underground music scene, led to no visible improvement. The band followed a few concert dates in Europe during September with their first tour of the US in October. As the US tour went on, Barrett's condition grew steadily worse. During appearances on the Dick Clark and Pat Boone shows in November, Barrett confounded his hosts by not responding to questions and staring off into space. He refused to move his lips when it came time to mime "See Emily Play" on Boone's show. After these embarrassing episodes, King ended their US visit and immediately sent them home to London. Soon after their return, they supported Jimi Hendrix during a tour of England; however, Barrett's depression worsened as the tour continued, reaching a crisis point in December, when the band responded by adding a new member to their lineup.

1968–77: transition and international success
Gilmour replaces Barrett
In December 1967, the group added guitarist David Gilmour as the fifth member of Pink Floyd. Morrison's assistant, Steve O'Rourke, set Gilmour up in a room at O'Rourke's house with a salary of £30 per week, and in January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises announced Gilmour as the band's newest member; the second guitarist and its fifth member, the band intending to continue with Barrett as a nonperforming songwriter. Jenner commented: "The idea was that Dave would ... cover for [Barrett's] eccentricities and when that got to be not workable, Syd was just going to write. Just to try to keep him involved". In an expression of his frustration, Barrett, who was expected to write additional hit singles to follow up "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", instead played the band "Have You Got It Yet?", intentionally changing the structure on each performance so as to make the song impossible to follow and learn. In a January 1968 photo-shoot of the five-man Pink Floyd, the photographs show Barrett looking detached from the others, staring into the distance.

Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, and matters came to a head in January while en route to a performance in Southampton when a band member asked if they should collect Barrett. According to Gilmour, the answer was "Nah, let's not bother", signalling the end of Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd. Waters later admitted, "He was our friend, but most of the time we now wanted to strangle him". In early March 1968, Pink Floyd met with business partners Jenner and King to discuss the band's future; Barrett agreed to leave.

Jenner and King believed Barrett to be the creative genius of the band, and decided to represent him and end their relationship with Pink Floyd. Morrison then sold his business to NEMS Enterprises, and O'Rourke became the band's personal manager. Blackhill announced Barrett's departure on 6 April 1968. After Barrett's departure, the burden of lyrical composition and creative direction fell mostly on Waters. Initially, Gilmour mimed to Barrett's voice on the group's European TV appearances; however, while playing on the university circuit, they avoided Barrett songs in favour of Waters and Wright material such as "It Would Be So Nice" and "Careful with That Axe, Eugene".

The Pink Floyd - German Single 1968

A Saucerful of Secrets
Main article: Link
In 1968, Pink Floyd returned to Abbey Road Studios to record their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets. The LP included Barrett's final contribution to their discography, "Jugband Blues". Waters began to develop his own songwriting, contributing "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", "Let There Be More Light" and "Corporal Clegg". Wright composed "See-Saw" and "Remember a Day". Smith encouraged them to self-produce their music, and they recorded demos of new material at their houses. With Smith's instruction at Abbey Road, they learned how to use the recording studio to realise their artistic vision. However, Smith remained unconvinced by their music, and when Mason struggled to perform his drum part on "Remember a Day", Smith stepped in as his replacement. Wright recalled Smith's attitude about the sessions, "Norman gave up on the second album ... he was forever saying things like, 'You can't do twenty minutes of this ridiculous noise.'" As neither Waters nor Mason could read music, to illustrate the structure of the album's title track, they invented their own system of notation. Gilmour later described their method as looking "like an architectural diagram".

Released in June 1968, the album featured a psychedelic cover designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. The first of several Pink Floyd album covers designed by Hipgnosis, it represented the second time that EMI permitted one of their groups to contract designers for an album jacket. The release peaked at number 9, spending 11 weeks on the UK chart. Record Mirror gave the album an overall favourable review, but urged listeners to "forget it as background music to a party". John Peel described a live performance of the title track as "like a religious experience", while NME described the song as "long and boring ... [with] little to warrant its monotonous direction". On the day after the album's UK release, Pink Floyd performed at the first ever free concert in Hyde Park. In July 1968, they returned to the US for a second visit. Accompanied by the Soft Machine and the Who, it marked Pink Floyd's first significant tour. In December of that year, they released "Point Me at the Sky"; no more successful than the two singles they had released since "See Emily Play", it would be the band's last until their 1973 release, "Money".

Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother 1970

Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, and Meddle
Main articles: Ummagumma: Link, Atom Hear Mother: Link Meddle: Link
Ummagumma represented a departure from their previous work. Released as a double-LP on EMI's Harvest label, the first two sides contained live performances recorded at Manchester College of Commerce and Mothers, a club in Birmingham. The second LP contained a single experimental contribution from each band member.[84] Ummagumma received positive reviews upon its release, in November 1969. The album peaked at number 5, spending 21 weeks on the UK chart.

In October 1970, Pink Floyd released Atom Heart Mother. An early version premièred in France in January, but disagreements over the mix prompted the hiring of Ron Geesin to work out the sound issues. Geesin worked to improve the score, but with little creative input from the band, production was troublesome. Geesin eventually completed the project with the aid of John Alldis, who was the director of the choir hired to perform on the record. Smith earned an executive producer credit, and the album marked his final official contribution to the band's discography. Gilmour said it was "A neat way of saying that he didn't ... do anything". Waters was critical of Atom Heart Mother, claiming that he would prefer if it were "thrown into the dustbin and never listened to by anyone ever again." Gilmour was equally dismissive of the album and once described it as "a load of rubbish", stating: "I think we were scraping the barrel a bit at that period." Pink Floyd's first number 1 album, Atom Heart Mother was hugely successful in Britain, spending 18 weeks on the UK chart. It premièred at the Bath Festival on 27 June 1970.

Pink Floyd toured extensively across America and Europe in 1970. In 1971, Pink Floyd took second place in a reader's poll, in Melody Maker, and for the first time were making a profit. Mason and Wright became fathers and bought homes in London while Gilmour, still single, moved to a 19th-century farm in Essex. Waters installed a home recording studio at his house in Islington in a converted toolshed at the back of his garden.

Pink Foyd - Meddle 1971

In January 1971, upon their return from touring Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd began working on new material. Lacking a central theme, they attempted several unproductive experiments; engineer John Leckie described the sessions as often beginning in the afternoon and ending early the next morning, "during which time nothing would get [accomplished]. There was no record company contact whatsoever, except when their label manager would show up now and again with a couple of bottles of wine and a couple of joints." The band spent long periods working on basic sounds, or a guitar riff. They also spent several days at Air Studios, attempting to create music using a variety of household objects, a project which would be revisited between The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.

Released in October 1971, "Meddle not only confirms lead guitarist David Gilmour's emergence as a real shaping force with the group, it states forcefully and accurately that the group is well into the growth track again" wrote Jean-Charles Costa of Rolling Stone. NME called Meddle "an exceptionally good album", singling out "Echoes" as the "Zenith which the Floyd have been striving for." However, Melody Maker's Michael Watts found it underwhelming, calling the album "a soundtrack to a non-existent movie", and shrugging off Pink Floyd as "so much sound and fury, signifying nothing." Meddle is a transitional album between the Barrett-influenced group of the late 1960s and the emerging Pink Floyd. The LP peaked at number 3, spending 82 weeks on the UK chart.

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon 1973

The Dark Side of the Moon
Main article: Link
Pink Floyd recorded The Dark Side of the Moon between May 1972 and January 1973, with EMI staff engineer Alan Parsons at Abbey Road. The title is an allusion to lunacy rather than astronomy. The band had composed and refined the material on Dark Side while touring the UK, Japan, North America and Europe. Producer Chris Thomas assisted Parsons. Hipgnosis designed the album's packaging, which included George Hardie's iconic refracting prism design on the cover. Thorgerson's Dark Side album cover features a beam of white light, representing unity, passing through a prism, which represents society. The resulting refracted beam of coloured light symbolises unity diffracted, leaving an absence of unity. Waters is the sole author of the album's lyrics.

Released in March 1973, the LP became an instant chart success in the UK and throughout Western Europe, earning an enthusiastic response from critics. Each member of Pink Floyd except Wright boycotted the press release of The Dark Side of the Moon because a quadraphonic mix had not yet been completed, and they felt presenting the album through a poor-quality stereo PA system was insufficient. Melody Maker's Roy Hollingworth described side one as "utterly confused ... [and] difficult to follow", but praised side two, writing: "The songs, the sounds ... [and] the rhythms were solid ... [the] saxophone hit the air, the band rocked and rolled". Rolling Stone's Loyd Grossman described it as "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement."

Throughout March 1973, The Dark Side of the Moon featured as part of Pink Floyd's US tour. The album is one of the most commercially successful rock albums of all time; a US number 1, it remained on the Billboard chart for more than fourteen years, selling more than 40 million copies worldwide. In Britain, the album peaked at number 2, spending 364 weeks on the UK chart. Dark Side is the world's second best-selling album, and the twenty-first best-selling album of all time in the US. The success of the album brought enormous wealth to the members of Pink Floyd. Waters and Wright bought large country houses while Mason became a collector of expensive cars. Disenchanted with their US record company, Capitol Records, Pink Floyd and O'Rourke negotiated a new contract with Columbia Records, who gave them a reported advance of $1,000,000, which is worth approximately $5,000,000 today. In Europe, they continued to be represented by Harvest Records.

Pink Floyd Munich Germany Concert 1972

Wish You Were Here
Main article: Link
After a tour of the UK performing Dark Side, Pink Floyd returned to the studio in January 1975 and began work on their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here. Parsons declined an offer to continue working with them, becoming successful in his own right with the Alan Parsons Project, and so the band turned to Brian Humphries. Initially, they found it difficult to compose new material; the success of The Dark Side of the Moon had left Pink Floyd physically and emotionally drained. Wright later described these early sessions as "falling within a difficult period" and Waters found them "torturous". Gilmour was more interested in improving the band's existing material. Mason's failing marriage left him in a general malaise and with a sense of apathy, both of which interfered with his drumming.

Despite the lack of creative direction, Waters began to visualise a new concept after several weeks. During 1974, Pink Floyd had sketched out three original compositions and had performed them at a series of concerts in Europe. These compositions became the starting point for a new album whose opening four-note guitar phrase, composed purely by chance by Gilmour, reminded Waters of Barrett. The songs provided a fitting summary of the rise and fall of their former bandmate. Waters commented: "Because I wanted to get as close as possible to what I felt ... [that] indefinable, inevitable melancholy about the disappearance of Syd."

While Pink Floyd were working on the album, Barrett made an impromptu visit to the studio, during which Thorgerson recalled that he "sat round and talked for a bit, but he wasn't really there." He had changed significantly in appearance, and the band did not initially recognise him. Waters was reportedly deeply upset by the experience.Most of Wish You Were Here premiered on 5 July 1975, at an open-air music festival at Knebworth. Released in September, it reached number one in both the UK and the US.

Animals
Main article: Link
In 1975, Pink Floyd bought a three-storey group of church halls at 35 Britannia Row in Islington, and began converting the building into a recording studio and storage space. In 1976, they recorded their tenth album, Animals, in their newly finished 24-track studio. The concept of Animals originated with Waters, loosely based on George Orwell's political fable, Animal Farm. 

Pink Floyd - A Nice Pair 1973

The album's lyrics described different classes of society as dogs, pigs, and sheep. Hipgnosis received credit for the packaging of Animals; however, Waters designed the final concept, choosing an image of the ageing Battersea Power Station, over which they superimposed an image of a pig.

The division of royalties was a source of conflict between band members, who earned royalties on a per-song basis. Although Gilmour was largely responsible for "Dogs", which took up almost the entire first side of the album, he received less than Waters, who contributed the much shorter two-part "Pigs on the Wing". Wright commented: "It was partly my fault because I didn't push my material ... but Dave did have something to offer, and only managed to get a couple of things on there." Mason recalled: "Roger was in full flow with the ideas, but he was really keeping Dave down, and frustrating him deliberately".


Gilmour, distracted by the birth of his first child, contributed little else toward the album. Similarly, neither Mason nor Wright contributed much toward Animals; Wright had marital problems, and his relationship with Waters was also suffering. Animals is the first Pink Floyd album that does not include a writing credit for Wright, who commented: "Animals... wasn't a fun record to make ... this was when Roger really started to believe that he was the sole writer for the band ... that it was only because of him that [we] were still going ... when he started to develop his ego trips, the person he would have his conflicts with would be me."

Pink Floyd - Live at Concert 1973

Released in January 1977, the album peaked on the UK chart at number two, and the US chart at number three. NME described the album as "one of the most extreme, relentless, harrowing and downright iconoclastic hunks of music", and Melody Maker's Karl Dallas called it "[an] uncomfortable taste of reality in a medium that has become in recent years, increasingly soporific".

They performed much of the album's material during their "In the Flesh" tour, Pink Floyd's first experience playing large stadiums, the size of which caused unease in the band. Waters began arriving at each venue alone, departing immediately after the performance. On one occasion, Wright flew back to England, threatening to leave the band. At the Montreal Olympic Stadium, a group of noisy and enthusiastic fans in the front row of the audience irritated Waters so much that he spat at one of them. The end of the tour marked a low point for Gilmour, who felt that the band achieved the success they had sought, with nothing left for them to accomplish.


CAPITAL RADIO PINK FLOYD STORY 
Show presented by Nick Horne.
Transscripts included.

Part 1 - The Early Years, Broadcast date: 17th December 1976 (Tracks 01-14)
Part 2 - From Piper To Atom Heart, Broadcast date: 24th December 1976 (Tracks 15-30)
Part 3 - From More To The Beginning Of Dark Side Of The Moon, Broadcast date: 31st December 1976 (Tracks 31-43)
Part 4 - The Dark Side Of The Moon,  Broadcast date: 7th January 1977 (Tracks 44-53)
Part 5 - Wish You Were Here, Broadcast date: 14th January 1977 (Tracks 54-63)
Part 6 - Anilmals, Broadcast date: 21st January 1977 (Tracks 64-68)

Syd Barrett - In The Woods, Complete Rarities 1968-1974 

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1968 - 1974
Brought to you by Rork Records

After almost three years in the making, Rork Records is proud to announce the release of 'In The Wood: The Complete Syd Barrett Rarities 1968-1974'.

Of all the eras of Floyd and its various offshoots, Syd's brief solo career has produced by far the most archive releases of rare material. We've had the Opel album, the Peel Sessions EP, the Crazy Diamond box, 'Bob Dylan Blues', and, most recently, the belated surfacing of Syd's contribution to the Kevin Ayers song 'Religious Experience'/'Singing A Song In The Morning'.

Despite these repeated raids on the archive, there is also a great deal of solo Syd material that hasn't surfaced officially. This includes plenty of stuff that we haven't heard, and perhaps never will - such as 'Rhamadan', 'Living Alone', 'Millionaire' and the Stars recordings. However, numerous recordings have reached our ears through ROIO releases, including many outtakes from Syd's solo albums, the Olympia 1970 live recording, the 1971 BBC session - and even a handful of sketchy recordings made by Syd in 1974 for a never-completed third solo album.

Syd Barrett - UK Promo Single 1969

These tracks have slowly emerged in dribs and drabs through the years on dozens of different releases, and it was in an attempt to make sense of exactly what's out there that I posted a list of the circulating material I was aware of to Echoes a few years ago, in the hope that someone out there might be able to make some corrections or additions. The result of this was that Sebastien contacted me with the idea of bringing all these tracks together into a one remastered, chronologically sequenced CD compilation: the definitive collection of Syd's solo rarities, the only CD you'd need on the shelf next to your Crazy Diamond discs and Wouldn't You Miss Me. And three years later, here we are!

In the end, enough material turned up for us to need two CDs rather than one. And that's not all - in addition to the straight audio format, the collection is also available on CD-ROM with all the tracks included in the lossless .APE format. Furthermore, the CD-ROM includes a special HTML section, including not only full details of all the tracks, but just about everything else you need to know about Syd's solo career: a full discography, all the articles, interviews and photos we could find, plus a specially written timeline with details of Syd's life from his final Pink Floyd gig to the present day. We've really worked hard on this part of the CD, and I hope that in time it comes to be recognised as a useful resource for information on Syd after the Floyd.

Syd Barrett - Octopus UK 1969

But, of course, the most important part of the collection is the music. I'm confident that this is the best-sounding, most complete assemblage of Syd's solo rarities ever produced: as far as I know, we've got everything that currently circulates, all from the best available sources. Nothing here is taken from old ROIO LPs or CDs: instead, we've been fortunate enough to find superior low-gen tape sources of just about everything. With the exception of the 1971 'Sounds Of The Seventies' session, which is from an unknown "low"-gen source, I don't believe anything we've used is more than two tape copies away from the original master. With the 1970 Olympia live set, we've managed to go one better and snag a CDR copy of a 1st-gen dub from the master. And just for the sake of completeness, we've included the 1970 Top Gear show which, despite having been released on CD some years ago, is now deleted and therefore pretty hard to get hold of these days. The version on our set is mastered from the official 12" vinyl, which for my money has a much nicer sound than the CD.

After gathering these sources, Sebastien has done his usual superb job of remastering everything, declicking, EQing and reducing tape noise (whilst making sure that all of the music remains here it is!). The finished product sounds fantastic to me, and judging from the feedback we've had so far from people we've sent preview copies to, I'm not the only one.

DISC 1
01. SILAS LANG (TAKE 1)
02. LANKY PART 2 (TAKE 1) - excerpt
03. GOLDEN HAIR (TAKE 1) - alternate mix
04. SWAN LEE (TAKE 1, INSTRUMENTAL) - Peter Jenner mix
05. SWAN LEE (TAKE 1, INSTRUMENTAL) - Malcolm Jones mix, excerpt
06. CLOWNS AND JUGGLERS (TAKE 1) - Malcolm Jones mix, excerpt
07. SWAN LEE (VOCAL AND GUITAR ONLY) - Malcolm Jones mix, excerpt
08. OPEL (TAKE 9) - Peter Jenner mix
09. LOVE YOU (TAKE 1) - Malcolm Jones mix, excerpt
10. LOVE YOU (TAKE 2) - Malcolm Jones mix, excerpt
11. CLOWNS AND JUGGLERS (TAKE 2, SOFT MACHINE SESSION) - Malcolm
12. OCTOPUS (OUTTAKE FROM OVERDUBBING SESSION) - Malcolm Jones mix,
13. LONG GONE (REMAKE, TAKE 1) - Malcolm Jones mix, excerpt
14. WOULDN'T YOU MISS ME (REMAKE, TAKE 1) - Peter Jenner mix
15. WOULDN'T YOU MISS ME (REMAKE, TAKE 1) - Malcolm Jones mix
16. SHE TOOK A LONG COLD LOOK AT ME (TAKE 5) - Malcolm Jones mix
17. GIGOLO AUNT (BBC 1970)
18. TERRAPIN (BBC 1970)
19. BABY LEMONADE (BBC 1970)
20. EFFERVESCING ELEPHANT (BBC 1970)
21. TWO OF A KIND (BBC 1970)

DISC 2
01. MAISIE (TAKES 1 AND 2) - "full" mix
02. MILKY WAY (TAKE 5) - Peter Jenner mix
03. BIRDY HOP (TAKE 1) - Peter Jenner mix
04. RATS (TAKES 1 AND 2)
05. WINED AND DINED (TAKES 1 AND 2)
06. WORD SONG (TAKE 1) - Peter Jenner mix
07. TERRAPIN (Olympia 1970)
08. GIGOLO AUNT (Olympia 1970)
09. EFFERVESCING ELEPHANT (Olympia 1970)
10. OCTOPUS (Olympia 1970)
11. BABY LEMONADE (BBC 1971)
12. DOMINOES (BBC 1971)
13. LOVE SONG (BBC 1971)
14. BOOGIE #3 (1974)
15. IF YOU GO #1 (1974)
16. BALLAD (1974)
17. SLOW BOOGIE (1974)
18. JOHN LEE HOOKER (1974)
19. FAST BOOGIE (1974)
20. BOOGIE #2 (excerpt) (1974)

BONUS TRACKS:
21. KEVIN AYERS: SINGING A SONG IN THE MORNING - Fake
22. MILKY WAY (OVERDUB VERSION) - Fake
23. OPEL (TAKE 9) - Malcom Jones mix, excerpt with announcement

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Pink Floyd Avalon Ballroom 1968 Poster

The Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun (Rare Soul Funk US 1972)

Size: 142 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

It's Just Begun is the second album by the Jimmy Castor Bunch, released in 1972 on RCA Records. "It's Just Begun" and "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" have each become staples in hip-hop sampling. Songs from the album have been sampled more than twenty-five times.

This 1972 outing set the tone for the Jimmy Castor Bunch's 1970s success through an effective and distinctive mix of funk, pop hooks, social commentary, and gonzo comedy. It's Just Begun also helped the group score a million-selling crossover hit single with "Troglodyte." This memorably whacked-out funk jam is built on an infectious fuzz-guitar hook and features Castor detailing the romantic adventures of a caveman who meets up with Bertha Butt, a comic character that would continue to appear on his albums for many years to come. 

The album also included a b-boy favorite in its title track, a salsa-inflected funk excursion whose breakbeats continued to be spun by DJs well into the 1980s. Beyond these favorites, the group knocks out a relentless stream of thick, funky grooves as Jimmy Castor tackles everything from morality ("You Better Be Good (Or the Devil Gon' Getcha)") to philosophy ("L.T.D.," which stands for life, truth, and death). To add variety, Castor also throws in "My Brightest Day," a sweet, horn-accented ballad, and "I Promise to Remember," an updated slice of doo wop that Castor originally penned for Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. 

The album's all-things-to-all-people sense of ambition occasionally overwhelms the final product: for instance, "Creation," the dissonant orchestral instrumental that bookends the album, doesn't really have any reason to be there. Despite these quibbles, It's Just Begun is an important and influential release from a sadly underrated group and well worth a listen for anyone interested in the roots of 1970s funk.

Biography:
James Walter "Jimmy" Castor (January 23, 1940 – January 16, 2012) was an American pop and funk musician. He is best known as a fun disco/funk saxophonist, with his biggest hit single being 1972's million seller, "Troglodyte (Cave Man)".

The Jimmy Castor Bunch - German Single 1972

As leader of The Jimmy Castor Bunch in the 1970s, and also as a solo artist, he released several successful albums and singles. The group reached the peak of their commercial success in 1972 with the release of their album, It's Just Begun, which featured two hit singles: the title track and "Troglodyte (Cave Man)," which was a large hit in the U.S., peaking at #6 in the Billboard Hot 100. The track stayed in the chart for 14 weeks and was a million seller by June 30, 1972, and received a gold disc award from the R.I.A.A.

The Castor band included keyboardist/trumpeter Gerry Thomas, bassist Doug Gibson, guitarist Harry Jensen, conga player Lenny Fridle, Jr., and drummer Bobby Manigault. Thomas, who simultaneously recorded with the Fatback Band, left in the 1980s to exclusively record with them.

Many of the group's tunes have been heavily sampled in films and in hip-hop. In particular, the saxophone hook and groove from "It's Just Begun" and the spoken word intro and groove from "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" (namely, "What we're gonna do right here is go back...") have been sampled extensively.

"Phase Two" Biography by AMG: After scoring success on both the pop and R&B charts in 1972 with It's Just Begun, the Jimmy Castor Bunch knocked out another album in the same vein before the year ended. Phase Two adheres closely to the previous album's formula, right down to using an orchestral instrumental for its intro and epilogue. As a result, parts of it feel like a re-tread: the standout example of this problem is "Luther the Anthropoid (Ape Man)," which sports a nice groove but is a merely a thinly veiled rewrite of "Troglodyte." 

The Jimmy Castor Bunch - US Single June 1970

Despite some uninspired moments like this, Phase Two makes up for the problem with tight arrangements and an infectiously funky performance from the band. " "Say Leroy (The Creature From the Black Lagoon Is Your Father)" mixes Latin rock with frenzied funk-rock breaks to create a punchy tune that gave the band another pop hit and "When?" is an effective, fuzz guitar-drenched trip through the woes of ghetto life. The most unusual and interesting of these cuts is "Tribute to Jimi: Purple Haze/Foxy Lady," a novel medley that layers the vocal melody and lyrics of "Foxy Lady" over the tune of "Purple Haze." 

The album also does well in its softer moments: "Paradise" is a pleasantly harmonized ballad and the band's saxophone-led instrumental take on "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is quite pretty. Overall, Phase Two lacks the strong crossover appeal and original material that made It's Just Begun such a standout album, but it will definitely appeal to fans of that album.

He died in January 16, 2012 from heart failure,  seven days before his 72nd birthday.

Personnel
♣ Jimmy Castor - Saxophone, Timbales, Vocals
♣ Doug Gibson - Bass, Backing Vocals
♣ Harry Jensen - Guitar
♣ Lenny Fridie, Jr. - Congas
♣ Gerry Thomas - Trumpet, Piano

01. "Creation (Prologue)" 1:34
02. "It's Just Begun" 3:43
03. "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" 3:36
04. "You Better Be Good (Or the Devil Gon' Getcha)" 2:56
05. "Psyche" 4:25
06. "L.T.D. (Life, Truth, and Death)" 7:20
07. "My Brightest Day" 4:03
08. "Bad" 3:04
09. "I Promise to Remember" 2:47
10. "Creation (Epilogue)" 1:02

Bonus Tracks (3:rd Album "Phase Two" also releaseed 1972)
11. "Fanfare (Prologue)" 0:24
12  "Say Leroy" (The Creature From the Black Lagoon Is Your Father) 6:39
13. "Luther the Antropoid (Ape Man)" 3:20
14. "Party Life" 7:42
15. "When" 4:31
16. "Paradise" 2:48
17. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" 6:25
18. "Tribute to Jimi - Purple Haze, Foxy Lady" 3:46
19. "Fanfare (Epilogue)" 0:37

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