Pink Floyd - The Early Years 1965-1972 Box Set - Realiz/ation (Content, tracks, etc. ONLY!)

What are we missing? What could better?

 

@rontoon , this is a question you may feel 100% free to ignore, but this has been kicking around my head for a bit and figured I'd ask since your knowledge of what's "out there" is likely as close to comprehensive as one person can manage.

If you were the sole administrator of a hypothetical Early Years box set, assuming the one we got never existed, what would it have looked like?

If you really feel like indulging me, what would a hypothetical Later Years box set under your care look like?

 

Well, for instance, it seems that were multitracks of "Nothing", and we were only offered a part of it. So I guess the archives were not revised exhaustively enough. Regarding what could have been better, it's been discussed here, but I could mention of couple of problems the box has:

*Out of phase channel on the Golden Circle live recording, plus a track that starts twice. Nothing I would label as terrible, but that shows the production was rushed or careless.
*Very poor sources used for the 1967/68 BBC takes when other were available.
*Mono 1971 BBC session, which is not bad, but sounds better in stereo.
*Hideous mastering of the Pompeii recordings. Inexcusable.
*Very good material offered by fans which was ignored.
*No big book? C'mon, it's the Floyd!


I could also mention things that were finely done, of course, and that's why I said this box is very good, but a wasted opportunity (pardon my cliché) at the same time, because I think those early years are a closed chapter for the band now.

 

The lack of a book makes me half wonder what this might have looked like with Storm Thorgerson still around...

 

Yes, he's sorely missed.

 

I agree with almost everything you wrote. But you're the one who's lame by not letting this go. How many ****ing times do you need to be told? I was referring to one particular instance and you continue to bring this up despite repeated warnings from the Gorts.

 

I got to hear the Pompeii tracks the other day. It was close to unlistenable. As an audiophile-wannabe, I'm actually way too tolerant and can deal with whatever, but I don't think I could stomach whatever happened on that one. It was needles-in-the-eyesockets-bright. Something had to go wrong. I'll stick with my warbley audio dub from the old VHS.

 

Didn't someone (way back in the thread) post some EQ settings that made it palatable?

 

One of these years I'm going to overhaul my sonic equipment, at which point I'll suddenly hear all this horribleness and go scrambling back to these threads for guidance! For now, it all still sounds great in my car.

 

I went with the "Mortal Remains" catalog as the stand in for this absence

 

I have enjoyed the Early Years box set and was happy to get the wealth of material both audio and video on the box. While it sounds like much more could have been added, etc. I am pleased overall with this mammoth release. I wonder what the Floyd’s next big reissue will be??

 

Next will be an expanded Animals with two new previously unreleased tracks.
The first one is called "Cats". And on this one Roger Waters turns it around. He uses a Andrew Lloyd Webber riff for his own track.
The other is called "Birds & Bees". A Syd Barrett outtake.Which is a 13 minute reworking of Apples and Oranges. Which lyrically tells the story of a meeting between Arnold Layne and Emily.

 

Source?

 

Same here.

 

A bottle of red wine

 

Yes, the restoring job they did with the video content is just amazing, and it's probably the reason why the box cost so much.
In the audio side, well... it's as bad as it can possibly get. I've heard so many records, but this is the only one I can't hear without doing EQ. Nevertheless, I have to say that the box is one of my most played records. The previously unknown material is mind blower and the new mixes too (regardless the opinion of many other fans).
I'm very confident that there will be more releases of pre-DSOTM content.

 

I like the alternate video for Arnold Layne more than the original one. Shame it's only on the bonus Continu/ation set.

 

I had luck getting Continu/ation via Ebay.

 

The vid is the best part of that one. Unless you didn't have the Committee tracks or Moonhead previously. And the BBC Flaming is quite passable.

(There's Echoes, too, to complete Wembley ~ but I don't dig the sax taking Dave's first solo away.)

 

Wish Roger could be moved to record an instrumental guitar track approximating the melody of "Beechwoods" for the historical record...assuming he remembers it. A la what Ian Anderson did for some of Chateau D'Isaster on Nightcap (the "animalia suite").

I also wonder if Syd's notebook of songs still exists (the one observed in his final Rolling Stone interview)....and if it includes Beechwoods.

Sorry, just daydreaming....

On an only slightly (?) more realistic note ~ those Committee master tapes must be somewhere, dammit!

 

Maybe. But not everything recorded in sessions back in the 1960s was kept in vaults or archives.
At least some of those tapes could be in private hands a/k/a in someone's attic. Or they were trashed long time ago.

 

That's my hope, actually ~ a la the Stones Rock 'n Roll Circus reels, that finally turned up in Stu's garage, I believe? Of course, even that was 20 years ago, and time & poor storage aren't going to improve the odds of restoring such things....

 

I also hope some more Syd/Floyd-era tapes coming up sometime later.
Many people here and there say there are alternative mixes of Piper and Saucerful songs but those are hidden somewhere.

 

And the fabled '66 demo stuff (I Get Stoned, etc), that's almost certainly hiding (or basking) in private hands if it still exists at all.