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

That reviewer is definitely off the mark with that statement, most of the concert sounds like improvisation. Like you said, those single chord jams are definitely intended to be a platform for improvising. The reviewer might be misinterpreting the band's fairly limited musical palette for intentional playing. The jams may sound deliberate, but that might have more to do with the scope of their musical ability. The Grateful Dead had a similar vibe going on 1966 with single chord or blues based jams, but by the end of 1967, they had expanded their abilities and musical knowledge considerably. Pink Floyd never really did that.

 

Not yet, but I could do that later today if you'd like. You could also check AlbumArtExchange for the originals (since these are reproductions, they should be the same, if not very very close).

 

Front and back of the Syd singles would be great, if you would. I don't need the labels.

 

You'd be surprised at how good audience recordings can be. With the right mics with the right positioning connected to the right tape recorder using the right kind of tape, capturing the sound of a live performance this way can produce even better results than a soundboard recording. Most live recordings of jazz combos were done in this fashion, as were classical performances in symphony halls. As far as rock/pop goes, I've heard some pretty fantastic audience recordings of the Grateful Dead that, when played back through a decent setup, can produce the illusion of actually being there, sitting right by the stage.

 

I know these are based on the themes of the existing artwork, but I am not a fan at all of this work. I write this knowing the excellent alternative artwork you have made for many other albums so my comment is no reflection on your talent, just that the box pre-existing themes did not give you much to work with IMHO.

 

I found some scans of the original UK promo single sleeves on pinkfloydarchives.com

Arnold Layne
front: http://pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/UK/45/AL/promo/FC.jpg
back: http://pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/UK/45/AL/promo/BC.jpg

See Emily Play
front: http://pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/UK/45/SEP/promo/FC.jpg
back: http://pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/UK/45/SEP/promo/BC.jpg

Apples And Oranges
front: http://pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/UK/45/AOp/FC.jpg
back: http://pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/UK/45/AOp/BC.jpg

I could trim them a bit, so they have a better quality as digital artwork.

 

I'm listening to the CD in the Continu/ation set now.

The sound quality of the 25th September 1967 BBC Radio Session tracks is appalling.

 

Hmm, I know what you mean. But for official releases which don't have digital artwork previously I just wanted to make it 'available'

 

Unfortunately I've hit somewhat of a stall on this. From pure experimentation first, then validating deep on the 'net last night, most (if not all) high-end Dolby/DTS receivers aren't designed to play multichannel via USB, only stereo. From my testing I can play a stereo 24/96 ALAC/FLAC via USB no problem, but as soon as I try to play a multichannel file I get a file format error. That seems to be a somewhat undocumented feature across the board.

I haven't tried burning the extracted DTS ALAC/FLAC files to a DVD yet and giving that a try; I'm not 100% sure that my BD player would support playing these files natively. I guess it couldn't hurt to try just to know and/or rule it out. Although, now that I think about it, I bet my BD player has a USB port. Interesting...I'll try that next.

My next step is to plug into the receiver from my laptop via an HDMI cable and play the multichannel rips with VOX. I'll report back on that tonight.

Seems this group is cutting edge when it comes to multichannel enjoyment, and the standard surround sound receiver buying public doesn't cross over to the audio nerdity in the way that the stereo buyers do...

 

I get and respect that. I am really just not a fan of this box set's artwork so any variation just can't work well for me.

 

Cool, thanks. I can fix them up, but will wait to see if the box scans look better or not.

 

There's an original quad and they didn't include it? Has that been discussed? That's a bit of a downer, innit? That's not available is it? I'd think people would want that. (I now do!)

 

After listening to the Audio I'm very thankful for the previously un heard of items. Stockholm is amazing and worth it just by itself, John Latham is pretty interesting Song 1 and Roger's boogie are really good and surprising, the ZP outtakes are pretty cool and we now have a TON of stuff from these sessions. Beechwoods could have been a real catchy tune with lyrics. OBC remix is really nice I slightly declipped it and it sound better now. Pompeii audio is nice. We have had the VPRO stuff for along time but nice to see it get an official release.

These are my highlights

Now the low lights

BBC sessions are dreadful compared to what we have in the trading circles, Floyd should have done further research and grabbed the latest versions of these which sound a ton better. Floyd also went lazy and did not seek out the stereo versions for the 71 BBC shows, 70 BBC could also have possibly have stereo transcripts in the vault.

To much use of Mono sources on this entire set when Stereo versions of stuff is available, Paintbox, Apples and Oranges, Julia Dream, BBC 71 etc. Also a real shame the More outtakes are mono. You'd figure by 1969 mono sources would have been no longer relevant,

Tons of missing stuff as well that we have like Let's roll another one, Sunshine, IO from San Fran movie, Vpro 68. All of these are in better shape than the BBC sessions sound wise so not sure of the omission.

Floyd really dropped the ball not seeking out better versions of the BBC stuff, relying to much on mono versions of tracks we have stereo versions of and not being very complete by not including some really obvious items that trading circles have had in good quality for decades.

I'm thankful for the previously unheard stuff coming out but Floyd REALLY needed to better focus and put some more resources into a complete effort on this. If they did it would have turned out truly amazing. As is it just fills a void of some stuff we did not have in the trading circles.

 

I made some restoring of the sleeves so visually they have a higher quality now.

 

Libest Spacement Monitor (from Swinging Pig) was excellent, but it has been surpassed by a lot of bootlegs since the 90's. The mono masters from the 1970 BBC concert circulate since almost 10 years now.

For Montreux 1970, Smokin' Blues was the best version until recently, when (part of) the master of these excellent audience recordings (there were 2 nights) surfaced. Smokin' Blues is now surpassed by 2 Harvested releases (one for each night): "Too Late For Mind Expanding" and "Too Early For A Gig".
The version of Atom Heart Mother on the Early Years box is from the 1st night but from a real soundboard source.

 

Did i miss something for the original release? the Pink Floyd wes site does not mention a 5.1 Meddle?

 

Continuing listening to the Continu/ation CD...

The sound quality of the 20th December 1967 BBC Radio Session is also extremely poor.

 

When the box set was announced months ago I was disappointed of the artwork as well.
Thought they better should've done some liquid light stuff (like the 1965 double EP), but in a (weird) way the liquid stuff IS included on the sub-boxes' front covers, though it looks blurred, brightened and blended or what it is.
At first I thought these are stones underwater or something.^^

 

Yep it was technically an audience recording but with near pro equipment using racked stereo mic's.

 

'Officially' it's not included. But hidden in one of the blurays.

 

I'm not sure where it was discussed, but in one of the threads here or on Y! it was suggested that the BBC considered the higher quality sources as having been obtained without their permission (they were removed from the archive when they were scheduled for destruction, if I recall).

Again, if my recollection of the discussion is correct, it was suggested that the BBC might have taken the position that if the Floyd used those taken tapes that they wouldn't be given license to use other official BBC tapes. Hence the lower quality BBC archive tapes being used.

Anyone who knows more about this care to chime in? Was this entirely internet thread speculation or is there basis in fact? I'll try to find the discussion to share unless it is immediately debunked here.

 

Just wanted to add the back covers for See Emily Play and Apples And Oranges, restored by me.

 

Yes, you missed something
Meddle 5.1 is a hidden track. Seek this thread and you will find out.

 

Thx. Thought i did. its getting a little discombobulated

 

Ok then i stand corrected. They are even more amazing quality if that's how they were recorded.