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

I'm still rather amazed it happened. But given the classic rock appeal of Meddle (as opposed to UmmaGumma) and its imminent 50th anniversary, it seems a no-brainer. Not that they often observe anniversaries, but they did catch Piper's 40th. They can still catch this one, and with a nice scoop of goodies to entice ~ even without the 5.1, if that's the contentious bone.

 

Given that all three surviving Floyd members played, wrote, and produced some terrific things on Meddle, have all spoken about its lynchpin status in their shared catalog, and have ALL incorporated its key tracks in their recent solo shows... you'd think they would want to put a lavish 50th anniversary reissue together. You'd think...

 

Well one member is fine with releasing everything. One member will release anything if the third member does not want to release it.

 

If they do end up officially releasing the Meddle 5.1 mix and stereo remix, I hope they also release the OBC 5.1 mix and re-release the stereo remix.

However, if they're going to do it, it's going to need a much more gentle hand on the controls for mastering than the Meddle and OBC content (both hidden and official) on EY received. It's shrill.

I just hope that it's not baked into the mixes...but I fear it might be.

I honestly don't think they'll do it though. Relations seem rather crappy at the moment and the way things went down with Meddle and OBC in EY, it may remain a sore point.

 

Just to be clear; is the Animals deluxe a real thing, or part of your musing?

 

I thought it was a real thing but that it's not going to happen. Didn't Nick Mason indicate that it was as good as dead...or am I making that up?

 

There's a separate thread about it called Animals in 5.1. An official project that's apparently stalled indefinitely.

 

Alrighty - haven’t missed anything then!

 

Me when the drums start on the Obscured by Cloud "remix" disc...

 

After having years now to reflect on The Early Years and its content, man that remix is so completely pointless. It added nothing to the box set's narrative and didn't improved the ObC album. What a waste of a disc in my opinion. We could have had outtakes or live recordings. Nope. A pointless remix instead. Oh well. I do still love The Early Years though even if it did Mission: Impossible on me.

 

The point was the 5.1 mix of the album. The stereo remaster was the afterthought.

 

Just started re-listening to this box set and full and it still really holds up as a tremendous insight to what this band was doing in its formative years.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the Pink Floyd era after Piper and before Atom Heart Mother. Especially after Syd left, it seemed like it caused a fumble the band spent a little over a year to try and recover, with a sense of direction lost. More and Ummagumma never did anything for me. Even Saucerful is a bit of a lopsided affair.

This box made me realize that, for 1969, while the studio efforts weren't great to me, what they were doing live was a different story. Still, a bit unfocused, but The Man and The Journey actually sounds like a somewhat-realized concept that sorta works, not to the same level as later stuff, but I would've much rather they released this live performance in 1969 rather than Ummagumma.

The 1970 set might be my favorite. The Zabriskie outtakes are a cool listen, and the BBC Session here is great, with transformed versions of earlier songs that, in my opinion, sound better and with a greater sense of confidence. Atom Heart Mother is the album where I think they started getting on the right track, and served as the basis for Meddle and everything after.

Complaints? Not many. I remember reading around the time this was released that some of the sources could have been better, and some material could have been included but wasn't (why was the studio version of Biding My Time left off? I guess because it's already on an official release, where the other material here really isn't except the early singles). Oh yeah, and too many versions of 'Careful With That Axe, Eugene' for my liking.

It's a ton of content though, enough to please me and many fans. I wish 'The Later Years' was handled more like this, there isn't much on that set that hasn't already been released (not counting remixes). I haven't looked too much into that thread but why was La Carrera Panamericana not included?

 

I saw this thread title and got nervous that someone spotted a problem with the replacement discs

 

They definately had a hard time capturing the live experience when in the studio.

 

David hates it.

 

Lol, well that explains it then!

 

...for the Pompeii disc, too

 

Pumped to have added this to my collection:

 

It's the best of the small boxes IMO.

 

Songs / Tracks Listing

CD 1:

1. Arnold Layne (2:57)
2. See Emily Play (2:55)
3. Matilda Mother (2010 remix) (3:58)
4. Jugband Blues (2010 remix) (3:02)
5. Paintbox (3:47)
6. Flaming (BBC Radio Session, 25 September 1967) (2:42)
7. In The Beechwoods (2010 mix) (4:43)
8. Point Me At The Sky (3:41)
9. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (single 'B' Side version) (5:48)
10. Embryo (from Harvest Records sampler 'Picnic') (4:42)
11. US Radio ad for Ummagumma (0:22)
12. Grantchester Meadows (BBC Radio Session, 12 May 1969) (3:46)
13. Cymbaline (BBC Radio Session, 12 May 1969) (3:39)
14. Interstellar Overdrive (Live, Paradiso, Amsterdam, August 1969) (4:24)
15. Green Is The Colour (BBC Radio Session, 12 May 1969) (3:21)
16. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (BBC Radio Session, 12 May 1969) (3:28)

Total time: 57:08

CD 2:

1. On The Highway (Zabriskie Point remix) (1:17)
2. Auto Scene Version 2 (Zabriskie Point remix) (1:13)
3. The Riot Scene (Zabriskie Point Remix) (1:40)
4. Looking At Map (Zabriskie Point remix) (1:56)
5. Take Off (Zabriskie Point remix) (1:19)
6. Embryo (alternative version) (BBC Radio Session, 16 July 1970) (10:13)
7. Atom Heart Mother (Live Montreux, 21 Nov 1970) (Band only) (18:01)
8. Nothing Part 14 (7:01)
9. Childhood's End (2016 remix) (4:33)
10. Free Four (2016 remix) (4:16)
11. Stay (2016 remix) (4:08)

Total time: 55:33

Line-up / Musicians
- Syd Barrett / guitar, vocals
- Roger Waters / bass, guitar, vocals
- David Gilmour / guitar, vocals
- Richard Wright / keyboards, vocals
- Nick Mason / drums, percussion

Releases information
2CD and Digital Legacy (November 11, 2016)


A nice if at all decent highlights package for the big box. IMHO

Still like the big box though.

 

I took the plunge and bought the complete box recently.
Could you possibly list the discs which have had issues and replacements re-issued?
My plan was to backup all discs (or at least the problematic ones).

 

There was a limited time disc replacement programme, more out of caution than for disc failure. Some people reported possible disc rot (Blu-rays) starting on the edge of the disc(s). I checked mine and noticed they looked a little like what was being described as a problem. I checked them in my player, they were fine. I could have asked for replacement discs (just in case), I couldn't be bothered, I couldn't care less if the BDs fail. The Early Years box is the biggest waste of money I have ever spent on a music purchase, it's over two years since I took it down from the shelf, and that was only to check the discs.

 

I got a replacement set of discs, but haven't actually looked at either the original or replacement physical discs for a while. I have ripped the Blu Rays for backup purposes. From memory, there were a couple of discs that looked a bit ragged round the edges but they have always played perfectly. IIRC, forum posters described lots of different discs looking similar and the problem was not confined to any specific discs.

Having been stung by the failed DSOTM Blu Ray, which was eventually replaced, I now routinely rip BDs that look like they might be limited editions as complete backups, and I have ripped interesting audio from BDs or DVDs to FLAC files for years. While CDs have mostly shown themselves to be pretty stable over 35+ years [excepting the few well described problems such as the PDO discs that were prone to rotting], I have a had a relatively larger number of DVDs and even more BDs fail after a shorter space of time so have my doubts about the long term stability of either.

Backup, and take backups of your backups on and off site. Any event big enough to take out my original discs and on and off site backups will probably take me with it anyway, and even if it doesn't, i'll probably have rather more to worry about than my music collection.

 

In which set is it?

 

The 1974 live Echoes is on CD in the 1967-1972 Continu/ation set, which is exclusive to the full The Early Years box.

Has the CD from Continu/ation had a Japanese only release? Looks to be an awful lot of them on eBay; not sure if they are legitimate or not.