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December 15, 2022 7:25 PM   Subscribe

Compilation of rare, high-quality clips of pre-DSOTM Pink Floyd, collected by the BBC. Highlights (for me) include Astronomy Domine with a shamanic Syd Barrett, a rockin' Let There Be More Light featuring a groovy dance floor under a tent, and Atom Heart Mother complete with choir, in Germany. Full setlist inside.

Astronomy Domine (Live, '67)
Jugband Blues ('68)
Paintbox ('68)
The Sound of Change (Live + montage, '68)
It Would Be So Nice ('68)
Roger Waters interview (Live, '68)
Flaming (Live, '68)
Let There Be More Light (Live, '68)
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun ('69)
Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Live, '69)
Green Is The Colour (Live, '70)
Atom Heart Mother (Live, with choir, '71)
Atom Heart Mother (Live, band only, '71)
Improvisation for Show Roland Petit (Live, '71)
posted by swift (16 comments total) 36 users marked this as a favorite
 
the heart of the sun, heart of the sun
posted by clavdivs at 7:40 PM on December 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


I'm a huge Robyn Hitchcock fan, and I know he owes a debt to Syd Barrett, and admits it. In fact, I met one of my of decades-long best friends my first year of college in 1988 or 1989 because I was playing a Robyn Hitchcock song in my dorm room, and he thought it was Syd Barrett, so he decided to talk to me. I've never actually listened to much Syd Barrett or Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd before this, for no really good reason. I appreciate this post!
posted by mollweide at 8:04 PM on December 15, 2022 [2 favorites]


I once described Astronomy Domine (after seeing it live) that it seemed like it was more enjoyable to play than to listen to but, like quite a bit of early Pink Floyd stuff, the more you listen to it to more you like it (or hate it, I guess). That was in about 2007 and it's now one of my favourites when I'm in the right mood.

I'll have a listen to these a bit later when I'm not working - I have mp3 versions of the BBC performances but haven't listened to them for years.
posted by dg at 8:04 PM on December 15, 2022


This is my sweet spot for Pink Floyd. Atom Heart Mother is the last album of theirs I enjoy, and 1971 is the last year I enjoy their live performances. Love the early psychedelic stuff. Hadn't seen any of this video footage. Thanks for posting!
posted by talking leaf at 8:30 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


Huh, never heard of ‘em.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:55 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


Silence in the studio!
posted by whatevernot at 8:57 PM on December 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


There once was an archive floating out on the wild seas called Have You Got It Yet (HYGIY) that has scores and scores of mostly .flac encodings of Pink Floyd's studio sessions. So many that I had to prune it from my queue-random-music script because they always took up three or more slots in the playlist. Might be worth tracking down if you're a PF fan.
posted by zengargoyle at 9:05 PM on December 15, 2022


One of my older former workmates saw them live at the Hammersmith Odeon back in the day. I might send him this.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:27 PM on December 15, 2022


Oooh, something good for the weekend! Thanks for sharing!
posted by Harald74 at 9:29 PM on December 15, 2022


Marmalade, I like marmalade...
posted by not_on_display at 12:31 AM on December 16, 2022 [2 favorites]


This will be old news for most of us here but Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii is also an excellent video performance of early Floyd. 1972, so a year before Dark Side of the Moon but several years after Barrett had left. Mostly features songs from Meddle. This is my favorite Floyd, the naive psychedelia. DSotM is undeniably excellent but kinda just too good. And then The Wall went in a direction I didn't care for.
posted by Nelson at 7:20 AM on December 16, 2022 [3 favorites]


I thought The Wall was interesting but it wasn't ever pleasant, like a lot of what came before (particularly on the soundtracks of 'More' and 'La Vallée'); and afterwards, post-Roger Waters, I found their output unlistenable. Saw 'em twice, in 1971 and 1973, and the difference in special effects between the two shows was astonishing. The only real non-musical aspect of the first show was several large red - we called them bubblegum machines on top of some of the speaker enclosures. These came to life twice, during the vocals of One Of These Days and at the climax of Echoes. Plus, the opening act, remarkable for a rock show: a magician. The second show was the Dark Side of the Moon tour, with the dry ice fog, strobe lights amid Nick Mason's drum kit, and back-up singers. That was something else. Thanks for this set - Astronomy Domine was my favorite music in high school.
posted by Rash at 9:30 AM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


Also I believe the version of Green Is The Colour here is from the KQED An Hour With Pink Floyd special from 1970. Their "official video" for Cymbaline is also from that program.
posted by Rash at 9:45 AM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


For me, the only post-DSOTM Pink Floyd album I can listen to is Animals. But my favorites mostly land pre-DSOTM: Meddle, Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, Saucerful, Piper, and most of the Syd-Barrett-laden singles packages.

I feel like Obscured by Clouds was in comparison merely "good", and More never captured my attention—but their stuff on Zabriskie Point was brilliant.

And what exactly is a joke?
posted by not_on_display at 3:21 PM on December 16, 2022 [3 favorites]


Meddle and Animals are my favorites. They sound so confident, each the culmination of a style. They both hit pretty hard for Floyd, too.
posted by swift at 4:48 PM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


I was thinking the other day that they're one of those bands that sounds nothing like they did ten years prior. And mostly (in the context of the times) nailing it. Compare them in 1967 to them in 1977 and consider that the only difference was Gilmour carried Barret's torch and ran a different route with it to its apex. And eventually Waters stole it and wouldn't give it back and went home. I still like waters until the last time he sings,

pigs on the wing
posted by not_on_display at 12:16 AM on December 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


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