Pink Floyd released 2016’s best music compilation boxed-set opening a new chapter in Syd Barrett’s book of genius.
In late 2016, Pink Floyd released a colossal 27 disc boxed-set called THE EARLY YEARS covering material form 1965 – 1972, the period just before the band released their critically acclaimed unrivaled best-selling album, THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (1973). THE EARLY YEARS 1965-72 features 15 hours of videos and concert footage, promos, unreleased songs and outtakes. The set also includes three feature films THE COMMITTEE, MORE and LA VALLEE (Obscured By Clouds) on Blu-ray and five 7” vinyl singles in reproduction sleeves:
— Arnold Layne C/W Candy and A Currant Bun
— See Emily Play C/W The Scarecrow
— Apples and Oranges C/W Paintbox
— It Would Be So Nice C/W Julia Dream
— Point Me at the Sky C/W Careful With That Axe, Eugene
The boxed-set is divided by date into 6 different chapters of Floyd’s early stages and a bonus set of early material and feature films:
1965-67 CAMBRIDGE ST/ATION
1968 GERMIN/ATION
1969 DRAMATIS/ATION
1970 DEVI/ATION
1971 REVERBER/ATION
1972 OBFUSC/ATION
BONUS CONTINU/ATION
For long-time Pink Floyd fans, the official release of 1965-67 CAMBRIDGE ST/ATION validates the band’s early pop success showcasing their blues roots and the vision of its leader Syd Barret. The first six tracks on the set: Lucy Leave, Double O Bo, Remember Me, Walk With Me Sydney*, Butterfly and I’m A King Bee, all feature the original 1965 lineup of Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and Bob Klose.
*Walk with Me Sydney features Juliette Gale on vocals (Richard Wright’s girlfriend at the time).
Syd Barrett appropriates Bo Diddley’s classic, changing its lyrics and breeding a remarkable tribute to his hero on Double O Bo. Syd croons the glittering lyrics in his customary robust English accent which characterized him at a time when most British performers sang with an American intonation:
“Well, Bo drank gallons of rye and bourbon
Martini’s dry, and you better serve them
Martini so dry, the shaker burst
Bo keeled on his side and died of thirst"
An impressive cover of Slim Harpo’s I’m a King Bee was recorded between December 1964 and January 1965. The venomous guitar solo and muggy harmonica play have an inescapable familiarity with the raw, grimy sound found on albums like the Grateful Dead’s WORKINGMAN’S DEAD (1970).
Richard Wright kills with a startling hallucinogenic keyboard solo and lead vocal on Matilda Mother, presented here with alternate lyrics and a heavier drum track changing the dynamic of the original song released on Pink Floyd’s debut. The song is presented in its 2010 remix, remastered in 2016.
Vegetable Man, Scream Thy Last Scream and In the Beechwwods finally get the official release treatment fans had been waiting for after bootlegging the songs for years. The tracks are so top notch, makes you wonder why they were put on hold for so long. It’s quite evident that Pink Floyd went through a tough period when Syd Barrett was not able to perform with them live, but the songs kept on rolling out (evidenced in the singer’s impeccable two solo releases). Barrett was not given the opportunity/benefit Brian Wilson had with The Beach Boys or Brian Jones with the Rolling Stones; he was gradually removed from the band and eventually replaced with Jokers Wild’s guitarist David Gilmour.
Jugband Blues, arguably the best track on A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS (1968), features a loony Salvation Army Band section and some of the most influential lyrics keen on the subject of alienation about the band and one of its members; it was destined to be Syd’s Pink Floyd swan song (until now). Throughout the years, Pink Floyd wrote about Syd Barrett in albums like THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (1973), WISH YOU WERE HERE (1975) and THE WALL (1979), but it was Barrett who wrote about them first and the way he was kicked out of the band, setting a somber tone over one of rock’s most legendary stories. In Jugband Blues, an utterly confused Syd Barrett sings about his rather particular situation with the group:
“It’s awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I’m most obliged to you for making it clear
That I’m not here
And I never knew the moon could be so big
And I never knew the moon could be so blue
And I’m grateful that you threw away my old shoes
And brought me here instead dressed in red
And I’m wondering who could be writing this song
I don’t care if the sun don’t shine
And I don’t care if nothing is mine
And I don’t care if I’m nervous with you
I’ll do my loving in the winter
And the sea isn’t green
And I love the Queen
And what exactly is a dream
And what exactly is a joke”
One can argue, Scream Thy Last Scream featuring Nick Mason on lead vocals and Syd Barrett on a vocal track sped up to double speed, made up of an inexplicable instrumental segment and out of this world lyrics, would easily become the centerpiece on Pink Floyd’s mind-blowing sophomore effort. Instead, the track was scheduled to be released earlier as a single with Vegetable Man, a move soon vetoed by their label EMI. Pink Floyd’s decision of not releasing Syd Barrett’s much anticipated post-Piper effort in 1968, and instead giving preferences to tracks like Remember a Day or See-Saw over Vegetable Man and In the Beechwoods, changed the band’s sound and their overall approach to their music and their image from psych-pop into full blown artsy/space, a transformation that would seal Syd’s fate rather quickly.
Pink Floyd could never outlive Syd Barrett’s legacy even though they seemed to outgrow it. The band’s introspective narrative nature was born out of the psyche of Syd Barrett and aged to perfection by one Roger Waters, the bass player songwriting mastermind who took control of the group once Barrett was out of the picture. It is clear upon listening to early Floyd that the creative forces behind the band’s initial success were Barrett and Wright, both members ousted from the Floyd at different moments of the band’s history.
Syd Barrett released a couple of excellent solo albums in 1970, A MADCAP LAUGHS and BARRETT. In 1988, his record company (Harvest Records UK, Capitol Records USA) released OPEL, a collection of unfinished material and outtakes; one of the most sought after and talked about record collections ever due to the nature of the singer’s condition and the myth surrounding the man who once was the leader of Pink Floyd, soon to become a recluse living with his mother in Cambridge.
*Every song referenced in this article can be found on Pink Floyd, The Early Years – 1965-72, Disc 1 – 1965-67 CAMBRIDGE ST/ATION. You can listen to The Early Years 1965-72 streaming now on Apple Music and YouTube.