THE EARLY YEARS 1970 DEVI/ATION

Devi/ation, the fourth of the boxes to come out of The Early Years big box set, Deviation is my favorite. This is not based on the DVD on this or any of the boxsets as I think of them as watch once and pretty much done.

This starts off with the a song I have heard about but never heard, The live band only version of Atom Heart Mother from a 1970 concert in Montreux. Roger Waters introduces the song by saying the original has brass and choir but they have a version when they do not have them. Over the years both Waters and Gilmour have had nothing good to say about the original and I have to disagree with them but this version is stunning. It cuts the song down to the bone and instead of ruining a side-long track, creates a different version of an already great track. Out of the whole big box, this was the track that I really wanted to hear. It did not disappoint.

The rest of the first disc is from a BBC session in July 1970 and they run through many of their concert staples at the time. Embryo, which was never released on a PF studio album, is given the expanded treatment and clocks in at 11 minutes. The next track is a short version of Fat Old Sun which usually gets a long Gilmour electric guitar solo when played live but here it plays as a quiet acoustic number. Floyd has better live versions than this. Green is the Colour is given a short but solid workout , Careful with that Axe is extended with Roger screaming like only he can and sticks close to the original. Disk One closes out with a full blown version of Atom Heart Mother with choir, cello and brass ensembles. The two versions are different enough that the listener is more than happy to hear it twice.

Disk two is outtakes, remixes and unreleased songs from the movie Zabriskie Point. There are a handful of standout tracks, (Aeroplane, Explosion, Take Off, Love Scene (Take 2)) and the rest are not thrilling but everything is worth a listen. If you're paying attention, some parts of these songs show up as part of later tracks. The most recognizable is Riot Scene, which is reworked and embellished on Dark Side Of The Moon as the fabulous Us and Them. To close the CD portion of the box set, is an early version of , you guessed it, Atom Heart Mother. OK, by this time I really didn't need another take but there is nothing wrong with this version. It is an early band only studio released version of the classic. Of note is that Nick Mason gets more room to roam on this take.

Overall, I would give the first CD a 5 and the second a weak 4 . But since the first disc is so good I'll give it 5 stars.