LONDON - LIVE 66-67

I had a hard time finding this EP on the site here not realizing it would be located in the video section. I haven't even seen the video yet and I only bought this for the two long tracks from 1966/67. Man was this worth getting ! I couldn't help but think of Pete Townsend (THE WHO) who used to go to the UFO Club often to see THE PINK FLOYD during this period of time. He loved how dark, psychedelic, powerful and experimental they were live on stage. And these two long tracks certainly represent what he was talking about. Pete thought "Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn" was awful, complete rubbish because he was expecting the same music that he witnessed live not a bunch of silly pop songs.

I will eventually get to the video footage one day but first up on the cd is "Interstellar Overdrive" apparently recorded at the UFO Club in 1966. The intro certainly gets your attention then they get into this steady groove before a minute. I really like the organ here. Experimental sounds after 5 minutes then the organ and guitar turn aggressive before 7 1/2 minutes but not for long. A much fuller sound 10 1/2 minutes in and the guitar starts to light it up. Syd is amazing on this recording with his acid drenched freak outs. It settles back after 11 1/2 minutes. The guitar comes to the fore again before 13 minutes then it settles a minute later. It kicks in hard before 16 minutes.

"Nick's Boogie" opens with the drums beating in a dark atmosphere as the guitar expressions come and go. Love Syd's playing. It settles into a haunting soundscape around 7 minutes in. The guitar is insane 9 1/2 minutes in as Syd takes the spotlight. The drums with that dark atmosphere from the intro are back to end it.

I absolutely loved this. For me it means so much to hear this side of the band back in 1966 / 67 because this is how they were on stage back then. It would have been amazing to have been there.