THE EARLY YEARS 1965-1967 CAMBRIDGE ST/ATION

In 2016, Pink Floyd released a box set called 'The Early Years 1965 - 1972' which was quite a comprehensive set of rare, unreleased and live recordings made through those formative years of the band. This humongous box set contained 33 discs divided up into seven volumes, each volume with the appropriate CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, each volume focusing on specific years. This full box set can cost around $500, and some people might not be able to part with all that money all at once, so what I hope to do is take these volumes separately for those that would rather focus on more specific sections of the PF history than the entire thing. One item that is missing by buying the volumes separately is the 7th volume, which is available by itself in Japan, but only with the CD, not the 2 DVDs/Blu-rays that come with that volume. The other items that are missing will be noted at the end of each review of the volume it would pertain to. The 7th volume didn't pertain to one specific time period, however, but sort of cleaned up some of the missing bits and pieces that didn't fit in the separate volumes.

For those not wanting to get this huge box set, each volume was later sold separately, being released in 2017. For the most part, the volumes remain intact. It is probably better to look at each volume instead of writing a very long review about the entire set, so I will review each volume as it was sold separately in 2017.

This review is for 'The Early Years Volume 1: 1965-1967: Cambridge St/ation'. This set is made up of 2 CDs, and a DVD/Blu-ray disc. Disc 1 covers studio recordings that were made during the years covered in this volume. Disc 2 contains 8 tracks from a show recorded in Stockholm in 1967 and 9 tracks recorded in studio called the John Latham studio recordings from 1967.

CD 1

The first 6 tracks on this disc were previously ultra-rare tracks recorded by the band before they were known as Pink Floyd. Their working name back then was 'The Tea Set' and these songs were all recorded around December of 1964. Before they were released as a double 7' single set a few years before, they were only a rumor. They were made available in limited quantities at that time, and now they are also available on this set. All of them are recorded in mono.

'The Tea Set' was comprised of Syd Barrett on lead vocals and guitars, Roger Waters on bass, backing and lead vocals (in one case), Richard Wright on keyboards, Nick Mason on drums and percussion, and Bob Klose on guitars. The first three songs were part of the first 7' single and were all written and sung by Barrett. 'Lucy Leave', 'Double O Bo' and 'Remember Me' were all quite basic sounds reminiscent of the sound of the day, nothing much was psychedelic or original about them, however, they are some great rockers, all of them just under 3 minutes each, and 'Remember Me' has that sarcastic Barrett sound with vocals just a touch over-the-top. The 2nd 7' single contained the next 3 tracks; 'Walk With Me Sydney' (sung by Richard's first wife Juliette Gale and Barrett together with Roger singing on the bridge) written by Roger, 'Butterfly' written by Barrett and 'I'm a King Bee', a cover of Slim Harpo that retains the bluesy sound. All of these 6 songs are well recorded and sound great in mono. All of them also have that false naivet' that was apparent in the Barrett's later PF compositions, but to a lesser level. Lovers Syd's PF will enjoy these discoveries.

The next part of the first disc contains some more familiar PF songs from 1966-67, mostly songs that were singles but were not included on the albums. Since then, however, they have been available on countless other compilations. In the case of this box set, they are all included with their cleaned up 2010 mixes. The first 5 of these tracks are in mono. 'Arnold Layne', 'See Emily Play' and 'Apples and Oranges' were previously released with these 2010 mixes on 'An Introduction to Syd Barrett'. The mixes bring out all of the sounds and restores them to their original glory. They all sound quite pristine. After this are 'Candy and a Currant Bun' and 'Paintbox', one of the rare examples of Richard singing lead vocals. After this point, the rest of the tracks on this first disc are in stereo, but still in the 2010 mixes. 'Matilda Mother' appears in the alternate version that appeared on 'An Introduction to Syd Barrett' except this time it is slightly extended. The remaining tracks are all previously unreleased, again all in 2010 mixes to retain a constant sound. 'Jugband Blues' comes from the band's second album 'A Saucerful of Secrets'. Next is the rare track 'In the Beechwoods'. This track was considered to be a lost track recorded in 1966 along with two other unavailable songs. There are no vocals on this track, and it sounds like a backing track to what would have been what sounds like a great song if it had been finished. 'Vegetable Man' was one of those bootlegged tracks that made the rounds and ended up becoming a well know track, but this set is the first time it was officially released by the band. It was originally intended to be a follow up single to 'See Emily Play', but ended up getting shelved. The song was going to be included on a Barrett rarities collection along with the last track 'Scream Thy Last Scream', but the band blocked that. Both of these tracks are more progressive oriented in that they contain a lot of tempo shifts and non-standard structures.

This CD of rare and unreleased early gems have high quality sound and is quite a valuable collection of tracks for those that love early Pink Floyd. Even if nothing else in this first volume was worthwhile, this disc would be worth the price of admission all on its own. PF's early years were the years that took me the longest to get interested in, but now that I am, I can't get enough of it, and this disc is like a major treat.

CD 2

The second CD takes on more of the lengthy, psychedelic and experimental tracks that were being played by the band at the time. The first 8 tracks are taken from a concert at Gyllenne Cirkeln in Stockholm, Sweden, recorded on September 10, 1967. The recording is somewhat low in quality, but is still listenable. It starts with a short track where the band was introduced to what sounds like a small crowd and goes quickly into a psychedelic instrumental called 'Reaction in G'. Sometimes this piece has lyrics, but not in this case. It starts as a moderate piece with the repeating bass riff surrounded by loud guitars and keys, then the tempo speeds up and slows interchangeably as the instruments make improvised noise around it. Even though the next track is 'Matilda Mother', don't expect many vocals anytime during this concert. The chords from the guitars make it easy to hear the melody in your head, and as it continues, the wailing organ and guitars help you keep track of where you are at in the song. At one point you can hear singing, but its very subdued. A long, exploratory and experimental 'Pow R Toc H.' follows and goes into a 12 minute trip of psychedelia with the kooky, vocal sound effects at the beginning. This low-fi sound continues with 'Scream Thy Last Scream', 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' (where you can hear more vocals but they are subdued, but since the original's vocals were subdued anyway, it is very recognizable), 'See Emily Play' and 'Interstellar Overdrive'. Not the best recording or concert in the world, but it does show a window that we can travel back in time through to hear the band jam in its infancy.

The 2nd half of the CD is made up of tracks entitled 'John Latham Version 1' through '9'. John Latham was an artist and these tracks are all improvisations that range from 2:37 to 5:06, so nothing really too long. The tracks were recorded at De Land Lea Studios in London on October 20, 1967. They are somewhat similar to the extended improvisation from the middle section of 'Interstellar Overdrive'. The recording quality is much better on these tracks and the sound is very free form and experimental. The tracks all flow together so its not easy to tell when one starts and another ends, as the performance is really just one single improvisational session broken up into 9 tracks.

This 2nd CD is not going to appeal to many listeners as it is the band at their most improvisational. The songs that most will recognize are mostly instrumental and the sound quality is sub-par, but the John Latham Versions are of a better quality, so if you love the psychedelic and experimental sound, then this disc will be of some value to you. Most likely though, the die hard fans will probably be the only ones interested in this one.

DVD/Blu-ray

The DVD and Blu-ray discs have identical track lists which range from rare promo videos, performances and interviews. It starts with the video promo for 'Chapter 24' that originally was on 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' album. The song is in the same form as on the album and the video is of members of the band having a romp in the country and then in the city with some uncomfortable facial close-ups. After this is a more interesting video of the band messing around with their instruments in order to create the psychedelic sounds of 'Nick's Boogie' while an excerpt of it plays for the audio. The first part shows them in studio and this later switches to a live setting with people trying to dance. The next video is taken from Granada TV and a short documentary about the Underground Scene where Pink Floyd plays an edited 'Interstellar Overdrive' while a narrator talks about the psychedelic scene in London. The video is in black and white but fairly cleaned up, quite intriguing and even a bit funny as you watch people explore this art movement.

This is followed by the promo music video for 'Arnold Layne', a nice black and white video that is artfully done with the band on the beach with a mannequin. The style actually seems well produced that it could have easily fit with the videos of later times. The next video is from a program called 'The Look of the Week' which is hosted by a chap named Hans Keller. It starts off with the strange vocal shinanegans of 'Pow R Toc H.', but only plays a short snippet from that before Hans talks to his audience about how the music always has to be too loud for his taste. After he chats to the TV, the band plays through a shortened version of 'Astronomy Domine' featuring Syd playing up the part. After they finish, Hans interviews Syd and Roger. The video is in black and white and is quite cleaned up. The interview gets into why the music is so loud and does a great job of showing the widening of the generational 'gap' of the time. It's an excellent insight into the band, Syd and Roger.

Next there are a couple of their promo videos. The first is 'The Scarecrow' which sees the band in the country again, this time messing around with a scarecrow as the familiar version of the song plays. It is introduced by a narrator in the beginning. 'Jugband Blues'. This one at first shows Syd standing and staring into the camera as he plays and sings the song, the band comes in later, playing the brass instruments and then everything turns psychedelic. Both of these videos are in color. They appear on 'American Bandstand' next with a black and white video of them lip-synching the strange 'Apples and Oranges' while Syd stands there looking quite sad for being there. Dick Clark comes out and does a quick interview about British and American food and each member politely answers his dumb questions.

Next is a piece of a documentary called 'Tomorrow's World' where the narrator explains new techniques (at the time) of mixing light and sound. They show how they make psychedelic patterns while Pink Floyd does a short instrumental improvisation. The camera flips back and forth from the band to the psychedelic light patterns and a Siamese cat. Another B&W video of a German documentary called 'Die Jungen Nachtwandler' features Pink Floyd playing the improvised portion of 'Interstellar Overdrive' while showing shots of the audience listening and dancing crazily. The narrator speaks in German and then titles roll.

There is a video in black and white of the band performing 'See Emily Play' on the show 'Top of the Pops'. The audio is pretty much the same as the recorded version, so it's probably all lip synched, though you can see Syd breaking out in a sweat. We see more of the band playing around with a scarecrow for 'The Scarecrow (Outtakes)' which again features the same version of 'The Scarecrow' but this time with additional color shots that were not used in the finished promo video. This is all rounded off with a full (finally) performance of 'Interstellar Overdrive'. The problem is, instead of being a concert performance like I hoped, it's a poorly done psychedelic film with the studio version of the track playing through it and a German recitation of a Timothy Leary poem. Oh well, at least the other video snippets are pretty good.

What's Missing?

The only applicable thing that is missing from this set that is available in the complete box set are the 3 replica vinyl singles: 'Arnold Layne'/'Candy and a Currant Bun', 'Point Me at the Sky'/'Careful with That Axe, Eugene', and 'It Would Be so Nice'/'Julia Dream'. This is something, as a vinyl collector, that I would have loved to have, but it isn't a necessity unless you have the money to pay for the full box set.

In Summary

This is a pretty good collection of some of the rare tracks, many of which were not officially or readily available in one collection before the release of this volume. The first CD is quite a valuable disc as far as bringing the early, non-album tracks together, and the quality of the recordings is excellent. This disc alone will be worth it for most Pink Floyd lovers. The 2nd disc is a bit more iffy. Even though the songs in the Stockholm part of the disc are mostly instrumental, it would have been nice if the vocals that are there were more audible. The sound isn't great, but its also not terrible. The long improvisational section is all previously unreleased, but will probably only appeal to the fans that have to have everything. I found them interesting for about the first 10 minutes, after that it seemed to go on too long, but I may grow to like them over time. The DVD/Blu-ray features are excellent, except for maybe the last track which was not what I hoped for, but the interviews, videos and performances are excellent windows into the band and the lifestyle of the psychedelic underground of the time. Disc 1 is 5 stars, disc 2 is 3 stars, DVD/Blu-Ray is 4 stars. Add to this the value of this set being worth what you will pay for it, and also figure in the convenience of not having to pay over $500 for the combined box set which might have material that you don't care for, the fact that this focuses on one important stage in the band and their development, this is a definite must have for Pink Floyd fans and it should be attractive to casual fans also, especially if you want more of the early stuff. 5 stars.