Customer Reviews

London 1966-67

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I was pleasantly suprised by a disc that I didn't even know existed... The original Floyd line-up, back in the days of the UFO in London, was an avante-garde force to be reckoned with. The extended version of "Interstellar Overdrive" taps into areas that are unexplored on the version that was released on "Piper". Rick Wright's Stockhausen roots are VERY apparent, and Syd Barret leads the creative charge with syncopated cosmic ramblings on guitar. This track will mentally send you drifting...

"Nick's Boogie" features Nick Mason, who has seemed to change his drumming style from this time period. As Floyd entered into the '70's, Mason was concentrating more on establishing a "groove", rather than demonstrating his technical ability as a drummer. This disc, Piper, and Saucerful of Secrets - gives the listener the ability to hear a more technical side of Nick Mason that he abandoned in latter day recordings. This is a "must-listen" for percussionists who question his technical abilities.

After reading reviews from the "Piper" disc and this one, people seem to have a facination with comparing the "Syd" Pink Floyd with the "Gilmour" Pink Floyd. THERE IS NO COMPARISON ! One quarter of the band changed...OF COURSE it's going to sound different. APPRECIATE EACH ON ITS OWN MERIT - THIS IS LIKE COMPARING APPLES AND ORANGES !

In my mind, they're BOTH great...

This is Pink Floyd in their rawest and most experimental, cerebral-cortex-melting form. If ever you doubted Pink Floyd's early status as "The Kings of British Psychedelia," you need look no further than this. No lyrics, just all out, Syd Barrett-penned, lysergic, instrumental insanity. (And more use of echo than you can shake a stick at.) While the highlight here has to be Interstellar Overdrive, Nick's Boogie is absolutely exquisite in it's own right, with it's extremely lonely sounding echoed guitar and hollow drums. On a side note, this CD contains the most breath-taking moment in music history. After 16 minutes of pure experimentation, the entire band regroups and comes back to the main theme of the song. It's at this exact moment, the essence of Pink Floyd lies. No singular moment in their entire catalog (contrary to popular belief) even comes close. Just take a listen.....you'll see.

Even better is the video [look in the VHS section under the same title], featuring the same performances, surprisingly clear footage of the band performing at the UFO Club in 1966 (some of it in sync with the audio also heard on this CD), as well as footage of a "happening" in London with John Lennon in the audience hanging out. A bit of the psychedelic London of the 60's preserved for your viewing pleasure...

I purchased a used copy of "London '66-'67" through Amazon.com. According to the product description, this re-mastered release includes two audio tracks, rare video footage of Pink Floyd in concert, and extensive liner notes. I am a huge fan of the early Pink Floyd so I was really looking forward to checking out this release. When my order arrived, however, I found that all I got was an audio CD. There was no video content on it at all. That is when I realized that there are two versions of this release: An early (audio-only) version and a newly re-mastered, repackaged version with video footage and expanded liner notes.

So, I was mislead by the listing on Amazon.com. The seller should NOT have listed an audio-only CD on a page that advertised an audio/video product. BEWARE, this could happen to you too. I'm sure there are a lot of copies of the lesser version of this release floating around and they could easily end up listed for sale on Amazon.com.

Despite everything I have written above, however, it is exciting to stumble across more recorded material from the early days of Pink Floyd. The music here isn't as good as the previously released material but it is still a nice treat for people who are fans of the Syd Barrett years.

The packaging states that this release includes the "definitive version" of "Interstellar Overdrive." To be honest, though, I've heard better. This version tends to plod along with a somewhat limited range of timbres, with all the musicians generally maintaining the beat and occasionally getting louder or softer. They don't experiment as much with interesting sounds or playing styles here. Still, it is a pleasant enough listening experience. There is a nice groove going on and you can hear the roots of ideas that eventually developed into the studio version that appears on "Piper at the Gates of Dawn."

"Nick's Boogie" is a much better track. It is very similar in style to "Interstellar Overdrive" but there is a lot more variation in style and timbre. The more spaced-out drum part leaves a lot of room for the musicians to get looser and to play round the beat. You can hear a lot of interesting exploration going on in the course of this track, including Syd getting some interesting results with the slide and delay pedal and Nick Mason playing around with soft mallets to get sounds that are similar to a kettle drum.

This release is a nice little treat, even though it isn't as satisfying as the other recordings of the group from this era. The experience is kind of like hearing early demos from your favorite band: It is interesting to hear them explore ideas that eventually lead to their break-through sound. Just don't expect this stuff to be as good as "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" or "Saucerful of Secrets." And be sure to get re-mastered version of this release so you won't feel ripped off!!!!

I had both of these cuts on a pink vinyl bootleg for years.
GET THEM. They are essential, true tablets of psychedelic revelation. The Floyd performed like this all the time, back in the day; this is the *only* semi-authorized live document from their eariest incarnation available, anywhere. Genius? Madness? Cacophony? These recordings "Boldly go where no man has gone before", although Hawkwind charted and mapped this territory a couple years later, the Floyd were the first to explore the Final Frontier. This music will disassemble in your brain like a Rubic's Cube. It illustrates why the Floyd caught everyone's attention in the U.K. in the *first place*. Melts in your mind, not in your hand.

This set, with the CDR, is definitive. If you don't have the videotape "Live In London" (and very few people do) this is the only format available to view this footage, and it's SEMINAL stuff; get this, the Pink Floyd Singles CD, the mono rerelease of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and *marvel* at the clarity of vision (ethnogenically induced though it be) of these visionary young men, and wonder: "What the hell happened?"

As a fan of early PF (pre-Dark Side, and most definitely, pre-The Wall), I was excited to find this CD/CD-Rom. The music was great -- a nice illustration of the talents of Sid Barrett before illness derailed his career. However, the CD-Rom has no way to start without a command to download QuickTime 3.0. I already had a more advanced version, but had no choice but to download 3.0. After restarting the CD-Rom, I simply got another message to download QuickTime 3.0, with no way to play the CD-Rom. I feel I got half of what I paid for with this offering.

This is some of the best Floyd ever because it displays the genious of Syd Barret. I do not agree with the reviewer that said Floyd sold out with Gilmour, but Syd was great. Both songs are spectacular and in my opinion show the best work of Nick Mason who sometimes receives criticism for not being a real technical drummer. Just listen to this cd and all your doubts will be erased.

Talk about L S D!This CD spells it out! During "Insterstellar Overdrive," Syd's guitar work:using magnets and other odd things as slides, is pure disorientation. I love how the song goes: wicked-trippy-disorientation-trippy-wicked: purely improvised. During "Nick's Boogie," Nick Mason plays the drums like the sound of a heartbeat, then you hear swooshes and Rick Wright's organ playing, and swooshes and more of Syd's trippyness. These two instrumental pieces would just give you the feeling, that you don't know what to expect next! I would advise cranking it up full blast -the bass on the highest, turn the lights off, and just hold on. You don't know what you will get yourself into- that is, until you get this CD. You will go for a musical roller coaster of a ride. Just find out for yourself.

if you are a die hard floydian like me youll enjoy this emmensly, unlike piper this albulm give you a glimpse of the full version of interstellar overdrive, with the video and interviews, makes it a must to add to your collection

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