Pink Floyd Detail Massive 27-Disc ‘Early Years’ Box Set
Collection will include many previously unreleased recordings and films of the band
Pink Floyd. Photo: Hipgnosis © Pink Floyd Music Ltd
Pink Floyd have raided their vaults for a massive, 27-disc box set anthologizing their first seven years together, The Early Years 1965 ”“ 1972, due out on November 11th. It will contain unreleased outtakes and demos, TV appearances, seven hours of concert recordings, 15 hours of video (including concert performances, interviews and three feature films), over 20 unreleased songs, an updated version of their Zabriskie Point soundtrack and more, documenting the period before Dark Side of the Moon. The group will also put out a more affordable, two-disc compilation, The Early Years ”“ Cre/ation.
The audio will comprise 130 tracks, spanning 12-and-a-half hours and featuring unreleased songs and BBC sessions alongside the aforementioned outtakes. Two never-before-released recordings, the Syd Barrett”“pennedSaucerful of Secrets outtakes “Vegetable Man” and “In the Beechwoods,” have been newly mixed for the release. It will contain seven hours of previously unreleased live audio, as well as replica seven-inch singles. Its video content will feature over seven hours of rare concert footage. The set will also contain memorabilia.
The discs will be housed in seven book-style containers, which will be available individually in 2017 with the exception of the bonus set, “Continu/ation.”
The first book-style package will cover 1965 ”“ 1967 and is titled “Cambridge St/ation.” It covers Barrett’s stint in the group, including demos, singles, the aforementioned Saucerful rarities and BBC sessions. Also notable is a CD release of the material on the rare 2015 vinyl release 1965: Their First Recordings, which featured Rado Klose on guitar and Juliette Gale on vocals. It will also include an unreleased Stockholm concert from 1967, and a DVD or Blu-ray of their TV performances and band-only footage from the time.
The next, “Germin/ation,” focuses on 1968, just after Barrett parted ways with Pink Floyd and they released Saucerful of Secrets. It includes non-album singles and a recently discovered studio session, as well as more BBC recordings. The video content includes a promo spot for “Point Me at the Sky” and international TV performances.
“Dramatis/ation” ”“ the set covering 1969, the year the group put out its Moresoundtrack and Ummagumma double-LP ”“ features recordings from Amsterdam and London taken from the group’s two-part conceptual live productions The Man and The Journey, which conceptually covered a 24-hour period in a person’s life. It also includes additional tracks from the More soundtrack and non-album cuts like the version of “Embryo” that appeared on a rare sampler. Its video contains footage of The Man/The Journey rehearsal.
The fourth set, “Devi/ation,” focuses on 1970, when they recorded songs for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film, Zabriskie Point, the latter of which have been collected together and remixed and updated. Another disc focuses on the BBC premiere of Atom Heart Mother ”“ the cinematic album they put out that year ”“ which featured an orchestra and choir; a quad mix of the album will be available on DVD audio. There’s also an hour-long performance that a San Francisco cable TV station shot for video content, as well as footage of the band performing Atom Heart Mother.
The period surrounding Meddle and, more specifically, 1971, will be the focus of “Reverber/ation.” It contains demos of early experiments known to Floyd fans asNothing and Return of the Son of Nothing, as well as a BBC session. There’s also a quad mix of the Meddle cornerstone “Echoes,” as well as live performances from 1971 and one with a ballet company in Marseille, France.
“Opfusc/ation,” the sixth set, centers on 1972, when the band released Obscured by Clouds, a soundtrack album for the film La Vallée. That year also saw the release of the film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, which found them playing in the empty amphitheater of the famous Italian ruins, and the video content contains those performances with new 5.1 audio mixes and material from French TV, concert footage and more ballet performances.
The final disc, “Continu/ation,” contains early BBC radio sessions, audio tracks from the film The Committee, Floyd’s live soundtrack to the 1969 moon landing and more. There’s also three feature-length films ”“ The Committee, More and La Vallée ”“ and live footage and festival performances.
The box will also contain reproduction vinyl singles of “Arnold Layne,” “See Emily Play,” “Apples and Oranges,” “It Would Be So Nice” and “Point Me at the Sky.”
In other Floyd news, David Gilmour recently returned to Pompeii for a stunning concert, and the group is in the midst of reissuing its catalogue on vinyl via its own record label.
