George Harrison (1961-1973) – Six Fan Albums

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

Obviously I’m stepping away from some of the more obscure artists I cover to one of the most famous of them all, George Harrison. I’ve been intrigued by him, especially the material from around 1965 onward, which can feel more like a solo George song in a sea of Lennon and McCartney, than part of the same artist. Thus, I decided to make playlists of songs that either have George’s lead vocals or are instrumentals that are basically dominated by him to overall make an alternate history where George was a solo artist from square one. This version of mine is less radical than some others I’ve seen. A common thing is to either cut out songs that don’t seem to fit the mold, sort tracks by essentially when they were written, and things of that sort. I wanted to keep things in recording order and separate the Beatles era from the early solo era, as they feel distinct.

The most radical thing I’ve done is take the All Things Must Pass album and non-album tracks from around that time to make four single disc albums, instead of one triple album. Generally, the earlier the song was written that was recorded in that time period, the earlier it shows up. I think that my version flows much better than the original album. Starting with 1973’s Living In The Material World, Harrison’s albums were single discs and had barely any stray tracks, so they’re left alone. I may do a sequel to this that covers what few strays there were for the last twenty-eight years of George’s career. Immediately below is a brief narrative that also explains some of the strange stuff here. Lots of information here is made up.

The History of George Harrison from 1961-1973 

Liverpool bar band The Silver Beetles toured around trying to hit it big, mostly playing covers. The two clear leaders, bassist Paul McCartney and rhythm guitarist John Lennon, had begun to write songs together and develop a distinct style to lead guitarist George Harrison and drummer Pete Best. Wanting to fit in, George would write a little, but felt it was out of his depth. Soon enough, the differences became too much and the band split. The group remained friends. Paul and John continued to work together, mostly writing songs for others. When they got a record deal with EMI in 1962, then later a hit single, they asked the label to consider George. They agreed, though gave him little creative freedom, which frustrated George. George cut four successful singles, with ample help from John and Paul.

Two of the recent single tracks, “Don’t Bother Me” and “Roll Over Beethoven”, were successful enough to warrant George an LP. At the insistence of EMI, half that LP would consist of live recordings and most of the album would be covers. The live tracks were recorded with John, Paul, and session drummer Ringo Starr. The three made minor appearances on the studio material, with it mostly being filled out with session men. The Burning Hot George Harrison (1964) was released to little attention and George would decide to stop recording for the time being and try to find something that he identified with stronger.

Touring around and trying new styles, George became more confident and wrote many songs. In 1967, he returned to EMI, destined to record an LP of entirely originals. Seeing as this had become more trendy, and with the support of John and Paul, he got his wish. This new project, which George called his first “real” album, still was backed with a mix of John, Paul, Ringo, and session players. It’s All Too Much was a big hit and allowed George more creative freedom for the future. His upcoming albums were the bizarre soundtrack album, Wonderwall Music, which divided him between those that loved Indian music and psychedelia, and those that wanted more conventional music; The Inner Light, which was more conventional and acclaimed than his previous work; and the even more bizarre Electronic Sound. Electronic Sound would be Harrison’s first album to feature no John, Paul, or Ringo and also to receive mostly negative reviews. George endeared himself to some, and garnered hatred from others by saying he just wants to do what he wants while he can and that no matter what he does, he will one day fall off the map.

Harrison had felt he had grown beyond John and Paul, so decided to not use them on his next project. While his close friends, namely Eric Clapton, had appeared on his songs before, here they would be used a lot more. All Things Must Pass garnered mixed reviews, with some saying it came off as incomplete. As much could be said for the side release, Apple Jam. However, 1971’s The Concert For Bangladesh and 1972’s Beware Of Darkness were considered returns to form. Some theorized Harrison was making a point to essentially swap between a “mainstream” release and a polarizing release. This was continued with the extremely stripped-back Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine and the “conventional” Living In The Material World, both from 1973. Both had a more positive reception than his worst regarded material, though less than his best as those that weren’t willing to put up with his weirder tendencies had already gone.

Starting with 1974’s Dark Horse, some would claim Harrison was either trying to make bad, alienating music, or was going commercial. Harrison would often give contradictory answers. The first clue was when he took a break from recording and rereleased some of his early albums with differences. Both Pass and Gang Of Mine featured overdubs to some tracks to make them feel more complete and the latter included a non-album single and b-side. Regardless of Harrison’s intentions, all of his music, especially the 1961-1973 era, has in time become more consistently loved and acclaimed, detailing an artist that didn’t want to follow the rules and was willing to be daring. Some have noted the reason the works might be liked better now is the lesser releases, as well as the proper ones, can be obtained for cheap, instead of being the expensive new releases they once were.

TRACKLIST & LINKS

1963 singles + The Burning Hot George Harrison (1964) – Spotify, YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SINGLES

1. “Don’t Ever Change (Pop Go the Beatles, 27 August 1963)”
2. “Chains”
3. “Do You Want To Know A Secret”
4. “Devil In Her Heart”
5. “Cry For A Shadow”
6. “You Know What To Do”

SIDE A

1. “Don’t Bother Me”
2. “I Forgot To Remember To Forget (From Us to You, 28 May 1964)”
3. “Roll Over Beethoven”
4. “Three Cool Cats”
5. “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby”
6. “Crying, Waiting, Hoping (Pop Go the Beatles, 6 August 1963)”

SIDE B

1. “The Sheik Of Araby”
2. “Nothin’ Shakin’ (Pop Go the Beatles, 23 July 1963)”
3. “Glad All Over (Pop Go the Beatles, 20 August 1963)”
4. “So How Come (No One Loves Me) (Pop Go the Beatles, 23 July 1963)”
5. “Young Blood (Pop Go the Beatles, 11 June 1963)”
6. “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”

It’s All Too Much (1967) – Spotify, YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Taxman”
2. “I Want To Tell You”
3. “Love You To”
4. “If I Needed Someone”
5. “Think For Yourself”
6. “I Need You”
7. “You Like Me Too Much”

SIDE B

1. “Within You Without You”
2. “Blue Jay Way”
3. “It’s All Too Much”
4. “Only A Northern Song”

Wonderwall Music (1968) comes here, unaltered – Spotify, YouTube

The Inner Light (1969) – Spotify, YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “The Inner Light”
2. “Long, Long, Long”
3. “Piggies”
4. “Savoy Truffle”
5. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
6. “Circles (Esher Demo)”
7. “Here Comes The Sun”

SIDE B

1. “Something”
2. “Old Brown Shoe”
3. “For You Blue (Naked Version)”
4. “I Me Mine (Naked Version)”
5. “Not Guilty”
6. “Sour Milk Sea (Esher Demo)”
7. “Almost Shankara”

Electronic Sound (1969) comes here, unaltered – Spotify, YouTube

All Things Must Pass (1970) – Spotify, YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Isn’t It A Pity (Version 1)”
2. “Art Of Dying”
3. “I’d Have You Anytime”
4. “Window Window (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”
5. “Let It Down”

SIDE B

1. “Wah-Wah”
2. “Run Of The Mill”
3. “Dehra Dun (Day 1 Demo; Take 2)”
4. “Isn’t It A Pity (Version 2)”
5. “Nowhere To Go (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”
6. “All Things Must Pass”

All Things Must Pass (1970) alt version – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Isn’t It A Pity (Version 1)”
2. “Art Of Dying”
3. “I’d Have You Anytime”
4. “Window Window (walrusz version)”
5. “Let It Down”

SIDE B

1. “Wah-Wah”
2. “Run Of The Mill”
3. “Dehra Dun (walrusz version)”
4. “Isn’t It A Pity (Version 2)”
5. “Nowhere To Go (walrusz version)”
6. “All Things Must Pass”

Apple Jam (1970) comes here, unaltered – Spotify, YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Out Of The Blue”
2. “It’s Johnny’s Birthday”
3. “Plug Me In”

SIDE B

1. “I Remember Jeep”
2. “Thanks For The Pepperoni”

The Concert For Bangladesh (1971) comes here, unaltered – Archive.org

Beware Of Darkness (1972) – Spotify, YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Hear Me Lord”
2. “My Sweet Lord”
3. “What Is Life”
4. “Behind That Locked Door”
5. “Beware Of Darkness”

SIDE B

1. “The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)”
2. “Awaiting On You All”
3. “I Dig Love”
4. “If Not For You”
5. “Apple Scruffs”
6. “I Live For You”

Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine (1973) – Spotify, YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Almost 12 Bar Honky Tonk (Take 1)”
2. “Cosmic Empire (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”
3. “Get Back (Take 1)”
4. “Going Down To Golders Green (Day 1 Demo; Take 1)”
5. “Mother Divine (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”

SIDE B

1. “Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) (Day 1 Demo; Take 1)”
2. “Tell Me What Has Happened To You (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”
3. “Wedding Bells (Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine) (Take 1)”
4. “Bangla Desh”
5. “Deep Blue”
6. “Miss O’Dell”

Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine (1973) alt version – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “It Don’t Come Easy”
2. “I’ll Still Love You”
3. “Almost 12 Bar Honky Tonk (Take 1)”
4. “Cosmic Empire (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”
5. “Get Back (Take 1)”
6. “Going Down To Golders Green (Day 1 Demo; Take 1)”

SIDE B

1. “Mother Divine (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”
2. “Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) (Day 1 Demo; Take 1)”
3. “Tell Me What Has Happened To You (Day 2 Demo; Take 1)”
4. “Wedding Bells (Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine) (Take 1)”
5. “Bangla Desh”
6. “Deep Blue”
7. “Miss O’Dell”

Living In The Material World (1973) comes here, unaltered – Spotify, YouTube

This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) Review

The album’s cover; I would’ve preferred the back cover’s art be instead the front or one of Syd’s paintings be the cover

What is there to say about The Piper at the Gates of Dawn? Its wordy lyrics that directly are about nothing but resonate on an emotional level? Its instrumentals that match it with psychedelically simple acoustic guitars, temple blocks, and organs? Yet, sometimes you can get the opposite, with space rock jams of guitar effects and raucous drumming that still fits in perfectly due to striking contrast and consistency in feeling like something pulled from another world, something mal understood? It’s amazing how mesmerizing things like that opening drumming on “Astronomy Domine”, the guitar on “Lucifer Sam”, or the double-vocals of Syd Barrett backed by Richard Wright can be at taking you into the mood of the record. There’s a respect for the genre of psychedelia while still adding a level of etherealism that often is poorly imitated by things like sitars and electronic keyboards. The difference may be that Syd’s unwound voice sounds like he’s living etherealism. The instruments don’t really let you get too comfortable with their presence behind him, with the soft moments creating a contradiction.

Essentially, this is a Syd Barrett solo album. Of the eleven tracks, eight are completely written by him, two are band-written jam tracks, and one is penned by bassist Roger Waters. Six tracks are vocally led by Barrett; three feature Barrett, Wright, and sometimes Waters; one Waters; and one instrumental. The child-like but also morbid tone of the lyrics were often unsuccessfully replicated by the new Floyd lineup after Barrett’s departure (most infamously on ”It Would Be So Nice”/“Julia Dream”). Lyrics like the beginning of “Matilda Mother”, “There was a king who ruled the land. His majesty was in command.” epitomize the sense of whimsy and foreignness, though even more “grounded” lyrics like, “His head did no thinking, his arms didn’t move”, referring to a Scarecrow is enhanced by that being an almost-alien observation to make, topped with things like tasteful and light guitars and orchestration.

Most of the lyrics don’t seem to be attempting to be grounded (“I know a room of musical tunes. Some rhyme, some ching, most of them are clockwork.”), but can capture a sense of humanity through their warmth and emotional core. People can be sucked into things like the planets and cats and illness. The latter is well-handled by the Roger Waters track, “Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk”. The lyrics being about the observations one makes while sick can seem strange, but they perfectly manage to communicate the feeling of unwellness and lack of proper thinking. Like the rest of the album, it doesn’t just tell you what it’s about. Thematically, it makes sense in the middle of two jam tracks, being halfway from being a jam itself.

Arguably, there is a “concept” here. It’s about a person or otherwise child-like spectator’s interpretation of life. The very first track pairs warm lyrics with eclectic-instrumentation, then a few lighter songs, then three heavy songs with no or less emphasized lyrics; the down-point of the spectator, where things are the most difficult or not understood, with them unable to put their emotions into words or cogent words. As a reprise from the heavier and banging playing of the first side, the next tracks are the most calming and subdued. “Bike” returns to the sound of the others, with pounding gun-like drumming and an unnerving vocal. The false ending followed by tape effects and a noise collage can suggest the worst. It’s best being up for interpretation and playing off of the contrast between the youthful and darker elements. The track is a sign of the mental health issues that afflicted Syd Barrett.

OVERVIEW

There is some bias on my part, but it’s hard to find faults with an album so vibrant with life and able to capture such emotions by having such unheard-of lyrics. The tragic thing is it makes you want more. Yet, there is essentially nothing like it. If you want to get close, listen to Syd’s non-album tracks like “See Emily Play” or his second solo album Barrett. Barrett especially feels like the mid-point between the very full-band and psychedelic sound of his Pink Floyd work and the more somber stuff on The Madcap Laughs. It might be best enjoyed in-between Piper and the tracks Syd did with the group for their second album. Still, those don’t have that fluid album sequencing and the same powerful backing band. You can tell that Barrett became progressively less invested in his own music after the incredible artistic statement of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It’s so good that what came next might’ve been a disappointment. While he continued to make fantastic songs, maybe he wouldn’t have been able to do this exact sound as well? But one can always hope and always wonder…

Ranking the album feels Herculean, so I can’t bother. My favorite was “Flaming” when I first discovered it, then “Astronomy Domine”, and now I think it’s “Bike”. That is of course subject to change. Happy birthday to Syd, the ebony totem in ebony sand.

Pink Floyd – 1970: Devi/ation (2016) Review – Long And Unfinished

Pink Floyd in 1970

Pink Floyd took to 1970 with a shift in style. The space rock and music based on filling atmosphere has been significantly minimized. In its place is a style that’s decidedly more “down to Earth.” They’re better for it, as they were unable to blow you out with amazement, so instead will suck you in with intimacy. The two best examples of this are tracks featured live here and in studio form on the band’s 1970 album, Atom Heart Mother. Those two tracks are “Fat Old Sun” and “If”. Both take advantage of a light guitar sound and connect with a feeling of reflection. They speak on how people might be without dwelling in poetic lyrics that suited Syd Barrett better than the rest of the group. “Green is the Colour” works for similar reasons. “Embryo” seems like it wants to impress you and rock out, but plays like a dragged out experiment. The version here of “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” feels a little out of place, due to fitting in more closely with their late 60s material than early 70s. It still is a nice recording/version of that song.

There are three versions of “Atom Heart Mother Suite”. This is perhaps the most textbook “love it or hate it” Pink Floyd song. The most damning thing you can say is that after the first false ending, you hope that’s the end and you can move on now. The choir and brass give the impression it’s supposed to be operatic, which comes off as very pretentious. They’re trying so hard to have this great experience, but are also going through the motions. Parts will be played like they’re supposed to be climactic or relief from a climax, but they sort of just happen and end without build-up or commitment from the whole group. The notes are telling one story and the playing usually another. The shortest version is about eighteen minutes. The tedium of it makes one not look forward to the next time it appears in this compilation. The main riff near the start and end are good, so this could’ve been salvaged as just a two or three minute ditty. The “Live in Montreux” version is the best for having minimal vocals and brass. Those elements missing ground the piece a little.

The seller for this album to some is the unreleased material from a soundtrack album called Zabriskie Point. Those that want to dig deep in the band’s catalog will appreciate this, though much of the material sounds very incomplete, like demos. Most aren’t too bad, because they’re mostly short. Practically all the material from these box sets sound like they could be a finished and released song, even if a little thin, but not many of these. There are good songs, though. The good ones include “On the Highway” and “Auto Scene, Version 2”. They’re pleasant guitar pieces. “Auto Scene, Version 3” is a warm rocker. “Aeroplane” ups the ante, but not too much. It’s a fun space rock song that isn’t stunning, but doesn’t outstay its welcome and goes at a good pace. Of the soundtrack songs, the earliest tracks tend to be better. It seems it might’ve been deliberate to end this album with the less complete-sounding tracks and then another version of “Atom Heart Mother Suite”. You can easily stop before then if you want. The other boxsets lead with studio material, then live tracks, but this set is the other way around.

“Explosion” has the same issues as the group’s long experiments. “The Riot Scene” and “Love Scene, Version 1” are just a little keyboard noodling. They’re very nothing. “Looking at Map” is the same, though it’s a band piece. Its lack of much ambition is immortalized by that title. Guess the band couldn’t afford an article. As much can be said about “Love Scene, Version 7”, which includes what sounds like mistakes from being an unpolished demo. Both versions of “Take Off” can’t decide if they want to be space rockers or not. “Love Scene, Version 2” and “Take 1” are the best of the ones that feel really incomplete. They have good ambience, but don’t feel essential. “Unknown Song (Take 1)” is another nice guitar number, though it’s too long. It might’ve been one of the better Zabriskie Point tracks if shortened. “Love Scene (Take 2)” is very pleasant, but far too long. It’s like something you’d meditate with. Finally, “Crumbling Land (Take 1)” is ruined by the vocals. They’re too processed and throw-off what the intended tone is supposed to be. Is it supposed to be otherworldly or a little guitar number?

OVERVIEW

1970: Devi/ation has its share of gems, like some good alternate versions of already good songs and the earlier Zabriskie Point tracks praised. The main positive is David Gilmour’s sweet vocal that really shines at being ethereal or chilling. “Fat Old Sun” is a good example of his talent there. His guitar playing is also very effective at the various styles or feelings it needs to be or have. The guitar-led instrumentals can either really set the tone of a composition at best and at worst, with some Zabriskie material, be nice as background music. The weakest material feels less necessary than the weak material on the 1968 and 1969 sets. At least those feel more like the band is trying to do something. That being said, it is no problem to have as much as possible, especially the elusive soundtrack recordings, as they fill an interesting piece of history. The weaker live tracks make the album less-accessible due to being so long, with even the announcer sounding amusingly unenthused. Those wanting good material should catch the tracks that I like and those initiated in the Pink Floyd cult should check out it all.

Pink Floyd – 1965–1967: Cambridge St/ation (2016) Review – Essentially Gospel Music

Roger Waters, Syd Barrett, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, one of the all-time great rock bands

Syd Barrett is Jesus Christ. At least, that’s the way it seems he’s taken by some. Despite releasing little more than three albums in his time, he’s left an impact that makes some starving for more. Fortunately, we’ve gotten a little more, though less than you’d hope. One is a rarity compilation covering his solo career, Opel, and later this one, 1965–1967: Cambridge St/ation. This is a priceless collection that gives us a further view into the eccentricities of this mentally ill, but no less brilliant man. It and the proper album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, cover essentially all of Syd with Pink Floyd without getting into little things that are more for the super fans. There are recordings that at least have existed that seem like obvious inclusions. Maybe they are either lost or are really bad. Even if they are somewhat bad, it’s a shame to not include them when this era is so lacking in recordings.

The album starts with recordings from the band in their R&B days, at least a year before they recorded their classic ‘67 songs. While it’s easy to note and criticize the novice qualities, they work well as what they are, entertaining demos. They aren’t really Pink Floyd in a sense, other than interesting moments that remind you of the band they would become. The least-Floyd part is the lead guitar, which is very R&B influenced and not invoking of psychedelia or the styles of Syd Barrett and his ultimate replacement, David Gilmour. Those parts are in fact played by an early member of the group, Bob Klose. Syd Barrett’s vocals and Richard Wright’s keyboard are much more in-line with what the group would become. Richard Wright gives that space rock touch to the blues standard, “I’m a King Bee”, which is an odd choice for a song like that, but it works. “Lucy Leave”, “Remember Me”, and especially “Butterfly” take advantage of Syd’s quirky singing and songwriting and are not too unnatural starting points for the band. The other three tracks are very strange due to things like stomping basslines and the emulation of R&B tricks. They are oddities, beyond oddities, especially the Bo Diddley pastiche, “Double O Bo”. They are enjoyable enough tracks that fans can grow to love, as long as you aren’t expecting them to sound too like what came next…

The album gets going with a series of singles that prove how good Syd was at them. They all are fresh and strange; psychedelic, but not excessive in its tropes. The guitar effects are a lot richer and well chosen than some other music of the time. You can understand why it was felt Syd would be an unstoppable musician. The group is very cohesive. The members get little moments to shine. While Syd’s guitar is great at propelling the landscape of the material, Richard Wright is once again the secret weapon with his keyboard sound feeling so distinctive. It’s weird to listen to a Syd song without Rick, then one with. Most of Syd’s solo work that features a keyboard player, features Wright doing it. Wright’s one composition here, “Paintbox”, puts himself on display and is a welcome addition to the set. Favorite parts are the really high vocal on “Apples and Oranges”, which manage to not come off as cheesy, as may seem a risk. The breakdown on “See Emily Play” rocks out, without being distracting or unnecessary, probably because the group was so well rehearsed. The four came together to have a real unforgettable flair within their contemporaries and bands to come. Their singles are the best examples of that.

Next are tracks that were unreleased. Some weren’t released in any capacity, while some are alternate versions of available songs. The distant vocal on “Vegetable Man” is both trippy and a cool effect, making sense with the theme of isolation. We have a secret song in an alternate version of “Matilda Mother”, which has very different lyrics that are a surprising gem to someone that overlooked this before. It gives the classic song a different tone. It’s a shame it seems the recording wasn’t kept in as good of quality as other tapes. There’s also an alternate version of Barrett’s only song on the group’s second album, “Jugband Blues”. It’s an interesting look at the development of the piece. The released version is undeniably much better in how polished it is, but pay attention to this earlier version’s pause before the horns come in. It introduces them more unsettlingly. These unreleased recordings, which are mostly from shortly before Syd left the group, paint his mental collapse as he talks about darker subject matter. The tracks can seem a little morbid, but the tip-top playing and writing make them captivating and highlights among Syd and also the band’s entire work. Listening from track one up to the end of this point covers a timeline of the development and mental decline of Syd Barrett, though not a decline in terms of quality of material. The running order is not that bad to listen to if you want a “second Barrett Pink Floyd album”, though it could be better for someone looking for a cohesive album experience.

What’s left, which is about an hour, features the band playing a live show and then a thirty-minute avant-garde piece in studio. For the sake of a good listening experience, the live show should probably have been cut. The vocals are almost completely inaudible and the divergence doesn’t flow particularly well from or to the studio tracks. The desire is understandable to include a Syd-era live recording, and it seems this was the best-recorded one, but it fails to carry the tone of the journey of this band by being a full show tossed in the middle of a series of studio recordings. A few highlights would’ve been better cohesion-wise, though as a fan of all things Syd, I am not sorry to have as much as possible, including this. The avant-garde piece, titled “John Latham”, expands upon all the group has done before or after. Its drone and eclectic structure make it feel unlike anything else the band did, while not feeling like it couldn’t be them. The chirping space guitar, atmospheric keys, banging ominous drums, and bouncing bass are all there. The guitar is reminiscent of “Pow R. Toc H.”’s animal noises. That’s one of the fun things to pick up on for those mapping the trajectory of the group.

OVERVIEW

For those that know and love the David Gilmour-era of Pink Floyd, this may not satisfy. It’s not a Gilmour-feeling album. Beyond him not being on it, it doesn’t have his style. If when Syd Barrett left the group, the remaining changed their name to something else (ala Small Faces to Face or Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship), people probably wouldn’t think, “it’s the same band, so why change the name?”. Syd Barrett is in a league of his own and that can cause fans to argue over whether he or Roger Waters was the superior leader of the outfit. That is like comparing Apples and Oranges. The logical extension from Piper and this compilation is solo Syd, not 1968 Pink Floyd. It is in fact a compelling and necessary chapter for Syd in terms of mapping how we got from Piper in 1967 to something miles away in 1970’s The Madcap Laughs. It is not particularly necessary to someone that doesn’t care beyond the era with Gilmour. They would want the pre-script highlights of Piper (if that) and then jump to either the group’s second album or 1968 rarities comp, which are the first two projects to lay the groundwork for what would become of that. Thus, this album details a band that died quickly; a band that didn’t live past the beginning of 1968, or 1970 if you would consider solo-Syd the same thing. I wouldn’t, seeing as the Floyd band brings a very unique sound to the table. Cambridge St/ation is a fascinating and generally cohesive finale of this promising rock group that seemed to have it all figured out, only to fall apart under tragic circumstances that name “1965-1967” Pink Floyd one of the great ‘what ifs’ of rock and roll.

For fun, here’s a “cohesive” trim and slight reorder of this album, for the sake of better flow.

1. “Lucy Leave”
2. “Remember Me”
3. “Butterfly”
4. “Arnold Layne”
5. “Candy and a Currant Bun”
6. “See Emily Play”
7. “Matilda Mother” (alternate version)
8. “Apples and Oranges”
9. “Paintbox”
10. “In the Beechwoods”
11. “Vegetable Man”
12. “Scream Thy Last Scream”
13. “John Latham”
14. “Jugband Blues” (preferably Saucerful version)

Pink Floyd – 1969: Dramatis/ation (2016) Review – Except It’s More So Me Fangirling Over “The Man and The Journey”

Pink Floyd in 1969

Pink Floyd’s weakest two years have seemed to be 1968 and 1969. If you remove the 1967 tracks from the group’s second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, then what’s left and the two 1969 albums are among the group’s most tedious. A lack of direction and reverse-engineering of their sound makes the once and later great band seem like a poorly thought out Rutles-styled parody that misses the mark. 1970 and 1971 both progressed out of this slump, with some truly great material present, though there were still misfires. Anyone just listening to the studio albums may think that they simply forgot how to make good music for two years, though there are some inessential gems in the mix. The Early Years box set offers an interesting nuance to that story by including rare and/or non-album material. Painting their escaping of the shadow of former leader Syd Barrett far more explicitly.

The 1969 volume is especially fascinating, as it has significant strengths and also weaknesses over 1968: Germin/ation. It damn-near forces me to throw out my bible on when the band was or wasn’t good. For disc one, we’re treated to a bundle of psychedelic experiments that hit strange tones. “Hollywood” is a novel instrumental that features what feels like nice noodling. It pays from being very short. The “Theme from Film ‘More’ – Beat Version” starts with a good groove. The bass gets some time to shine, but the track drags too long on too little an idea. The same can be said for an alt version of “More Blues”. “Seabirds” feels like a modified version of one of the band’s best post-Syd instrumentals, “A Saucerful Of Secrets”. What’s here is good, but just listen to the Saucerful track. They’re so close, except “Seabirds” isn’t as strong. It has this eerie whir that you can take or leave. I’m in the middle. The track naturally benefits from building atmosphere, succeeding better than other songs that force it in. “Embryo” is the last studio track. It fails from feeling too much like an idea and not a coherent piece of music.

Next is “Granchester Meadows”, which makes use of really tasteful crisp vocals and guitar playing. “Green Is the Colour” works for similar reasons, while “Cymbaline” and “The Narrow Way” suffer for the main complaint I’ve levied at this era. The last five tracks of disc one are nice versions of the band’s best long and ethereal tracks. The riffs are consistently really nice and seem to breed better concepts than their weaker experiments. They have simple ideas and engross you with their playing that feels very thought-out.

Disc two covers the live concept album, The Man and The Journey. While it can be off putting that it features some of the same tracks as the groups’ weaker albums, this is easily the best Floyd album between the Syd Barrett-era and The Dark Side Of The Moon. The key difference is that this album has a point. The tracks make use of silence or repetition to build emotions and strong feelings, not because they need to concoct a factory-made Pink Floyd song. The group is very fluid and in-line, which is ironic as the album they decided to work on instead of Man featured only solo tracks by members of the band. Man would benefit from a studio recording, so the instruments could really leap out and maybe more vocals, but what we have is an engaging experience that feels very 60s and very Pink Floyd, instead of trying to go for what could be “trendy”. It tackles an idea the band will return to, criticizing Capitalism and relating to the human experience, though in a different way. The instrumentals capture the vibe of what someone might go through.

A stand-out track is “Work”, which features unconventional instruments that sound like someone working, while being very rhythmic. It sounds like what the never completed Floyd album, Household Objects, might’ve sounded like. Here, the band does versions of songs generally not done very well on other recordings. One example is “Cymbaline”. That track is now called “Nightmare” and really does feel like one. Apparently that’s what it needed to be emotional? You need more than just yelling the name of the song! This second disc is a great series of music that, in a sense, negates their second to fourth albums by doing better versions of tracks from those albums. You could call it a highlight reel, though it stands on its own. You’d have a better experience going from the group’s first album, then Man, then their fifth; than listening to the first five studio albums.

OVERVIEW

It feels like an insult to give most of the praise for the first half to tracks that they did on studio albums better. It proves they still had the ability to be good and meaningful, but struggled to make and showcase something new that works. Even The Man and The Journey does take from some excellent earlier cuts, though not very much. The Man and The Journey is the definitive 60s Pink Floyd project without Syd Barrett and proves they had something going right. Similarly with my review of the 1969 compilation, this is a nice album for a Pink Floyd fan that wants to know what the band was up to, but doesn’t need an ungodly amount of redundant tracks. If that concept album at the second half was released at the time without the audience noises and with light overdubs to give more “pop”, it would probably be seen as a classic rock album and an essential listen, unlike the similarly-lengthed Ummagumma they worked on instead. Even what we have is an essential listen, despite it not being in the most obvious of places. While 1969: Dramatis/ation has some of the most tired Floyd tracks, it has enough good material to be worth a visit. This review should be a good guide for what is and isn’t pleasurable to listen to.

Pink Floyd – 1968: Germin/ation (2016) Review

Pink Floyd in 1968

Pink Floyd has one of the most interesting trajectories in terms of quality. Many bands start alright, get to great, then fall to bad. Pink Floyd started great, went to bad, great again, then finally bad again. Music that breaks the convention is sprinkled throughout. The first “bad” era started in 1968, Pink Floyd’s second year of significant recording. The reason is one of rock music’s great tragedies, the mental decline of the band’s leader Syd Barrett. While he was able to make good music in his far too brief solo career, the rechristened Pink Floyd needed time, despite being armed with a better guitar player in David Gilmour. The 2016 boxset The Early Years 1965–1972 chronicles highlights of the group’s recordings post-Syd. As a set, it’s admirable, giving you the gist and necessary recordings without being too tedious. Those that want to hear what the band were up to in 1968 outside their LP A Saucerful of Secrets should give this a listen. As the music itself goes, tedium is an issue.

The band, especially with David Gilmour, succeeds at long and ambitious tracks that have the time and scope to fulfill what they’re going for. The format of releasing singles is very limiting, which the group soon realized. After two post-Syd singles, they essentially stopped doing them. The first four tracks are those singles and flip-sides, while the fifth and sixth are studio tracks that seem like they could have been recorded with the intention of being singles. Much of these feel like they may have either been intended to be longer, but then too shortened; or intended to be shorter, but lengthened to fit in with their sound. Either way, there’s a sense of directionless-ness. The group wanted to prove they could still be a good band and more importantly pay the bills. The product of that is it seems like someone had a riff or idea that’s very ambient or ethereal, then it was stretched to the length of two and a half to six minutes.

“It Would Be So Nice” in a sense feels like an album. Tempo changes and different sections litter it. A psychedelic vocal makes it feel like a parody of its genre and Pink Floyd specifically. Its b-side “Julia Dream” captures a similar tone, with double tracked lead vocals and air-y sound beyond belief. Neither feel like the band had an interest in even doing the music, but instead reverse engineered it after listening to other psychedelic bands like The Zombies. They turned up the trends to the max. Flutes and organs and everything blast at you, despite also featuring many slow and quiet moments. It’s everything, and thus nothing. The next single is “Point Me at the Sky”. While a little cheesy with Roger Water’s yell-esque singing style, it doesn’t outstay its welcome and captures its mood well. David Gilmour’s guitar and Richard Wright’s organ have a magical way of giving life to the music. The organ somewhat emulates Church music, without taking too much from it. It’s a nice touch to mix that Church-style with psychedelia. The track is quite nice and breezy, being the best studio cut here. “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” has good potential, but doesn’t do much with it. It’s cold and trippy, but doesn’t have an impact. At one point Roger screams and it feels like just another thing there. Perhaps the band realized the error of their ways because their Ummagumma album features a much longer and much better version. The studio version does go past its welcome at almost six minutes, but not too badly.

The last two studio tracks, “Song 1” and “Roger’s Boogie”, feel like demos, possibly being so. You could believe the band were just noodling and playing around one day, these being the product. The very coarse voice on Boogie is irritating, though not gratingly so. Neither are essential, but they are much better than Nice and Dream, as at least they’re straightforward. The final seven tracks were recorded for BBC Radio, some being of the studio tracks prior. While they are similar to the studio versions, there are some flourishes. The guitar on “Julia Dream” resonates more and would’ve benefited the studio version. “The Massed Gadgets of Hercules (A Saucerful of Secrets)” trims down the studio version of it on its s/t album. Due to the similarities, if you like a studio version of a song, you’ll probably like the live version here. The only notable one is “Interstellar Overdrive”, which is quite different from the Piper at the Gates of Dawn version. Other than using a little bit of the original, it’s basically a different song. This ends the album well. The room to let the ideas breathe and epic feeling make it a good finale. Despite the more muddled sound quality, the guitar and drums’ moments to stick out soar quite well. It feels like a creepy and fun little trip into rock space.

OVERVIEW

Pink Floyd has seen better days. For the sake of having the most consistent catalog, it would be better to leave most of these on the cutting room floor. This is still a good document, despite the downfall of making you think that what wasn’t included must’ve been even worse than the lowlights here. Whether that’s true, who knows? I have a soft spot for “The Committee” soundtrack, fortunately remastered by Albums That Should Exist. Those interested in what I personally would recommend and re-listen to should check out both versions of “Point Me at the Sky”, “The Massed Gadgets of Hercules”, and “Interstellar Overdrive”. The rest is best left aside.

Colin Blunstone – Is Neil McArthur (1971) Album Edit (Take 2)

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

This album is the last Zombies-related album I wanted to work on. It’s the eighth fan one I did. It’s weird to be done with this project, though one could say I’m done with this stretch of it. It’s not exactly the end as I could make more, but my interests are elsewhere. My goal for this project was to take two box sets and make them redundant. Zombie Heaven at the time had most or all of the known Zombies content and Into The Afterlife had stuff made by the members after The Zombies, but before their solo careers. Everything on those albums and more is on one of the eight fan albums I made or my Archive.org upload of the two official albums. The runtime of the two box sets is 5 hours, 57 minutes, 41 seconds. The runtime of my ten is 8 hours, 35 minutes, 47 seconds!

This one leans on the shorter side. There’s only one bonus track to an already short album. Colin Blunstone at the time had given up on music, before being convinced back under the false name, “Neil McArthur”. This led to four singles being released before he broke from the single’s producer and was picked up by former bandmates, Rod Argent and Chris White, to do an album. While the first Argent album was recorded in 1969 and released in early 1970, the first Blunstone album, One Year, was recorded in 1970 and 1971 and released in late 1971. Thus, anything recorded from Blunstone leaving The Zombies in 1967 to late 1971 can be used here (other than material on his first album). I was afraid that the only available tracks would be the three singles, their b-sides, and the fourth single, which is an italian cover of “She’s Not There”. Fortunately, there’s a handful of other usable material. First, there’s two songs that were unreleased until Into The Afterlife in 2007; “Never My Love” and “Hung Upside Down”. The next find was a b-side to a single that would be on One Year. This totaled 27:55 in runtime. This was to be the length of the album before discovering “Unhappy Girl”. That song was a demo recorded by Rod Argent and is included on my previous Zombies-related fan album. It was rerecorded with Colin, but unused. That pushes this album a little over thirty minutes, which I prefer greatly.

The ordering of these tracks is similar to their order on Into The Afterlife. There were some changes where it seemed appropriate. “Hung Upside Down” was listened to near the beginning, but it’s easily the best album closer here. It was annoying that this album falls into the trope of pop singers not writing their own songs. This album mostly conforms, though there’s one written by Colin. His solo albums feature more of his writing. The cover was a foreign single release that I liked and altered. The title of the album seemed appropriate. Overall, this album isn’t as strong as the previous fan albums. A lot of the songs are typical tunes about a girl. “She’s Not There” does a lot to differentiate itself from the original and the songs about a girl formula and is in turn pretty good. Its b-side “World Of Glass” is another solid one. There’s some gems here and some okays.

If and when I want to return to The Zombies, there are ideas I had. There are various tracks featuring a member or two that are around here or there. A stray single or demo, though not many to my knowledge. There could perhaps be one Rod and Colin album per decade, starting with the 70’s. There’s only a few songs sung by Chris White that I’ve found so far. There could be fan albums that take everything he’s written or produced and then make albums out of that. There is an ongoing series of official albums that focus on little things he’s been involved with. It’s an archivist’s dream as it’s getting everything in one place. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I hope someone takes Colin and Rod material from their 70’s to present careers and makes some box sets, basically including anything you could possibly think of that they did. Seeing as they’re touring and releasing albums as The Zombies, despite being the only two original members, one could maybe take their solo stuff, pair it together, and make “Zombies” albums. I considered taking material from my fan album for a first Rod album and material here and making two collaborative albums instead of two solo ones. The material doesn’t seem to work together. They went in different directions. If I want to be a crazy enough fan, I could take projects where the two members without solo careers were present as basically session men and make an album or two off that, but it would be far removed from The Zombies. I wish the band had stayed together and all five could be represented and heard with the powerful backing band that is The Zombies. Them going solo threw up a lot of question marks.

I hope all The Zombies fans feel things are easier to experience and consume now. This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

COLIN BLUNSTONE – IS NEIL MCARTHUR

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “She’s Not There” (Rod Argent)
2. “Don’t Try To Explain” (Billy Vera)
3. “Unhappy Girl” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
4. “I Hope I Didn’t Say Too Much Last Night” (Colin Blunstone)
5. “Twelve Twenty Nine” (Peter Lee Stirling, Chris Sedgewick)

SIDE B

1. “World Of Glass” (Mike Hurst)
2. “Never My Love” (Don Addrisi, Dick Addrisi)
3. “It’s Not Easy” (Barry Mano, Cynthia Weil)
4. “Without Her” (Harry Nilsson)
5. “Hung Upside Down” (Stephen Stills)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “Ma Non E Giusto (She’s Not There in Italian)”
   

PERSONNEL

• Colin Blunstone – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
• Mike Hurst – acoustic guitar, backing vocals (tracks 1, 6)
• Jim Sullivan – lead guitar (tracks 1, 6)
• John Paul Jones – maybe on bass (tracks 1, 6)
• Andy White or Clem Cattini – drums (tracks 1, 6)
• Harry Stoneham – organ (tracks 2, 9)
• Eric Ford – probably acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 9)
• Ronny Verrell – drums (tracks 5, 8)
• Madeline Bell – backing vocals (tracks 7, 10)
• There’s more, but this is what I could find

LINKS

Is Neil McArthur (1971) – Archive.org (with bonus track)

The Zombies albums:

Begin Here (1965) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks), YouTube, Spotify

Have Returned (1965) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

On The Run (1966) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

Lighting Up The Saturday Club (1966) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

Sunrise (1967) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

White & Dandy (1967) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

‘Round The World (1968) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

Odessey and Oracle (1968) – Archive.org (with the most bonus tracks), YouTube, Spotify

The first few solo albums:

Floral Street (1969) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

Argent (1970) – YouTube, Spotify, Archive.org

One Year (1971) – YouTube, Spotify

Rod Argent – Floral Street (1969) Album Edit (Take 2) – aka My take on the “R.I.P.” material

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

We’re almost at the end of our trip through Zombie lane. Here’s one of the two post-Zombies efforts I’d like to cover. This one’s for Rod Argent. My knowledge of this material was initially more limited, simply that six of these songs were on a “lost” Zombies album called R.I.P., which is no longer lost as of the 90’s. My hope was that the classic line-up was present on every track. The Wikipedia page credits a “Jim Rodford” on bass and “Rick Birkett” on guitar in addition to the original bass and guitar player. Hopefully they were barely involved, so as to have as much classic Zombies as possible. The truth wasn’t what I was hoping for. Six of the songs on R.I.P. were recorded after the band broke up with Birkett, Rodford, two classic members playing; Hugh Grundy and Argent, and another classic member producing and possibly adding backing vocals, Chris White, so basically two and a half original members. The other six songs were classic line-up songs from as early as 1964 with overdubs. Upon listening to the album, my opinion was mostly in agreement with most people’s, the songs aren’t bad, but the different styles and line-ups flow poorly together and the early songs didn’t need the overdubs. The no-overdub versions were on other Zombies fan albums and the overdub versions were bonus features on those albums. Fanedits of R.I.P. usually maintain that title, the name, “The Zombies”, and try to incorporate Colin Blunstone, the original band’s lead singer.

1. Albums That Never Were’s version has some classic songs and Colin Blunstone solo songs
2. FuzzDandy’s version features relatively few R.I.P. songs and has many solo-era songs for Argent and Blunstone
3. Albums That Should Exist’s version features Colin songs when he went by Neil McArthur

It seemed unnecessary to take these half-Zombies songs and try to force them to be Zombies songs, so here I only allowed material by Rod Argent from 1967-1969, as sessions for the first album by Rod’s next band, Argent, were in 1969. Sadly, this was not very fruitful. The only songs that could be found are the six R.I.P. songs and four songs from the Into The Afterlife compilation. Interestingly, the line-up on the ten songs is the same with the possible exception of Rick Birkett on two tracks. More songs were badly wanted as these ten total the painfully short 27 minutes. It would’ve been nice to have some heft. I was not afraid of Rod songs without the other members, but there didn’t appear to be any. Hopefully there’ll be another comprehensive box set that covers his solo era. It’s not hard to think that Argent would record some demos that could be used that are now obscure. Any potential songs might only exist in a closet or really obscure bootlegs that another box set could unearth. I considered using a few other weird choices, such as the song “Telescope” sung by Chris White in addition to the Rod-sung version. The two were too similar. Chris White also produced a song in 1968 for a group called “Free Ferry”. Sadly, the only person involved that was related to this line-up is Chris, so its inclusion wouldn’t make sense. Those two Chris songs are included as bonus tracks.

Despite the shortness of these songs, they are pretty good. It would’ve been nice to see them released in 1969, preferably with four other songs so it’d have a standard album’s length. The actual first Argent album is about 40 minutes long. The name of this album, Floral Street, is one of the track’s title shortened. The original title in mind was “The Morning”, which I don’t really like. The picture is a poster for a modern Zombies show cropped. I made a few versions of it which I’ll include as bonuses. Finally, I was considering crediting this album to “Argent”, but seeing as two of the members hadn’t joined yet, it seemed inaccurate, so this will be credited to Rod Argent. The word “Rod” on the cover is small, so one could ignore it if they’d like. I wanted to take individual pictures of the band, put them on the same photo and make that the cover, but the potential pictures weren’t that good. The last planned fan album featuring Zombies is a Colin Blunstone one, so stay tuned!

I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

ROD ARGENT – FLORAL STREET

SIDE A

1. “She Loves The Way They Love Her” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
2. “Imagine The Swan” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
3. “Smokey Day” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
4. “Girl, Help Me” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
5. “Conversation Off Floral Street” (Rod Argent, Chris White)

SIDE B

1. “Telescope” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
2. “Unhappy Girl” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
3. “It Never Fails To Please Me” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
4. “To Julia (For When She Smiles)” (Rod Argent, Chris White)
5. “I Could Spend The Day” (Rod Argent, Chris White)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “She Loves The Way They Love Her (Demo)”
2. “She Loves The Way They Love Her (No Live Overdubs)”
3. “Telescope (Mr Galileo) (Chris White Lead Vocal)”
4. “I Could Spend The Day (Demo)”
5. “Magic Carpet Ride (Chris White Produced Track From 1968)”

PERSONNEL

• Rod Argent – keyboard (tracks 1-10), lead vocals (tracks 1-10), production (tracks 1-10)
• Hugh Grundy – drums (tracks 1-10)
• Jim Rodford – bass (tracks 1-10), backing vocals
• Rick Birkett – lead guitar (tracks 1-5, 7, 9-10, possibly 8), rhythm guitar (possibly 6, possibly 8)
• Chris White – production (tracks 1-10), backing vocals
• Mac MacLeod – lead guitar (track 6, possibly 8)

Floral Street (1969) – Archive.org

And for the next Rod album…

Argent (1970) – YouTube, Spotify, Archive.org

Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection (1967) Album Edit (Take 1)

My expectations for this album weren’t great. Of the seven songs, four were instrumentals. This would create a lopsided experience. Due to the length of one of them, the songs with vocals would take up eight minutes and thirty-seven seconds, while the instrumental songs would take up twenty-three minutes and twenty-six seconds. To my surprise, the album works bizarrely well. The songs flow very nicely and some of the elements that seem like they shouldn’t work, do. One unnamed track known as, “Instrumental 01/22/1967” is in low quality, but it gives the vibe of being intentional and it only being about a minute makes it not overstay its welcome. “Let’s Roll Another One” is the other low quality track. It also is pretty short. It was annoying that two of the tracks here were unnamed instrumentals. The first one was thus changed to “Let’s Roll Another One Part 0”. The second one, known as, “Instrumental Improvisation 02/24/1967” is now, “Let’s Roll Another One Part 2”. “Let’s Roll Another One” gets “Part 1” added to it. One might wonder why Interstellar Overdrive is on this album when it was featured on the band’s official first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This version is mostly different. Despite the Piper version being about nine minutes, this version is almost twice as long, being a hair under seventeen. To differentiate the two title-wise, this one is called, “Let’s Roll Another One Part 3 – Interstellar Overdrive”. Originally, this album was to end with, “See Emily Play”. The joke would be that you’d think the album would end with a seventeen minute song, but there’s another short tune there. That placement just didn’t work. It was awkward and the idea was used on the previous album, The King Bees.

Honestly, this might be my favorite fan album I’ve made so far. The songs are so inventive and build so well. “Interstellar Overdrive” serves as a grand finale, being a little longer than the other six tracks combined. Usually, the names of my fan albums are just names I come up with, but “Projection” was a considered title for Piper. The picture had a cool psychedelic look, so it was used. The next album to listen to after this is The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This is a very good album that leads in well. Don’t let me be the judge, though!

SYD BARRETT & PINK FLOYD – PROJECTION

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 0” (Syd Barrett)
2. “Arnold Layne” (Syd Barrett)
3. “Candy And A Currant Bun” (Syd Barrett)
4. “See Emily Play” (Syd Barrett)
5. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 1” (Syd Barrett)
6. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 2” (Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason)

SIDE B

1. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 3 – Interstellar Overdrive” (Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason)

BONUS TRACKS

1. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 08 Arnold Layne (January 28th, 1967 acetate)
2. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 09 Arnold Layne (February 27th, 1967 stereo enhanced)
3. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 10 Candy And A Currant Bun (January 28th, 1967 acetate)
4. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 11 Candy And A Currant Bun (February 27th, 1967 stereo enhanced)
5. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 12 See Emily Play (May 21st, 1967 acetate with alternate ending)
6. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 13 See Emily Play (May 23rd, 1967 stereo enhanced)
7. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 14 See Emily Play at 16rpm
8. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 15 Let’s Roll Another One (Rehearsal)
9. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 16 Instrumental Improvisation
10. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 17 Interstellar Overdrive (October 31st, 1965 Demo)
11. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 18 Interstellar Overdrive (January 12th, 1967 Soundtrack Mix, 9.43 Length)
12. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 19 Interstellar Overdrive (January 12th, 1967 LP Edit, 3.06 Length)
13. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 20 Nick’s Boogie (January 12th, 1967 Alternate Version)
14. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 21 Interstellar Overdrive (February 27th, 1967 French “Arnold Layne” EP Mix)

PERSONNEL

• Syd Barrett – lead vocals (tracks 2-4), electric guitar (tracks 1-7), acoustic guitar (track 2)
• Roger Waters – bass guitar (tracks 1-7), scream (track 3), backing vocals (track 4)
• Richard Wright – keyboard (tracks 1-7), backing vocals (track 2-4)
• Nick Mason – drums (tracks 1-7), spoken line (track 3)

Projection (1967) – Archive.org

and if you want the next album…

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) – YouTube, Spotify

The Zombies – White & Dandy (1967) Album Edit (Take 2)

We’ve reached the last Zombies studio album. The next studio album is the actually released, Odessey and Oracle. That album is rightfully considered one of the greatest albums of all time. This album, White & Dandy, hopefully leads into it nicely, and the same with all my fan albums. This album has the pro of being more sophisticated and developed than previous efforts, making it an appropriate piece of the puzzle. The con is that some of these tracks aren’t in the best of quality. The band just wasn’t understood in its time and very little of their work was released. It would’ve been nice for them to make more albums. They barely got Odessey and Oracle made and released! Five of these tracks are demos and four are live recordings that sound good enough to pass as studio. “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” is the only surviving track from the Zombies’ six sessions at the BBC in October and November 1967, thanks to an off-air recording. I’d imagine the others are off-air, too, as the quality is a little lesser than you’d hope, same with the demos. The quality isn’t terrible on the songs, but it’s not as crisp as it’d be nice to be as these songs are so good.

The first four tracks are the live recordings. They set a good tone and groove for the album. They wouldn’t fit as well on, let’s say, side b. “Going To A Go-Go” has a small amount of audience noise and an announcer. This parallels the first track on the elusive, R.I.P.. That album’s first track had audience noises overdubbed. Before starting, I thought the five demos would cover the first five slots on side b, as it happened on a months old attempt at ordering some of these songs. “Out Of The Day” transitions from the live recordings well. “I’ll Call You Mine”, which seemed like an ideal opener to the whole album, is now the end. “I’ll Call You Mine” carries everything well and it’s probably the closest track here to Odessey and Oracle.

This project has been a lot of fun, revisiting some of these and hearing some for the first time. I’d hope that if one were to listen to the studio albums in order; Begin Here, Have Returned, On The Run, Sunrise, White & Dandy, and Odessey and Oracle, they’d get a fulfilling experience. The cover for this album is a modern piece of art for a Zombies tour. It seemed like a weird idea to have a picture of the band for this album, especially as 1967 photos of them don’t give off the right tone. This one does. The title, White & Dandy, came to me when I was watching a Betty White interview, so credit to her for that. Despite being done with studio albums by the Zombies, there are three more Zombie-related projects on the roster. First is the second and final live album, which will be the last Zombies album possible unless lost recordings resurface. The second will be the first Argent album, which will utilize 1968 recordings featuring Rod Argent and the third will be the first Colin Blunstone album, using 1969 recordings of Colin. It’s possible that there could be some more solo albums. Most of Colin and Rod’s solo works were on their albums. I also haven’t done much research on material after the 60’s. Hopefully there will be an equivalent to Zombie Heaven that gives us a complete look at the solo stuff.

Finally, credit to http://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/ for being the inspiration to do this project again. My first attempt at Zombies albums, Are Missing and Feeling Something, could definitely be improved upon, so I’m glad I read their blog and realized what was missing before. Check out their fan albums by the Zombies and many more.

THE ZOMBIES – WHITE & DANDY

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Going To A Go-Go” (Warren Moore, William Robinson, Robert Rogers, Marvin Tarplin)
2. “The Look Of Love” (Burt Bacharach, Hal David)
3. “This Old Heart Of Mine” (Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland)
4. “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” (Ivy Jo Hunter, Stevie Wonder)
5. “Out Of The Day” (Chris White)
6. “Goin’ Out Of My Head” (Bobby Weinstein, Teddy Randazzo)

SIDE B

1. “One Day I’ll Say Goodbye” (Chris White)
2. “I Don’t Want To Worry” (Chris White)
3. “A Love That Never Was” (Rod Argent)
4. “Call Of The Night” (Chris White)
5. “She Does Everything For Me” (Rod Argent)
6. “I’ll Call You Mine” (Chris White)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “The Look Of Love (With Intro)”
2. “This Old Heart Of Mine (With Intro & Outro)”
3. “I’ll Call You Mine (RIP Version)”

PERSONNEL

• Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
• Rod Argent – keyboards, backing vocals
• Paul Atkinson – guitar
• Chris White – bass, backing vocals
• Hugh Grundy – drums

White & Dandy (1967) – Archive.org (with Bonus Tracks)

Odessey and Oracle (1968) – Archive.org (with Extensive Bonus Tracks), YouTube, Spotify

Albums That Should Exist – Zombies