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(photo: Dezo Hoffmann)
(Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett - Extraordinary madness loomed)

I have never been able to figure out why this track hasn't been officially issued on any of the compilations featuring early Pink Floyd. Vegetable Man has evolved into Holy Grail status over the past forty or so years. First rumored to have been destroyed during one of Syd's meltdowns, then destroyed by EMI, with the only evidence surviving a 45 acetate of what was to be the b-side of their fourth single. Countless bootlegs surfaced over the years featuring this and the A side "Scream Thy Last Scream", all in various stages of lousy sound. Just recently this version surfaced, presumably the closest to a surviving master so far. It's in stereo but the opening notes have some tape drop-out (as do almost all the other versions I've heard). Still, it's the best sounding of what's available of a legendary unreleased song.

Perhaps this is the only known surviving version of what has been a much fabled withdrawn track by Pink Floyd during the last months of Syd Barrett's involvement. Who knows? Perhaps someone at EMI will make a great discovery.

Perhaps. Or perhaps not.

Check out the Syd Barrett Archive. It's a good one.

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(Spring - 1971 had a lot of promise)

It's like beating a dead horse to say there were an awful lot of bands in the 1970's who barely got past their first albums before going separate ways. Sometimes it was just a case of getting lost in the shuffle. From around 1969 on, a lot of major labels were starting up subsidiaries whose sole purpose was to cater to the eclectic market, growing in size as the result of free form FM radio. Philips started Vertigo, Polydor had Dandelion, EMI had Harvest (with Pink Floyd being an anomaly). And RCA had Neon.

I could never figure out what Neon's story was, since they had a rather large roster of acts, none of whom made much dent, but most of whom were really quite good. RCA in the U.S. were almost totally clueless as to what to do with them, and in large part tossed the albums out on the market with little or no publicity, with the hopes some strange phenomenon would occur - which invariably never did.

Spring was one of those acts that deserved so much more recognition than the none they got. Heavy on Mellotrons and with some excellent production, they recorded one album and were in the process of doing a second when the plug was pulled.

Their first album quickly went out of print (less than six months, as was the norm) and languished pretty much unnoticed until an Italian label Akarma reissued them on CD a few years ago. I'm not sure the Akarma reissue is still print, but I would highly recommend seeking it out, if this track, Inside Out appeals.

Which I have the sneaking suspicion it might.

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(Pink Floyd in 1967 - The world was never ready for Syd)

Pink Floyd is one of those bands that have spanned the decades, picking up new fans along the way. I think each generation that has sprung up since 1967 can lay claim to having at least one Pink Floyd song or album embedded in their psyche, defining them to a specific place and time.

For me, it will always be Pink Floyd during the Syd Barrett period. No question Syd was the driving force behind the experimenting that became who they are today. I often wonder just what kind of band Pink Floyd would have been had there not been a Syd Barrett - maybe it wouldn't have happened at all and maybe it would have been someone else.

No matter - for the brief period of time Syd was with the band they made some amazing music and it set them up for the events that were to come later.

Apples and Oranges comes from their third single, released in 1967. After achieving somewhat notorious notoriety with their first two singles (Arnold Layne being a song about a cross-dresser and See Emily Play about masturbation), Apples and Oranges seemed pretty tame by comparison. But it was loaded with Syd's skewed and engaging view of the world.

A view that many shared and openly felt at home with. Syd just freed everything up.

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(Split Enz - There was an audible gasp when they first played The Roxy)

There are certain moments in musical history I shall always cherish - Syd Barrett with Pink Floyd, Soft Machine opening for Hendrix in 1968, Peter Gabriel exploding into Santa Claus during a Genesis Tour in 1974 and seeing Split Enz play The Roxy in 1975.

The band you see pictured above is exactly the way they looked during their first tour of the U.S. just as the "Second Thoughts"(released here as Mental Notes) album came out. We went through Glam, went through all the "Hair/sweat bands", went through matching stage suits and haircuts bands - but we never went through anything like this!

When the curtain opened for their first set, there was something of an audible gasp coming from this jaundiced, jaded, somewhat calcified crowd of press types who stopped stuffing Roxy ashtrays in their pockets long enough to be suitably blown away by the sheer outrageousness of this group. They spoke my language and I became a life long fan from that minute on.

This version of Lovey Dovey first appeared on "Mental Notes", their initial release for Mushroom Records in Australia. The version of "Lovey Dovey" we know is the one from the UK/US version of "Mental Notes" which was actually issued in Australia as "Second Thoughts", but it was re-recorded and produced by Phil Manzanera. I know - confusing, and I had a hard time figuring it out what was going on until their A&M period came along later.

But, all that said - this is the first version of that track and one probably not heard all that much this side of the Pacific Rim.

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(The Soft Boys - deceptively catchy)

Tonight it's The Soft Boys. Originally issued as part of an ep in 1980, just around the time they split and Robyn Hitchcock went solo - "Strange" didn't appear anywhere until 1993 when it was issued as part of a compilation ("Underwater Moonlight" disc 2) featuring singles and out-takes from their brief, but amazing career.

Hitchcock has always cited Syd Barrett (founding member of Pink Floyd) as an inspiration to his work. The inspiration is served well here. The first track on side one of this ep is Barrett's immortal "Vegetable Man", one of those odd instances where a song has achieved legend status by it's never being officially released, except on bootlegs. Strange, on the other hand, is one of the most compelling (albeit bizarre) pieces of music I've heard in years. I confess to having worn out my first copy of this EP, and spent months looking for a second copy.

If you're familiar with this song, you know what I'm talking about. If not . . .well just enjoy the ride.

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(The Rainy Daze - just another misunderstood mind-melting band of the '60's)

When their first charting single "Acapulco Gold" came out in early 1967, things were looking up. But radio had different ideas. When it came to light that Acapulco Gold was really a thinly disguised ode to the joys of a certain grade of marijuana, airplay suddenly stopped and The Rainy Daze were relegated to more-or-less underground status, with their debut single topping out around 70 on the Billboard Hot 100.

And here we have the follow up, originally titled "Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum" (as the first batch of pressings attest), it was quickly retitled "Blood of Oblivion" and didn't seem to fare much better.

Which was a shame since The Rainy Daze were actually a good band and not some product of a record company's idea of a hit machine.

1967 was a year when a lot of bands were just misunderstood by the mainstream music industry. And try as they might, were impossible to pigeon hole as pop acts. Rainy Daze were one, Sopwith Camel were another and so were Moby Grape and Pink Floyd (yes, America did NOT know what to do about them when they first came out!). The times were rapidly changing from a singles dominated marketplace to one where full length albums were starting to gain prominence.

But "Blood of Oblivion" sank into obscurity. Not put on their first, and only album. And never (to my knowledge) reissued in any form, all there is as testimony is this 45 - which sadly may be all there is, since the masters for this single (certainly the multi-tracks)were reportedly destroyed in the recent Universal City vault fire, where many many UNI Records masters, along with countless others went up in smoke.

For now, pretend it's November 1967 and you're hearing this for the first time.

A very nice cover of Pink Floyd by the Swedish folk band, recorded 2001.

Roger Waters lost his pig.

Open thread below...

UPDATE: The pig has come home.