LONDON '66-'67

This album is one of the least popular or recognized Pink Floyd albums. I bought it a long time when I had no idea what kind of music Pink Floyd played. Despite the popular belief, this is not a live album so the sound quality is awesome. Anyways, on to the songs:

01. Interstellar Overdrive (16.46)

This track is what I think is Pink Floyd's absolutely best Pre-Dark Side of The Moon composition. The Piper At The Gates of Dawn had a version of the song going 8 minutes. This is longer, and far better. It kicks directly into gear with the loud, soaring guitar note played fastly, and of course eventually that famous riff pops up. Organ and bass soon join. I have so much respect for that riff; it just sounds so dark. Soon the driving rhythm that is the drums kick in, but it doesn't take long until we flow out into the freeform jamming. At 1 minute into the song we're already in the ''middle section'', if you may call it that. This is the most normal part of the song, with the organ is sounding just like something you'd hear from a regular jam. Syd joins with his sweet guitar tone; with lots of crazy echo laid onto it. The drums are still driving the rhythm hard. Syd plays a bit on guitar, and soon the chaos erupts. Syd plays wherever he feels like it on the fretbord while Richard Wright plays diminished chords on the organ. Roger keeps the bass steady and going, and so does Nick on the drums. More strange noises by Syd on the guitar. It's really cool, he holds a lighter against the strings and drags it up and down the fretboard. After that a rather jazzy section comes in. This section is really nice, and shows how sophisticated Syd could be, and not just create noise. Just wait though, there will be more ''noise''. The drumming fades out, and we're left with Syd playing stange notes. Soon the drumming fades in again, getting harder and harder and Syd's guitar gets louder. Richard goes mad on the organ, or at least has fun. Another cool effect Syd does here is that he mutes the strings with his palm while having lots of distortion and then he picks the strings very hard, making it sound like a clock ticking. Again, the echo effect on the guitar makes the sound awesome. Nick quits drumming, and you hear that clock tick sound. Soon however, Nick starts again with heavy tom playing. Richard does again make heavy use of diminished chords on the organ, while it gets louder and louder. Syd plays arpeggiated powerchords in the background, but it doesn't take long for him to go mad either. Different notes in God knows which key are played everywhere. Heavy drumming in the background somehow manages to keep this section in rhythm. The organ leaves after a while, so we hear Syd and Nick playing together. Pretty cool section, and eventually Syd playes two eight notes on every beat so Richard has the chance to go nuts. Nick then starts playing the intro drumming again, with Syd and Richard doing what they want do. I just can't get enough of Syd's guitar tone. It's just brilliant. Creepy organ tunes are played, but soon they evolve into something that sounds like what The Animals would have played. The drumming gets heavy, and Syd plays normal chords. This section is really cool and enjoyable. But again, what is an Interstellar Overdrive section without chaos? Syd get's mad on the high frets and the drumming soon fades out, but almost directly gets back in with a pounding bass drum. Another section with Syd and Richard doing whatever they feel like arises, but more sophisticated than the other ones. Awesome really, and after a while it's only Nick and Syd left. But Richard plays with some strange setting on the organ which sounds scary yet awesome at the same time. Syd makes very heavy use of the ''Lighter on strings'' effect here, and Nick soon comes with that driving drumming that was in the intro. Absolute madness comes up, with Nick playing like no tomorrow, and Syd going up and down the fretboard to make incredibly high pitched noises. It gets quiet after that with Nick and Roger keeping rhythm. Wright soon joins and plays strange chords. Syd does more strange noises on the guitar. Another 'sophisticated' section evolves from that, but soon gets crazy again when Syd's in charge. Everything gets extremely loud, and goes on like that for a while and then at exactly 16.11 the main riff kicks in again, and gets played like that for a while, then ends on an F# note. Such an awesome jam session!

02. Nick's Boogie (11.50)

This song starts out with Nick playing a rhythm on the toms (Thus the title) and Roger comes in after a while and plays the bass notes. Syd of course, makes more of those noises that he did on Interstellar Overdrive. This song is the predecessor of 'A Saucerful of Secrets' so if you enjoyed A Saucerful Of Secrets you'll most likely enjoy this one too. Syd again does all kinds of crazy things; detunes the guitar then puts it into tune again. Richard also comes with strange, creepy chords in this one. All of this while Nick keeps the rhythm going. All kinds of strange noises are apparent at the 03.00 minute mark, and the song continues into nowhere. Creepy guitar playing by Syd, and several different layers of Syd doing other stuff on the guitar joins along. Soon the drumming is interrupted, and instead Nick goes on to play lots of cymbals. Syd again keeps the strange noise going on the guitar, slides, detunes and whatnot. Nick soon approaches different percussion instruments as well. The organ is not very apparent here. Nick then starts with some heavy bass pedal playing over all the other percussion instruments, and Syd of course does more things on the guitar. Nick's drumming gets increasingly louder until it slowly goes back to quiet. This is where Syd makes absolutely mad noises on the guitar! This really reminds me of A Saucerful of Secrets. Almost creepy in a way. The song just goes into freeform jamming from here until 08.05 when Nick goes into that tom pattern again. Syd doesn't stop because of that, so of course he still makes strange noise. Nick's drumming gets more intense and more hard and to top that off, Syd goes even more mad on the high frets. The song continues like this until there is only Nick left, playing a fast pattern on the toms until he finally stops.

I think this is a great album! If you enjoy Pink Floyd's early psychedelic material, this is an absolute gold mine for you! If you hated it, then stay away. This is the most experimental, and the heaviest of them. If you just wanna check out Pink Floyd's early psychedelic material, then this is for you.