1967: THE FIRST THREE SINGLES

Sydorama! This is a neat collectors package. The songs here are really decent and are classic Syd fronted Pink Floyd tunes. However this compilation is under twenty minutes long and there are really only 2 tracks that most floydians wouldn't have heard much of before, ("Candy and a Current Bun" and "Apples and Oranges"). This collection is limited yet only full of great tunes. Definitely not an essential item but those who do get this will be pleased i expect.

Good little Mono Singles compilation from the Floyd, but what is on here that you can't find on "The Early Singles" disc from the "Shine On" Boxset? If you don't own "The Early Singles", then maybe this short 20 minute offering is of more interest to you, as three of the songs on here are pretty tough to find elsewhere. 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play' however are not and are found on almost every Floyd compilation ever produced! 'Scarecrow' can easily be found on "Piper".

This product was released in a flimsy cardboard gatefold sleeve (like a little LP gatefold sleeve) and while of interest to collectors, the inside artwork is cheesy, as is the CD artwork. Seems like just another moneymaking venture by EMI Records...

Like so many progheads on this site I grew up with the Pink Floyd albums "Dark side of the moon", "Wish you were here", "Animals" and "The wall". In the late Eighties I discovered the beauty from the Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd because of a friend who was very much into the Sixties. In fact you cannot compare the music from the late Sixties PF and the mid- Seventies PF, there are hardly similarities.

This special CD showcases the talents from Syd Barrett and the exciting and unique blend of pop, rock and psychedelia from The Pink Floyd. The contribution from Syd Barrett is huge: catchy, melodic, tasteful and varied compositions ("Candy and a currant bun" is clocking only 2.46 but what a compelling atmosphere and great shifting mood!), pleasant and distinctive vocals, simple but strong guitar work (R&R inspired) and humorous but sometimes also a bit weird lyrics. The rhythm- section sounds creative and often propulsive and a special flavor is added by the psychedelic sounding organplay, many times halfway culminating into short but excellent soli.

ESSENTIAL PROGROCK!

This is a nice small packet with the early Syd Barrett era songs, which were originally released as vinyl singles. Many of these tracks are available on other compilations too, so one should consider carefully what albums are ideal to buy in order to avoid getting different albums with same songs. For example, if you have the studio releases as vinyl albums, this could be an easy choice to get the related singles cheaply on a CD. These original vinyl singles have reached unbelievable prices in the markets, hundreds, even over thousand euros. The first two singles are the best in my opinion. "Arnold Layne" is a silly story about a transvestite who steals his drag outfits from the clothes lines during the nights. The B-side song's name "Candy and a Currant Bun" was first named as "Let's Roll Another", but the record company didn't buy it. "See Emily Play" is truly a brilliant psych song, also having a sexual theme in lyrics referring to mysteries of feminine masturbation. The overall mood of the song is hazy and dreamlike, one of the band's greatest achievements. The B-side is a cut from "Piper at The Gates of Dawn" album then.

Psychedelic pop Rock Barrett´s Era!

Pink Floyd : The First 3 Singles, as you can imagine is somthing like a compillation of some of their earliest tunes, when Syd Barrett was the lyricist, guitarist, singer and leader of the band. Because of that, here you will find 6 Barrett´s songs, except for "paintbox" which was written by Wright.

All these songs were done in the late 1967 , in that period when "Interestellar Overdrive" was a psychedelic hymn, 15 minutes of acid sound, but these songs are not in the same way, the songs here are more pop oriented of course with the classic psychedelic sound. all of them are short songs, (in fact the album´s lenght is less than 20 minutes), with crazy and at the same time beautiful lyrics, musically is not the best of Pink Floyd of course, but here we can appreciate their earliest works, their earliest ideas, their unique 1967 sound.

Musically i have nothing more to say, short songs, my particular favorite is "Candy and a Currant Bun", i like it so much, it has a very special sound, with great tnes and that acid and insane guitar and keys as a background, "Arnold Lane" and "See Emily Play" are both classic Floyd´s songs, you can find them in "Relics" or "Echoes". If you are a new Floyd fan, i know that probably you love them because of DarkSide, The Wall or Wish You, but if you´re a real fan, then try this album,and you will know that particual and early Pink Floyd sound.

I like it, but i recommend it only for fans, maybe prog lovers could enjoy it, but it´s not that good, that´s why i think 2 stars is good for this album. Only for Fans.! But Good!

Only something you would pick up if you are a Barrett or Floyd fan, although four of the tracks can be found in Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Relics, what makes this of interest to fans is Apples and Oranges and Candy and a Current Bun; neither of these two tracks impressed me that much, but yet I like to own every one of Syd's songs since they always are fascinating and even these two do have moments of amusement . Candy and a Current Bun sounds like a filler or B-side track that didn't find grace to the band to put on an album, yet if I am correct it was infact a single. Apples and Oranges is heavily influenced by the Beatles song Sgt. Pepper, but does have a few interesting parts and has Syd's trademark lyrics, the song feels a little dated now but amusing. I won't review the other tracks since you can find reviews of them under Relics and Piper.

This is really only for fans and collectors neither Candy nor Apples will impress you otherwise.

THE BARRETT DAYS

This compilation by EMI joins 6 very enjoyable songs of the Barrett Era which contains the particular Early Floyd Sound in a very poppy way.

Contrasting to their instrumental psychedelic epic "Interstellar Overdrive", these six songs barely reach the 17 minutes and have a heavy Beatles influence in the orchestration and the vocals.

"Arnold Layne". This censored song was pretty successful in the charts, a song about a female under collector with a very humming tune.

"Candy And A Currant Box" contains some spacy/psychedelic elements and the unique Barrett lyrical style. The kind of song that speaks of nothing and everything at the same time.

"See Emily Play" was written by Syd inspired by a little girl who was playing in the woods. The charm of this song consist in the excellent keyboard work by Rick Wright.

"Scarecrow" was the only one of these songs who was included in the first Pink Floyd release and explore those strange sounds that spiced the music of these guys through all their career.

"Apples And Oranges" is a pretty comic song at least for me, the story of Syd meeting a girl while she goes to the market reminds me a lot to "Obladi-Oblada" by The Beatles even in the happy melody present through the whole song.

"Paintbox" is, in my humble opinion, the best song in this album, that mysterious sound and the echoes of the voices have that sense of madness that surrounded everything about Pink Floyd.

Unfortunately, compilations like this only will do it for the fans, but it doesn't stop it from being a grateful experience.

Package of 6 songs from the days of Syd with Pink Floyd although the title makes it seem 3 songs are here. I would say this is my least favorite incarnation of the band. Way too much psychodelia for my taste. 4 of the songs here can be found on the original albums or in other packages. The exceptions are "Candy and a Current Bun" (b side of Arnold Layne), and "Apples and Oranges" (with Paintbox I think). These are all short songs, and have a dated feeling and sound to my ears. I can't really call this essential Pink Floyd, especially to people like me who are more into the later Gilmour/Waters led Floyd. Syd fans should take notice, though. 2 stars.

These are a few of my favorite things. We are no longer looking at stuff that's mostly from the mold of "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", in case if you were curious about the band's musical direction at the time. We are now looking at somewhat more normal material here. The band is really sticking it to the structured psych-pop-rock, as opposed to those odd-ball, very British ditties (although there is one exception here) and lengthy instrumental freak-outs they used to do. If you can't get enough of catchy psychedelia, come and get it.

'Arnold Layne' is more notable for its originality rather than musical value. It's a story of a very weird person with a very weird attitude towards maternal underwear. I'm not going to write it in detail for you. 'Candy and a Currant Bun' is a one delicious song, something in the vein of 'Apples and Oranges', for which I had previously written some text in another review. Oh, no, it's not as trippy and frightening as 'Vegetable Man'. Oh, yes, I do like tasting ice-cream in the afternoon. Plus, I think that that heavy middle-eight in the song sounds cooler than any track on Serge Gainsbourg's widely acknowledged French pop-rock classic "Histoire de Melody Nelson".

'See Emily Play' is a one nocturnal and spectral song. In terms of quality I personally do not find it any different from the other tracks on here. It's got a fast piano lick, out-there lyrics (purportedly about LSD experience), and a very fast clip in the middle, which means a faster "guitar solo" on it. All of these things bring the song a humorous edge. Are you up for humor? As for 'Scarecrow', I eventually gave it a four, although one day I gave it a five because it really worked on me when I was drowsy. It's funny, but true. Also, I'm not much of a lyrical guy, but I was really amazed with the concept of the lyrics. It's a story about a Scarecrow who is, ahem, black and green, he is sadder than you and me, his head doesn't think, and the mice pick all the meat out of him. It's not like I'm on drugs or anything, but I feel very sad for him, even though he doesn't mind all the trouble. This is probably a song about humanity or, again, LSD experience.

As for the third single, please refer to the review I have already typed up yesterday (as of the time of this writing) so that I wouldn't have to repeat myself.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Arnold Layne' - **

2. 'Candy and a Currant Bun' - ****

3. 'See Emily Play' - ****

4. 'Scarecrow' - ****

5. 'Apples and Oranges' - ****

6. 'Paintbox' - *****

Stamp: "I like it."