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SteveG View Drop Down
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Points: 20474 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Relics: Pink Floyd
    Posted: July 29 2015 at 10:37
The compilation record Relics is often, for Americans, along with Meddle, their first taste of pre DSotM Pink Floyd. Some were enlightened by this compilation of early Floyd materiel while others were absolutely baffled by some of it's content. What do think about Relics?
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Points: 23098 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 10:44
It's not often that I spin this compilation album, but when I do it's because it's the only place I can find the Floyd mixing a bit of New Orleans into their sound:


I prefer full albums. I've never been a fan of greatest hits, compilations or one-hit-wonder collections.
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Points: 1079 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 11:35
In 1990 when I'd just heard "Dark Side of the Moon", for my new buy I went and bought "A Saucerful of Secrets" (It was the cover that drew me to it) and "Relics" as it had "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" on the album. I'd seen those titles written down in a long destroyed and thrown out "Guinness Book Of Hit Singles" and was curious as to what they sounded like. 

Now I think Relics is one of the better Floyd compilations they've done. And even then there was an Australian edition which had stuff from "Zabriskie Point" included. But of course, the remastering crowd got a hold of them and now "NO! YOU CAN ONLY HAVE THE UK VERSION AND TRACKLISTING OR 'RELICS' OR YOU CAN'T HAVE IT AT ALL!!" Tongue
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 12:37
It's hit-and-miss. Some of the misses are truly unlistenable, but the hits are top-notch.
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 17:10
This is easily my favourite compilation from the second The Abbey Road House Band, only the addition of Embryo and Point Me At The Sky would make it perfect.

Mason's original cover drawing is still the best cover for it too:
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SteveG View Drop Down
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Points: 20474 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 17:40
^I wanted to mention how much I liked the original Mason cover drawing, but I thought that I might sound silly.
 
Now I feel silly that I didn't.
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Points: 1079 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 18:25
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

This is easily my favourite compilation from the second The Abbey Road House Band, only the addition of Embryo and Point Me At The Sky would make it perfect.

Mason's original cover drawing is still the best cover for it too:

Aww! That was the cover on my copy as well! Only the lettering of the band and album title were pink. Thanks for the memories!
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 18:55
Originally posted by AZF AZF wrote:

Aww! That was the cover on my copy as well! Only the lettering of the band and album title were pink. Thanks for the memories!
That would be the later Music for Pleasure release (1974ish?)... not that EMI's Starline label was anything to shout about, I think the only other Starline release of any interest was The Best of Rambling Syd Rumpo.


Edited by Dean - July 29 2015 at 18:55
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Points: 64338 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2015 at 19:51
This video contains content from WMG, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

But I believe you.
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."   -- John F. Kennedy
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Points: 700 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 30 2015 at 05:59
I don't listen to much Floyd these days, but I do like 'Relics' a lot. It's got some of the best Syd and immediate post-Syd songs.
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Points: 15916 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 30 2015 at 06:10
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by AZF AZF wrote:

Aww! That was the cover on my copy as well! Only the lettering of the band and album title were pink. Thanks for the memories!

That would be the later Music for Pleasure release (1974ish?)... not that EMI's Starline label was anything to shout about, I think the only other Starline release of any interest was The Best of Rambling Syd Rumpo.

that's exactly the copy I own. Pink lettering, MFP50397, laminated on the front only. It mistakenly clocks Careful With That Axe as 7.45, when it's more like 5.45. It's worth it for all the non-album tracks (and the Mason artwork).
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Points: 3126 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 30 2015 at 07:50
Relics was my introduction to Pink Floyd believe it or not!!

I too hate compilations usually but clearly this did enough to get me hooked LOL.
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Points: 20451 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 30 2015 at 09:26
At the risk of repeating some comments above....it has some good tracks, some mediocre tracks, and a cool cover.
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Points: 1281 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 30 2015 at 10:34
On the one hand, it's a nice place to get introduced to early Pink Floyd. On the other, Y U No include "Candy And A Currant Bun", "Apples And Oranges", "Vegetable Man", "Scream Thy Last Scream", "Point Me At The Sky" or "Embryo"? Oh well, at least the non-album stuff that is on there is still good.

Also, I concur that Mason's weird music machine drawing rules.


Edited by KingCrInuYasha - July 30 2015 at 10:35
He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!
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Points: 20474 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 30 2015 at 18:08
For me personally, Relics was my first window into Barrett era Pink Floyd and earlier post Barrett Floyd. Obviously, the songs on this album lacked most of the bells and whistles (except for Bike) that was evident on DSotM, but their was something haunting about these songs that would always bring me back for further listens. Even when I started listening to Saucerful and Ummagumma, I still returned to this disc to complete my 'early Floyd' listening experience. High praise indeeed for a compilation album.

Edited by SteveG - July 30 2015 at 18:12
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Points: 2084 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 31 2015 at 04:53
As it is, Relics is essential 'cause it's the most convenient way to obtain the two Syd-era singles, but IMO, it's a failure.  They had the opportunity to find a place for Scream..., Roll Another...., Vegetable Man, and some other standout unreleased Syd tracks, but they missed it.  Instead we get previously released album tracks - good stuff, but, well, it's a bit disingenuous - the Floyd have given us numerous hits albums and box packages, but they're still so much out there.  They've rereleased their catalogue half a dozen times and we're still listening to our poorly pressed, overused bootlegs for all that tasty stuff left behind.
I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there.....
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 31 2015 at 06:46
Originally posted by Intruder Intruder wrote:

As it is, Relics is essential 'cause it's the most convenient way to obtain the two Syd-era singles, but IMO, it's a failure.  They had the opportunity to find a place for Scream..., Roll Another...., Vegetable Man, and some other standout unreleased Syd tracks, but they missed it.  Instead we get previously released album tracks - good stuff, but, well, it's a bit disingenuous - the Floyd have given us numerous hits albums and box packages, but they're still so much out there.  They've rereleased their catalogue half a dozen times and we're still listening to our poorly pressed, overused bootlegs for all that tasty stuff left behind.
To their credit Floyd have not flooded the market with endless greatest hits albums compared to most high-selling prog and rock bands (*cough*yes*cough*) and all of those (with the possible exception of the Masters of Rock released in 1970) were compiled with the involvement of the band so to my mind have some vestiges of credibility. The use of Mason's drawing for the cover was a master-stroke as it clearly announced that it was an "approved" release rather than being a contractual obligation album driven by the label.

Relics was carefully constructed¹ to appeal to the then current fan-base who comprised of old Syd-era fans and newer AHM-era fans, hence the inclusion of several tracks from More alongside the two hit singles and the fan-favourites of Interstellar Overdrive and Careful with that Axe, Eugene. At the time the fans were not clamouring for unreleased songs so "Biding My Time" was not put on the album as an incentive for completists to buy it. Nor were those fans that desperate for any new "Syd" songs since both Madcap Laughs and Barrett had been released the previous year. 

In 1971 this was a budget release selling at roughly half the price of a studio album and was released as a stop-gap between ATM and Meddle, it also provided a nice bridge between 1960s Syd-era and 1970s Waters/Gilmour era recordings to illustrate the evolution of the band. It was a shrewd move but not a disingenuous one. It certainly wasn't compiled to cash-in on their new-found popularity, but to maintain it. That it was later reissued in 1974 following the unexpected success of DSotM was an EMI move, not a Floyd move; even the re-issue of their first two albums as a toofa (Nice Pair) was an EMI move, hence the slightly different timings and the messing up of "floydian" seguing between some of the tracks on that toofa.

Some of the "rare" tracks have had official releases in one form or other over the years, even the studio recording of "Embryo" was released on a Harvest sampler (Picnic - A Breath of Fresh Air) that has since been re-issued on CD. The problem with all the unreleased tracks is they don't pass Floyd's own Quality Control standards, and to some of us that is kinda important. While I like to hear those unreleased tracks, I would only play them very occasionally, this isn't the case with Relics.


¹I use the phrase "carefully constructed" here deliberately, because like the later Echoes compilation, the track running order is far from arbitrary and it isn't quite chronological, it is has been 'Produced' to have a flow and continuity as if it were a studio album. This is rare for "greatest hits" compilations and that is partly why it still appeals 44 years later... no one would start multiple threads for the earlier Masters Of Rock compilation even though that contains "Candy and A Current Bun", "Apples and Oranges" and "It Would Be So Nice". Taking the track-flow of Relics into consideration it is difficult to see where tracks like "Roll Another One" and "Vegetable Man" would fit IMO, including those would have made a less satisfying mix.
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Points: 23098 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 31 2015 at 07:07
That was a cool post Dean.

I remember when Echoes (the compilation) hit the street here in Denmark. It was Christmas time and just about every father wound up with a copy - mine not included (he is from 42, which means he is more of a Everly Brothers early Beatles kinda fella). My best friend at the time got it too and was completely over the moon. We met up on boxing day for a few beers and some space tobacco and almost immediately popped Echoes on his stereo. I'd played the entire Animals, More and Obscured by Clouds albums for him previously to this, so I thought it was about time he finally heard Echoes - the track.
When it got to Gilmour's cathartic guitar solo just before the funky part that leads into the ambient cave noises, I choked on my beer and screamed out in anger: WTF is happening?!?!?!?! Where's the bloody climax?!??

At least with Relics you get full songs instead of a castrated version of what many believe to be the band's peak.
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KingCrInuYasha View Drop Down
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Points: 1281 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 31 2015 at 11:28
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

...
The problem with all the unreleased tracks is they don't pass Floyd's own Quality Control standards, and to some of us that is kinda important. While I like to hear those unreleased tracks, I would only play them very occasionally, this isn't the case with Relics.
...

IMO, not all of them fail to pass Quality Control, but, looking at the list, I agree that 90% of those outtakes do sound like they would be best left in the vaults. Random jams, novelty songs, unfinished snippets of ideas, songs that were just incomplete demos of songs that were officially released, rejected soundtrack stuff with ideas that were probably done much better in albums like Atom Heart Mother and Meddle, etc. I wouldn't call these necessary listening.


Edited by KingCrInuYasha - July 31 2015 at 11:31
He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!
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AZF View Drop Down
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Points: 1079 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 31 2015 at 15:40
What's really interesting about "Sunshine" is the organ is basically playing the riff that starts Syd Barrett's "Opel".

Here's "Sunshine". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPIr__d91uI
Pay attention to 0:08 to 0:19.

Now compare with the opening to "Opel". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioyZ5ESV-bU
First 11 seconds.

Maybe this needs a thread of it's own. On a dedicated Pink Floyd site as well.

But back to "Relics". It's a great comfort album. 
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