RELICS

When "See Emily Play" was recorded, I remember how David Gilmour was first introduced to Pink Floyd guys by Syd Barrett. "We will have a session, please come over!" said Syd to David Gilmour when he was at the time still with his band Jokers Wild. David came to the session and found out that the band was about recording "See Emily Play" and what surprised David was that Syd seemed like knowing him at all. It's probably LSD dominated Syd's mind at the time. That's history . And now everyone knows that later, when Syd was out of control, Nick Mason - right after the gig where David attended - offered David a job to replace Syd on guitar. "Why not?" Dave said. Couple of days he joined the band, he left the band and finally begged the band to recruit him again.

Musically this release presents compilation of Pink Floyd's early work with Syd Barret as leader of the band. There must be a lot of psychedelic sounds here and characterized by rough edge guitar work, ponering drums / percussion and keyboard / sounds effects work. "Arnold Lane" has become Pink Floyd's legendary track followed with "Interstellar Overdrive" which represents the culmination of the boys' ideas to push their musical limits. There are avant-garde elements you might find in the track as demonstrated by guitar and keyboards / sound effects. "Careful with That Axe" is my favorite. As I knew rock music in the seventies and at the time I only listened to the kind like Deep Purple, Grand Funk, Led Zeppelin, etc. - the opening organ sound of this track seems similar with the intro of Deep Purple's "Fools" of "Fireball" album. Coincidence? Dunno really. Did Pink Floyd influence Jon Lord of Deep Purple? Probably. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW