Fun Floyd Fact 40044:
Pink Floyd had put out a compilation record only 4 years after their debut.
Fun Floyd Fact 40045:
That compilation record is
Relics
After their first #1 album, and first album to achieve Gold status (the much hated
Atom Heart Mother), EMI records jumped at the chance to milk the success. Despite having only two hit singles, not releasing any since 1968, they put out
Relics. EMI were smart however, as to not label it as a Best Of or Greatest Hits, because really, they are only two as said before. Pink Floyd's success would be super sized two years after with the ridiculously successful
Dark Side of the Moon, and continue as one of the Rock powerhouses of the 70s. But before all that mega sensation mumbo-jumbo, Pink Floyd were still a fairly experimental band with roots tracing back to the psychedelic scene and R&B. Not having matched the success of their first singles with follow-ups, Pink Floyd stopped doing singles. As they ventured into questionable musical territory, they would still hint at influences from their original front man Syd Barrett.
Relics covers everything in their career at the time, and while it's not a Greatest Hits record, it's certainly better than
Echoes: the Best of.
This album is a source of many goodies. It contains some B-Sides from Floyd singles, which are pretty much impossible to get a hold of. That would include the infamous favourite live staple
Careful with that Axe Eugene, Pink Floyd flexing their experimental biceps all the way, the vein of avant-garde bulging through. Starting as a relatively quiet blues song with an ominous feel, it builds up as the lanky bassist Roger Waters starts whispering things. The climax reveals itself, all the instruments burst manically as Waters lets out bloodcurdling screams. A classic early Floyd song, why? Well, I don't know really. It's the only studio version available anywhere on a Pink Floyd CD (though it's better live.) Another rare treat is
Biding my Time, the most Blues-driven Floyd song ever. A stripped down Blues tune that ends with a great trombone and guitar solo. Keyboardist Richard Wright is said to be playing the trombone, but it's still debated to this day by people with no lives.
Relics is solid enough to be a Floyd album, every song here is good. But the obvious absence of Syd Barrett on some tracks would ruin the illusion, the variety in music however wouldn't really matter, as the Floyd were known to make musically disjointed albums at that time. Three of the songs are Barrett's, two of which are Floyd's hit singles (said many times before by now)
Arnold Layne and
See Emily Play. Both are whimsical psychedelic Britpop songs, relatively poppy and coherent compared to later Barrett stuff. The other is the result of too much acid and a childishly creative imagination,
Bike is a jangly, incredibly funny song with strange sound effects and even stranger lyrics:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Bike
I know a mouse and he hasn't got a house
I don't know why I call him Gerald
He's getting rather old but he's a good mouse
I've got a clan of gingerbread men
Here a man, there a man, lots of gingerbread men
Take a couple if you wish, they're on the dish
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And that is dedicated to whoever doesn't think Syd Barrett is a genius! Another song from the Barrett era is the psychedelic genre-defining instrumental Interstellar Overdrive, clocking at around 8 minutes and sums up the music of Floyd's debut
Piper at the Gates of Dawn rather nicely. Barrett's influence shines on noticeably in tracks where he's long gone. The catchy
Remember a Day captures the same sort of quirkiness innocence and is written by Wright.
Cirrus Minor captures the space-rockiness of Barrett's songs in its solemn, ambient atmosphere. It's from
Soundtrack to the Film More, a soundtrack made entirely by Floyd for an obscure hippy-era movie. Also from the soundtrack,
The Nile Song totally contradicts Pink Floyd's signature sound at the time by being a complete Hard Rock song, Pink Floyd strayed from what they doing at the time for the soundtrack.
Well kiddies, if you wanted to sample Floyd's earlier stuff or get a handful of B-Sides and Rarities such as
Paintbox or
Julia Dream, here you go boys and girls. The long, psychedelic track Interstellar Overdrive probably won't be too appealing to everyone, it gets hard to listen to sometimes, even as big of a Piper... fan I am. It's disappointing that more B-Sides weren"t included, but again you have to remember EMI basically just grabbed a big bunch of chronologically varied songs and slapped an album together. This is recommended to any fan of Floyd's early stuff, and even a big fan of Floyd's "classic" era would enjoy this. Many of the songs foreshadow Floyd's future path.
Relics is no ordinary compilation, it's actually enjoyable and original sounding. As for the Floyd Fun Facts, I'll be honest, they don't exist, but say it with the number accompanying it fives times fast.
Recommended Tracks
See Emily Play
Paintbox
Cirrus Minor
Biding my Time
Relics---------------> 4 stars
