Cambridge Station
I will be reviewing the entire box set disc by disc. I will give the good, the bad, and the ugly on the set and look at it as both to someone who isn’t s super collector as well as someone who already has a lot of this material. I will expand this article each day as I go along. Audio first and then video.
Disc 1 & 2 Cambridge Station
Disc 1:
Songs 1-6: Obviously being fans of Syd Barrett and the early Pink Floyd this is where we want to start. The 6 songs from the Tea Set which came out last year in that limited RSD double single are as good as I reviewed there, so I will not add anything to that.
Songs 7-11: These are the early singles in Mono, they sound nice, not really anything new or much to add here that most of us don’t know.
Song 12: Matilda Mother is the version from the 40th anniversary of Piper and An Introduction to Syd Barrett, nothing new here.
Song 13: Jugband Blues, just the 2010 mix of this song.
Song 14: In the Beechwoods, one of the holy grails that we have been waiting for, well, it’s here, it’s an instrumental and the sound quality is good.
Song 15: Vegetable Man, the 2nd of the holy missing songs, now I will say this is the best sounding version I have heard, BUT the mix is a new mix and not the original mix that we are used to hearing on RoIO’s and such, the easiest tell on that is at the end of the song. But a nice edition and certainly the best quality version that has ever been out there.
Song 16: Scream Thy Last Scream, well this one I am a little disappointed in, especially the mix. Honestly I have a RoIO that beats this in both sound and mix. The most noticeable difference is that they mixed down the high pitch (Syd) singing and brought Nick’s main vocal more out front, they also unbalanced the keyboards in this mix.
Disc 2
Songs 1-8: The Stockholm show from 67 that was dug up a few years ago, it sounds great, even if you still cannot really hear the vocals. The standout is Reaction in G, but also to note that Scream Thy Last Scream is truncated.
Songs 9-17: John Latham versions 1-9, well really these are just alot of instrumental tracks, mostly just jamming in the studio, they sound fine, but nothing really stands out here.
What is still missing from this time frame, well quite a bit, here is my list:
The Advision sessions: Interstellar Overdrive, Arnold Layne, Let’s Roll Another One, and a fourth track, where are these? Though Interstellar Overdrive we may already have.
Songs missing from the Piper sessions: 4/18/67 She was a Millionaire, and the early Lucifer Sam (Percy the Ratcatcher), 6/29/67 Sunshine, The original 67 Mixes of Scream and Vegetable, the Barrett sessions from Saucerful from 8/7/67 through at least the end of the year such as Set the Controls, Remember a Day, Paintbox, Let there Be More Light. Also if there are any studio versions of Reaction in G and One in a Million (unless this is the same as She Was a Millionaire).
Disc 3 Germination
Songs 1-4: 1968 singles, sound good, have been around before though.
Songs 5-6: Now here are a pair of new items that we have not heard before, 2 tracks from Capitol Studios in Hollywood, they are certainly interesting. Song 1 sounds like it may be an early thought of Cymbaline, sort of. And Roger’s Boogie sounds like nothing else the Floyd have done, odd tune, cool though.
Tracks 7-13: BBC sessions, all great, though I may prefer the mixes from Rhapsody In Pink (RoIO) than these, just my 2c.
More to Come…
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