At the end of May I decided to spurge and buy something I'd been pining after for a while: Pink Floyd The Early Years, a box set containing 27 discs of their previously (officially) unreleased material from between 1965 - 1972. And after I saw Their Mortal Remains I wanted the set even more badly.
When this box set was released back in November I'd planned to hold out and wait for the individual sets. I watched an unboxing of the full box set on YouTube and had initially felt a little underwhelmed at what I felt was being sold for near £400, especially as I felt I probably only wanted the Cambridge St/ation set. So when I saw that the individual volumes had been released I jumped at the opportunity and was soon pouring over track listings to ensure I bought the right one for me. But the more I looked, the less certain I felt. Whilst I mostly wanted the Cambridge St/ation set for it's Syd material, I love the material directly after on the Germin/ation set too. And oh how Reverber/ation also looks good. And I knew if I got three, I'd soon want all of them because I'm a collector and it's how my mind works and at £40 a pop it would soon add up. So I reconsidered the entire box set, saw it had gone down considerably in price (it's since shot back up again, so do watch the ever fluctuating prices if you want it) and I was very fortunate to have savings so I went for it.
Honestly I fully realise how indulgent this box set is and that it won't be for everyone, but being such a huge fan of Pink Floyd it is very much for me. Holding it in my hands it's clear how much thought has gone into packaging this set and everything in it even feels nice. It covers my favourite period of Pink Floyd, from their beginnings before Piper at the Gates of Dawn (my favourite album of all time) up to just before their success with the release of Dark Side Of The Moon. It's when they were at they're most experimental, trying to find their footing after Syd Barrett and their sound after psychedelia. When they were working as complete equals, truly collaborating as a band before Roger Waters took the lead entirely.
When it arrived I spent hours just looking at everything, and I reckon it'll take me a good while to get through all of the content and that's if I watch and listen regularly! There's so much contained its hard to even mentally take note of it all. I've had this for a month now and having been devouring my way through all of the contents, can say that I'm so happy with my purchase and am only gutted I didn't invest in it sooner!
It's spans the years 1965-1972, from when Syd first joined up with Roger, Nick and Rick (and Bob Klose who left in 1965 but recorded a few demos with the band) and contains their earliest demos, BBC sessions, and live recordings. I've read a few criticisms over the sound quality, but these are demos and bootlegs, they were never supposed to be officially released. I'd much rather hear these recordings in their original state rather than all polished up, overproduced and "remastered" (I've spoken of my distaste for remastering many times so shan't bore you with that rant!) Listening to these CDs I feel transported back in time, I can close my eyes and imagine I'm actually there and that's the kind of experience I'd hoped for from this box set. Bits of it aren't perfect, but I don't care, it's an absolute treasure trove for a fan like me.
The little books contained with each volume are made up of mostly photographs, and there's nothing new in the essay by Mark Blake - certainly not to those of us who are Floyd crazy enough to invest this kind of money on them anyway! But it's nice to have all of the same, and I really enjoyed looking through all of the prints, posters, and bits of paper memorabilia. I need to find frames for all of the psychedelic posters, I've loved many of the designs for a long time and am pleased as punch to own proper copies of them at last! There's also five reproduction 7" singles which is a nice touch. I don't own too many of their 7" singles as they're so crazy expensive. They're your typical reissue, on heavyweight vinyl with sturdy card reproduction sleeves. I like the See Emily Play sleeve the best with Syd's artwork.
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| Imagine seeing Pink Floyd for £1! |
What do you think of this box set? Would you invest in something like this of your favourite band?
