I've got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains

When I popped down to London for my birthday I couldn't resist making the most of it by revisiting the Pink Floyd exhibition at the V&A (you can read about my first visit here). It was a fairly last minute decision as I'd only decided the week before and bought a ticket as soon as the idea entered my head. I was primarily going to London to see The Killers at Hyde Park, but as that wasn't until the evening and I wasn't eager to get to the venue too early it felt an obvious choice, especially as I was really hoping to go back and see the exhibition again anyway.



I can't really explain the feeling this exhibition gives me other than sheer euphoria; to be so completely immersed in a band that means so much to me. I love the headphone aspect as it makes the experience so completely immersive and so personal, you almost forget everyone else is even there. I really feel like that's part of the magic of the exhibition; that everyone is wandering around in their own little Pink Floyd filled world.

As I entered and saw the giant replica Bedford van I did suddenly feel slightly worried that it wouldn't be as good as last time as I'd already seen everything and they'd be no surprises. But I actually enjoyed the experience more this second time around which I didn't think was possible as I loved it so much already!

When I booked my ticket they were nearly all sold out, and being a Saturday I expected it to be packed. Whilst it was definitely busy, it was much less busy than before when I attended a few days after opening. I didn't feel like I was playing sardines at any point, and it was much easier to frame my photographs without getting any of the other visitors in shot. Because I'd already seen everything and knew what was there I was able to actually focus on the items and areas that interested me instead of trying to take absolutely everything in at once like last time. Because of this, I came away really feeling like I'd learnt little tidbits I'd picked up instead of just having it all wash over me.

I also noticed a few little changes had been made which definitely helped the exhibition flow more smoothly. Just little things, like the Syd Barrett display at the beginning had been rejigged so it no longer blocked the entrance, and the headphone sets connected much more seamlessly without having to stand in a specific spot to hear.


Replicas of Syd Barrett's guitars (unfortunately no one knows what happened to his actual ones which is so sad, musical history has been lost there) and a 1960s zippo lighter like he used to play his guitar.

"One has to recognise that Syd, apart from looking good and playing guitar and so on, wrote songs and that was the unique and very special thing" - Nick Mason

A street map of Cambridge with historical Pink Floyd related locations pin pointed. I found this really interesting as it puts their early life into perspective as I'm not familiar with Cambridge. I left this photo in it's original size if you'd like to click through and read it.



Nick Mason's shirts and hat, sadly the only clothing on display which is a shame as they wore some really fab stuff throughout the years! I noticed almost all of Nick's things were credited to his first wife Lindy.


Nick's drumsticks engraved with his name, and one of David Gilmour's guitars and several of his pedals. All from 1969-1970.



Part of a string of coins made by Nick used to create the intro to Money on Dark Side of the Moon.


David's actual black strat with a film of him discussing it in the background, and one of Nick's drum kits.

"A lot of experimentation that was going on musically ... could have, if they weren't careful, moved Pink Floyd away from rock altogether ... One of the reasons it never does that is because there's a kind of steel in there at all times. What roots Pink Floyd in rock music is Nick Mason's drumming. However complex the ideas, he gives these often superb repeated loop grooves which really make it feel like it's a rock exploration ... it's the rhythm that does that." - Howard Goodall, musicologist and composer

Roger Waters' handwritten lyrics to Have a Cigar, and a polaroid photo taken by Nick of Syd Barrett's surprise visit to the studio when they were recording Wish You Were Here; "David asked me if I knew who he was...even then I couldn't place him, and had to be told. It was Syd."




Roger Waters' hand written lyrics and sketches for The Wall



Rick Wright with his 'surrogate' for The Wall stage show, with the mask of his face the surrogate wore.





One of the sheep parachutes used for their Animals/In The Flesh tour. Fireworks would be shot into the air, and these paper sheep with weighted feet would float down into the audience.


Nick would often write gig notes on his drum heads and use gaffer tape to dampen the sound. This is one of his snare drum heads which was broken by Nick at the at the Oakland Coliseum Arena in 1977. The writing is mostly the location codes that had been previously agreed by the band to call out during the show so illegal bootlegs could be traced.

Also David's guitar, Electric Mistress pedal and Big Muff pedal, and one of Rick's keyboards.





Roger's outfit he wore on stage during his solo tour of The Wall from 2010 - 2013.

"When I was working with Syd, Nick, Rick and David I'd been very lucky. It was a great platform. The name of that band is sort of irrelevant. It's being there and having the opportunity to do the work that's priceless." - Roger Waters

I sat in the end cinema room showing the Live 8/Arnold Layne/High Hopes videos for far too long just enjoying the atmosphere (as let's face it, it's the closest experience I'll ever get to seeing Pink Floyd live!). I was in the exhibition for 2 and a half hours, which I felt was pretty good considering it took over 4 last time!

I still don't feel done with this exhibition. I wish I still lived in London as traveling is my biggest prohibiter, but as it is I'm hoping to get down there at the end of September to see it one last time before it closes.



I hadn't planned to spend much in the gift shop, telling myself I only wanted the Saucerful of Secrets tshirt and a few duplicates of the pins I bought last time. But I'm weak, and as it was my birthday it was far too easy to justify! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the duplicate pin I wanted of Algie, but I got plenty more to make up for it. I couldn't resist buying the Record Store Day release of Interstellar Overdrive as I don't like RSD nor the jacked up prices on eBay. I also got an Animals top which I picked out on a whim yet have already won plenty, a few postcards, an Algie keyring, and a David Bowie tote from their small display from the Bowie exhibition a few years ago as I really wanted a tote and wasn't feeling the Pink Floyd designs.

Syd

I'm not generally one for drawing attention to a person's death. It's something I prefer to notice on my own and allow to pass, preferring to celebrate them on their birthday as death is something that affects me deeply (I will even purposefully avoid Tumblr on such days so I don't have to be reminded). But 10 years felt worth commemorating. I still remember when I found out all of those years ago. I'd only discovered Pink Floyd and Syd's solo work little less than a year before he died, and although he'd been publicly inactive for decades it naturally still hit me hard. It felt particularly unfair that he should die the day before my birthday, what a downer! He's always remained a living part of me though no matter how much time passes, and always will.




I took a recent uni project as an opportunity to finish off this drawing of Syd that I began last year. You may remember it was fully completed except for his shirt as I had wanted to post it by a specific date and ran out of time, plus I was honestly dreading drawing all of that patterning. I've drawn fairly detailed clothing before and it always takes an age, and it's an aspect I always approach with caution as it can really make or break a drawing. I had originally planned to leave his shirt plain like I'd shown in my previous post, hoping it would look minimal and keep the focus on his face, but it just never looked right to me so I knew I had to complete it to feel happy with the portrait. It definitely looks much better now, it looks finished.

Syd was… you know, physically beautiful, witty, funny. The way he talked, the way he walked. I don’t want to make this sound like a love song, but he was much loved by pretty much everyone around him. - David Gilmour

Early Years

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.

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?

Their Mortal Remains

On 13th May the V&A opened Their Mortal Remains, an exhibition celebrating 50 years of Pink Floyd's career. I'd been counting down the days until it opened since I first heard of it last year, and yesterday I was lucky enough to go.

A technical drawing by Nick from when he was studying architecture; a painting by Syd from 1965 and a letter he wrote for Jenny Spires; David Gilmour's Höfner Club 60 guitar and his first fuzz pedal.

BBC apperance contracts. Notice that Syd's crossed out on one of them.

Nick's diary: "Kingston College. Really a fairly good gig, partly because the support group was so boring that everyone was glad to see us."

Letter from David to his parents: "Dear Mum & Dad, This is just to reassure you about the fact that I am playing again and will probably be playing in the States in April. I should be in New York about 20th April for a week or more. As you can see I joined the Pink Floyd, don't worry about what the cuttings say the reasons are and the spelling of Gilmur. That was a mistake by the Publisaist."

Fender Precision bass which originally belonged to Roger Waters, which he sold to David Gilmour in the 70s and he still continues to use.

Nick Mason's shirts from the late '60s and the hat he always wore.

It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good. Syd's bike from the 1980s

Nick and Roger, drawn by Roger Waters in Washington, June 10th '75.

I'm doing my dissertation on Gerald Scarfe's artwork for The Wall so was pleased that there were a few original pieces on display.

I took so many photos it was a challenge to narrow them down! It was a pretty big exhibition, I think I heard that there are 11 rooms in total. I expected it might take me about 2 hours to walk around, but it took me 4.5. It's advertised as an "audio and visual experience" and you're given a headset to wear which automatically knows which section you're in and will play accordingly. It's quite an elegant system as you forget you're wearing it, but it's not without it's faults; several times my headset had difficulty tuning in when I was standing right in front of something, and it would sometimes loose connectivity halfway through, so trying to listen to interviews was a little frustrating. That's my only complaint of the entire thing though, I absolutely loved it. I liked that the exhibition allowed you to move at your own pace, and the headsets made it a completely immersive, individual experience.

You enter the exhibition through a model of the Bedford van, and then are immediately immersed into the UFO Club with psychedelic liquid oil effects projected onto the ceiling. The next room is where it really begins, with a section on Syd Barrett and then a display dedicated to each album from Piper at the Gates of Dawn through to Dark Side of the Moon. The section on Syd is very small, but honestly I felt it was just enough. It didn't downplay or dismiss his part in the band, and it treated him respectfully instead of like an oddball curiosity project which I appreciated. There was no speculation or psychoanalysis, it simply explained his role and that he was unable to cope with fame and left.

After the display of Dark Side of the Moon the exhibition slowed down to tell more of their history between and during each album from Dark Side of the Moon through to The Endless River. My first thought was that I wished they had placed equal emphasis on the earlier period of the band, but then again I didn't feel the exhibition lacked anything and there's obviously only so much they can focus on so I think they got the balance right.

At the end of the exhibition you removed the headphones and went into a large room where their Live 8 performance was being projected onto the walls so you could sit on the floor and watch. After Live 8, they showed the promotional videos for High Hopes and Arnold Layne complete with additional oil projections. I really enjoyed this as a note to finish on as it highlighted both ends of the bands career - their first ever release with Syd, up to their final reunion performance before the death of Rick.

After the end of it, I truly felt like I wanted to go straight back in and do the entire exhibition all over again. It was such a perfect day to be so deeply immersed in my favourite band, I felt almost under a spell when I left I was so happy.





Naturally you exit out into the gift shop! It's predominantly t shirts, remastered vinyl (ugh), button badges and books. I bought quite a few pins as I enjoy sticking them everywhere (I even bought duplicates of some), some postcards, a mug, a plush of Algie the pig which is probably my favourite thing for some inexplicable reason, and the official book of the exhibition which I can't wait to sit down and read. I did see a few other books I liked the look of, but they're not specific to the V&A and I didn't feel like lugging them round all day so I'll no doubt be ordering from Amazon soon.

The exhibition is open until October 1st 2017 and entry is between £18-£22 depending on if you have a concession. It's well worth every penny in my mind, I completely recommend going if you're able to!