Pink Floyd: The Early Years 1965-1972 Box

[battema]

It's kind of a rickety join though - they just faded out part one towards the end and crossfaded it with the beginning of part two. I didn't really notice it while listening to the CD, but when I watched the Blu-ray version it was a lot more obvious because you're seeing the band play one thing and hearing something else for around 10-15 seconds.

Yah, no argument there.

[Ground and Sky's Ghost]

I'm thinking about taking the 2003 DVD release that has the original movie as a bonus feature and the Dark Side footage as part of the "Director's Cut" version, finding software to rip both of those to video files and then using Windows Movie Maker to try to put together a version like that original VHS tape I owned. It'd be tricky though, since the original movie was in 4x3 aspect ratio and the DC is 16x9 (with obvious cropping). Probably a lot more effort than it'd be worth.

For what it's worth, I went ahead and did this. Ripped the original (hour long) version from the "extras" section of the 2003 DVD, then fed the between-song studio/interview bits from my old VHS tape (which is the same aspect ratio and still in relatively good shape) into the computer. I used Windows Movie Maker to stitch the two together. Got stupidly obsessive about it (if I'm going to do it, might as well do it right) - for example, the segue from the first interview bit into "Careful With That Axe" on the DVD is just a title card that says "Careful With That Axe Eugene" with no audio, but on the VHS that card was overlaid by a voice from the control room saying "Come have a listen!" and Roger answering "I will!", so I had to go back and redo that section to get that bit of audio.

Anyway, I fed that into Roxio's DVD creator, built custom menus and burned it to DVD. Came out pretty nicely.

[soundsweird]

Just read the extremely thorough description of the box by Ground and Sky's Ghost, and I'd like to add my thanks!! One thing that would've been helpful: you often mention "great sound quality" on material such as "The Man and The Journey", but it would also be nice to know what's in mono and what's in stereo. Obviously the very early stuff is mono, but I'm wondering about the later stuff...?

[Trane]

Just read the extremely thorough description of the box by Ground and Sky's Ghost, and I'd like to add my thanks!! One thing that would've been helpful: you often mention "great sound quality" on material such as "The Man and The Journey", but it would also be nice to know what's in mono and what's in stereo. Obviously the very early stuff is mono, but I'm wondering about the later stuff...?

µ

I printed it out so I can read it away from the screen
Thanks GaSG

[Ground and Sky's Ghost]

Just read the extremely thorough description of the box by Ground and Sky's Ghost, and I'd like to add my thanks!! One thing that would've been helpful: you often mention "great sound quality" on material such as "The Man and The Journey", but it would also be nice to know what's in mono and what's in stereo. Obviously the very early stuff is mono, but I'm wondering about the later stuff...?

That's a great idea...except I don't know if I trust my ears enough to say whether something is in mono or stereo. I've listened to the whole box through headphones a couple times now, and it didn't really consciously occur to me during each track whether what I was hearing was mono or stereo.

If anyone has a definitive list of what in the box is mono vs. what's stereo, I'd be happy to update my page with that info.

[Obscured]

Individual volumes to be available March 24- http://the-early-years.pinkfloyd.com/

[Progatron]

Individual volumes to be available March 24- http://the-early-years.pinkfloyd.com/

This is the news I've been waiting for! I am all over the "Reverberation" and "Obfuscation" sets.

[NogbadTheBad]

Which ones have video in them?

[Mister Triscuits]

^They all do.

[notallwhowander]

Indeed!

[Paulrus]

Well. There goes most of my discretionary music budget for the next year or two. But I have to have it all. If for no other reason than it will allow me to clear out gobs of boot VHS and other stuff in my library (cassettes -- eek!).

[Trane]

This is the news I've been waiting for! I am all over the "Reverberation" and "Obfuscation" sets.

Excellent news (I thought it was going to be longer and gradual releases

I just finished the lengthy review, so I know which ones to get in priority...

and TBH, the only that seemed the easiest to eliminate is the bonus discs (I can see those movies whenever I want, anyways), which won't be available outside the boxset.

^They all do.

Indeed!

[battema]

For my money, the sets I've enjoyed the most thus far have been the middle ones:

1969 (Dramatis/Ation) has some awesome live renditions of their early staples like Set the Controls and Saucerful of Secrets. Plus the full 'The Man, The Journey' performance is very very cool. The video on this set includes the short bit with Frank Zappa (who looks hilariously out of place), doing a bit of Interstellar Overdrive together.

1970 (Devi/Ation) pretty much rewrote my opinion on Atom Heart Mother. The live renditions, especially the versions sans orchestra, completely changed how I view the song. It still isn't exactly Echoes but is definitely much more engaging than before. The video portion also includes a fair bit of live footage of the song too.

I also definitely enjoy the 65-67 (Cambridge St/Ation) set, although there's more on here that I already knew. Still, the instrumental In the Beechwoods is almost Genesis-esque in tone, and the John Latham sessions are (for me) in the same out-there territory as the Soft Machine Spaced album (which IMHO is praise).

All the sets have excellent bits here and there, but I've gotten the biggest bang/buck ratio from these particular ones.

[NogbadTheBad]

Which have the most/best live video footage?

[Jubal]

Has anyone here listened to the Quad version of Echoes? What format is it?
I just received a email yesterday stating the box will be split up and available by year.
I definitely want to get the one with Echoes in Quad.

[battema]

Which have the most/best live video footage?

Well...the first two sets have lots of clips of the band performing but many of these were dubbed to studio recordings (this is especially odd on the 1968 set, where Gilmour is in the group but it's pretty clearly Barrett's singing/performance). If just seeing the band is of interest, then these are still quite cool and in remarkably well-preserved form.

I personally think the 1970 set has the most interesting live video of the band, with cuts of AHM, the early staples and lots more.

The only set that IMHO is a bit of a skip is 1972 Obfusc/Ation. What you're getting is basically a remastered Obscured by Clouds, a remastered Live @ Pompeii and a few extra bits (including I think the same two live 1972 clips that were found in the DSOTM Immersion box).

[notallwhowander]

Let this be a cautionary tale.

Recently I picked up some Japanese bootlegs of Pink Floyd's BBC sessions. They sound great. However, it is clear to me now that they were booted of off this set. Considering what I really want are these sets, it was a foolish expenditure. That's on top of the dubious nature of bootlegging itself.

[Trane]

Which have the most/best live video footage?

I thought it was on this thread, but I can't find, but someone posted a really lengthy and detailed review of the boxset (at least 8 or 9 A4 pages) about every set and what it featured.

[battema]

I believe it was Valen who did a fantastic write-up...maybe he can repost a link here?

This is also a pretty detailed overview, from the folks over at Brain Damage: http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/box-se...2-box-set.html

[Casey]

I'm in, I think. But I'll be very discretionary.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

The only thing I don't care for is the packaging of Obscured By Clouds with Pompeii. That said, obviously I'm still going to get it.

I'm excited.

[r2daft2]

I haven't looked at what other sellers are quoting but:

Amazon UK prices for the separate sets are advertised at 3 x £40 and 3 X £35 - that's a total of £225 if you wanted all six.

But the full box set is today available for £222 - the lowest I've ever seen it (originally priced at £375 on pre-order if I remember correctly).

The box set has varied widely in price since the new year started so it could go cheaper (...or back up to £400+).

[Progatron]

Interesting... it's a different story with Amazon Canada. Each set is currently listed at $63.00 Cdn for a total of $378 if you want all six.

The full box is $639.99.

So far I've got my orders in for 1971 Reverber/ation and 1972 Obfusc/ation, the two that most appeal to me, although I've got my eye on the 1970 Devi/ation set as well. I'm hoping I don't regret not getting them all.

[Socrates]

I find it strange that the individual boxes are priced approximately the same, given the fact that amount of material varies quite a lot. If my maths is right:
CD Video
Camb 132 58
Germ 59 84
Drama 157 94
Devi 146 139 (+52 audio on DVD)
Reverb 67 70 (+23 audio on DVD)
Obfusc 107 107

I can't really see myself getting the Germination set at that price. However, the Dramatisation and Deviation sets look very attractive. And not just because of quantity!

[r2daft2]

The 1970 Devi- set is the gem of the whole collection IMHO:
An essential BBC session, ZP recordings, the KQED video and the AHN album in Quad.
Lots of AHM live with both band-only and choir/brass/cello performances.

..and 1969 Drama- is probably the next one to go for too.

If only we could access the 5.1 Meddle hidden on 1971 Reverb- !!!