Early(ish) Pink Floyd. This, from a session recorded around March of 1968 and issued as a single.

It Would Be So Nice is probably one of the more obscure singles in the Pink Floyd opus, having not done all that well, not issued in the States and relegated to a "Best Of" album, first released by EMI in Holland in 1970 before it was eventually included in later reissue packages of early Pink Floyd material.

This is one of the first sessions done without their guiding light, Syd Barrett. And even though it still has traces of the Barrett style, you can hear the beginnings of what would become the Pink Floyd of later years.

An interesting and somewhat overlooked Pink Floyd single from their transition phase.

I remember when a friend came back from London in 1967 with a copy of Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Pink Floyd's first album, tucked under her arm. It said everything I wanted music to say and then some. So when Saucerful Of Secrets came out in 1968, I couldn't wait to get it.

And that's when the disappointment sat in. But not for long. Pink Floyd had lost its founding member and guiding force Syd Barrett to increasing instability and mental illness. And because of that, Saucerful wasn't the same Pink Floyd I had expected. But in a way it was different - they had somehow grown. Although much of the album did have Syd in it, he was relegated to only one song and his contributions on the other three songs were somewhat negligible.

But Saucerful Of Secrets was a turning point for the band and it laid the groundwork for who they were to become a short time later.

So tonight's track is the opening of the album. Let There Be More Light was a harbinger of things to come for the band. It would be a new and different trail. But it would have lasting impressions.

It wasn't the old Pink Floyd - it was a new and different one - and they both could be appreciated.

(Pink Floyd 1970 - A period of transition)

A few years before Dark Side Of The Moon became the classic it has, Pink Floyd were in the process of drifting. Syd Barrett, the guiding light and voice of the band had been out of the picture for two years and the remaining members were in search of their own. They were trying various things out, but to not much success. At the time of this live performance at the BBC's Paris Theatre in London, they had released Atom Heart Mother to decidedly tepid reviews. Their previous album Ummagumma was something of a failure and even the band on occasion have disowned it. But throughout all that, Pink Floyd had a large and loyal following and no one, least of all their fans, were ready to write them off. And it's good they didn't, because Dark Side Of The Moon was just around the corner.

This set consists of two tracks from Atom Heart Mother, Fat Old Sun and If as well as One Of These Days.

Pink Floyd at the crossroads.

Baby needs shoes!

(photo: Dezo Hoffmann)

(Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett - Extraordinary madness loomed)

I have never been able to figure out why this track hasn't been officially issued on any of the compilations featuring early Pink Floyd. Vegetable Man has evolved into Holy Grail status over the past forty or so years. First rumored to have been destroyed during one of Syd's meltdowns, then destroyed by EMI, with the only evidence surviving a 45 acetate of what was to be the b-side of their fourth single. Countless bootlegs surfaced over the years featuring this and the A side "Scream Thy Last Scream", all in various stages of lousy sound. Just recently this version surfaced, presumably the closest to a surviving master so far. It's in stereo but the opening notes have some tape drop-out (as do almost all the other versions I've heard). Still, it's the best sounding of what's available of a legendary unreleased song.

Perhaps this is the only known surviving version of what has been a much fabled withdrawn track by Pink Floyd during the last months of Syd Barrett's involvement. Who knows? Perhaps someone at EMI will make a great discovery.

Perhaps. Or perhaps not.

Check out the Syd Barrett Archive. It's a good one.

(Pink Floyd in 1967 - The world was never ready for Syd)

Pink Floyd is one of those bands that have spanned the decades, picking up new fans along the way. I think each generation that has sprung up since 1967 can lay claim to having at least one Pink Floyd song or album embedded in their psyche, defining them to a specific place and time.

For me, it will always be Pink Floyd during the Syd Barrett period. No question Syd was the driving force behind the experimenting that became who they are today. I often wonder just what kind of band Pink Floyd would have been had there not been a Syd Barrett - maybe it wouldn't have happened at all and maybe it would have been someone else.

No matter - for the brief period of time Syd was with the band they made some amazing music and it set them up for the events that were to come later.

Apples and Oranges comes from their third single, released in 1967. After achieving somewhat notorious notoriety with their first two singles (Arnold Layne being a song about a cross-dresser and See Emily Play about masturbation), Apples and Oranges seemed pretty tame by comparison. But it was loaded with Syd's skewed and engaging view of the world.

A view that many shared and openly felt at home with. Syd just freed everything up.