DBD1970(Part 1)

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PRESS MENTION | January 1970. The first issue of « Salut les copains » is dedicated to the consequences of the Amougies festival with many reference to the Floyd

« Salut les copains », January 1970.

RECORDING SESSION | January 1970. Roger begins to work for «The Body» soundtrack in his home studio at Islington, London.

PRESS MENTION | January 1970, Beat Instrumental made a focus on the band and express the need of renewal («Still Progressing But Starting At The Top Again»).

RECORDING SESSION | From 1 to 5 January 1970: recording sessions for «Zabriskie Point» LP (See this page for more details).

PRESS MENTION | 3 January 1970, Record Mirror publish a review of the first Syd Barrett's LP:

« Syd Barrett has returned. Syd left the Pink Floyd over a year ago after writing the group’s only two single hits See Emily Play and Arnold Layne. Since then, nothing. But now, with a new single Octopus under his own name and a debut album due out this month, Syd Barrett is back in the record business. I met Syd in a plush off-Oxford Street office. His hair is as wild it used to be, preserving his former image intact. He talked of when he split with the Floyd. «When we parted i had written everything for the group. My leaving sort of evened things out within the group. Since then i have been doing lots of things - things interesting for me. I’ve done a lot of traipsing around. I’ve been back to Spain - Ibitza (sic). I first went there with Rick three years ago. It’s an interesting place to be. «I’ve written quite a lot, too». Syd, with the Pink Floyd, was the first to emerge from the underground scene centered around the UFO in Tottenham Court Road in 1967. «Everything was so rosy at UFO. It was really nice to go there after slogging around the pubs and so on. Everyone had their own thing. It’s been interesting to see things turning out the way they have. «During the past six months there have been some very good things released. The best things I’ve bought are the new Taj Mahal album, Captain Beefheart, and The Band». I don’t think any of them have influenced my writing though. I’ve been another review of «The Madcap Laughs» in «The record Mirror»

«Syd Barrett has returned. Syd left the Pink Floyd over a year ago after writing the group’s only two single hits See Emily Play and Arnold Layne. Since then, nothing. But now, with a new single Octopus under his own name and a debut album due out this month, Syd Barrett is back in the record business. I met Syd in a plush off-Oxford Street office. His hair is as wild it used to be, preserving his former image intact. He talked of when he split with the Floyd. «When we parted i had written everything for the group. My leaving sort of evened things out within the group. Since then i have been doing lots of things - things interesting for me. I’ve done a lot of traipsing around. I’ve been back to Spain - Ibitza (sic). I first went there with Rick three years ago. It’s an interesting place to be. «I’ve written quite a lot, too». Syd, with the Pink Floyd, was the first to emerge from the underground scene centered around the UFO in Tottenham Court Road in 1967. «Everything was so rosy at UFO. It was really nice to go there after slogging around the pubs and so on. Everyone had their own thing. It’s been interesting to see things turning out the way they have. «During the past six months there have been some very good things released. The best things I’ve bought are the new Taj Mahal album, Captain Beefheart, and The Band». I don’t think any of them have influenced my writing though. I’ve been writing in all sorts of funny places». Syd’s new album is called «The Madcap laughs». He said: «They’re my particular idea of a record. It’s vey together. There’s a lot of speaking on it - but there’s not a very recognisable mood. It’s mainly acoustic guitar and there are no instruments at all». His future plans are quite simple. «I’m just waiting to see how the records do - what the reactions are - before i decide on anything else». And he had final word about «The Ummagumma» album by Pink Floyd: «They’re probably done very well. The singing’s very good and the drumming’s good as well »

« The return of Syd », Record Mirror, 10 January 1970.

David Gilmour:

«Après avoir quitté le groupe Syd devait donc seulement enregistrer, de son côté. Son producteur, l'homme qui a fondé Harvest, Norman Smith, l'a donc fait travailler en studio avec divers musiciens, en particulier Mlke Ratledge et Robert Wyatt du Soft Machine. Mais là les mêmes problèmes se sont posés et ils ont mis un an et demi pour rassembler sept morceaux que l'on puisse mettre sur un disque !

Au bout de ce laps de temps, son producteur lui a dit que s'il n'avait pas enregistré de quoi faire un album complet dans les deux semaines, il ne lui renouvelait pas son contrat î ce qui voulait dire que Syd n'aurait pas retrouvé de travail avant des années. Alors Roger Waters et moi l'avons véritablement pris en main, et c'est nous qui avons produit les six autres titres du disque, et qui jouons dessus avec lui. Nous les avons enregistrés en trois jours ! Mais pour cela il a fallu vraiment que nous le fouettions! C'est à cause de tout cela que cet album est assez imparfait : le prochain sera entièrement produit par Roger et moi. En fait seuls des gens qui connaissent Syd très bien peuvent travailler avec lui et le faire travailler ... »

«Jusqu'où irons les Floyd ?», Best, March 1970

PRESS MENTION | 10 January 1970, NEMS announces the Royal Albert Hall’s concert for 5th February

RECORDING SESSION | 12 January 1970. Syd plays guitar on the first solo single of Kevin Ayers.

This song was then called « Religious Experience » and eventually will be out under the title Singing a song in the Morning (without Syd's contribution). Around this time Kevin thought to form a band with Syd, but the ex-leader of Pink Floyd was too «far away».

Kevin Ayers:

«I went to see him at that flat that was on the «The Madcap Laughs» cover but he was …»

«Syd Barrett: a very irregular head», Rob Chapman

PRESS MENTION | Early January 1970.. The French friend of Roger Waters, Paul Alessandrini dedicated a long article to the band in the January issue of «Rock & Folk»,

RECORDING SESSION | 15 January 1970.. Recording Session for the «Zabriskie Point» soundtrack.
The same day, Nick Mason mix some effects from the EMI's library for the future Atom Heart Mother performances.

CONCERT DATE | 17 January 1970 Lawns Centre, Cottingham, Hull, England

It was the very first performance of the Atom Heart Mother (who was untitled at this time).

David Graddon:

«Pink Floyd at the Lawns – I remember it, and I don’t (like they say: if you remember it, you weren’t really there) My memory is that Mick Murray as Head of Ents at the Lawns site managed to book them for £370 for the night (similar price for The Who). Ed Bicknell, as University head of Ents, may remember more.

We’d never done a major concert in the Lawns Restaurant, and the University set a fire limit of either 500 or 1000 people for it. This meant we could sell tickets for £1.50 each, and make some money for student funds. We built a stage on one side of the hall for the band, and another on the other side for ourselves, to produce the light show. You have to bear in mind that this was long before stadium tours with wagons and wagons of equipment, and a road crew of 1000’s. The band came and played, and lighting, special effects if any was down to the venue to produce. Because we were going to project pretty coloured lights on the walls, which were dull concrete, we had to go down to the Hull newspaper printing plant, and get end-of rolls of white newsprint to paper the stage wall, which was fun.

We also had to accumulate a number of slide projectors to get enough light on the stage so the guys could play, and enough to have some shining while the others got a new colour pack (think 5 glass slides, some food colouring assorted, bubbling agent, and explosion effect with solvents). My colleagues and I were building this on our stage (we got £15 between us, but we would have paid for the privileged position we were in) when one van with two roadies appeared, and asked us to help with their set-up, which we did.

Sometime later another van arrived, which was the 4 members of Floyd, and we did a very short rehearsal to make sure they did have enough light. They were famous as the originators of a light/sound package, but only in the clubs in London which were better equipped with stage lights, etc., and they didn’t travel with one of their own. So we’re all ready, and the audience arrives and sits on the floor (People didn’t dance to Pink Floyd, they just absorbed it). They play Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, and Interstellar Overdrive, and we go mental with the colours and the swirls, and a great time is had by all.

And then it’s over, but not finished – we have to clear up the building, and the roadies have to pack up the van. And we get to have a long conversation with some tired but elated musicians, and find out what it’s really like being a 1960’s student-focussed band who are never going to be Top 10 material, but are hoping to play what they want to play, have fun, and make people happy. But they got rich and famous later, but that, my children, is another story»

«When Pink Floyd played the Lawns and Jimi Hendrix was at RAG week», University of Hull Alumni Association website, 9 December 2015

CONCERT DATE | 18 January 1970 Fairfield Hall, Croydon, England
It was the very first performance of the embryo.

« There was a standing ovation, there was an encore … Make no mistake, Pink Floyd are good. More than that, they are originals, and have been so since earlier days when they practically invented psychedelia. They are individually adept as musicians and command a range of instruments. Rick Wright for instance played organ, piano, trombone and vibraphone at Sunday’s concert. Anything can be legitimately used in creating the atmosphere, recourse to heavy timpani, violent assault on cymbal, flogging a gargantuan gong and insistent thumping of fingers on microphone. Pink Floyd are obsessed with the mystery of outer space - Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and Interstellar Overdrive are two titles - and portray it with imagination. Yet the fact remains that their concert on Sunday was marred by repetitive phrasing, by long unmelodic passages, by monotony … Perhaps with the lighting effects that they have abandoned the sterile patches would not have been so noticeable. Still it was a long concert - nearly three hours - for Messrs. Waters, Wright, Mason and Gilmore to fill. I liked particularly, the contributions of Wright, including funereal excursions of organ playing in the traumatic A Saucerful of Secrets and his unhurried, halcyon piano in Niagara Dellof, which was like a respite from a storm and which was deservedly applauded »

« Concert review », The Croydon Advertiser, 23 January 1970.

« Pink Floyd could be tomorrow's orchestra. They are one of our most experimental groups and they are the most successful. At Croydon's Fairfield Hall on Sunday they proved their music has developed grace and beauty as well as the power it always had. Bathed in pink spotlights, Floyd began with Careful with That Axe, Eugene with its long, ominous crescendo. Their crystal clear sound is cleverly controlled. They lifted the audience with near-hypnotic effects, built things up, and left everyone exasperated. They performed Embryo for the first time in public, and made more of the film theme «More» than any other band. They reverted to rock-blues with Rick Wright on trombone, for a down-to-earth jam. They played new compositions yet-to-be-titled, and an impromptu excursion through time. Pink Floyd are the first four-man orchestra. Each musician is a different section, and their individual creations blend to form one, whole experience »

« Pink Floyd leaders of the underground », Disc & Music Echo, February 1970.

« This was the first gig me and my mates had ever been to and what a choice for first timers (…) On to the evening itself - we had never expected the all-encompassing sound that would engulf us and as the gig unfolded we were continuously taken to a new high. Starting off with Astronomy Domine, a personal favourite, people around us were shaking their hair as the crescendo grew and grew. Later I discovered that they were 'freaking out' as the music took them over. As novices we felt we could not join them at this stage.

I cannot remember the exact order of the songs but I thought they started the second half with the theme from More (although tapes seem to show this was not the case) starting with the slowly growing crash of Water's gong and Mason's cymbals it grew and grew until the familiar bass line, drum beats and then Wright's organ theme played out those familiar notes. Wonderful. Eugene was another familiar favourite with the anticipation of Water's scream almost tangible. When it did happen those shivers went right down the spine. The heads shook as Gilmour's chiming guitar came in. Biding My Time was an unfamiliar tune but it did feature Rick Wright resplendent in his broad brimmed hat. I sort of knew he played vibes but was astonished when he picked up a trombone and embellished the now familiar song. The Amazing Pudding was introduced as a new song and, regrettably, I don't recall much about it at all. It all made a lot more sense a few months later at the Hyde Park free concert, but that's another story. The concert was over but we clapped and cheered and clapped.

The concept of an encore was all new to us but what more could we want: A Saucerful of Secrets. The slow beginning of strange weird sounds evolved into a frenzy of cymbal smashing courtesy of Waters as Mason's circular drum motif kicked in. And hey, this Gilmour chap actually laid his guitar on the floor and leaned over it to create these other-worldly sounds.

And then it was over. We were stunned and would be for some time to come. But one thing was for sure we were all huge Floyd fans and would continue to be into our adult life»

« Meddem's memories », Yeeshkul Website, 6 March 2012

CONCERT DATE | 19 January 1970 The Dome, Brighton, England

PRESS MENTION | 21 January 1970, one of very first hint for the future Roland Petit's ballet is evoked in the press.
A meeting with Rudolf Nureyev is envisaged ….

«When work on the score is complete. Floyd begins a short French tour with two days in Paris on January 23, then returns to Britain for Its concert appearances»

«Pink Floyd British Concerts: writing film, music score …», 13 February 1970, Melody Maker

The programme for the Parisian’s shows

CONCERT DATE | 23 January 1970 Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France

Photographies by Jean-Pierre LELOIR

«Et les Pink Floyd ? (…) De mémoire de machiniste, on n’avait pas vu le théâtre des Champs-Elysées comble à ce point. Petit à petit, le public s’est installé jusque sur la scène, de chaque côté. Il y en avait dans les coulisses. Et calmes, attentifs, on pourrait même dire, je crois, méditatifs. La salle avait du talent.

Elle applaudissait où il fallait, et même son silence était musique. Parce que les Pink Floyd nous avaient ouvert un monde différent: sans light show, sans mise en scène, sans cirque, sans effet, sans agression délibérée dans les moyens d’amplification, sans agressivité inutile, avec une sorte de sérénité qui marche vers son but et qui ne s’en laisse pas distraire, avec une perpétuelle invention sonore, avec une façon tout à eux d’avoir incorporé des bruits naturels et qui deviennent musique - oiseau, mer, et ces pas qui traversent une maison, dont on sent, dont on sait que c’est une maison à la campagne, la planche que l’on scie, le mystère fascinant de certains silences habités qui nous invitent à changer le monde par la qualité de notre attention - avec une science sensible du dosage du crescendo obtenu autrement que par la trop habituelle montée du potentiomètre-volume mais nourri dans la masse sonore et qui atteint des sommets tels que littéralement on se baigne dans la musique, avec un souci naturel de la respiration, des nuances, des contrastes, des couleurs, des formes mouvantes se pénétrant et se défaisant comme des nuages (…)»

«Pink : Rose», Rock & Folk, March 1970

Cameron Watson (Band’s friend):

«The audience couldn’t believe their ears: you could hear the sound going round the room from behind. I was sitting on the stage on Dave’s side. When they began to play the first bars of the Main Theme from More, the audience became almost hysterical. Dave looked round and asked me «Hey! What’s up ?» I said: «Well, you’re like gods here, you know !» and the concert got better and better»

«Interview w/. Cameron Watson», The Amazing Pudding.

‍

‍This concert is broadcasted live on radio in the Michel Lancelot’s « Campus ». Some extracts will be rebroadcasted in the show « Radio libre aux Pink Floyd » on 1 May 1982 hosted by François Jouffa and again during the « Musicorama » hosted by the French actor Jean-Claude Brialy, on 30 April 1995.

CONCERT DATE | 24 January 1970 Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France

Photos by Philippe GRAS

«(…) Aux Champs-Elysées leur musique a laissé une profonde empreinte sur ceux. qui ont assisté à leurs shows. Sur scène, un matériel exceptionnel. Derrière eux, opère un ingénieur du son sur qui repose la responsabilité de la sono composée d'une multitude de baffles sur la scène et dans la salle qui permettent aux sons de l'envahir pleinement. Le concert débuta avec une chanson du style folk jouée et chantée par Gilmore et Waters avec deux guitares sèches. Puis il y eut le " gimmick » pendant lequel ils prennent le thé. sur scène, des bruits de portes, cris d'oiseaux, grincements parcourant la salle. Mais le délire musical atteint son paroxysme lorsqu'ils jouèrent " A Saucerful of secrets », l'orgue de Wright sortait des sons absolument irréels et d'une rare beauté.

Les Pink Floyd utilisent des effets de Larsen, de distorsion et improvisent de façon spontanée dans plusieurs de leurs morceaux. Ils se servent des instruments traditionnels aux groupes pop (guitares, batterie, orgue) mais ils en tirent des sons qui n'ont absolument rien de commun avec le classique. Ils exploitent toutes les ressources actuelles de l'électronique qui leur permettent la recherche de sonorités nouvelles. Leur souci majeur étant d'inventer des sons, de créer des ambiances, ils veulent amplifier l'utilisation des bandes magnétiques pré-enregistrées en studio qui leur permettront de créer des sonorités nouvelles qui se mêleront à leur musique. Nul ne sait jusqu'o˘ iront les Pink Floyd, mais ils se classent comme le meilleur groupe actuel de Pop Music et sa valeur est reconnue par tous (…)»

«Les fabuleux Pink Floyd, musiciens du XXIème siècle», La Tribune de Genève, 16 June 1970

«Deux soirs de suite le théâtre des Champs-Elysées, et ce à l'initiative de Norbert Gamhson, a accueilli le Pink Floyd. Deux soirs de suite nous avons vu et entendu cet acte de création totale qu'est cette musique étonnante, merveilleuse, multi-dimensionnelle, qui éclate, murmure, fusionne et semble émerger à la fois de rien et de tout, qui vous enveloppe, vous étreint, puis s'échappe au moment o˘ vous croyez la saisir et vous entraîne alors, dérouté, dans un autre infini, un autre poème, o˘ elle se volatilise à nouveau. Et il ne vous reste plus qu'à vous y abandonner ...

Me voilà bien lyrique, direz-vous : bien sûr on peut toujours parler des aspects techniques et matériels de cette musique, analyser et disséquer ce que fait le Pink Floyd sur scène, et je vais d'ailleurs le faire, mais presque à contre-coeur car jamais cela ne m'a semblé aussi vain. Certes c'est intéressant, parfois passionnant même, mais ce ne sont jamais là que les composantes matérielles et concrètes et j'allais dire vulgaires d'une création dont elles ne peuvent rendre compte de l'aspect essentiel, qui se situe sur le plan affectif et émotionnel, bien loin de la raison, de la technique et des mots. Des mots je pourrais en aligner beaucoup encore, ce serait vouloir exprimer l'inexprimable: nous sommes là dans le domaine éternel de ce que l'homme peut ressentir, et seulement ressentir, car il ne peut chercher à le traduire ou l'expliquer, dans quelque langue que ce soit, sans en détruire l'essence même. Il en est de la musique des Pink Floyd comme d'un poème de Baudelaire ou de Breton : elle est belle, immensément belle, et la beauté qui s'en dégage se situe en fait bien au-delà de l'aspect formel, en dehors de lui : il n'en est plus que le support, presque le prétexte. Rassurez-vous, je n'oublie quand même pas que cet aspect formel, je suis justement là pour vous en parler ! Sur la scène, un matériel assez extraordinaire. Dave Gilmore, en plus de la maintenant classique combinaison ampli/pédale wah-wah, utilise pour les effets d'écho un étrange appareil. Basiquement, c'est en fait un magnétophone, dont on n'aurait conservé qu'une seule bobine, remplacée par une simple roue métallique. Cela permet de varier et surtout de contrôler beaucoup plus les effets d'écho et de "loop" qu'avec une vulgaire chambre d'écho, d'autant plus que, bien que Dave m'ait avoué que ce genre de bricolage était déjà utilisé par les Shadows, le sien soit beaucoup plus complexe et lui permette des combinaisons et des recherches de sonorités innombrables.

D'ailleurs, sur scène, Dave revient continuellement à son appareil pour en manipuler les multiples boutons ! Nick Mason a complété sa classique double batterie par deux énormes timbales et un petit gong, tandis que c'est au bassiste Roger Waters que revient la tâche de "s'occuper" de l'immense gong chinois qui occupe le milieu de la scène. Enfin le laconique Rick Wright disparaît presque entre son vibraphone, son orgue, un complexe et peu orthodoxe système d'amplification, tandis que derrière lui, à une table encombrée d'appareils, officie leur ingénieur du son. C'est sur ces deux hommes que repose la responsabilité des effets de stéréo (le fameux "azimuth coordinateur" (sic)) rendus possibles par la présence, en plus de ceux situés sur la scène, de quatre baffles disposés dans la salle même : deux au fond, un de chaque côté. Tout cela avait bien s˚r nécessité des réglages longs et minutieux pendant les répétitions. Le light-show a été abandonné : seule l'intensité et la couleur des éclairages varient selon les morceaux (il y a eu d'ailleurs un certain cafouillage le premier soir, les techniciens du théâtre semblant un peu dépassés, au grand désespoir du manager du groupe !). Cela ne veut pas dire que les Floyd aient abandonné la conception de "Spectacle total" (d'ailleurs nous vimes largement la preuve du contraire !) mais simplement, comme l'explique Roger Waters : "Il n'y avait plus grand-chose à tirer du light-show classique, mais nous avons des projets dans ce domaine : nous préparons des films, des effets lumineux sur le gong .. Cette idée de spectacle total est très importante pour nous, et je crois qu'il y a beaucoup de possibilités à explorer dans ce sens. Nous ne voudrions pas cesser de faire de la scène, c'est quelque chose de très différent du studio, un tout autre domaine d'expression, et même sur le plan strictement musical les problèmes sont différents. En particulier il ne faut pas utiliser les mêmes dynamiques sur scène et en studio, cela ne rend pas du tout pareil : c'est d'ailleurs ce que trop de groupes ne réalisent pas ... Il y avait une foule incroyable pour voir le Pink Floyd, et cela les deux soirs. Or parmi cette foule des anarchistes et des gauchistes (samedi soir j'ai retrouvé là des amis qui venaient droit de Beaujon où on leur avait "offert l'hospitalité" après qu'ils aient occupé le Centre d'Education Active !) voulurent et en grande partie réussirent à rentrer de force, sans payer (oh, les vilains ...). J'étais curieux de savoir ce que les Pink Floyd eux-mêmes pensaient de ces manifestations qui prouveraient bien, s'il en était besoin, que leur musique, plus encore peut-être que celle de n'importe quel autre groupe, s'inscrit dans un contexte d'opposition à la culture de notre civilisation, et donc à cette civilisation elle-même. Mais les Floyd, comme la majorité des musiciens anglais, à l'encontre de beaucoup d'Américains, ne semblent guère avoir de conceptions politiques vraiment affirmées, et sur ce plan ils ont une espèce d'aveuglement et de naïveté qui contraste étrangement avec la richesse de leur imagination artistique. " Bien s˚r, chacun de nous a des idées politiques, quoique nous n'en discutions guère, mais aucun de nous n'est un révolutionnaire. Pourquoi voulez-vous que nous le soyons, en Angleterre ?

Nous n'avons pas de répression, nous pouvons faire ce que nous voulons, et il n'est pas besoin d'avoir recours à la violence ... Nous avons insisté auprès de notre firme de disques pour que notre double album soit vendu moins cher que normalement et nous l'avons obtenu, mais nous ne pouvons quand même pas donner nos disques : on ne nous laisserait plus enregistrer! Vous savez, de toutes façons jusqu'ici tout ce que les Pink Floyd ont gagné, que ce soit par les disques ou les concerts, a être re-dépensé en matériel ! Personnellement, je n'ai actuellement pas de quoi me payer une maison à moi ! En fait c'est seulement à partir de maintenant, avec les musiques de films (deux déjà : «More » et « Zabriskie Point » d'Antonioni dont le disque sortira en mars) que nous pouvons espérer faire des gains véritables ... »

Le concert fut à peu près le même les deux soirs. Il débuta sur un très joli morceau, très folk, joué et chanté par Gilmore et Waters avec deux guitares sèches. Puis, surprise, un morceau très rapide et violent, blues, presque hard-rock ... Mais c'est seulement à la fin de ce morceau que les Floyd commencent à jouer leur musique avec un morceau à base uniquement de percussions : la batterie de Mason, le vibraphone de Wright, les deux autres avec des blocs de fonte, frappés à coup de maillet, et bien sûr Waters avec sa scie et son morceau de bois... Ensuite c'est le fameux moment du thé, qu'on leur sert sur scène, sur fond de musique douce. Réponse de Gilmore à qui je faisais remarquer qu'ils auraient pu en offrir au public : " Nous n'avions pas assez de sucre... et je ne suis pas Jésus ! D'ailleurs le public peut très bien apporter son propre thé ... » Et il ajoute : «De toutes façons ce n'est qu'un gimmick ... ». Un gimmick peut-être, mais génial de toutes manières, de même que ces bruits de portes qu'on ouvre et de pas qui, grâce à la stéréo, font le tour de la salle plongée dans l'obscurité !

Puis, après un morceau de " More », c'est Saucerful of Secret, dans sa dernière extrapolation. C'est prodigieux et inexprimable. Gilmore est à genoux, penché sur sa guitare : les sons qu'il en tire, comme ceux qui naissent de l'orgue de Wright, semblent totalement étrangers à ces deux instruments.

Le Pink Floyd est le seul groupe dont la musique semble évoluer en dehors de tous les courants et les modes qui les environnent. Ils font leur musique, la créée, et c'est tout : jamais on ne peut vraiment parler d'influences, même si la formation classique de Rick Wright est évidente, ou si Waters et Mason s'intéressent à la musique concrète (les deux autres beaucoup moins d'ailleurs). Ils ont des go˚ts très variés, en pop', en jazz, en classique, mais aucune influence particulière. Ils sont, je crois, le seul groupe dont on est obligé de dire : il y a une musique Pink Floyd,

faute de pouvoir la rattacher à un genre précis. Ils n'ont pas à véritablement parler de méthode de travail particulière, ou plutÙt ils les utilisent toutes, avec une liberté d'esprit et de créativité totale. Il suffit que l'un d'eux lance une idée, or ils n'en manquent guère ! De même pour les improvisations : ils les construisent aussi bien autour d'un thème donné, comme en jazz, que librement ... La deuxième partie du spectacle nous permit de retrouver et de nous laisser emporter par trois autres classiques des Floyd, là aussi dans leur dernière élaboration î car pour eux un morceau n'a jamais de forme définitive : Let there be more light, le merveilleux Set the controls for the heart of the sun et, entre les deux, Astronomy Domine, de Syd Barret (sic) (…)

Jusqu'où iront-ils ? Nul ne peut prévoir une musique qui n'est qu'à eux ... Ce qui est certain c'est que jamais aucun groupe ne m'a laissé une telle impression de saisissement et de bouleversement profond. J'étais dans la musique des Floyd comme dans un autre monde, où tout n'était que beauté, et il était bien difficile de retrouver le réel ... »

« Jusqu'où irons les Floyd ? », Best, March 1970

PRESS MENTION | 31 January 1970. A seminal article entitled «Confusion and Mr Barrett» by Chris Welch is published in Melody Maker:

Barry Wentzell:

«Chris Welch and I went along to do a quick interview with Syd at his managers office. We were a bit apprehensive, as stories of Syd's behavior of late seemed bizarre. When we got there, we were met by a very upset guy who said Syd had locked himself into a room and he wouldn't come out. Oh dear! It seemed the stories were true. Chris and I spoke to him through the door and tried to convince him that we were his friends and that everything was ok. He slowly opened the door and ushered us in quickly shutting and locking the door behind us. He stood there looking very frightened, muttering, Those people out there are aliens, and are after me! We tried to tell him that they were his management and friends and they cared about him, as do we. He seemed unconvinced, and I took this dark side of Syd pictures and managed to persuade him to let Chris and I out and that we'd send help. He took the key from his pocket, unlocked the door. We escaped and Syd locked himself back inside»

«Hairy Mess», The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit Website, 1st February 2013

PRESS MENTION | Late January 1970 David Gilmour first talk about Atom Heart Mother (the track) in the January issue of Melody Maker

CONCERT DATE | 2 February 1970 Palais des Sports, Lyon, France

Second appareance of the band in Lyon. Originally planned at Le Théâtre du VIIIème but eventually rescheduled for a bigger place

Photographies by Georges VERMARD

«Lorsque j'appris que Pink Floyd, prévu dans le cadre de l'abonnement pop music du Théâtre du Huitième, se produirait en fait non sur la scène de ce dernier mais au Palais des Sports de Lyon, je ne réalisai point d'abord l’envergure de l'entreprise. Mais plus tard, lorsque l’on m’apprit que le Palais en question (moi et les sports...) absorbait environ 12 000 personnes, j'ai éprouvé une sourde angoisse l Pourtant la gageure que je craignais impossible aura été tenue, grâce au «Huitième» et avec l'aide de «Art et Charité» (qui fait revenir Soft Machine — en quintet cette fois — à la fin de février). La publicité faite autour du concert avait contribué à amener quelques 10000 personnes]: pas de «trous» dans la salle (oufl).

Pas 10 000 fans des Pink Floyd sans doute: beaucoup étaient là parce qu'ils avaient lu ou oui-dire que ce serait « l'événement de la saison jeune» (sic), parce que «More» a un énorme succès à Lyon (comme ailleurs). Peu importe, ils étaient là et, si l'on excepte les quelques-uns (d’âge avancé) venus avant tout pour voir un public de « pop—musique » (et ils purent d'abord se réjouir ou se lamenter tout à loisir: «Tu as vu celui-là» c'est une fille, non? »), l'écrasante majorité des autres resta jusqu'à la fin… et sans souffrir apparemment (re-ouf). Il était important me semble-t-il de situer les conditions de ce concert sans précédent en province (à ma connaissance) et peut-être même à Paris car il n'y avait là qu'un nom pour autant de monde. Ce nom - Pink Floyd - aura donc enfin acquis la popularité qu‘il mérite depuis si longtemps ... Programme à peu près similaire celui du concert au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Je n'avais pu écouter de celui-ci (sur «Campus ») que la première partie. « The Man ». Je signale au passage qu'il ne s'agit pas précisément d'une création puisque le groupe donne cette représentation épique (épique bien qu'elle relate du plus simple: la journée d'un homme) depuis son concert au « Festival Hall » le 14 avril 69 (voir épisode à Plumpton également). Impression peut-être subjective: cette « journée » m'a parue plus courte à Lyon qu'à Paris *; peut-être ont-ils éliminé quelques longueurs ? Le lever du jour (Waters magnifique), le travail (avec anecdote la colère de ce même Waters à cause de la scie qui ne veut pas prendre sur un bois trop dur «Be (sic) careful with that saw, Roger »), le thé (assez bref, heureusement), l'amour (assez long, avec un solo inhabituellement « ras-terre » de Gilmour) et surtout la nuit, avec ses innombrables cauchemars et fantasmes.

Enfin l'air de « Cymbaline», applaudi d'entrée. Enchantement ... Curieux tout de même comme l'apparence physique du personnage de David a changé : beaucoup plus négligée qu’avant. Qu'importe, il semble être resté aussi disponible et avenant. Sur scène, il garde cet aspect un peu craintif et sauvage qui le met parfois un tant soit peu mal à l'aise si le projecteur l'isole. Il préfère nettement rectifier ou parachever le réglage de son ampli, qui est posé par terre directement, un peu en retrait, rendant la guitare tour à tour discrètement rythmique ou agressivement aiguë et violente. Après un entracte qui vit notamment affluer une partie du public contre la scène et une certaine confusion en résulter, deuxième partie avec principalement les succès spatiaux que l’on connaît: « Astronomy Domine» d'abord (toujours signé Barrett), pendant lequel les baguettes de Nick Mason éclatèrent littéralement les unes après les autres par la furie des coups en gerbes étincelantes (sous le feu des projecteurs... auxquels nous reprocherons par ailleurs un manque de souplesse). Beau, calme et indifférent, Richard Wright, musicien original. âme polyvalente du groupe, organiste savant et constructif mais également éblouissant au Vibraphone avec un jeu tout de finesse (écartant la virtuosité gratuite fréquente sur cet instrument), classique derrière l'immense Steinway ou bien grand sorcier projetant un environnement de sons fantastiques en maniant une sorte de moulin à café électronique! L’immense coupole qui abrite l'édifice allait-elle dans un de ces sifflements grandioses se transformer en monstrueuse soucoupe volante? « Set the controls for the heart of the sun »; etc, etc. (autant d'interprétations magistrales) ... Jusqu'au dernier titre, qui n'en a encore pas d'ailleurs«car il a été créé il y a une semaine » ** (et ça se voit, les nombreux échanges de regards-signes entre les musiciens trahissent l’absence de cette formidable mise au point instaurée ailleurs), morceau très beau, avec des voix qui se croisent dans le cosmos, suggérant encore l'infini et la plénitude (oui, les deux) de la musique de Pink Floyd. Commentaires ultérieurs des «amateurs» et de ceux qui les avaient vus déjà au «Huitième» en octobre 1968: certains pensent «qu’avant, ils vivaient mieux leur musique» - difficile à affirmer - d’autres ramènent à toutes occasions que «ça serait meilleur avec un light-show» (avec du concentré de tomate). Ne soyons pas trop difficiles ! Les Pink Floyd ont beaucoup gagné en technique (je ne parle évidemment pas des «accessoires»; là, ‘est évident, le système de bandes pré-enregistrées est employé à son plein effet !): ainsi David Gilmour prend des solos beaucoup plus déliés et assurés, Nick Mason est aujourd’hui éblouissant et Rick Wright l’a toujours été. Les voix sont meilleures aussi, plus musicalesCe merveilleux spectacle de Pink Floyd restera encore gravé dans beaucoup de mémoires. Il aura peut-être suscité des enthousiasmes, voire même «élargi des consciences» ?. Une date en tout cas pour la POPularisation de la pop music»

«Pink Floyd: à Lyon», Rock & Folk, March 1970.

* It's not actually the case because the band only played « The Man » on both gigs.

** This is Atom Heart Mother which had no title at this time and who was presented to the French public by Gilmour by this way.

The noisy audience is one of the reasons for Nick's later skepticism about the fact to playing in France. An audience member will testify this:

Alain (Audience member):

« Je tenais à vous faire part de ma déception à la suite de l'attitude du public lyonnais lors du concert du Pink Floyd le 2 février au Palais des Sports. Comme disait ma grand-mère : «de la confiture donnée à des cochons ». Un lecteur dont vous avez publié la lettre dans le dernier numéro terminait ainsi: «Espérons que le Pink Floyd qui vient prochainement sera à la hauteur ». C'est aujourd'hui qu'il peut mesurer (s'il a assisté au concert bien sûr) toute la dérision de ce souhait d'ailleurs fort légitime. Car comment demander au Floyd d'être à la hauteur lorsque l'on a affaire à un aussi pauvre public que celui qui envahit l'arène du palais des sports et qui fut loin de l'être, lui. Un public venu là parce qu'il y avait un groupe anglais à l'affiche. Parce que le journal du coin (cf. Le Progrès) avait, dans de généreux entrefilets explicatifs, qualifié d'événement de l'année à Lyon le passage de ce groupe " d'Outre-Manche », l'un des plus grands au dire des spécialistes. Ben voyons. Un public dont on peut à coup sûr affirmer que ses réactions auraient été semblables en face de n'importe quel orchestre de troisième ordre qui leur aurait distillé de la guimauve vaguement rocketneurollesque. Un public incapable de dépassement qui ne vit pas de différence entre «A saucerful of secrets » et «Nana he he kiss him good bye ». Un public ne voulant ni se taire, ni …écouter, auquel Waters dut lancer des «please » pathétiques avant de pouvoir interpréter, de manière splendide au demeurant, son «Grantchester meadows ». Un public qui se fit agressif et railleur lors de l'exécution de " The man » (eh bien s˚r, on était loin du sirop tiphon des bals du samedi soir). Certains spectateurs î mais qu'étaient-ils venus faire là î poussèrent même l'indécence jusqu'à gueuler des «cinéma » et des «chiqué » à gorges rabattues. Public ridicule, applaudissant aux moments les plus inopportuns, restant muet quand il e˚t fallu clamer son enthousiasme. Non, décidément, le public français n'est pas mûr pour ces manifestations pop dont beaucoup pourtant souhaitent avec ardeur qu'elles deviennent de grandes rencontres de jeunes partageant le même enthousiasme, unis fraternellement comme le disait justement un autre lecteur, dans cette musique qui est la vie même. Faudra-t-il toujours aller à Wight ou à Woodstock pour être comblé? Si le public français est à la traîne, il faut qu'il s'éduque, et vite. Car le ver est dans le trop beau fruit pop et menace de le g‚ter. Ce serait trop bête non ? »

«Courier», Rock & Folk, March 1970

The band was interviewed by the french radio RTL before the show

PRESS MENTION | 3 February, many projects are detailed on the issue of Melody Maker called «Pink Floyd British concert; writing film, cartoon scores».
The most interesting is the unreleased animation movie «Rollo» (See this page for more details).

CONCERT DATE | 5 February 1970 «Cardiff Arts Centre Project Benefit Concert», Sophia Gardens Pavilion, Cardiff, Wales

The band photographed prior the London shows

PHOTO SESSION | On February 1970, photo session at Wimbledon by Michael Randolph.

NEMS’ advert for the coming English tour.

The band set a new show for the Albert Hall gig by playing rare tracks and by the add of a drum percussion kit, used for the first time

Roger Waters:

«Un batteur qui se trouve devant une batterie classique, qui a une formation normale, a toujours tendance à retrouver les mêmes réflexes, et à réaliser les mêmes constructions rythmiques : celles du jazz, du rock …

Et c'est ce qui se passe avec Nick. Aussi nous allons peut-être remplacer sa batterie classique par un kit de percussion de notre création : une sorte de cadre métallique sur lequel seraient disposés divers instruments de percussions et au milieu duquel se trouverait le batteur. Ainsi nous espérons pouvoir aller plus loin dans le domaine rythmique»

«Jusqu'où irons les Floyd ?», Best, March 1970

Pictures of the rehearsals

CONCERT DATE | 7 February 1970 Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, England

«From rhythm and blues to where The Pink Floyd are now took them four years. It also took in a vast change of musical direction as witnessed at Saturday's concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. The watershed in their music was when Syd Barrett left. He had written their hit parade songs and was the influence behind material such as Corporal Clegg on the «Saucerful Of Secrets» LP. Now the Floyd have left the stage far behind as «Ummagumma» and Saturday amply demonstrated. They started with a number never before performed called Embryo. Augmenting their basic group sound of lead and bass guitars, drums and keyboard was a mass of electronic equipment, gongs, triangles, cymbals and a whole Stonehenge of amplifiers. The music was tight and controlled yet very free in its concept. It is probably nearly as far away from orthodox pop music as Stockhausen, from which it borrows so much atmosphere. Their second number was the score to the film «More» with an incredible amplifier which produced a 360 degree stereo effect in the hall. Not their most successful composition, «More» nevertheless demonstrated how close the group were to producing an extended work in the European symphony tradition with extensive use of collective improvisation. The blues traces of the group have been well assimilated and produce the soul of the Floyd's music never any direct influences.

The second part of the concert started off with a quiet, rambling piece written originally for Antonioni's «Zabriskie Point»* film. It was a dignified and moving piece of music written apparently for a riot scene! The band followed it with one of their best known pieces Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun from their «Saucerful Of Secrets» and «Ummagumma»albums.

Almost a religious piece, it started out with the gongs creating a broad base for the key phrase of the composition. It was met with rapturous applause. Perhaps this is the Floyd's most successful song with Dave Gilmour chanting the lyric out in a background of. a science fiction sounds. They followed it with an untitled piece they have performed only a few times before which led to a demand for an encore which they performed for twenty minutes using every.aid they could lay their hands on. So the concert came to an end. And Pink Floyd have shown once again that they are one of the most significant groups in the country».

«Pink Floyd concert », Record Mirror, 14 February 1970.

* It was already well-know The Violent Sequence was an outtake from the «Zabriskie Point» sessions

«The electricians of Pop, Pink Floyd, filled London’s Albert Hall on Saturday, proving that nearly 6,000 people will still pay basically to hear four-year-old favorites. As far as their equipment goes, they are definitely still unique by sheer one-upmanship. Speakers placed at intervals round the Albert Hall made listening from the centre a sensation, as the sound spun round one's head(…) »

«Pink Floyd stay One-up», Record Mirror, 11 February 1970

«Most pop groups, when handed the Albert Hall for an evening, try to fill every cranny with sound, but on Saturday for once the Pink Floyd respected its emptiness by using it as a vast sounding chamber, sometimes flooding it with noise, more often sending out select waves of sound which seemed to quiver in the great space of the hall. But then the Pink Floyd are now different from most pop groups — almost alone they have the desire and ability to add electronic effects economically, to think of their music in terms of pure sound and, most important, to build up each number gradually and painstakingly, instead of plunging straight into the action. This process isn’t so much architecture as abstract improvisation. For instance, the first number in the second half started with reverberating drumming, like amplified heart beats, which was gradually overlaid by magnified hissing and growling, this fading back to the drumming and then down to very soft sounds from the vibraphone, eventually reaching after about ten minutes a hard rock theme. Even this, it turned out, was not the meat of the number, which was provided by the long soft piano interlude that followed.

Their music in fact has exactly the same effect as the interplay of colour in a light show; the sounds merge and change like abstract images, the throbbing guitar entries for electronic intrusions came stabbing in just like startling splashes of crimson or orange. It isn’t surprising to learn that they have already done the sound track for one film and that the number just described was commissioned though never used for Antonioni’s latest venture. In a sense, the Pink Floyd are their own film. For all this a group has to be integrated and they are, to the extent hat the naming of names and praising of solos would be irrelevant. Whether the end result has any importance is quite another matter; this kind of music of the universe, with cosmic space fiction overtones, is not half so relevant as music from one’s own backyard and the effects fade as soon as one leaves the concert hall. But at the time it works beautifully and this is probably exactly what they want to achieve»

«Light and Sound», Times, 9 February 1970

Backstage picture

Photographies by Mike RANDOLPH

Special article on the Dutch « Pep » magazine on February, 7th

CONCERT DATE | 8 February 1970 Opera House, Manchester, England

FILM RELEASE | 9 February 1970, « Zabriskie Point» is released in USA. Premiere at the Coronet Theater, New York City.

David Gilmour:

«My parents live in New York and i asked my mother to see the film twice when it opened over there to see what we sounded like and how much of us remained. I have yet to hear from her»

«Pink Floyd - The electricals wizards who care!», February 1970, Melody Maker

CONCERT DATE | 11 February 1970 Town Hall, Birmingham, England

«At their best, Pink Floyd get as close to anybody I know to playing the Music of the Spheres. They are, through skillful manipulation of textures, able to create an atmosphere which transcends the actual notes they play, lifting them into another context. But they aren’t perfect, as their Albert Hall concert las Sunday night demonstrated. They are quite fallible, capable of errors of judgement and, sometimes, bad playing. Richard Wright’s Syssyphus, for instance, had its opening and closing theme statements almost ruined by David Gilmour’s slipshod pitching, and Wright, all of whose downbeats arrived separately like raindrops in the barrel. In addition, a long untitled number in the second half featured far too much random noise-making on gongs and other percussion devices, while A Saucerful of Secrets might have been retitled «Can i have my cymbals back ?». One notice these errors far more with the Floyd because so much of their music is based on controls and precision, qualities which they usually manage ti combine with their very human feeling. So it’s a surprise when they choose to shatter the mood which they crate with such care and attention to detail. These niggles apart, the concert was beautiful. They began with sirens and searchlights sweeping the domed roof before going into The Embryo, a new song with a characteristically simple melody and interesting words. The guitar of Gilmour slashed and whined during this number like an intergalactic Steve Cropper and his singing was soft-restrained and perfect. The main theme from «More» grooved beautifully, stated by Wright’s blipping keyboard and the third number (I think it was Eugène) was a very far-out trip for voices and microphones. Sysyphus ended the first half, saved by Wright’s thundering piano. A long multi-sectioned work, including a rather inconclusive piano piece written for Antonioni’s film «Zabriskie Point» constituted much of the second half, and highlights were a melodic vibes solo and a pleasant medium blues, the classic Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, taken slower than usual, followed up, and the inevitable encore was a rousing Saucerful of Secrets. The ending to this, with Wright’s heavenly organ joined by Gilmour’s chanting, is invariably one of the mist beautiful things you could hear ».

«Pink Floyd », Melody Maker, 14 February 1970.

CONCERT DATE | 14 February 1970 King's Hall, Town Hall, Stoke-On-Trent, England

« At their best, Pink Floyd get as close to anybody I know to playing the Music of the Spheres. They are, through skillful manipulation of textures, able to create an atmosphere which transcends the actual notes they play, lifting them into another context. But they aren’t perfect, as their Albert Hall concert las Sunday night demonstrated. They are quite fallible, capable of errors of judgement and, sometimes, bad playing. Richard Wright’s Sysypus, for instance, had its opening and closing theme statements almost ruined by David Gilmour’s slipshod pitching, and Wright, all of whose downbeats arrived separately like raindrops in the barrel. In addition, a long untitled number in the second half featured far too much random noise-making on gongs and other percussion devices, while A Saucerful of Secrets might have been retitled «Can i have my cymbals back ?». One notice these errors far more with the Floyd because so much of their music is based on controls and precision, qualities which they usually manage ti combine with their very human feeling. So it’s a surprise when they choose to shatter the mood which they crate with such care and attention to detail.

These niggles apart, the concert was beautiful. They began with sirens and searchlights sweeping the domed roof before going into The Embryo, a new song with a characteristically simple melody and interesting words. The guitar of Gilmour slashed and whined during this number like an intergalactic Steve Cropper and his singing was soft-restrained and perfect. The main from «More grooved beautifully, stated by Wright’s blipping keyboard and the third number (I think it was Eugène) was a very far-out trip for voices and microphones. Sysyphus ended the first half, saved by Wright’s thundering piano. A long multi-sectioned work, including a rather inconclusive piano piece written for Antonioni’s film «Zabriskie Point» constituted much of the second half, and highlights were a melodic vibes solo and a pleasant medium blues, the classic Set the COntrols for the Heart of the Sun, taken slower than usual, followed up, and the inevitable encore was a rousing Saucerful of Secrets. The ending to this, with Wright’s heavenly organ joined by Gilmour’s chanting, is invariably one of the mist beautiful things you could hear ».

« Pink Floyd », Melody Maker, 14 February 1970.

PHOTO SESSIOSN | Early February 1970 Storm Thorgerson set a photo session at the Palm Court of the Kew Gardens, London.

Photographies by Storm Thorgerson.

PHOTO SESSIOSN | Mid- February 1970 The band is shot in Liverpool

CONCERT DATE | 17 February 1970 City Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

RADIO SESSION | 24 February 1970. Gilmour’s participation to the Syd Barrett session for the «Top Gear» radio show (broadcast: 14 March 1970).

Macom Jones:

«Syd was offered a ‘live’ session by Top Gear, and the recording was broadcast during late February. Elsewhere there was precious little airplay either for the single or for any of the album tracks. Radio was even more charts oriented than it is today with only a couple of ‘rock’ programmes per week, and the initial sales of a couple of thousand were largely through word of mouth based on Syd’s reputation. I recently found a sales figure sheet dated 27th February, showing that, in almost two months, «The Madcap Laughs» had sold just over 6,000 copies. Not bad! »

«The Making of The Madcap Laughs », Malcom Jones, 1988

Session sheet

CONCERT DATE |28 February 1970 « Endsville '70 », Refectory Hall, Leeds University, Leeds, England

Photographies by John Rettie.

PRESS MENTION |March 1970. The French magazine «Actuel» dedicated a long review to their festival of Amougies with two articles «Festival Pop» (12 pages) and «Amougies, c’est fini» (11 pages)

RECORDING SESSIONS |2 March 1970 EMI Studios, London, England. Recording sessions for «Atom Heart Mother»

Photographies by Ron Geesin.

Ron Geesin:

«It would have been around the time of finishing the music for «The Body» in March that Nick and Roger first asked me if I would do something with a tape they had compiled at EMI Abbey Road Studios. None of the group could read or write music in the conventional sense, but they wanted «something big»»

«The flaming Cow - the making of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother», Ron Geesin, The History Press, 2013.

FILM RELEASE |5 March 1970 «Zabriskie Point» is released in the United Kingdom.

Première of the movie at the Empire Theater, Picadilly Circus, London.

MISCELLANOUS |March 1970. In the meantime, Barbet Shroeder want to work again with the Floyd for his next project:

Interviewer: « Avez-vous des projets ? Pensez-vous travailler encore avec les Pink Floyd ?»

Barbet Schroeder: « Oui. je prépare un film, mais je ne sais pas encore comment cela va se passer musicalement. puisqu'il y a des séquences en son direct et d’autres non»

«La tête de «More»», Actuel, March 1970

« Billboard », 21 March 1970.

CONCERT DATE |6 March 1970 Great Hall, Imperial College, London, England

CONCERT DATE |7 March 1970 «Bristol Arts Festival - Timespace», Univeristy of Bristol, Colston Hall, Bristol, England

«The Floyd’s Saturday show was something from an underground siesta. Tea time at the weekend isn’t exactly the right moment to suffer the violence and intensity of a Floyd concert (it commenced at 3.00pm). Their music’s so involving, sometimes overpowering, that the time of day should have been a positive disadvantage. It didn’t matter too much however. They somehow generated the right enthusiasm and turned a lazy afternoon into a full, now and again, frightening experience.

This show had its faults. The volume on a couple of their disturbing destructive numbers was quite terrifying, enough to make you feel physically ill. Maybe that’s what they were after. But in their melancholy numbers - particularly the ‘Main Theme’ from More - they created a sumptuous atmosphere of sadness and regret. The music was effective and it was a thoughtful, worthwhile show»

Bristol Evening Post

‍ CONCERT DATE |8 March 1970 Mothers, Erdington, Birmingham, England

‍It is the first time the band play a «blues» as encore. They’ll repeat this kind of improvisation the next years on stage.

« If I could travel back in time to just one Floyd show that I attended, it would be this one (ok, well maybe after the 67 show with Syd, which HAS to be number one – I mean…..Syd 30 feet away AND Interstellar Overdrive AND a decent light show). For this show, I can’t separate the show from the venue and it was probably the latter that made it so special. Yet another school friend was living in Birmingham and had become a regular at Mother’s club somewhere on the outskirts. All the big names were playing there and the Floyd had, as everyone knows, recorded some of Ummagumma there. Anyway, he contacted us and said they were back…..did we want to go? No hesitation and tickets were duly bought. A couple of us hitch-hiked down there and stayed over with him. Well, the outside wasn’t what I expected of Britain’s premier music venue….. a bit of a shit-hole to be honest (Google it). I need to describe the inside though. It was up a flight of stairs and the room upstairs was pretty small. It was L-shaped (I think) with a small bar at the back. The stage was about 18 inches off the floor and very….er…compact (read ‘tiny’). Immediately in front of the stage were 2 rows of seats. In my mind I can picture theatre-type seats, fixed to the floor but, for all I can remember, they may have been free-standing school-type seats. There were about 15 seats in each row and, apart from that, it was all standing. I’d guess the place might have held a couple of hundred people tops (I’m sure someone will come in to say it held 5,000 – I don’t know, but it was VERY small). Now the optimum places were probably either in the seats or standing at the bar. We didn’t hesitate, the front row was already taken so we grabbed some beers and sat in the middle of the second row of seats……. about 4 feet from the edge of the stage which, as I say, was only about 18 inches high. Perfect!

When the band came on, they were about 6 feet in front of us (look at the room you’re sitting in now and imagine 6 feet away, on a stage 18 inches high!) – it was like watching them in your own front room. Yes, there were about 200 people standing behind us but they weren’t in our eye-line – the Floyd were playing just for us 30 or so sitting in the seats! The stage was small so they were pretty packed in on it. Roger was in particularly good form, chatting and introducing each number – I got the impression that he enjoyed the venue. Being so close we could really see everything they did. I remember Dave sitting down by his foot controls for ASOS which was an incredible version (was it really ‘incredible’ or was it just because it was all so close up?). Even though we were right up to the stage, the sound was very clear, despite being loud. Had we had a tape deck it would have been a great recording. [No point saying "if only"]. Atom Heart Mother was again the highlight of the show. It really was a great version and this WASN’T just because we could see Dave and Rick performing it right in front of us – we were all buzzing about it when we came out. I do think Roger said it would be on their next LP and I’m sure he gave it a name but it wasn’t Atom Heart Mother – maybe it was The Amazing Pudding? [It’s not always clear where my actual memories stop and ‘inherited memories’ (ie. what I’ve since heard and read) start but, in all these posts, I’ve tried to err on the side of caution and only include things I’m certain I witnessed]. The Embryo was also a more polished, tighter, version than the one in Manchester and I started to warm to it (although I can easily take it or leave it these days). I have no other real memories of individual songs but my abiding memory is of a superb show, great sound, extremely close up, in a very intimate atmosphere (oh, and the beer wasn’t bad either) »

« Recollections of Early Floyd Shows » (Simond), Yeeshkul Website, 8 March 2015

CONCERT DATE |9 March 1970 City (Oval) Hall, Sheffield, England

CONCERT DATE |11 March 1970 Stadthalle, Offenbach, West Germany

CONCERT DATE |12 March 1970 Kleiner Saal, Auditorium Maximum, Hamburg University, Hamburg, West Germany

« Eine « Elektronische Klangorgie » verspricht das Kommunikationszentrura Johnsallee, Veranstalter eines Konzertes mit Seltenheitswert, das morgen um 20 Uhr im Audimax über die Bühne geht. «Pink Floyd» heißt das Quartett junger Musiker aus Großbritannien, die sich seit 1956 immer mehr zu motorischen Schrittmachern der avantgardistischen Musik entwickelt haben- Das Konzert, das mit einer Lightshow verquickt wird, soll zweieinhalb Stunden dauern (…) »

« Pink Floyd spielt morgen im Audimax », Hab, 11 March 1970.

the band, backstage at the Berlin shows.

CONCERT DATE |13 March 1970 Konzert Saal, Technische Universität, West Berlin, West Germany (two shows)

PRESS MENTION |14 March 1970 Syd Barrett speaks to the « New Musical Express »

Syd Barrett:

« After I left the group i just spent a year resting and getting the album together (…) I didn’t do much else at all, some painting and thinking about getting a band together. I’ve got a lot of ideas I want to explore later (…). Making my own album was fine because after two years away from the group I didn’t have to lead on from anything, I want to discover now if it’s possible to continue some of the ideas that came from a couple of tracks on the first album »

« Syd speaks out - at last! », 14 March 1970, New Musical Express

CONCERT DATE |14 March 1970 Grosser Saal, Meistersinger Halle, Nuremberg, West Germany

CONCERT DATE |15 March 1970 Niedersachsenhalle, Hannover, West Germany

Photos session in the streets of Stockholm, outside Carlton Hoel by Roger Tillberg.

CONCERT DATE |19 March 1970 Stora Salen, Stockholm Konserthus, Stockholm, Sweden

Photographies by Claes Murman.

« Pink Floyd's performance at Konserthuset Thursday night was at times brilliant, at times quite ordinary. However, the group's originality makes the positive impression stand out. Pink Floyd's stage performance is a mixture of horror, visions of doom, space music and the joy and excitement of sound. The group seem completely fascinated by their own ability to create peculiar sound and [hisnande klanger]; they have basically left the psychedelic and are now more like an experimental sound workshop. Let's start with the best: the two movie compositions for «More» and Antonioni's «Zabriskie Point» were absolutely fantastic. Guitarist David Gilmour's singing during the first was of high class, and Richard Wright's piano during the second was lyrical and consumptively beautiful.

Pink Floyd used a compelling quadrophonic effect during «More». Speakers that were placed around in the Konserthuset made footsteps and sounds wander in the back of the audience.

However, during the more «ordinary» parts, the group is relatively limited without being bad. Their control of the technical is perfect, but musically it can at times get rather flat. With the exception of parts where Wright's organ playing is combined with the vocals to an original and powerful completeness, for example during the wonderful end of "Saucerful of Secrets".

But otherwise one respect Pink Floyd without boiling over with enthusiasm. In an encore, a blues, they showed exactly that: Very competent but nothing you go sleepless over »

« Brillant - at times », Dagens Nyheter.

« It was a powerful sound that was created by Pink Floyd at Konserthuset Thursday night. They used high volume, but through the music's weight and variation the volume was never seen as something negative. Pink Floyd is a group. The members are hardly noticeable, only their music. When this works, the group is something of the most powerful one can experience today. Their well arranged pieces are in those moments electrified feelings that forces itself on the audience with enormous power. There were moments Thursday night when this happened, and they were memorable. When Pink Floyd's music doesn't work, it's no fun task being an audience. The lacking emotional moods in the music slows everything down to a boring level with an almost drowsy effect. There were also moments like this during the night. However they couldn't take away the positive overall impression of « Ummagumma » ».

« Pink Floyd - Powerful pop », Svenska Dagbladet

CONCERT DATE |20 March 1970 Akademiska Foreningens Stora Sal, Lund, Sweden

CONCERT DATE |21 March 1970 Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen, Denmark
An interview of Roger and Nick recorded two days earlier by Swedige Radio is broadcasted on the«Radio Sweden's Saturday Show» presented by Roger Wallis

Photographies by Gunnar SJODIN.

«Det er snart tre ar siden. den engelske beatgruppe »Pink Floyd« var i Ko ben havn sidst. Men rygtet gar om deres frygtindgydende show i hedengangne »Star Club« Dengang var det endnu ret nyt med lyseffekter, rum-klange og alt det. cer netop nu e sa moderne Men tiden gar jo. og da Pink Floyd i lordags stod pa scenen i Tivoli Koncertsa, var det med hel: andre toner på programmet. Hvor de i fordums dage pa dtl r.ær meste blæste hjernen ud pa fo^k. or de nu gået over til blidere metoder. Deres lys-ledsagelse nar ne ©gsa droppet; men Ul gengæld gar de nu mere op i de ren: elektroniske klange. — Og man malle da også korse sig. nar man sa deres scene-ar rangement: — mere end 20 hojttalere sam: et stort opbud af forvrængere. wa-wa lyde. spogelsc s-mumlen indtalt pa bånd og meget. meget mere. Det var svær. at få sagerne til at virke, men igang kom de dog. og sa gik det over stok og sten; af sted til dett ydre rurru indhyllet \ sa mange klang-effekter, at aet er umuligt at beskrive.

Det blev til en række lange numre. hvoraf gruppens kendingsmelodi. »Set the Control for The Heart of the Sun«, star mi: hjerte nærmest.

Maske er der lidt stilstand i den form gruppen har valgt. Skøn: deres musik tu »swinger«, er de dog primært uae pa at bore sma huller i hovedet på folk ved hjælp af sylespidse toner. Det kalder de bevidsthedsudvidende musik, ogtilhorerne \ar da også ret musestille, mens hontaleme bragede og hvinede. mens det skrattede og vrinskede og buldrede.

Mon alle disse lydeffekter ikke også tjener til at holde virkeligheden lidt på afstand? Faktisk skal man Jo bare hive ét lille stik ud for a: afbryde deres rumrejse. — Længere væk kommer de ikke»

«Fredeligrumrejse», Aktuelt, 23 March 1970

«They (the songs) were like hymns in afantastic cathedral, inhabitated by beautiful and free people. In the morestructured songs it happened a little to often that the guitar playing gota little to savage (and to loud) andd you could not give yourself away tothe music." (from Ekstra Bladet March 23, 1970, p 37). "Againstcustom there was no support act the other day for Pink Floyd. Partly becausePink Floyd has so much equipment, and partly because the 4 english guyswith assistance of tape recordings a.m. can create enough sound for a wholenight of up to 3 hours. Sound enough, but music - that is the question.I do not think of the sound level as anti musical, the elctric music hasproved that the loud sound levels can ad a new dimension to the music, andPink Floyd understands the dramatic in building up a dynamic piece, eventhough it sometimes is difficult for them to control the many watts. Thedifference between Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix is that Pink Floyd do notstructure these sound effects rhytmical. Nothing more than effects. In thisway the evenings concert became a demonstration of the sound possibilitiesin this special electric universe but also an illustration of how emptyit can be". (Information March 23, 1970, p 5). "Pink Floyd's concertlast Saturday was perfect. Exactly as they sound on records. Same visionas when they started, and in some way they belong to the few surviving beatgroups. Like Rolling Stones and Beatles they have a vision and a startingpoint which they develop stepvise. Maybe Pink Floyd's technical developmentis bigger than their musical, but you can not get by them»

«Monumental Beat», Politiken, 23 March 1970 (Page 12).

MISCELLANOUS |Due to flight delay, the 23 March recording session is cancelled

MISCELLANOUS |24 March 1970. The band is workin on Atom Heart Mother track with Ron Geesin.
Syd Barrett accompanied by Geoff Mottlow make an appearance on studio

CONCERT DATE |30 March 1970 « Le Festival Musique Évolution », Le Bourget, France

Left photography by Francis GROSSE. Right photography by Jean-Pierre LELOIR.

« In « Le Bourget » airport, the first French Pop Festival took place last week (...) Quality was rather low average ans attendance fairly good»

« France », Cashbox, 25 April 1970

«Au Bourget, a eu lieu le premier festival de pop music en France. Un festival qui, à la vérité, ne pouvait dire son nom et se cachait sous le titre de Festival musique - évolution 70 ". Un festival presque "à la sauvette", sans publicité, avec les Pink Floyd, Edgar Brougthon, Ginger Baker et les Pretty Things. Le folklore était là avec les sacs de couchage, les couvertures multicolores, les tuniques bariolées et les peaux de bête. Mais la sérénité presque surnaturelle des visages de l'île de Wight ou de Hyde Park faisait place ici au vide et à l'ennui. Ce que l'on appelle la "mentalité pop" n'était pas au rendez-vous du Bourget ».

« Mentalité pop et excès de lyrisme », Le Monde, First April 1970

« Particularly exasperating as the Pink Floyd play a vey subtle music which demands silence »

Cited in « Pink Floyd », Rick Sanders, 1976.

Roger Waters:

« Mais Le Bourget était mieux organisé que la plupart des festivals du continent »

Cited in « Télégrammes », Rock&Folk, May 1970

‍Nick, in the audience by J-P LELOIR.

PRESS MENTION |28 March 1970. «Melody Maker» announces the line-up for the forthcoming festival «Extravaganza’ 70». Syd Barrett is not yet included

PRESS MENTION |March 1970. The French musical magazine «Rock & Folk» dedicates a long number about the french gigs of the band.

« Pink Rose », Rock&Folk, March 1970.

Tape cover of the demo sent by the group to Ron.

RECORDING SESSION |From 2 to 4 March 1970. Recording session for future Atom Heart Mother (the track) at Studio 2, EMI Studios

Photographies by Ron Geesin.

Nick Mason :

« Whilst we were in the studio recording the drum part for the «Breast Milky» section of «Atom Heart Mother», I hit upon an idea which, in the future, proved to be a useful labour-saving device in the studio for many years. I played the drum part for the bit where the group come in and play with the horns in 4/4 (…) I played that drum part behind the band and put it down on tape, then by using different tape speeds and occasionally editing and looping the tape, I managed to use the same drum track for the rest of the pieces on the album. (…) I managed to use the same piece of tape for the drum tracks on all the albums up until 'The Wall'. Dave (Gilmour) would come back from the studio with tapes of whatever they'd been working on and by using the vari-speed on my Revox at home I'd just speed up or slow down my bit of drums tape to fit whatever they'd done. (…) Well, some criticism has come my way, suggesting unkindly that there are deficiencies in my technique, that I only know one drum part! I know more, but I've never used them - only this tape because I enjoy editing more than drumming - also I’m the World's laziest drummer! Occasionally, of course, I used backwards cymbals and suchlike, mainly to disguise the fact that I haven't had my drums set up in the studio since the end of April 1970 when we completed '...Mother »

« Interview w/. Nick Mason », Rock and Role, 1985

Roger and David playing Mahjong, the inspiration for the future A pillow of Winds. Photographies by Nick MASON.

MISCELLANOUS |2 April 1970 The band fly to USA.
In New York, David Gilmour goes to buy a Black with Rosewood Neck Fender Stratocaster to the famous Manny’s Music Store. Gilmour purchases a Fender 1000 pedal steel during the US leg of «Atom Heart Mother tour».

PHOTO SESSION |The band is photographed at the Howard Johnsons Motor Lodge in New York the afternoon before their show.

David Gilmour:

«We are renting the Fillmore ourselves and it has sold out. Originally Bill Graham who runs the place offered us a 40 minute spot with three other groups »

« Floyd in the Pink! », 11 April 1970, Melody Maker

PRESS MENTION |11 April 1970 Richard and David speak to the « Melody Maker » about the past and the future of the Floyd

« We’re not an aggro group, We have a lot of self-control, although Roger can get through some violence on stage. If we were a violent group, we would have had some punch-ups by now. We have been in a few bother-ups. We’ve got some new material. There is one new number which will last half an hour, which hasn’t got a title yet* (…) I feel we are getting stale. We tend to play on stage what we have been playing for years. But we don’t just generate one mood in our performances. In fact our music is a lot less on one level than in many other groups. That’s something I find boring about a lot of heavy groups who are just very heavy and very loud. We had a lot of opposition to us from the Business at first. The Business lust didn’t like us at all. They thought the whole thing was a joke and that the whole UFO thing was a joke. Our only real problem is the time factor. We just don’t have enough time to do all the things we want. We are working too hard incredibly hard since last November. Our next album probably won’t be out for some time and in the meantime we are. working on producing Syd Barrett’s next album »

«Floyd, in the Pink!», Melody Maker, 11 April 1970.

David Gilmour:

«We open at the Fillmore East on Thursday. Our last tour was okay - pretty good really. This time we are taking the Asimuth (sic) Co-Ordinator with us. They have never heard it before. This tour should be a lot better organised. Last time we staggered about trying to get gigs … there were so many hang ups(…) I don’t know is the tour is important to us or not. I like America - for short spells, but not too long. Las time, we lost money. If you can make it through a first American tour intact, the chances are you will survive anything »

« Floyd in the Pink! », 11 April 1970, Melody Maker

* A reference to Atom Heart Mother

‍ CONCERT DATE |9 April 1970 Fillmore East, Manhattan, New York City, USA

‍

«Pink Floyd appeared live at the Fillmore East on April 19. They brought their axes, their wall of amps and their tape recorders with them. As the crowd settled itself in its seats, the Fillmore became alive with sounds of chiruping birds and insects, which made the theater resonate for a few dark moments like some mysterious glen (...) The first song of the evening, for example, was Roger Waters' Grantchester Meadows, a soft descriptively lyrical set of passages with Waters and David Gilmour performing both vocally and on the guitar. Next was some music by Richard Wright on piano. The piece was originally designed for "Zabriskie Point" as a soundtrack to go with the pictures of the riots at Berkeley although the music

had been ultimately edited from the film before its release. Wright, who was perhaps too little in evidence elsewhere in the concert, was more subdued in concert than he was in Floyd's last album, UMMAGUMMA (re: Sisyphus). He was nevertheless moving and quite unexpectedly so. Wright's pensive, winding phrases evoked a different set of images about Berkeley than one might have envisioned. The last number before intermission was "A Saucerful Of Secrets," in which Waters and Gilmour (through the electric din and Nick Mason's swirling percussion effects) were superb as "celestial voices," though one may have enjoyed the album cut better because of Wright's "Wal-purgis"-like work on the organ in the record version. One other thing was revealed: though Pink Floyd uses a full complement of electronic devices and echo chambers to reproduce much of their sound, those high-pitched, scarcely-human wails one hears in such numbers as

"Careful With That Axe," and "Eugene" (which opened the second set) were actually produced live onstage by Waters himself. With Pink Floyd it's sometimes hard to know where the human voice leaves off and the mind takes over. Then came the almost raga-like "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," with Gilmour's guitar droning on and on into endless space, Mason's cymbals flashing like Saturn's rings and Waters chanting, almost inaudibly "Little by little the night is around..." After a standing ovation for what was a good, if not exceptional (for Pink Floyd) performance, the group encored with a version of "Interstellar Overdrive" that sent the audience vibrating out of their seats, through the doors and out into the night air of the city. Some of us, leaving reluctantly, felt that we had left something behind in the theater that, alas, had to remain there»

« Fillmore: Pink Floyd », Columbia Daily Spectator, 15 April 1970

«Try to imagine the loudest noises your mind can concur up: sticking your head in a jet engine of a 747 as it revs for take-off; sun bathing next to an active volcano at the moment it begins to erupt; putting up the volume of your stereo to full, clamping on your headphones, and letting Frank Zappa freak out right in your head. Those are paltry efforts at imagined extremes of volume. Pink Floyd’s sound is at times louder than can be imagined and they are reality. At other times their music is quiet and peaceful. The combination or blend is unique.

The group works at large productions, often taking as long as twenty minutes for one number. During that time they work at setting a whole mood that flows from usually gentle beginnings to frenzied climaxes using all sorts of feedbacks on organ and guitar, as well as booming, crashing percussion and soaring bass. Almost the whole audience was wiped-out as they bobbed on Pink Floyd’s surging sea of sound—and that was a great trip for some and disaster for others. Depending on how much one is open to their rather avant-garde techniques in music (or how high your resistance to pain is) is the deciding factor of enjoyment. Pink Floyd can be your friend or your friend. The four members are creators-artists using standard rock instruments to produce effects that are usually left in the studio. From “Embryo,” to music they did for a French film called “More,” to “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” (also called “Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up” when it was used in “Zabriske Point”), they have perfected their artistry in their genre of feedback, tape delay/replay and other mind boggling audio effects.

One final word, if you plan to attend one of their concerts, obtain rear seats instead of those up front, for the sake of your sanity and your stirrup, anvil, hammer and eardrum»

« Talent on Stage », Cash Box, 18 April 1970

The band meet Arthur Max, light operator resident for the Fillmore. impressed by his work, the band will ask him to join them on the 1972 Japan tour and the following (their collaboration will ending at the 1974 British Winter Tour).