Recorded on March 19, 1971. Most likely corresponds to the bluesy track the band played live as an encore in 1971.
Anything (uncredited/1971)
The title betrays the band's sense of humor, as they developed a large number of jams under the name Nothing (several parts), which would lay the foundations for One of these Days and Echoes. This title is a separate track (recorded on March 19, 1971).
Bottles (uncredited/1971)
Developed by the band during the « Meddle » sessions, this is undoubtedly one of the first experiments in musique concrète for their "Household Objects" project. Indeed, when the Floyd met at Abbey Road Studios in January 1971, they were working on a project based on the use of unconventional instruments. Future producer John Leckie, then just a 22-year-old engineer, was assigned to the band specifically to help them with this project.
John Leckie :
« They spent days working on what people now call Household Objects. They were making chords up from the tapping of beer bottles, tearing newspapers to get a rhythm, and letting off aerosol cans to get a hi-hat sound »
« The Lost Pink Floyd Album », Classic Rock Magazine, Mark Blake, October 2013
One of these Days#1 (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour/1971)
One of these Days#2 (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour/1971)
These two outtakes appeared, among others, on Roio's « Granny take a Trip ». The inspiration for the title came from the hatred that DJ Jimmie Young inspired in the band. Here, the band spins a randomly edited tape of Young making his point totally absurd (e.g.: « Georgia, lovely greenwood and here's Monkey doo! »).
This montage was certainly made in August 1971 at AIR Studios in London. It's an idea that was already used in the very rare live versions of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast at the end of 1970. It was used again on the opening track of Raving & Drooling on the 1974 tour.
David Gilmour:
« Cela sonnait très violemment. C’est juste venu comme cela. Je n’arrive pas à me rappeler exactement comment cela s’est fait. «I’m gonna cut you into little pièces» et «Careful with that Axe, Eugène» sont très similaires dans leurs thèmes, n’est-ce pas? ».
The versions released as bootlegs come from the recording session of March 15, 1971, since the session-sheets bear the inscriptions "Dialogue one for One of these Days" and "Dialogue two for One of these Days
Brain Damage first version (Waters/1971)
Waters composed this track during one of the album's sessions. He re-released the track at the end of the same year for the « Eclipse » project (later to become « The Dark Side of the Moon »).
Roger Waters:
« I had actually written a song previously when we were finishing the « Meddle » album about the lunatic on the grass, and it has been running sound my mind »
« Interview w/. roger Waters », Vox Pop Magazine, 1971.
Nothing (uncredited/1971)
From January 1971 onwards, the group decided to work together on musical improvisations, integrating a number of past ideas. After working on bits of music on January 4, entitled Untitled, they decided to adopt a more rigorous method, indexing each musical extract. This resulted in a total of 23 tracks, which were recorded as Nothing Part x. These Nothing were worked on from January 4 to 14, then from January 2 to 24.
John Leckie:
« I said to Nick Mason, ‘What’s this track called?’ and he said, ‘Oh, it’s nothing. Call it Nothing.’ So, when they did the next song, I said, ‘I suppose this is Nothing number two?’ He said, ‘That’s right.’ And we kind of went on.” »
« Reflected Glory », Mojo Magazine, March 2022.
John Leckie:
« I said to Nick Mason, ‘What’s this track called?’ and he said, ‘Oh, it’s nothing. Call it Nothing.’ So, when they did the next song, I said, ‘I suppose this is Nothing number two?’ He said, ‘That’s right.’ And we kind of went on.” »
« Reflected Glory », Mojo Magazine, March 2022.
Some of these tracks will be reused to build real titles such as. Future Echoes or One of these Days. Others will remain definitively unreleased. After reading the session-sheets, here's what we know:
Nothing (Part 01): Was recorded on January 4. It includes the tracks Untitled 1, Untitled 2 and Untitled 3, recorded at the beginning of the session. We know that Untitled 1 was also named Bottles, and thus seems to be a track from the future Glass Wine.
Nothing (Part 02): No precise information, but worked on on January 4, this piece is certainly part of the musique concrète trials for the « Household Objects » project.
Nothing (Part 03): No precise information but worked on January 4, this piece is certainly part of the musique concrète trials for the « Household Objects » project.
Nothing (Part 04): Will form the basis of the Bottles aka Wine Glass essay.
Nothing (Part 05): Entitled Nothing part 5 (Wine Glass chords) on the May 28, 1971 session. Another test for Household Objects.
Nothing (Part 06): No specific information
Nothing (Part 07): The session sheets indicate that this is a drum loop. The band does just one take and doesn't work on it any further.
Nothing (Part 08): No further information. Unlike the previous parts, the band spent a little more time on this track, overdubbing guitars on it on January 6.
Nothing (Part 09): This is certainly the most elaborate Nothing. There are many overdubs, including "Bass, organ, guitar, drums" and backwards drums, some of which were certainly used for the beginning of Echoes. A priori, this is the construction of the Echoes intro. This is confirmed by the inscription "Copied from 8-track to 16-track for the start of the return of the nothing" noted on the April 9 session sheet.
Nothing (Part 10): Vocals overdubs which seem to correspond to the sung part of Echoes.
Nothing (Part 11): A single take was done on January 9. The band will not return to it.
Nothing (Part 12): The session sheets indicate a slowed-down vocal take ("Vocal with long repeat echo on 1/4 inch tape") which is similar to the vocal finale of Echoes.
Nothing (Part 13): Bass and drums. The band does a lot of over-dubbing and mixes for this part.
Nothing (Part 14): This instrumental features organ, guitar and cymbal. Appears on the « Early Years » box set.
Nothing (Part 15): No details
Nothing (Part 16): No details
Nothing (Part 17): This take was overdubbed with "Vocals and Cosmic alien ». This part will be reused (partially or totally?) for the central section of One of these days.
Nothing (Part 18): No precise information
Nothing (Part 19): No specific information
Nothing (Part 20): No precise information
Nothing (Part 21): No specific information
Nothing (Part 22): No precise information
Nothing (Part 23): This take, from January 24, 1971, is a 20-minute rehearsal that a priori contains the constituent elements of the future Echoes.
Nothing (Part 24): This late Nothing was recorded on March 24. In fact, it's a mix, not a recording as such. One might think of it as a collage of earlier parts.
Nick Mason:
« The interesting thing with Echoes and the same occurs with the original Atom Heart Mother to a little extent, is that I love it, but in my opinion, it’s a bit too long. Things are repeated unnecessarily often. The Nothings 1 to 24 are probably more like Nothings 1 to 10, recycled as 24. There’s quite a lot of returning to the same sequences on the original album »
