Behold the Temple of the Light (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason/1969)
Instrumental played during « The Man & the Journey" concerts. Part of « The Journey ».
Nightmare (Waters/1969)
Reworked version of Cymbaline for « The Man and the Journey » concerts with an extra organ solo. It should be noted that the band played it in this form on June 16th, 1969 during the French « Dim Dam Dom » » TV show, but the copy is still unavailable if it exists
The Labyrinth of Auximenes (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason/1969)
Part of the « The Man & the Journey » suite. The track is based on the four chords heard at the beginning of the studio version of The Narrow Way (Part 3).
A Saucerful of Secrets (w/. Orchestra & Choir) (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason/1969)
Exceptionally, a philharmonic orchestra and a female choir joined the band on stage for this last song during the concert-show « The Final Lunacy! » at London's Royal Albert Hall on June 26, 1969. The idea of playing with a symphony orchestra had been mooted by the band since 1968 (See this page for more details), and was undoubtedly the first step in the production of the « Atom Heart Mother » album.
Work (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason/1969)
An attempt at musique concrète with the group setting up and tinkering with a table. Music is produced by hammers, saws and other tools, accompanied by xylophone and percussion. Everyone uses a different tool and synchronizes with the other. It's not unusual, therefore, for this "song" to be totally different from one concert to the next (as can be seen by listening to the bootlegs from that year). The first performance took place on April 14, 1969. This may well have been the forerunner of the "Household Objects" project that would come two years later. Indeed, it was an idea dear to Nick and Roger's heart, and one they would often put to the other two members of Pink Floyd.
Tim Renwick:
«They built a table with rhythmic hammering and sawing. When it was done, the roadies came on with a pot of tea and switched on a transistor radio and put a mike in front of it, so the entire audience would be listening to whatever happened to be on the radio at the time while the guys were drinking their tea. It was tremendous, really good».
Interviewer: «(…) Il y a aussi une très longue chanson, 12 minutes … je vais poser à Nick Mason une question: vous souvenez-vous d’avoir planté des clous pendant le show ? »
Nick Mason: «Je vous demande pardon ? »
David Gilmour: [en traduisant de français en anglais] :«Vous souvenez-vous d’avoir joué du marteau sur scène … dans vos bons vieux jours ? »
Nick Mason: « Oui !!! » (rires)
Interviewer: « 23 janvier 1970, Theatre des Champs Elysées … » [ils passent Work]
David Gilmour: (ironique) « Et vous m’avez demandé tout à l’heure pourquoi ce n’était sur album? … » (rires)
«Radio Libre à Pink Floyd», Europe 1, 1st Mai 1982.
Doing It! (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason/1969)
This track, credited collectively, consists of a question-and-answer game between Nick's drums and percussion played by Gilmour and Waters (who dwells on the cymbals). In later versions, Wright will handle the sound effects. Within the « The Man » suite, this track was supposed to represent the sexual act between the two protagonists. It was performed for the first time on April 14, 1969 at the Royal Albert Hall, and for the last time on January 23, 1970 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.
David and Nick. January 1970 at the théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris
This was a project of Wright's, then very well versed in classical music, which he played from time to time at home or in rehearsal with the band. He would even ask the technicians to record it so that he could work on it. One of the most famous testimonies is a three-hour recording at the Royal Albert Hall, using the EMI mobile studio mobilized for the live recording of « Ummagumma ». This tape now belongs to his widow Gala and was very partially used (and rearranged) on « The Endless River » under the self-referential title Autumn 68'.
Rick filmé par Anthony Stern lors du concert du 14 avril 1969
Jimmy Youth:
« According to David, he was playing his unfinished Symphony just after they had finished sound checking. Maybe one day, Gala may want to finish it, as it was a very beautiful piece. It was amazing to discover that Rick had composed a symphony »
« The making of the Endless River », Prog Magazine, October 2014.
Andy Jackson:
«There’s a moment that goes to this large pipe organ [“Autumn ’68”] — that’s the Royal Albert Hall pipe organ. We did the Albert Hall on David’s tour which was the first time they’d been back since they got banned. Pink Floyd played the Albert Hall in 1968 and got banned for letting off cannons and nailing stuff to the floor! But when they were there in 1968, Rick had a go on the pipe organ. There was a Revox and some mics going in, so it was recorded. Damon Iddons, engineer is also our librarian, and he tracks all the things that are coming through, and he went, “Oooh, I’ll tell you what I’ve got! This is great!” It’s a great sound »
« Louder Than Words: Producer Andy Jackson Takes Us Exclusively Inside the Making of the Final Pink Floyd Album … », Mike METTLER, 22 October 2014.
This track, recorded on May 14th 1969, could not be included as planned in the live part of « Ummagumma » due to the inherent limitations of vinyl, according to Gilmour and Waters.
Roger Waters:
«Only one song is missing: the famous ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, which we don’t dig very much. But there are plans to produce 2,000 acetates of the ‘live’ version of this song, which was left off the album, and distribute to the many people who have shown an interest in it»
«Troubled Waters », Melody Maker, 5 December 1970.
Waters:
« We gave one to John Peel and he really liked it, so we may make these acetates for people »
« Pink Floyd Exclusive interview by Richard Williams », Melody Maker, 1st November 1969
Roger Waters, in an interview given to « Melody Maker » (on 1st November 1969), gaves more details. A demo of 2000 acetates had been planned to satisfy certain fans as John Peel (who received the first issue). After many years, a copy was found on June 2009. This recording was released as bootleg on the Yellow Record label, along with unedited versions of well-known tracks ... and that previously unreleased Interstellar Overdrive!
« Improvisation in B minor » (uncredited/1969)
During the concert at the Mother's Club in Birmingham (27 April 1969), and just before attacking Interstellar Overdrive, Waters announced a unique improvisation in B flat. As this concert was recorded for the live part of « Ummagumma », one wonders whether this was an attempt to offer buyers something new on the A-side of the album.
For the records, the guitar pattern developed by David (quite oriental in this case) recalls the improvisation found on the Royal Albert Hall rehearsals filmed by Stern on April 14, 1969.
Jews Harp and the Windchimes (Gilmour/1969)
A sound fx tape used in the Gilmour section of « Ummagumma »
Embryo aka I am the embryo (Waters/1969)
The track was recorded under the title I am the embryo on November 26, 1968. It is not known whether this track was intended to appear on the "Ummagumma" album (see "missing album" page). The track was released on April 13, 1970, on the "Picnic, A breath of fresh Air" sampler designed to promote all Harvest label artists.
It was later re-released on "Works" in 1983 (this time with Floyd's permission), a compilation intended by the band's American label: Columbia.
Apart from a BBC session in December 1968, it was a mainstay of the band's live shows between January 18, 1970 and November 20, 1971, in an electric version with an organ and guitar jam in the middle. On the latter date, the version peaked at 16 minutes! The band played pre-recorded tapes of children's laughter during the track.
Roger Waters:
«Honestly, I can't remember it ... it's still 20 years old (...) It's not a song I'm proud of ... that's why it was never released on an album. It was released, I think, on a compilation.».
«Interview with Kevin Hilleré, ANZ Rocksat, May 1988.
David Gilmour:
« Embryo was a track that we recorded in about '68 or '69 and we never finished. We all went off it for some reason. We never actually finished the recording of it. EMI got Norman Smith I think to mix it, and they released it without our okay, and that's one of the very very few tracks that we never actually finished. EMI got Norman Smith, I think, to mix it, and they released it without our okay.».
Moonhead(Gilmour, Mason, Waters, Wright/1969)
Programme spécial diffusé par la BBC lors de l’alunissage de Apollo XI le 20 Juillet 1969. Il a été diffusé dans une série documentaire « Artistique » intitulée « Omnibus » et qui traitait des différentes perceptions et mythes que les gens portaient à la lune à l’époque (les loups-garous, le symbole du romantisme, les sélénites …) Le programme était sous-titré « But what if it’s made of green cheese ? ».
David Gilmour:
«We [Pink Floyd] were in a BBC TV studio jamming to the landing. It was a live broadcast, and there was a panel of scientists on one side of the studio, with us on the other. I was 23. The programming was a little looser in those days, and if a producer of a late-night programme felt like it, they would do some- thing a bit off the wall. Funnily enough I've never really heard it since, but it is on YouTube. They were broadcasting the moon landing and they thought that to provide a bit of a break they would show us jamming. It was only about five minutes long. The song was called Moonhead - it's a nice, atmospheric, spacey, 12-bar blues.».
«My moon-landing jam session», The Guardian, 2 Juillet 2009.
After the Amougies concert on October 25, 1969, they went into the studio to work on the music for the pilot, using old and new material. It's a 17 ½-hour series scheduled for broadcast on American TV (26 30-minute episodes). This project by Alan Aldridge (later responsible for the famous "Butterfly Ball") starts with the following idea: A boy named Rollo lies on his bed and begins to dream. The bed comes to life when two eyes appear. The bed begins to shake, waking the hero. A teacher takes him through space to meet unknown species of animals.
We first hear about this project in a Melody Maker article dated November 1, 1969. According to an article in « Best » magazine in May 1977 (in the « Pink Floyd Story » series), they had worked on old songs and written new ones, such as the show « The Massed Gadgets …. »
Rick Wright:
« It'll be a lot of work, but we'll give them a stock of music to draw from for each episode (...)».
« Floyd - in the Pink! », Melody Maker, 11 April 1970.
David Gilmour:
« We started to have a crazy life: we couldn't stop writing music, and touring too. After» Ummagumma», we started doing music for a cartoon series, 'Rollo', and produced over four hours of music (…)»
Roger Waters:
«They shouldn't have paid for it. We pasted some old stuff onto a pilot they'd done, but when they thought about how they should animate the whole series they realized the cost would be too high (…)»
Nick Mason:
«We realized how crappy it was going to be to do this cartoon. The color was excellent and the animations were very complicated with little perspective used."
«Pink Floyd», Zig-Zag, March 1973.
« Love Scene » (uncredited/1969)
Many try and versions were done during the « Zabriskie Point » recording sessions in International Recording Studios at Roma.
Nick Mason:
« It was his first and our second. After seeing the love scene about 15 times a night for a week, we were highly depressed and just tried to please him».
« Pink Floyd scored after rough start », The News and Observer, 2 May 1971.
