Watch: Pink Floyd (Live 1967 – 1972)

A very interesting compilation of their performances during what many fans consider to be their heyday.

27 January 2023 | James Porteous | Clipper Media News

This is an interesting collection of (mostly) live ‘Video Footage of Pink Floyd’s early years.’

I am afraid that, with the exception of Ummagumma (1969) and Careful With That Axe, Eugene, I was and remain mostly unfamiliar with their music, so I have had to rely on Wikipedia for details of the band from that era.

But, intergroup drama notwithstanding, this compilation is a great introduction to their psychedelic era.

James Porteous | Clipper Media News


0:25 Astronomy Domine ‘Look Of The Week’, BBC TV 1967

4:22 Jugband Blues 1968

7:20 Paintbox ‘Discorama’ French TV 1968

10:57 Improvisation ‘The Sound Of Change’ BBC TV 1968

13:14 It Would Be So Nice (extract) ‘Release – Rome Goes Pop’, BBC TV 1968 14:36 Roger Waters interview Tienerklanken festival, Belgium, 1968

14:56 Flaming ‘Tous En Scene’, French TV 1968

17:57 Let There Be More Light ‘Surprise Partie’, French TV 1968

24:33 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun ‘Forum Musique’, French TV 1969

29:56 Careful With That Axe, Eugene Essener Pop & Blues Festival, German TV 1969

35:57 Green Is The Colour KQED TV San Francisco, U.S.A. TV 1970

39:31 Atom Heart Mother + Choir & Orchestra Musikforum Ossiachersee, German TV 1971

42:43 Atom Heart Mother – Band only ‘Pop Deux – Festival de St.Tropez’ 1970

50:19 Improvisation for ‘Show Roland Petit’ French TV 1970 (first broadcast in 1971)

53:48 Wot’s…Uh The Deal Obscured By Clouds sessions, France 1972


Pink Floyd was one of the most popular bands of psychedelic rock. The driving artistic force was Syd Barrett. This was expressed above all in his songwriting. In addition to the first five singles, which are included in 1992 on the remastered CD The Early Singles on EMI Records Ltd. as part of the box set Shine On, the first five albums belong to the psychedelic phase.

The Roots

The roots of the band go back to the school days of Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour in Cambridge. Barrett and Waters attended Hills Road Sixth Form College, Gilmour attended Perse School on the same street. Barrett and Gilmour met during lunch breaks to play guitar and occasionally gave street concerts. However, a band was not founded yet. In 1963 Barrett moved to London. Gilmour founded the band Joker’s Wild[5] and moved from 1966 with another band relatively unsuccessfully through Spain and France.

1965 to 1968

Roger Waters came to London in 1964 and, while studying architecture at the Polytechnic, met drummer Nick Mason and pianist and organist Richard “Rick” Wright. They founded the cover band Sigma 6 and interpreted current blues and beat songs.

Members of the group, which initially saw itself as a rhythm and blues band, were also the singer and later wife of Rick Wright, Juliette Gale, bassist Clive Metcalf and singer Keith Noble. [6] They changed the name to The Tea Set, and guitarist Bob Klose joined them.

In 1965, eccentric art student Syd Barrett joined the band as singer and guitarist. Gale, Metcalf and Noble left soon after, and Waters switched from guitar to electric bass. Barrett gave the band the name The Pink Floyd Sound, derived from the first names of his two favorite blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. After recording the demos Lucy Leave and I’m a King Bee, Bob Klose also left the group. [7] The name was shortened to The Pink Floyd and finally to Pink Floyd in 1968. [8]

From 1966 Pink Floyd played in the London underground club UFO and became the house band there. The first mention of the group, which developed into the leading London underground band under Barrett, in the press was in the underground newspaper International Times and in the Sunday Times in October 1966; both articles reported on her performance at London’s Roundhouse[9] 

On March 10, 1967, Pink Floyd released her first single, Arnold Layne, on EMI. A London radio station refused to broadcast it because it was about a transvestite stealing underwear. Sources disagree as to whether it was the pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London[10][11] or BBC Radio London[12][13]. On June 16 of the same year, her second single was released with the top ten hit of the same name, See Emily Play.

The band adopted Andy Warhol’s idea of mixed media, for example in songs by Chuck Berry, which were chopped up with electronic feedback techniques, and in trip fantasies accompanied by light and slide shows. This later developed into an increasingly sophisticated multi-media concept. [14]

Barrett was influential for the early years of Pink Floyd,[15] set the psychedelic direction and wrote almost all the songs for the first album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn as well as for the first three singles. [16] As the band’s popularity grew, his mental health gradually deteriorated, exacerbated by excessive drug use, making it increasingly difficult to work with him. Sometimes Barrett only stood motionless on stage instead of playing. [17]

Barrett’s school friend David Gilmour, whose own group was disbanding, was accepted by Roger Waters as the fifth member in early 1968; there are photos showing all five musicians together.

Gilmour was initially only supposed to support Barrett in live performances, but eventually replaced him completely. In March 1968, it was decided to proceed without Barrett. On the second album A Saucerful of Secrets only a composition by Barrett is included (Jugband Blues).

His remaining songs from this period were recorded on two solo albums by Barrett in 1970, partly with the participation of Pink Floyd members, and released in the box set The Early Years in 2017. The rest of the group’s confrontation with Barrett’s departure and his mental illness was repeatedly addressed in the group’s later work – and especially on the album Wish You Were Here. (Wikipedia)

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