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Relics

Pink Floyd - Relics Audio CD

A fair review of the Pink Floyd "Relics" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Pink Floyd reviews here, or go back to the Pink Floyd tabs.

Band: Pink Floyd
Title: Relics
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-08-06
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Arnold Layne 2: Interstellar Overdrive 3: See Emily Play 4: Remember a Day 5: Paintbox 6: Julia Dream 7: Careful with That Axe, Eugene 8: Cirrus Minor 9: Nile Song 10: Biding My Time 11: Bike

PinkFloyd and drug use
But it is Pink Floyd. The first few Pink Floyd albums may require some drug use to feel the grove the early 70s. All of Roger Waters music requires drug use. Friends of mine believe this is not a bad thing. I say good music, good art ,or a good looking women should be good if I'm in a altered state or not. So, if you wakeup with an ugly girl . I'll question your musical taste. .

Oldies Tunes
Sit listen and dream away. One of Pink Floyds best. You can't go wrong w/ this one.

That rare collection of b-sides and singles that's as strong as an original album
I've never been much of a fan of Arnold Layne (I think Syd Barrett made his best work as a solo artist) but it starts the album off on a mellow tone that is abruptly broken by the first few discordant notes of Interstellar Overdrive. Although any song on this album can be found on others (except Biding My Time) this anthology has a nice musical unity to it. I usually skip the first four songs because I have them on other CD's, but they have a nice pattern of a small, consistant single (Arnold Layne), something experimental (Overdrive) single (See Emily Play) experiemental (Remember A Day). Remember A Day is great, but I think it shines better in it's own element (A Saucerful of Secrets).

The first relatively unique song on the album is Paintbox. The accoustic guitar, which alternates between loud and soft, really compliments the consistently mellow piano and singing. Part of what made this band so great is that four out of the five members were musicians with their own individual styles and artistic aspirations. Too bad Rick only contributed significantly to the early albums.
The next song, Julia Dream, should have been a single. Everything about this song is optimal single material. It's short, catchy, and it's an accessable love song, and more than one dimension is being conveyed in a short amount of time. Not many Pink Floyd songs are known for using brevity to their advantage (another notable exception would be Jugband Blues). Roger's voice sounds either hesitant or meditative and the lyrics take a few odd turns. The oddest possibly being the last verse: "will the misty master break me \ will the key unlock my mind \ will the following footsteps catch me \ am I really dying". To say nothing of the incongruity with the rest of the song, the line "am I really dying" seems to have been recycled for the song Mother, a song about mother-son emotional abuse. To make things even more mysterious, the song seems to end on a decisively positive note with Roger repeating the words "Julia Dream \ Dream-boat queen \ queen of all my dreams".

This segues nicely into a studio version of Careful With That Axe Eugene. When I first heard this, my first thought was "what happened to the crazy guitar action from the Ummmagumma live album?" but this mellow version totally works. The quietness of the whole thing makes Roger's woman-like shriek even more eerie and the guitar work that wraps up the song sounds desperate and persistent, yet delicate.
The decision of the band to insert Cirrus Minor at this point gives the impression of dazed reeling, as if in reaction to the last song. What's funny is that Cirrus Minor and Nile Song sound better in the context of this collection than they do in the context of the More soundtrack.

In some ways, this album sounds like a more mature and dynamic companion piece to Piper At The Gates of Dawn. You see more of the band rather than a specific leader, and almost every song is brief with multiple dimensions. Maybe I'm a profane moron, but I kind of think this is better than Piper. .

Relics
Here we get classic tracks such as "See Emily Play", "Anorld Layne", and "Julia Dream". Relics is a strange compilation album by Pink Floyd that was released 1971 and contains much of their early works (recorded 1967-1969) and some of them are with Syd Barrett whom was with with the band for a short time. The cd booklet is quite odd with photos of a very strange instrument shot in different angles. Some of the tracks are very experimental (Interstellar Overdrive). 4/5.

4.5 stars.... Nuggets from early Pink Floyd
BBC documentary on the band called "The Pink Floyd Story: Which One is Pink", made in 2007, after the band's 2005's 20 min. Music: 5 stars; Compilation: 4 stars

I happen to catch a 60 min. reunion for Live Aid. Quite an entertaining documentary, if nothing new but great to watch the interviews of the band's members. After seeing that, I popped this CD, which I've had for ages, in my CD carousel.

"Relics" (11 tracks, 49 min. ) is a sorta-greatest hits/maverick collection of the bands early years (1967-1969), with 5 tracks from the band's first 3 albums, augmented by 6 additional non-album tracks. "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Bike" are from the seminal debut album "Piper at the Gades of Dawn", which if course is a must-have album for any serious fan of rock music. The delightful "Remember a Day", penned by Richard Wright (an important contributor to the band in the early days next to Syd Barret, lest anyone forget) is from "A Saucerful Of Secrets", and a couple songs from the "More" soundtrack. But this compilation is a must-have for the early singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", not available anywhere else, and the ultimate testament to the genius of Syd Barrett. Also included is the original studio version of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene," another instrumental that got more popular attention in its live version on the "Ummagumma" album.

In all, "Relics" is just that, a relic from/memory trip down to another time (the late 60s) and a must have, whether you are a Floyd fan or not, frankly. As noted elsewhere, the booklet that comes with the album contains a bunch of nice pics, but frankly lacks in worthwhile information (and hence the 4 stars for the compilation value). But it doesn't diminish the historical value of this compilation. Highly recommended!.

You can see a complete list of all Pink Floyd discography, or go back to the Pink Floyd tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.