Fades in Slowly

If you read my recent Syd Barrett post, you’ll already know how much of a Floyd-head I am, so you can imagine how happy I was to get hold of this recently via the Hook / crook method. Recorded during a four-night stint at London’s Rainbow Theatre from Feb 17th to 20th, 1972, this showcases an early, embryonic (sorry) version of the songs that would for the most part go on to be the most famous album ever made. Roger Waters, who by this time was developing his megalomaniacal tendencies, had finally taken it upon himself to decide that their next album would not be called Eclipse: A Piece For Assorted Lunatics, rather, as indicated for the first time in the programme for these concerts it would be named Dark Side Of The Moon. These concerts were therefore the first public performances of the legendary album.

[caption id="attachment_540" align="alignright" width="186" caption="Dark Side alternative sleeve"][/caption]

“Happily, they [Pink Floyd] felt able to pronounce the shows ‘terrific’. The ordinarily stolid Financial Times went further, proclaiming that ‘the Floyd have the furthest frontiers of pop music to themselves’. However, their joy was alloyed, in part, when they discovered that a quality bootleg of Dark Side Of The Moon at the Rainbow had hit the racks at all bad record shops. It went on to sell an estimated 120,000 and deterred Pink Floyd from ever developing unreleased material in concert again.”

Mojo, March, 1998: 25 Years On, The True Story Of Dark Side Of The Moon

They did, of course, keep on developing new material during tours, as most of ‘Animals’ was perfected during the concerts for ‘Wish you were here’, but that’s for another day and another post.

Pink Floyd – Live at Rainbow Theatre, London, UK, Feb 20th, 1972

01 Speak to me (only last 8 seconds of the track)

02 Breathe

03 Travel Sequence (this fairly formulaic instrumental later changed totally and became the innovative ‘On The Run’)

04 Time

05 Home again (Breathe reprise)

06 Religious Theme (‘The Great Gig In The Sky’ replaced this bizarre sequence, which has someone reciting The Lord’s Prayer while a minister administers the last rites in the background)

07 Money

08 Us & Them (most of the middle of the song is missing)

09 Dave’s Scat Section (an early version of ‘Any Colour You Like’)

10 The Lunatic Song (an early version of ‘Brain Damage’)

11 Eclipse (cuts off)

Could you imagine ‘Dark Side’ without Dick Parry’s sax solo on ‘Money’ or without Clare Torry’s vocals on ‘Great Gig In The Sky’. Well, listen to this to get an idea of how different things could have been.

Listen now…