TOKYO – Pink Floyd’s new double album, “The Early Years 1967-1972 Cre/ation” (Sony), is a collection of rarely or never-heard recordings by the British band, a leader of progressive rock.
Listeners can appreciate the live and studio recordings, from the band’s 1967 debut to the 1972 album “Obscured by Clouds.”
Nick Mason, the band’s drummer, spoke to The Japan News in a recent interview through Skype about the band at that time and the changes the group went through.
Pink Floyd is one of the most successful bands in the history of rock music, and has sold more than 250 million albums across the world. “The Dark Side of the Moon” album (1973) in particular is popular, reaching No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and staying in the charts for many years thereafter.
The double album is a shorter version of the box set “The Early Years 1965-1972,” which contains 27 CDs, as well as videos from those years. Both releases focus on the years before “The Dark Side of the Moon.”
“Where we were fortunate was that we were doing something no one else did, so people couldn’t make a comparison,” Mason said.
When the band released its first album in 1967, guitarist-vocalist Roger “Syd” Barrett was the band’s frontman. The other members were Mason, Roger Waters on bass and vocals, and Rick Wright on keyboards. Together, they produced highly original music with strong tones of pop and psychedelia.
Although their first album won acclaim, Barrett soon left the band over drug abuse and other problems. At around the same time, guitarist-singer David Gilmour joined the band.
“We had been given a tag of psychedelia in 1967,” Mason said. “But by 1968, the songs were of a very different subject and the music was far more controlled ... There was far less improvising.”
After Barrett’s departure, which Mason said “was the beginning of the original writing for us,” the other members developed their own writing, if slowly. That process is documented well on the double album.
One of the tracks, “Nothing Part 14,” is a prototype of the song “Echoes” on the 1971 album “Meddle.” The songs are meticulously constructed and anticipate “The Dark Side of the Moon” and some other later gems.
“When I listen to (the early material), sometimes I’m quite surprised how messy things are early on and get tighter as the years go by,” Mason said.
A rift developed between Waters and the other members in the 1980s, and Barrett and Wright died in recent years. In 2014, the band released “The Endless River” as its final album.
“I don’t think I ever said that it’s all over ... I cannot see Roger and David touring again together, or indeed going back into the studio ... Even if they are fighting about something else, both of them are very good at contributing when required,” Mason said. “So whether it’s V&A (the forthcoming exhibition about the band at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum) or whether it’s this boxed set, things have passed through for their approval ... What’s great is they are still involved.”
