pink floyd - 1970-12-22 - 'disgusting, hardly music'

here it is! one of the most intriguing pink floyd performances before the dark side of the moon era, or perhaps ever. just imagine being there: the year is 1970, it's just days before christmas, and you find yourself going to see pink floyd, the premier experimental rock band, perform a monster of a show, playing 7 songs over the course of two and a half hours to a quiet but appreciative audience. perhaps you've also consumed some LSD in order to enhance the experience.

i give the sound quality of this recording a B/B+... this is a very good recording, and you can hear each instrument pretty damn clearly, although there are occasional small drop-outs (my major gripes being a second-long cut right after the scream in 'careful with that axe, eugene' as well as a cut that ends 'set the controls' before the final vocal reprise). i've found many recordings lack the low end where roger waters' bass resides, but you can hear roger plunk away pretty clearly on this one. while i honestly don't think the performance is particularly great, i think it's worth a listen for its historic nature, given the interesting set opener and closer.

a very rare 'performance' of 'alan's psychedelic breakfast'--clocking in at almost thirty minutes long--opens the show. after such a rambling start (you can hear the band enjoying a meal on stage), the band breezes through extended versions of their concert staples.

the show concludes with two long renditions of pink floyd's pre-dsotm album centerpieces. first; 'a saucerful of secrets,' which is interrupted by a power outage right as they start the final section; keyboardist rick wright hops on a grand piano to keep the song alive while power is restored. and finally: a triumphant version of 'atom heart mother,' complete with a backing brass band and choir. i really like the much more common small-band versions of this with the foursome covering the choral parts themselves, but the backing choir works so well in this version. after the song, as the band presumably walks back onstage following the encore break, a perfectly audible shout requesting "bike!" goes unfulfilled (unfortunately, for this syd barrett fan), and instead the band ends the concert with a short reprise of the 'atom heart mother' main theme.

while this isn't my favorite pink floyd performance, it's worth a listen for the good sound quality and song selection. see the included notes and bootleg art for more lineage and background information. please keep this marked as mp3 (~224 vbr) if you're going to share it. enjoy!

Disc 1:
1. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast [29:21]
2. The Embryo [14:33]
3. Fat Old Sun [15:06]
4. Careful With That Axe, Eugene [15:59]

Disc 2:
1. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun [12:21]
2. A Saucerful Of Secrets [25:21]
3. Atom Heart Mother [32:54]
4. Atom Heart Mother (encore) [2:48]