82 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
82 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
Melody Maker
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December 9, 1967
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p. 9
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By Alan Walsh
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HITS ? THE FLOYD COULDN'T CARE LESS
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Giving pop journalists a hard time is the blood sports of
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groups. It's one of the occupational hazards of the job, as
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anyone who's ever been on the receiving end of the Beatles rapier
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remarks will tell you.
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Last week, it was the Pink Floyd's turn, which was
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surprising, for their latest record "Apples And Oranges" isn't
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exactly setting the charts alight. Still, I managed to penetrate
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their initial unreceptive attitude and asked how they felt about
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the record bombing after "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" had
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been so well received.
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"Couldn't care less," was Syd Barrett's answer. For the
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Floyd don't really regard themselves as primarily a record group.
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Barrett is an advocate of musical anarchy. He believes that all
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the group can do is make a record which pleases them. If it's
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not commercial - too bad.
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"All we can do is make records which we like. If the kids
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don't, then they won't buy it." Ideally, believes Barrett,
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groups should record their own music, press their own records,
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distribute them and sell them.
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He feels that the application of commercial considerations
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is harmful to the music. He'd like to cut out the record company
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and wholesalers and retailers. "All middle men are bad," he
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said.
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Co-manager Peter Jenner said that, anyway, the groups have
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far more idea of what the kids want than the record companies.
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Barrett said that the reason the kids dig the Beatles and
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Mick Jagger is not so much because of their music, but because
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they always do what they want to do and to hell with everyone
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else. "That's why the kids dig them - because they do what they
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want. The kids know this."
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I met Barrett and guitarist Roger Waters with managers
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Jenner and Andrew king at the Central Office of Information in
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Lambeth. They had been viewing a colour film insert of the group
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for a magazine programme on Britain networked across America and
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Canada.
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The number they filmed was "Jug Band Blues," written by
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Barrett which manager Jenner said he had wanted to release as
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their single instead of "Apples And Oranges." He said he was
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pressing for it to be their next single in the New Year.
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It is almost a poetic recitation by Barrett, with avant
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garde sound effects by the group. The centre passage is almost
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free form pop, with six members of the Salvation Army on the
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recording session told to "play what you like."
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After the filming, we retired to a nearby coffee bar where
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Jenner said: "The group has been through a very confusing stage
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over the past few months and I think this has been reflected in
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their work.
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"You can't take four people of this mental level - they used
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to be architects, an artist and even an educational cyberneticist
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- give them big success and not expect them to get confused.
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"But they are coming through a sort of de-confusing period
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now. They are not just a record group. They really pull people
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in to see them and their album has been terrifically received in
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this country and America. I think they've got a tremendous
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things ahead of them. They are really only just starting."
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The Floyds entry into the pop arena was as a psychedelic
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group. They came in on the surge of lights and psychedelia which
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is dwindling rapidly today. Were they still using lights or had
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they made any decision to abandon them ?
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"Not at all," said Roger Waters, "With us, lights were not,
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and are not a gimmick. We believe that a good light show
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enhances the music. Groups who adopted lights as a gimmick are
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now being forced to drop them, but there's no reason why we
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should.
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"In this country, groups were forced to provide their own
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light shows, whereas in the States, it was the clubs who provided
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the lights."
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"Really," said Barrett, "we have only just started to scrape
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the surface of effects and ideas of lights and music combined; we
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think that the music and the lights are part of the same scene,
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one enhances and adds to the other.
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"But we feel that in the future, groups are going to have to
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offer much more than just a pop show. They'll have to offer a
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well-presented theatre show."
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