"Remastered Part 1" by KATE BUSH (November 2018 Parlophone/Fish People 7CD Box Set) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Gorgeous CD Audio, But The Presentation Is Functional, 

A Track Is Inexplicably Replaced, One Dropped 

and Sadly There's Naught New..."

I hate to burst people's bubble when it comes to someone as gloriously special as KATE BUSH - but on receiving this 'Remastered Part 1' box set today, day of release, Friday 16 November 2018 - I have to say that apart from the James Guthrie and Joel Plante Remasters of the seven stunning albums from 1978 to 1993 (this duo of Audio Engineers did all the Pink Floyd albums in 2011 to universal praise) - I'm massively underwhelmed.

Let’s be real about this. There is nothing new here - at all. These albums should have remastered decades ago and the new Fish People variants (her own label) offer only a tri-gatefold card sleeve with an 8-page booklet inside each that contains the lyrics, session credits, artwork and absolutely nothing else. The only words added are 'Remastered by James Guthrie and Joel Plante at Das Boot Recording' inside every one of the booklets (Doug Sax was also involved in "The Red Shoes"). The inside box 'two worlds' artwork is nice, the tri gatefolds pretty and each Fish People Logo Picture CD reflects the album artwork – but in truth not so you’d notice that much. There are no new photos - no essays - no history - no sense of place - and worse of course - having waited decades - there isn't a single outtake or unreleased anywhere.

To add paying insult to injury - the truly fantastic six extra tracks that accompanied the EMI "Hounds Of Love" CD Remaster issued in 1997 are AWOL - flicked over to justify and flesh out an extortionately expensive Part 2 disc presently clocking in at a whopping £95 for the CD variant when most of the albums are pennies on Amazon and don’t require remastering. Those Hounds 12" Remixes of Big Sky and Cloudbusting were utterly exceptional, as were the non-album often Acapella B-sides like "The Handsome Cabin Boy" and "My Lagan Love" - lifting an already amazing album into the stratosphere. Not here. On release, 1989’s "The Sensual World" had 10 tracks on vinyl LP but the MC and CD had 11 - the extra "Walk Straight Down The Middle" is also AWOL. When I bought the CD then it had 11 songs – not 10. The popular compilation/best of "The Whole Story" from 1986 had a new vocal for "Wuthering Heights" and a new single "Experiment IV" – perfect extras material, but again – missing. Even the single-page leaf that accompanies the box on the outside has no place to go once you remove the shrink-wrap – so it’s going to get wrecked on any shelving.

But these are as nothing to what will surely become a serious bone of contention – the reissue of her undisputed meisterwerk "Hounds Of Love". Whilst fans are going to flip for the audio on 11 songs (the best it's ever sounded and such a brilliant album that only grows as time passes) - "The Big Sky" (Track 3 on Side 1) has now been inexplicably changed from the original album cut of 4:41 minutes to a '7" Mix' of 4:34 minutes that has crucial vocals mixed out - so is fundamentally different. In fairness, it does say '7" Mix' on the rear artwork and on the CD label - but what it doesn't say is that (and this is amazingly sloppy) - somehow the audio quality has dropped. If I A/B the new cut with my Japanese version - there is a muffled sound on this 2018 version (like its in a bucket) that is immediately noticeable after the audio high of the "Hounds Of Love" album track that precedes it! And of course this intrusion fundamentally changes the listen and alters the artwork of an album so many fans adore (so much for meticulous).

So what is good after all that bellyache? The AUDIO - I’ve had the Japanese CD Masters of these first seven studio albums issued in 2005 in repro artwork – and these 2018 versions are a whole different ball game – subtle and powerful in equal measure. I cannot emphasise how deeply lovely these long-awaited remasters are – at times breathtaking – wonderful stereo imaging – a feel of the air around instruments and her vocals thrilling every few seconds. These lovingly mastered beauties have genuinely added huge dollops of clarity to everything, lifting up deep album gems like "Kite", "In Search Of Peter Pan", "Delius" and "Army Dreamers", "There Goes A Tenner" and "Night Of The Swallow", "And Dream Of Sheep" and "The Morning Fog", "Reaching Out" and "Never Be Mine", "Moments Of Pleasure" – and so many more. I had tears pouring down my face re-hearing them.

The first two albums had some trace elements of hiss – but even something as beautiful and delicate as "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" is handled so well. By the time she got to album three "Never For Ever" with Jon Kelly at the Production controls – the audio goes off the charts good and stays that way thereafter. That difficult fourth album "The Dreaming" now feels ripe for rediscovery too. And when you clap your weary ears on the title track to "The Sensual World" or the gorgeous and moving "This Woman’s Work" – you may be in line for a wee blub yourself (in the comfort of your own home of course).

Let's get to the individual disc details...

Inside the 7CD version of "Remastered – Part 1" by KATE BUSH on Parlophone/Fish People 0190295569006 (Barcode is the same) - you get...

1. "The Kick Inside" (February 1978, Debut Album)

Parlophone/Fish People 01902295568986 (13 Tracks, 43:16 minutes)

2. "Lionheart" (September 1978, Second Album)

Parlophone/Fish People 01902295568979 (10 Tracks, 37:02 minutes)

3. "Never For Ever" (September 1980, Third Album)

Parlophone/Fish People 01902295568962 (11 Tracks, 37:28 minutes)

4. "The Dreaming" (September 1982, Fourth Studio Album)

Parlophone/Fish People 01902295568955 (10 Tracks, 43:24 minutes)

5. "Hounds Of Love" (September 1985, Fifth Studio Album)

Parlophone/Fish People 01902295568948 (12 Tracks, 47:25 minutes)

6. "The Sensual World" (October 1989, Sixth Studio Album)

Parlophone/Fish People 01902295568931 (10 Tracks, 42:06 minutes)

7. "The Red Shoes" (November 1993, Seventh Studio Album)

Parlophone/Fish People 01902295568924 (12 Tracks, 55:03 minutes)

As you can no doubt tell from the opening paragraphs of this review (and having lived with it for a day now) – I'm conflicted over this reissue. Apart from the beautiful audio and whether its pretty or not - as a box set of celebration for an artist I've loved for over 40 years – I feel the presentation has missed a major trick here. Given the glory of the Audio – why oh why didn't someone think to up the presentation game for such a fantastic British artist?

When you think of the jaw-dropping hardback books contained in the first three BOWIE Box Sets also put out by Parlophone (each was a work of art, I've reviewed all three - "Five Years", "Who Can I Be Now" and "A New Career In A New Town") – the absence of anything here that expands on what these Kate Bush albums were about or their context in the musical landscape is unforgivable (most were groundbreaking, hugely influential and unique in their vision). I suppose you can accuse me of whining and whinging when I knew what I was buying, but it doesn't make my arguments any less relevant.

It will probably drop in price soon as we veer towards Christmas 2018 – but I'd advise that if you want say "Never For Ever" or "The Dreaming" - go for the individual CD reissues. Those buying the individual releases of "Hounds Of Love" and her equally wonderful "The Sensual World" should note that (audio aside) they are both comprised over previous CD issues (who knows but Parlophone may recall "Hounds" and fix that replacement song – a wait and see situation I’m afraid).

An improvement for sure across so much - but man when you think of what a wow (pun intended) it could have been and that poorer-audio replacement of a huge fan-fave song on her best ever album - it's a real let down. And until I win at the Lotto, I'll be avoiding shelling out on that unnecessarily overpriced 'Remastered Part 2' also...

"Meddle" by PINK FLOYD (September 2011 EMI 'Discovery' CD Remaster and January 2016 Pink Floyd Records CD Reissue) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 100s Of Others Is Available in my

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(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Climb The Hill In My Own Way..."

As the four longhaired Prog Rockers of Pink Floyd sat on a bench holding hands up to their faces and giggling as the camera snapped their hidden visages in 1971 – I doubt any of them would have thought then that they’d end being a 'limited company' in the future - the decidedly English lads now just as corporate as the machine they so raged against throughout the whole of the Seventies. Which brings us to the mighty "Meddle" album and its "...I'll Climb The Hill In My Own Way..." brand of music now re-issued yet again on CD in 2016...

UK re-released 8 January 2016 – "Meddle" by PINK FLOYD on Pink Floyd Records PFR6 (Barcode 5099902894225) is a straightforward 6-track reissue CD in 2016 using the Remaster from 2011 and in fact the same barcode. It's once again housed in a gatefold card digipak, has a stickered sleeve (on the outer shrinkwrap) and 12-page colour booklet (48:51 minutes).

The original version of this Remaster was released 26 September 2011 as a 'Discovery Edition' single CD on EMI/Harvest EMI 50999 028942 2 5 (Barcode 5099902894225) – this 2016 version on Pink Floyd Records uses that 2011 remaster and the same artwork. The 'Discovery Edition' sticker is gone as is the horrible 'green Ds' reinvented CD artwork that came with the 2011 issue – that's thankfully been replaced on the CD with the Cow's Ear cover artwork of the original LP.

1. One Of These Days [Side 1]

2. A Pillow Of Winds

3. Fearless

4. San Tropez

5. Seamus

6. Echoes [Side 2]

PINK FLOYD was:

ROGER WATERS – Bass, Guitar and Vocals

DAVID GILMOUR – Lead Guitar and Vocals

RICHARD WRIGHT – Keyboards and Vocals

NICK MASON – Drums and Percussion

Released 30 October 1971 on Harvest Records SMAS-832 in the USA and 13 November 1971 in the UK on Harvest Records SHVL 795 - original UK vinyl copies of PINK FLOYD'S "Meddle" came in an untitled textured gatefold sleeve. American issues were titled and featured reversed artwork on a hard-card sleeve - the back of the UK cover put on the front.

JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL PLANTE have carried out the remaster on this and all 14 albums in their catalogue at the Das Boot Recording Studios in Tahoe in California (Guthrie is a Sound Engineer associated with the band since 1978). The original 1st generation master tapes have obviously been given a thorough going over because it truly feels like each song has had a staggering amount of time spent on them worrying out every single nuance possible. The audio result is truly impressive. Those Discovery Edition Remasters have been reused for all 14 of the January 2016 reissues.

On the 1995 remaster - the six-minute opener "One Of These Days" took ages to arrive and even when it did it was somehow dull and lacklustre. How things have changed - when the huge synth riff kicks in about 2:50 on this 2011 version - the sound is incredibly clear - allowing you to hear crashes and bangs going on in the background that I've never heard before. Then the sort of Piltdown Man voice says "One Of These Days I'm Gonna Cut You Into Little Pieces..." and all Hell breaks loose - Gilmour's guitar indeed sounding like a musical chainsaw. It's revelatory genius and in that uniquely peculiar Pink Floyd kind of a way. 

But even that is trumped by the awesome clarity of the forgotten and hugely underrated "A Pillow Of Winds". Put simply - it sounds 'beautiful'. The jaunty "San Tropez" and the rather pointless ditty that is "Seamus" are both the same - so clear and renewed. The 23:25 minute Side 2 opus "Echoes" has hiss as it opens on sonar pings - but luckily Guthrie and Plante have allowed it to breath instead of using some no-noise dampening technique. So when the funky break takes place at about seven minutes (now being used by Dance DJs in the UK as a mix in sets) it sounds just HUGE. It's impressive stuff, it really is.

But on this album my heart has always been with "Fearless" - issued as a B-side to "One Of These Days" in the USA and other European territories. It seems like I've waited literally 40 whole years to hear this fabulous song in such clarity (lyrics above). It's a genuine wow - and reminds me of a club I used to go to in Dublin called The Grove in the Seventies when they actually used this song as a 'lurch' (a slow tune in Ireland). As it fades out to the Liverpool Football Club fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" (a no.1 UK hit for Gerry & The Pacemakers in 1963 and adopted by them as an anthem) - I'm in floods...

I wish I could say the same for the staggeringly unimaginative packaging. The 'Pink Floyd' logo you see in all the photos advertising these new reissues turns out to be a sticker on the outer shrink-wrap that gets lost the second you unpeel it. The card sleeves are like The Beatles 09/09/09 EMI reissues - glossy and flimsy - so they smudge with finger prints the second you open them and are easy to bend and crease. The Discovery CD label with its pointless generic artwork (a sort of Turquoise and Pale Green for "Meddle", a garish Red and Pink for "Obscured By Clouds" etc) has thankfully been replaced with an artwork picture CD (no Harvest Records logo) but again it has no protective gauze sleeve so it will scuff on repeated plays (I’d suggest you protect it with a paper inlay).

But the skimpy booklet is the biggest disappointment. Although it has the lyrics (like this is a major improvement) it seems little different to the 1995 issue. It has no history on the album, pictures of European and Worldwide 7" sleeves, the different US artwork etc. OK - it does look nice and does the job adequately - but that's all. It's a lazy-assed approach and undermines the sterling work done on the sound front. And there are no outtakes either...and man would they have been worth a listen.

Still – with the truly beautiful sonic upgrade – Floyd’s "Meddle" finally gets the five-star sound the album has always deserved - albeit housed in 3-star presentation. 

But at least these 2016 reissues have a decent price (under eight quid in most places for a single CD) and come accompanied with their VINYL variants for the first time in decades – each beautifully reproduced 180-gram Vinyl LP featuring fully restored artwork and also reasonably priced compared to what Near Mint originals would set you back.

Unique music from a unique band. A pillow of winds indeed...

"Atom Heart Mother" by PINK FLOYD (September 2011 EMI 'Discovery Edition' Remaster AND January 2016 'Pink Floyd Records' CD Reissue) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Funky Dung..."

Emerging from the Syd Barrett-led 60ts phase – PINK FLOYD started the new decade with the frankly bizarre "Atom Heart Mother" – a late 1970 album that signalled the new more Prog sound to come - but in "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" held onto the lunacy of old. And you have to give them credit for the name "Atom Heart Mother" and the wacky utterly unforgettable artwork – a lone moo-moo staring out at us from a field wondering what in God’s name is that man doing pointing a camera at my posterior when I’m just trying to graze some grass here? Curiouser and Curiouser...

Always a task trying to find a decent vinyl copy original – the length of the LP at just over 52 minutes did for its fidelity too. But all of that is thankfully part of the past because this 2011 James Guthrie and Joel Plante CD Remaster is a massive improvement on a dog’s ear of a recording (relaunched January 2016 on Pink Floyd Records). Here are the Holy Cows and the Funky Dung...

UK re-released 8 January 2016 – "Atom Heart Mother" by PINK FLOYD on Pink Floyd Records PFR5 (Barcode 5099902894027) is a straightforward 5-track reissue CD using the Remaster from 2011. It's once again housed in a gatefold card digipak, has a stickered sleeve (on the outer shrink-wrap) with the new catalogue number PFR5, a 12-page colour booklet with photos and lyrics and the same barcode as the 2011 issue (52:06 minutes). The original album gatefold is the centre pages of the booklet while the lyrics (never on the original) are now featured over new photographs of shovels and a pair of boots and other useless and pointless images. It looks nice for sure but informs you of nothing – no history – no liner notes – no updates or insights. It’s a damn shame that 2016 wasn’t used as a way to pump up the booklet into something special from their laughable 'discover nothing' from our 'discovery' editions of 2011. In fact you could argue that this 'Pink Floyd Records' 2016 reissue is in itself 'corporate' – the very thing they raged so much against on "Animals" and "The Wall" in 1977 and 1979.

The original version of this Remaster was released 26 September 2011 as a 'Discovery Edition' single CD on EMI/Harvest 50999 028940 2 7 (Barcode 5099902894027) – this 2016 version on Pink Floyd Records uses that 2011 remaster and the same artwork. The 'Discovery Edition' sticker is gone as is the horrible 'green and blue Ds' reinvented CD artwork that came with the 2011 issue – that's thankfully been replaced on the CD with the front album cover artwork.

1. Atom Heart Mother (Suite):

(a) Father's Shout

(b) Breast Milky

(c) Mother Fore

(d) Funky Dung

(e) Mind Your Throats Please

(f) Remergence

2. If [Side 2]

3. Summer '68

4. Fat Old Sun

5. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast

(a) Rise And Shine

(b) Sunny Side Up

(c) Morning Glory

Tracks 1 to 5 are their 5th album "Atom Heart Mother" – released 10 October 1970 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 781 and in the USA on Harvest SKAO-382. Produced by PINK FLOYD and NORMAN SMITH – Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London in 1970 – it peaked at No. 1 in the UK and No. 55 in the USA.

PINK FLOYD was:

DAVID GILMOUR – Lead Guitar and Vocals

ROGER WATERS – Bass, Guitar and Vocals

RICHARD WRIGHT – Keyboards and Vocals

NICK MASON – Drums

Guests: JOHN ALLDIS CHOIR on parts of "Atom Heart Mother"

Mastered by JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL PLANTE at Das Boot Recording Studios in Tahoe in California in 2011 - the original 1st generation master tapes have been given a thorough going over (Guthrie is a Sound Engineer associated with the band since 1978). In fact - each song feels like these experts have spent a staggering amount of time worrying over every single nuance - because the audio result is truly impressive. That 2011 remaster has been reused for the January 2016 reissues.

The entirely instrumental Side 1 six-part suite "Atom Heart Mother" runs to 23:42 minutes and typically fades in with mad brass and a droning synth note.  Avant Garde artist RON GEESIN being the fifth accredited writer along with the four boys in the band – gives us a cornucopia of sounds - cars starting up – engines turning over – until it all settles down into a "Meddle" like duo of Richard Wright on Organ and Gilmour on Guitar. The clarity as Gilmour solos over that brass and lone organ is impressive – and as the still unidentified leading lady of the John Aldiss Choir comes sailing in – you can so hear where Mike Oldfield got some of his more orchestral ideas for "Tubular Bells" and "Ommadawn" from. When they fade out and we’re in "Funky Dung" – the Remastered Wright/Gilmour combo of Organ and Guitar is superb and certainly more muscular than I’ve ever heard it - and I still can’t make out what the Kate Bush-mad chanting voices are saying (very cool though).

After the indulgence of Side 1 - Side 2’s "If" comes as an Acoustic relief – Roger Water's delightfully upbeat "...if I go insane...please don't put your wires in my brain..." lyrics feeling like 1977 and not 1970. The audio on Gilmour's guitar is beautiful and even the background Richard Wright Organ/Piano playing is more evident. Richard Wright then stumps up "Summer '68" which feels like the kind of pretty song that would have not been out of place on 1972's "Obscured By Clouds" or even Kevin Ayers 1971 Harvest Records LP "Whatevershebringswesing". The brass and piano are loud and open for all the right reasons. Gilmour vocals his own "Fat Old Sun" but I've always felt it was not a great song. The album ends on the nutty 13-minutes of "Alan Psychedelic Breakfast" where someone babbles on about liking Marmalade and Porridge as they potter about in a kitchen before keyboards take over. After the musical interlude - it returns to our still unidentified hero warbling this time about 'breakfast in Los Angeles' with 'macrobiotic stuff'. It's fun but that's about all and you can't help thinking that they would have been better just allowing those lovely Acoustic Guitars in the centre passage simply play out the album (music boys - remember).

"Atom Heart Mother" is part genius, part knob and very much an example of an experimental time and a label prepared to let their artists go a bit bonkers for the sake of their art. But at least on this 2011/2016 CD Remaster - you can now hear it. And that faucet tap dripping that looped on the Side 2 run-out groove as your needle went over to the label can now be heard too. Moo moo indeed...

PS: OK - Cue the cow jokes:

I'd review this if only I 'cud' - you should see the 'udder' guy - let's 'milk' this one again - I'd lift this CD but it's too 'heffer' - check out the 'teats' on this one - I think we're 'dung' here...

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"Animals" by PINK FLOYD (September 2011 EMI 'Discovery Edition' CD Remaster 'AND' January 2016 Pink Floyd Records CD 'Reissue' Using The 2011 Remaster) - A Review By Mark Barry...

"...Born Into A House Full Of Pain..."

Despite (or perhaps because of) a musical landscape utterly blown open by the sheer violence and life-by-the-throat nature of Punk – good old misery guts Roger Waters of Rock Dinosaurs PINK FLOYD didn't seem to notice nor give a rat’s ass.

Recorded in 1976 and then released into a poisonous British landscape in January 1977 on Harvest SHVL 815 – even its dower Battersea Power Station 'industrial monolith' artwork seemed as grime-grubby as the portentous contents within where our cheery chappies blathered on about Orwellian things like Pigs and Sheep and the occasional Dog to the backdrop of an immaculately recorded guitar. It's coming from the sky – we're all going to die – nice. But none of that stops me from admiring the 2011 James Guthrie and Joel Plante Remaster on this more acidic of Floyd albums – relaunched January 2016 on Pink Floyd Records – the lads now just as corporate as the machine they so raged against nearly 40 years ago.

"Animals" remastered on CD is a huge improvement over the LP original – an album that sported a hard card inner sleeve itself inside a gatefold cover and has for years been notoriously difficult to get a good vinyl pressing of. This CD is 'massive' – and for all the right reasons – beautiful clarity that's made me reassess my loathing of both it and the 'the system is killing the kids' knob that followed – 1979's double "The Wall". Here are the newly floated Piggies...

UK re-released 8 January 2016 – "Animals" by PINK FLOYD on Pink Floyd Records PFR10 (Barcode 5099902895123) is a straightforward 5-track 2016 reissue CD using the Remaster from 2011. It's once again housed in a gatefold card digipak, has a stickered sleeve (on the outer shrinkwrap) and 12-page colour booklet (41:44 minutes).

The original version of this Remaster was released 26 September 2011 as a 'Discovery Edition' single CD on EMI/Harvest 50999 028951 2 3 (Barcode 5099902895123) – this 2016 version on Pink Floyd Records uses that 2011 remaster and the same artwork. The 'Discovery Edition' sticker is gone as is the horrible 'green Ds' reinvented CD artwork that came with the 2011 issue – that's thankfully been replaced on the CD with the Side 1 'Dog' label artwork of the original LP. The 'Sheep and Pig' label of Side 2 is nowhere to be seen.

1. Pigs On The Wing 1 (1:26 minutes)

2. Dogs (17:05 minutes)

3. Pigs (Three Different Ones) (11:26 minutes) – Side 2

4. Sheep (10:20 minutes)

5. Pigs On The Wing 2 (1:29 minutes)

PINK FLOYD was:

ROGER WATERS – Bass, Guitar and Lead Vocals

DAVID GILMOUR – Lead Guitar and Vocals

RICHARD WRIGHT – Keyboards

NICK MASON – Drums

Mastered by JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL PLANTE at Das Boot Recording Studios in Tahoe in California in 2011 - the original 1st generation master tapes have been given a thorough going over (Guthrie is a Sound Engineer associated with the band since 1978). In fact - each song feels like these experts have spent a staggering amount of time worrying over every single nuance - because the audio result is truly impressive. That remaster has been reused for the January 2016 reissues.

Essentially three long pieces of music (17, 11 and 10 minutes) bookended by the short one-and-half minute acoustic strums of "Pigs On The Wing" Part 1 and 2 – the Audio improvement is immediate on hearing the opening. This is a beautiful remaster and when we enter the Waters/Gilmour written "Dogs" and its various Guitar-Solo parts – you're clobbered with the Production values Floyd and Engineer BRIAN HUMPHRIES brought to the original 1976 recordings (done at Britannia Row Studios in London). When Waters sings the verse beginning with "...and after a while you can work on points for style..." – the band kicks in, as does Gilmour's fabulous axework that makes the whole seventeen minutes so edgy. You can hear this version. The lyrics are incredibly bleak – old men dying of cancer – people born in a house full of pain – souls trying to shake of the creeping malaise. And when those dogs do start barking and Richard Wright gets a chance to make his keyboard presence felt – the effect is brilliant – ably supporting Gilmour as he rips into his Strat for the first of many solos.

Side 2 opens with treated piggy grunts and very clear Bass and Keyboard parts before Gilmour flicks that guitar on "Pigs (Three Different Ones)". I can never work out if Roger Waters blatantly vicious attack of England's Mary Whitehouse and her moral-crusading is either smart thinking or a petulant child with too much money barking at an easy target. 

And when he sings "...ha ha charade you are..." or "...Mary you're nearly a treat...but you're really a cry..." - he sounds like a wordsmith who can't get his words out. 

But there's absolutely no doubting the clarity of the Remaster and when it breaks down into more Pig noises and that slow Guitar strum - the rhythm instruments are better than ever – and that wild soloing towards the end is great. Many have commented on the similarity between Meddle’s "One Of These Days" and Animal’s "Sheep" - that same backbeat driving the song on. And it ends on the second variant of "Pigs On The Wing" – essentially a slightly different re-run of Part 1.

Even now I can understand why Punk Rockers (also enjoying a 40^th Anniversary or two) despised Pink Floyd and "Animals" – it still reeks of establishment supposedly ribbing itself. But that aside – the CD Remaster is a thing of wonder after all these years of less than great originals and half-assed reissues on newer formats.

Fan – or just curious - "Animals" on CD is a must buy. Apple (who are finally going to corporate the Battersea Power Station into a multi-media selling powerhouse) will be pleased...

"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" (2007 EMI '40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition' 3CD Book Set – James Guthrie and Joel Plante Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Prowling Shifting Sand..."

Iconic, groundbreaking and damn it - cool. Pink Floyd's debut album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is all of those things - but it has been plagued with half-assed CD reissues for years now. At last - this 2007 '40th Anniversary' 3CD celebration does that aural brute some justice. And that's before we even talk about the astonishing MONO mix. Here are the many-faced Astronomical and Interstellar details...

UK released September 2007 –"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" by PINK FLOYD is a '40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition' 3CD Book Set on EMI 50999-503919-2-9 (Barcode is the same) and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 – MONO MIX – 42:15 minutes:

1. Astronomy Domine

2. Lucifer Sam

3. Matilda Mother

4. Flaming

5. Pow R. Toc H.

6. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk

7. Interstellar Overdrive

8. The Gnome

9. Chapter 24

10. The Scarecrow

11.Bike

Tracks 1 to 11 are the MONO MIX of their debut album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" – released August 1967 in the UK on Columbia SC 6157 and October 1967 in the USA on Tower T 5093. The US album had 9 tracks instead of 11 and featured the UK non-album single "See Emily Play" as its opening track. Using Disc 3 in this compilation and Disc 1 above – the US Mono LP can be sequenced as follows:

Side 1: 3 (from Disc 3), 5, 6, 2, 3 and Side 2: 10, 8, 9 and 7

Disc 2 – STEREO MIX – 41:58 minutes:

As per tracks 1 to 11 on Disc 1 – Stereo LP catalogue numbers are Columbia SCX 6157 (UK) and Tower ST 5093 (USA)

Disc 3 – BONUS TRACKS – 32:06 minutes:

1. Arnold Layne – non-album track, the A-side of their debut UK Mono 7" single released 10 March 1967 on Columbia DB 8156

2. Candy And A Currant Bun – non-album track, the B-side of "Arnold Layne" in Mono

3. See Emily Play – non-album track on UK release – the A-side of their 2nd UK 7" Mono single released 17 June 1967 on Columbia DB 8214 (B-side was "Scarecrow" from the Mono LP)

4. Apples And Oranges - non-album track on UK release – the A-side of their 3rd UK Mono 7" single released 18 November 1967 on Columbia DB 8310

5. Paintbox - non-album track, the B-side of "Apples And Oranges" in Mono

6. Interstellar Overdrive (Take 2) (French Edit) - Mono 

7. Apples And Oranges (Stereo Version) – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

8. Matilda Mother (Alternative Version) – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

9. Interstellar Overdrive (Take 6) – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

The outer hessian-feel Book Pack has been designed by STORMSTUDIOS (Storm Thorgerson has long been associated with Pink Floyd LP artwork) while the reproduction of the Syd Barrett 'Fart Enjoy' booklet is courtesy of Andrew Rawlinson. The facsimile booklet (60% size of the original) amounts to little more than painted sketches and random typed words - and with the centre booklet providing only the lyrics (no appreciation nor history of the album) – it all feels 'pretty' but lacking somehow. Thankfully the real meat and potatoes comes in the sensational new Audio...

JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL PLANTE at Das Boot Recording (the same team who did all the 'Discovery Edition' Pink Floyd CD Remasters) have handled the Audio Transfers and Remasters and a stunning result has been achieved – especially on the elusive MONO mix (an extraordinarily expensive vinyl item out of the reach of most collectors). As you can see from the playing times provided above – they mixes of the LP differ in that the Mono variant is slightly longer (Disc 3 is all Mono except where stated).

When you play lead-in voices and plucked guitars of “Astronomy Domine” for the first time (on the Mono version) – the Audio kick is quite amazing. There’s the same punch applies to the almost 60ts Spy Series of “Lucifer Sam” with those strange background noises pushed further back as the guitar and bass take centre stage. But I’m properly amazed at the clarity on “Matilda Mother” – I played the Stereo version right after the Mono and I prefer the sound stage given to the vocals – but both are different beasts of the same colour. The voice-chants at the beginning of “Pow R. Toc H.” are so clear in the Stereo version – but the Piano notes have more centre impact in the Mono mix actually.

The lyrics to the wicked “Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk” where Syd gives us “Gold is lead...Jesus bled...Ghoul greasy spoon...” still sound so Doors to me. I think I still prefer the Stereo mix where they flange that wild guitar across the speakers. Some people love the near 10-minutes of “Interstellar Overdrive” – I’ve always felt it was an instrumental indulgence taken too far – but there’s no denying the Audio kick in the teeth the MONO mix gives it – like I’m listening to something new. “Gnome” and “Chapter 24” are much improved compared to my battered copy of 1973’s “A Nice Pair” – but if I was to nail down one track that shows up how good this remaster is – it would be the bare and percussive “The Scarecrow”. It sounds unbelievably clean – those vocals and that thinny organ – and then as the guitars fade in – amazing.

Disc 3 makes a good bedfellow – it allows fans (using “Scarecrow” from the Mono Mix) to sequence the A&B-sides of their first three UK 45s on Columbia – “Arnold Layne”, “See Emily Play” and “Apples And Oranges”. The French Edit of the Mono “Interstellar Overdrive” cuts the album take down from 9:40 minutes to 5:16 minutes but sounds to me like its been dubbed from a very used disc – its good but hardly great. Far better is the Previously Unreleased Take 6 of “Interstellar...” - again just over five minutes and is also in Mono. It offers different guitar parts and is heavy on that distorted Bass (wild soloing towards the end passage where the organ floats back in). The Alternate Take of “Matilda Mother” is almost Pop for them and probably closest to the finished album mix. How bizarre is it to hear “Apples And Oranges” in STEREO and with a small bit of studio chatter at the beginning – love it...

They would go on to bigger and better things with "Atom Heart Mother" (1970), "Meddle" (1971) and "Obscured By Clouds" (1972) – never mind "Dark Side Of The Moon" (1973) and "Wish You Were Here" (1975)...and beyond (I've reviewed all but "Atom"). 

Admittedly this over-the-top Sonic Psych barrage will not be everyone's cup of Typhoo in the 11's – but if you're a fan – the amazing Audio make it a must own...