Pink Floyd – Lucy Leave & Other Rarities

Pink Floyd
Lucy Leave & Other Rarities

Tracks:

  1. Gigolo Aunt
  2. Terrapin
  3. Baby Lemonade
  4. Effervescing Elephant
  5. Two of a Kind
  6. Rat Race
  7. Interstellar Overdrive
  8. Interstellar Overdrive
  9. Interstellar Overdrive
  10. Interstellar Overdrive
  11. Lucy Leave
  12. King Bee
  13. Dominoes
  14. Milky Way
  15. Swan Lee
  16. Word Song
  17. Birdie Hop
  18. Long Gone
  19. Dark Globe
  20. Madcap’s Embrace

Sources:
15 May 1965,
31 October 1966,
24 February 1970

Tracks 1-5: 24 February 1970, BBC
Tracks 6-10: 31 October 1966, Thompson’s Private Recording Company
Tracks 11,12 (?) as The Screaming Abdabs, 15 May 1965
Tracks 13-20: various studio outtakes.

Band:
Syd Barrett

Xref:

Quality:

Comments:
Sound quality is remarkably good on tracks 1-12, especially for recordings of that era.
Tracks 1-5 also appear on official releases of the John Peel sessions. The first two
Interstellar Overdrive tracks are short studio takes of the intro; the third is an extended
16:46 version; the fourth is a short 2:40 version. Rat Race, at over 11 minutes, is an
excellent track. The sound quality on tracks 13-20 is not quite as good as the rest of the
CD. This CD is highly recommended for any Syd freak or Floydologist. A must have! -ECM

If you are a Syd-o-phile, then yes, you’ll want to buy it. Otherwise, it would probably be
best to leave it sit on the shelf (or in the bin).

This CD more or less has 3 distinct portions. 1) The Peel Sessions – these are the exact
same takes that have appeared on the RoLO of the same name. On LL & OR the quality is
remarkable for these tracks. It would seem that the legal product was used as the master.

Portion 2) Tonight Let’s All Make Love In London Soundtrack – Although named Rat
Race, the first track of this portion is really Nick’s Boogie. Following this track are 4
different versions of Interstellar Overdrive. The first two appear on the official TLAMLIL
soundtrack CD named “Interstellar Overdrive (reprise 1 & 2)” The 3rd IO is the extended
version that appears on the TLAMLIL soundtrack CD for the first time (the 16 minute
version). The 4th IO is the version of the song that appeared on the original vinyl version
of the TLAMLIL that was released following the movie. It’s about 3 minutes in length. The
quality of these recordings varies somewhat. There is more tape hiss than I’d expect if
they’d used the official CD as a master for these tracks. However, I don’t hear any pops
or crackles to indicate a vinyl source. The short version of IO (3 minute version) is slightly
worse quality than the other 3, but they’re pretty close.

Portion 3) Outtakes – The quality here varies immensely. The versions of Lucy Leave and
King Bee that appear here sound exactly like the versions on A Saucerful Of Outtakes.
I’d go so far as to say that one of the two copied the other. There are several songs that
appear here (ie: Word Song and Birdie Hop, possibly others) which have surfaced on
Opel, but stupidly the copies presented on this disk weren’t lifted from Opel. Instead, they
chose some vinyl source. Also, a few of the songs (Dominoes and Milky Way especially)
seem to be presented at the wrong speed! Anyone with facilities to produce a CD should
have equipment enough to present their recordings at the proper speed. There’s a
wonderful version of Long Gone on this disk, but, stupidly, it is faded out before the
end of the tune! I believe that the whole version appears on the vinyl RoIO “Vegetable
Man”. It really upset me to learn that it was mutilated for this CD. Swan Lee (or Untitled
Instrumental #1 from Vegetable Man) is presented here in its entirety (unlike on A Saucerful
of Outtakes, where they faded it out about half way through..) Damn good song.

If you are able to buy this disk (serial number DIYE 16) and Syd Barrett’s Last Screams
(DIYE 15), you’ll be happy to notice there there is no repeated material. If you buy these
as well as Syd’s official albums, you’ll have a pretty good overview of his career. -SCOTT

Recently, a copy of the RoIO Lucy Leave & Other Rarities was found containing music
thought to be from the Glen Miller Orchestra, rather that the expected Syd Barrett.
Otherwise, it was intact (with correct liner notes & picture of Syd on the disk.) -SCOTT

Leave a comment