Syd Barrett
Melk Weg
Sources: 1967- 1970 Various vinyl roios.

Catalog: FAR011 Four Ace Records

Misc.: SIAE

Produced: Made in Italy

Date: 67

Cover: The cover consists of what seems to be a large breast sitting in the middle of a large field. The colors are an orange and blue psychedlic array. In the lower left hand corner is the title, ‘Milk Weg.’ Also, there is a cool, rarely seen picture of Barrett.

Tracks:

   1. Milky Way                3:09
   2. Wouldn't You Miss Me             2:57
   3. Swan Lee                2:48
   4. Opel                6:15
   5. Untitled Words            2:58
   6. Birdy Hop                2:41
   7. Silas Lang                2:41
   8. Scream Thy Last Scream        4:35
   9. Vegetable Man/Reaction in G [fragment]    2:49
  10. Gigolo Aunt                3:42
  11. Two of a Kind            2:36
  12. Terrapin                3:05
  13. Baby Lemonade            2:30
  14. Just Before You Disappear        4:03
  15. Dark Globe                2:59
  16. Words                2:59
  17. Interstellar Overdrive            5:14

Band:
Syd Barrett
Roger Waters
Rick Wright
Nick Mason

Xref: Vegetable Man LP Unforgotten Hero LP and many, many others.

Quality: G+/G
Tracks 1-7, 12-16: Sup-, Tracks 8-9: Ex-, Track 10: G+,
Tracks 11 & 17 Sup+, Track 14: G

Comments:
The fragment of Reaction in G is not listed on the cover. The contents appear to be
derived from other recent ROIOs. – ANON

Melkweg is a dutch word, meaning milky way -GERHARD

Track 3, Swan Lee, is probably Syd’s demo. Track 5 and track 16 are of course the very
same song and the same as those found on Opel. Tracks 10 and 11 are probably off Peel
Sessions. Track 14 is mis-titled. It is really Octopus – a very fast, cut off version. Track 17
is also shortened. Track 8, Scream Thy Last Scream is shorter than usual, but decent
quality. In the middle Syd says ‘Oh, fuck it’, so something must have gone wrong. Track 7,
Silas Lang, is a non-vocals Swan Lee. It is live and probably is with Floyd, as it says. -JR

Tracks as they really are:

1. Milky Way
2. Dark Globe (with falsetto voices)
3. Instrumental #1
4. Opel
5. Word Song
6. Birdy Hop
7. Swan Lee (backing track)
8. Scream Thy Last Scream
9. Vegetable Man
10. Reaction In G
11. Gigolo Aunt
12. Two Of A Kind
13. Terrapin
14. Baby Lemonade
15. Octopus
16. Dark Globe (with falsetto voices)
17. Word Song
18. Interstellar Overdrive

This CD was definitely taken from vinyl source materials. Many of the tracks are muffled
(especially the Peel Sessions) and all have distinctive pops & crackles.

Although songs 2, 16 and 5, 17 are the same, they were clearly mastered from different
sources. (Perhaps the compiler thought they were different ??) Song 1 is identical to the
version on Opel, except that here, we hear some unidentified person say “1,2,3,4” at the
beginning. Similarly, song 6 is identical to that on Opel, except that we hear the person say
“Birdy Hop take 1”. Song 3 has been called “Swan Lee” and “Madcap’s Embrace”.
Actually, it’s neither. Malcolm Jones’ book refers to it as “Instrumental” and so shall I.

Songs 8 and 9 are listenable (but not great) studio versions of these two rare songs.
Despite the other RoIO entry for this disk, Syd does NOT yell “Oh, fuck it” in the middle
of Scream. He’s saying “Oh, sock it to me.” at the end of a long bit of guitar. (around 2:08
for those of you with the disk)

Song 10 is from the 7/23/67 Carlisle pirate radio broadcast. Sadly, the second (longer)
song (StCftHotS) was not included here.

Songs 11 to 14 are from Syd’s Peel Sessions. The quality here is terrible. Do yourself the
favour of buying the more common (and less illicit) Peel Sessions disk.

Song 15 was taken from Syd’s infamous Olympia, London gig of 6 June 70. Quite a good
Octopus if you can overlook the absent lyrics and horrible tape quality.

The Interstellar Overdrive is just over 5 minutes long and excellent quality. Can’t say for
sure where it’s been pinched from, as I can’t tell one IO from another.

All in all, most of these songs are available in much better quality on Opel or the Peel
Sessions CD. Those songs not available there are on other RoIOs in much better
(or equal) quality. This is one disk that you should probably just leave in the bin. -SCOTT

Track 14, “Just Before You Disappear”, is mislabeled. It is actually some very strange
version of “Octopus” recorded very badly. Tracks 5 & 16 are exactly the same (Untitled
Words). “Two of a Kind” is taken from the BBC recordings, and “Interstellar Overdrive”
is the same version from the original Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Other than that, the CD
is pretty good. Scream Thy Last Scream sounds good, with the “chipmunk” voice in the
background. Silas Lang is different from the “Opel” version, and it sounds good. Basically
the rest of these songs are different takes of the commercial song. If you don’t have a good
copy of Scream Thy Last Scream or Vegetable Man already, get this CD. A delectible
buy for the Barrett fan.

Tracks 1-7, 12-16: Sup-,
Tracks 8-9: Ex-,
Track 10: G+,
Tracks 11 & 17 Sup+,
Track 14: G -FOOLBERT STURGEON

Just Before You Disappear is a step too fast (just listen to the vocals, he sounds like an
elf!)

Swan Lee (7) is NOT with Pink Floyd, it s just the backing track to the song from Opel

Silas Lang (3) seems to be the backing track of Swan Lee, but with jazzy music mixed in
from another source.

The version of IO on this CD is simply a different mix than the one on Piper. That version
is two different takes mixed together. This is one of the final mix takes combined with a
different one. It fades out early, which is unfortunate, but there are many noticeable
differences compared to the official release.