Pink Floyd
‘Riding The Cow’
Cow Palace, San Francisco, California
April 13th 1975
Fillmore East, New York, NY
September 27th 1970
Godfather Records (G.R.) 515 / 516 / 517
Silver CD > FLAC
TRACK LISTING
DISC 1
- Raving and Drooling
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I – V)
- Have A Cigar
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI – IX)
DISC 2
- Speak To Me
- Breathe
- On The Run
- Time (Breathe Reprise)
- The Great Gig In The Sky
- Money
- Us And Them
- Any COlour You Like
- Brain Damage
- Eclipse
DISC 3
- Echoes
- Astronomy DominÈ
- Green is the Colour
- Careful With That Axe, Eugene
- Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
- Fat Old Sun
Notes included with Silver CD
Pink Floyd went back in the studio at the beginning of 1975 to work on a new album; some songs had already been played during the tours of France and England during the second half of 1974 (it wasn’t uncommon for Floyd’s to play new songs live to developm them, before developing them, bfore commiting them to vinyl), but work in studio was going slow, so the band decided to fly overseas for a short 13 date tour – both to take advantage of the hige success of “Dark Side”
and to improve new songs.
The first date pf the tour was in Vancouver, Canda, followed by Seattle, Washington, and San Francisco, California. The latter concerts took place on April 12th and 13th at one of the most famous venues in the USA at the time; the 15,000 seat Cow Palace, which is still in operation to this day.
The setlist was the same for all shows of this tour, with the new songs played during the first part of the show (including the recently composed “Have A Cigar”, sandwiched bwtween “Shine On…Pts 1 – 5” and “Shine On…6 – 9”), and the entire “Dark Side” suite taking up the second half. The encore was a 20 minute long rendition of “Echoes”, featuring Dick Parry’s sax in a great capacity.
By 1975. Floyd shows were consistently selling out far in advance, and fans grew increasingly enthusiastic (despite critics holding opposing opinions), mostly due to the the success of “Dark Side”. For the very first time, US fans witnessed Mr. Screeen, the giant mirror ball, and a flying airplane that crashed into the arena, along with the trademark Quadrophonic audio system from previous tours.
All this is a prelude to what was to come on the following years; tonnes of equipment, fleets of trucks and an army of crew members tending to every single logistic issue. The tour will end with a 6 night residency at the L.A. Sports Arena.
The shows at the “Cow Palace” were fantastic and represented a band taht was free to express all its creative potential – this was one of the last tours before grudges developed within the band. and thus Floyd were “firing on all cylinders” musically. Prior to this CD release, there was only a double vinyl bootleg entitled “Prism” (although it didn’t include “Echoes”) – one of the most sought after items on the collectors’ market, so it is with great honour that we present to
you these recordings.
Pink Floyd includes lead guitarist Dave Gilmour, Roger Waters (Bass), Rick Wright (Keyboards) and Nick Mason (Drums). The group’s equipment handlers and their equipment shown on some of the publicity photos of Pink Floyd; it’s appropriate, because the massive amount of sound equipment and the way it is utilized are very much
a part of the group’s performance. The conductor for the piece, “The Atomic Heart Mother” is Peter Phillips.
Pink Floyd were extremely active during 1970 as they were almost always touring, or striving to complete the recording sessions for “Atom Heart Mother”, often hurried by the record company who wanted to capitalize on the growing fame of the band.
In Europe, they played quite a few shows in England (often premiering new material), but they played many dates in France, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. The band also found time to tour America twice: first, from April 9th to May 16th (18 shows), and secondly from September 26th to October 25th (19) shows.
One of the shows during this second leg was held at the famous Fillmore East venue in New York on September 27th (reprising Floyd’s April 9th and 16th appearances during the first leg). The Fillmore East was the twin of the other club owned by the famous promoter Bill Graham, the Fillmore West – located on the Pacific Coast in
San Francisco.
The Fillmore East (also known as the “Village Theatre”) opened in March of 1968, had a capacity of 2,700 seats, and was immediately named “The Church Of Rock ‘N Roll”. Bands typically were required to play twice during the same day (usualyy at 6PM and again at 9PM). The double feature of Floyd was based around the same setlist, with “Atom Heart Mother”, including horn section and choir as an encore.
Pink Floyd would release the “Atom Heart Mother” album on October 10th, 1970 and it subsequebtky topped the UK charts but strangely, despite the bands growing popularity, it would reach in the USA on #55 – and only went gold in 1994! The Floyd shows at the “Fillmore West” are far more known and bootlegged, but this show is a lot kore intiguing and important, and released now for the very first time. Although 2 tracks are missing, it’s an essential document of
this musical era.
Very nice example of these somewhat rare recordings – highly soght after.
Recommended.
themidnightcafe.org 