The Squire Presents

Happy New Year everyone. If I thought that Blood Records went into overdrive in 2021, then 2022 was something else. Last year, the label put out 57 records which is just five les than their entire output before then. It also means that this years sampler is going to be split over two separate releases with the first being a triple album and the second being a double. As with previous years, I have included one song from each of these albums. 

Due to the amount of releases this year and the likelihood of next year being about the same, if not more, this will be the last set of Blood Records samplers I will be producing. I am beginning to run out of space in the record room. 

The sleeve is one of the Blood Records logos taken from their Facebook page. 

Side A

1. Free To Be Lost – Calva Louise
2. Roman Holiday – Fontaines D.C.
3. They Sing At Night – Sundowners
4. Under The Radar – Foals
5. You Thought I Was Dead – Holy Youth Movement
6. More Pressure – Kat Tempest (feat. Kevin Abstract)

Side B

1. The Grass – Michael Head & The Res Elastic Band
2. Every Window Is A Mirror – Joywave
3. Mecca – Nick Mulvey
4. Moscow Rules – Liam Gallagher
5. Throw Myself Away – Girl
6. Short Ballad – The Coral

Side C

1. If We Get Caught – Bloc Party
2. All the Time – Fatherson
3. I Can’t Drive – Crawlers
4. Hand Of God – Gang Of Youths
5. New Ways – Bear’s Den

Side D

1. Cold Sweats – The Royston Club
2. Payday – Yard Act
3. Glow – Fickle Friends
4. Sick – Sea Girls
5. Get Better – alt-J

Side E

1. Gold Rush Kid – George Ezra
2. Always Ascending – Franz Ferdinand
3. Don’t Let It Get You Down – Miles Kane
4. Sunset – The Feens
5. Surfacing – Larry Pink The Human

Side F

1. Bad Summer – Spector
2. Come Over (Again) – Crawlers
3. If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You – The Wombats
4. Visions – Blossoms
5. Memento Mori (Live) – Architects

This playlist could not be reproduced as Spotify did not have all of the songs on its platform.

A year ago, I posted a collection of what could only be described as, not the best Christmas records that have ever been made. One of the songs on that collection was ‘All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle’ by British actress, Dora Bryan. I knew that there were a number of Beatles related novelty records and I wondered if there was enough to make an LP full of ones with a Christmas theme. To my surprise, there is. 

Even though The Beatles released their first single in 1962, it was in the following year that their popularity skyrocketed with the term Beatlemania being coined in October of 1963 to describe the hysteria the band caused where ever they went. It was in this year that the first Christmas Beatle themed record was released with the aforementioned Dora Bryan. What I find quite surprising, is this is the only one from that year I could find. 1964 would be different matter all together with every other song from this collection coming from that year, with the majority coming from North America. 

The Beatles had not had the best of starts in North America. British artists before them had had some chart success in the U.S., but not that much. Capitol, EMI’s label in the U.S. initially refused the release Beatle records so Vee-Jay, one of the first African-American owned labels were offered a chance to release the bands records. The records did not sell particularly well to begin with but this was about to change. 

The Beatles themselves came to North American when they made a short visit in early 1964, but word of their music and style had been reported in the US press from late 1963. Their single, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was a radio hit before being released three weeks early than initially planned (by a now on board Capitol) and Vee-Jay started to see the benefit of their deal because the songs they had the licenses for started selling in huge quantities. With an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show and a US tour, it was no surprise that 1964 was also the year where a good many people though that releasing a Beatles themed Christmas record was a sure fire way of achieving massive sales and profits. As it turns out, none of these made much of a dent in the charts with the record being public more keen on the real thing. 

What of the song themselves. For some reason, and this is true of non Christmas related Beatles songs,  Ringo is defiantly the most popular Beatle. He is the only member of the band mentioned by name in any of the titles. It also seems to be a case of finding anything to rhyme with Ringo. For example, there was bingo, by jingo, thingo etc. According to Gerry Ferrier, Ringo also became the name of one of Santa’s reindeer due to not having antlers, but Beatle hair. John might not have been such a popular choice as news that he was married (and with a son) had already became known after initially being kept secret. I’m not sure why the other two aren’t mentioned much. Considering these songs were written in isolation, there is quite a number who share the same title. There are also plenty of references to holding Beatle hands as well.

After 1964, it seems that the time of wanting a Beatle for Christmas had passed. There weren’t any Beatles Christmas related novelty songs from 1965 onwards, unless you know any better. Was it that the bands audience were growing up? Was it down to the image of the band changing, in no small part to the music they were making becoming more mature? Whatever the reason, this is a fascinating snapshot of a time when Beatlemania ruled the world. 

Side A

1. All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle – Dora Bryan
2. I Want A Beatle For Christmas – Patty Surbey
3. Santa Bring Me Ringo – Christina Hunter
4. Ringo Deer – Garry Ferrier
5. Ringo Bells – Three Blonde Mice
6. Santa Bring Me Ringo – Tich

Side B

1. I Want A Beatle For Christmas – Becky Lee Beck
2. Bring Me A Beatle For Christmas – Cindy Rella
3. Bring Me The Beatles For Christmas – Jackie & Jill
4. I Want A Beatle For Christmas – The Fans
5. Christmas With The Beatles – Judy & The Duets

The cover image was taken from a Pinterist post by Nanna, and is based on the Beatles cartoon that ran on US TV between 1965 to 1967. I also included the VJ Records logo because if this had been released back in the 1960’s, I am sure they would have been the company who would want to cash in after losing their cash cow not long after gaining it. 

A massive thanks to Darryl Bullock for his help in putting this compilation together. Check out his rather fine website dedicated to the wonderful world of bad records. https://worldsworstrecords.blogspot.com/

When it comes to the Bee Gee’s 60s catalogue, it has been well served with re-releases in both mono and stereo versions along with alternative mixes and unreleased tracks. A number of these had a Christmas theme so I have put them together as an EP that the band could have released in 1968 instead of the single ‘I Started A Joke’.

The opening song is All My Christmases (Came At Once) which the Gibb brothers had given to The Majority to be used in the film ‘The Mini Mob’, or ‘The Mini Affair’ depending on which market you are looking at. The next two songs were both recorded for a Christmas themed television show called ‘How On Earth’, that was filmed at Liverpool Cathedral. We finish up with a demo of a 1968 song called ‘Come Some Christmas Eve Our Halloween’, which might not have the most festive of lyrics by Robin Gibb, but he would come back to this song for his festive album ’My Favourite Christmas Carols’ in 2006. 

Side A

1. All My Christmas (Came At Once)
2. Medley – Hark The Herald Angels Sing/Silent Night

Side B

1. Thank You For Christmas
2. Come Some Christmas Eve Or Halloween

I could not find a Christmas picture of the group from the late 60s, so I adapted the cover of an unofficial album that shows them performing in a studio. Not very festive, but it does look good. 

Following on from our look at The Bee Gees album that never was in our last post, we are now going to have a look at what Robin did in his first attempt at a solo career. Initially, Robin’s solo career started with a bang with his first song ‘Saved By The Bell’ making number 2 in the UK singles charts. This single is thought to be one of the first to have been a hit with a drum machine on it. The drum machine sound might have been something new in 1969, but it has dated the recording on which it was used. After this impressive start, the momentum was lost. ‘One Million Years’, the follow up single was a minor hit and the parent album which was called ‘Robin’s Reign’ did some good business in Germany and Canada but failed to chart in the rest of the world. Unperturbed, Robin continued to record as a solo artist even though he did admit that at this stage he missed the camaraderie of working with his brothers. 

The songs on these sessions dispersed with the drum machine and for the most part included orchestral arrangements to flush out the sound. Were these songs meant for a second album? Robin himself was unsure and hinted that he was not really trying to be a solo artist, but doing something to bide the time. The production on these songs would say otherwise considering Robin is backed up with what sounds like a full orchestra. As it was, none of these recording saw the light of day until 2015 when the ‘Saved By The Bell’ compilation was released, which was a collection of Robin Gibb’s solo work between 1968 and 1970. If only the solo works of Maurice and Barry would get this sort of treatment. This second album has been given the name ‘Sing Slowly Sisters’ down the years and using the material included on the aforementioned release, I have put together what could have been his second album, especially if Barry and Maurice had continued to release material as The Bee Gees*. In reality, by June of 1970, he and Maurice were back in the studio and by August, Barry had joined them reuniting The Bee Gees who would keep recording until Maurice passed away in 2003.

Side A

1. Engines Aeroplanes
2. I’ve Been Hurt
3. Return To Austria
4. Everything Is How You See Me
5. The Flag I Flew
6. Anywhere I Hang My Hat
7. Life

Side B

1. Sing Slowly Sisters
2. Loud & Clear
3. C’est La Vie, Au Revoir
4. Irons On The Fire
5. It’s Only Make Believe
6. All’s Well That End’s Well

Single

1. Great Caesars Ghost
2. Sky West & Crooked

‘Great Caesars Ghost’ was talked about as being a single at the time, so if we were to continue with the time line of the second LP, why not have a single to go with it. ‘Sky West & Crooked’ was included as the B-Side because it sounds more like a demo and not the finished, orchestrated material that made up the rest of the album. It just sounded too out of place to be on the album but too good to be forgotten about completley. The front cover of the LP is taken from ‘I Design Album Covers’ website (https://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com). 

*See the previous entry for further information. 

The career of The Bee Gees can be broken down into a number of distinct eras. 

1. There is the pre-fame period. They started playing in bands in 1955 when Barry was nine and the twins Maurice & Robin being six whilst they lived in Manchester, UK. They moved to Australia in 1958 and started their recording career in 1963. They would continue to record in Australia with some success until 1966 when they decided to relocate back the UK.
2. 1967 – 1969 and the first brush with fame. They also were a proper band at this time with the addition of drummer Colin Petersen and guitar player Vince Melouney. 
3. 1970 – 1974. The wilderness years and the first solo projects.
4. 1975 -1979. The disco behemoth. 
5. 1980 – 1986. More solo records and outside projects. 
6. 1987 onwards. A return to the top and becoming a heritage act. 

Thinking about it, it amazing how similar in trajectory The Bee Gees career to Fleetwood Mac, especially from 1967 to 1979. Anyway, in this months artists showcase we are going to look at the period between the 1969 and 1970 when The Bee Gees fragmented from a quintet to a duo, and then to nothing at all before reforming with just the Gibb Brothers and hired hands. 

Vince Melouney was the first to go, leaving the group because he wanted to play more blues orientated music than the brothers were producing at the time. Melouney does hold the distinction of being the only non Gibb to have a song on a post 1967 Bee Gees album. His parting was on good terms but not all was well within the Bee Gee camp. Matters came to a head after the release of the ‘Odessa’ album. The only single released from this LP was Barry’s ‘First Of May’. Robin felt that his song ‘Lamplight’ should have been chosen instead but had been relegated to the B-Side of the aforementioned ‘First of May’. Robin feeling that their manager Robert Stigwood was pushing Barry towards being the frontman of the group decided to leave the group and strike out on his own. 

Barry & Maurice soldiered on as The Bee Gees and even showed a doctors note for nervous exhaustion on the ‘Happening For Lulu’ show to explain Robin’s absence. Barry & Maurice decided to produce a film and album under the name of ‘Cucumber Castle’, which had been a song on their 1967 ‘1st’ album. The film consists of Barry and Maurice playing two Princess who have their father’s Kingdom divided up so one if the King of Cucumber, and the other is the King of Jelly. The plot , if it can be described as one, is non sensical. It is essentially a mix of sketches with a curious mix of Medieval imagery combined with scenes with guns that are not exactly from the Middle Ages. The cast includes Frankie Howard, Vincent Price and Spike Milligan. 

These sketches were interspersed with musical numbers from not only The Bee Gees themselves (which on the whole are excellent), but Lulu (who covers Simon & Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson whilst cleaning the castle) and live footage of Blind Faith from their gig in Hyde Park in 1969. That footage is not Medieval at all either. The film was screen on 26th December 1970 by which time, both Blind Faith and The Bee Gees had split up with the latter actually having the time to reform. This did receive a limited release on VHS back in the day but has not seen the light since. It has also been described as one of the rarest VHS releases of all time. 

You can actually watch the whole thing here, as long as it hasn’t been blocked on removed from YouTube. Apart form the music, it is pretty bad. You have been warned. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL5P1pgDwU8

On the music front, both Barry and Maurice well very busy. There was even talk of replacing Robin with a singer called Peter Mason. Though he may have helped on the recording of the song ‘Don’t Forget To Remember’, Mason did not end up as a Bee Gee with one theory stating that Stigwood was against the idea as he was hoping the three Gibb Brothers would reunite. Barry would also do some production work for P.P. Arnold with Maurice working with Australian band Tin Tin. These bouts of production would be fitted in work on the next Bee Gees album. Recordings on the ‘Cucumber Castle’  concluded in October 1969 but would not see the light of day until April the following year. You would think that an album by a major recording artist of the late 60’s would want their album out in time for the Christmas market, but this did not happen because on 1st December 1969, Barry announced he was leaving the Bee Gee’s. 

Maurice and Barry would start the new decade recording material for solo albums with both releasing singles. Barry with ‘I’ll Kiss Your Memory’ and Maurice with ‘The Loner’. With Robin also making recordings as a solo artist, 1970 look like a year of Bee Gees overkill. As it was, neither Maurice’s or Barry’s solo records appeared. In June, Maurice and Robin started to work together again and announced that they would reform as The Bee Gees, with or without Barry. Their elder brother came back into the fold and in November, they would release their ‘2 Years On’ album. 

But what if the ‘Cucumber Castle’ album had seen the light of day in December of 1969, and that Barry and Maurice decided to keep working as The Bee Gees? That would leave a gap in 1970 for another Bee Gees album to be released but what material would it consist of. Robin was still out of the picture at this point so we will have to use the songs that were recorded for the still unreleased solo records by Maurice and Barry. There was enough material from those solo recording to make two solo albums so reducing them down to one shouldn’t be too difficult should it?

Well, the production on the songs is as good as you would expect it to be. However, without the others contributing ideas, the songs themselves are not up to the standards you would expect from this period in the band’s career. They lack the spark and harmonies that having brothers singing together can bring. I have kept the songs from the two singles Maurice and Barry released separate from the album and what we have is a good album, but not a classic. It would have been obvious to all that if this had happened, the Gibb Brothers really needed each other to produce the classic material that they are known for. Apart from the singles, very few of these songs have seen the light of day. ‘One Bad Thing’ was covered by a few artists in 1971 and ‘The Loner’ was used in the film Bloomfield. 

Side A

1. Journey To The Misty Mountains (Maurice Gibb)
2. The Loner (Maurice Gibb)
3. Please Lock Me Away (Maurice Gibb)
4. The Day You Eyes Met Mine (Barry Gibb)
5. Happiness (Barry Gibb)
6. Silly Little Girl (Maurice Gibb)
7. I Just Wanna Take Care Of You (Barry Gibb)

Side B

1. One Bad Thing (Barry Gibb)
2. The Victim (Barry Gibb)
3. Peace In My Mind (Barry Gibb)
4. Mando Bay (Barry Gibb)
5. Soldier Johnny (Maurice Gibb)
6. She’s The One You Love (Maurice Gibb)

Singles

1. Railroad (Maurice Gibb)
2. I’ve Come Back (Maurice Gibb)

1. I’ll Kiss Your Memory (Barry Gibb)
2. This Time (Barry Gibb)

Finding a picture of the two man Bee Gees is not easy, so I took the picture sleeved for the Belgium edition of the I.O.I.O. single. I could edit out the title of the A-Side but the B-Side of Sweet Heart was a bit beyond my skills. The song may have appeared on the Cucumber Castle album, but this would not be the first time the Bee Gees took an album title from a song from a previous LP. I replaced the pink Polydor logo of the original release with the traditional red one, and the catalogue number was the one used by John Hunt at the ‘I Design Album Covers’ site for the unreleased solo albums these songs were taken from.  

As a side note, the ‘Cucumber Castle’ film and album would also be the last time drummer Colin Petersen was involved in a Bee Gees project. He was fired for not turning up to recording sessions and not taking an interest in filming, which is odd as Petersen had been a child actor. Petersen himself put it down the fact that he argued with Robert Stigwood over his role with the band. Stigwood not only managed the band but was their producer, the music publisher and owned the recordings.   

Well, we’ve already had one fake soundtrack album this month, so how about another. This one is taken from a film that has never been officially released because it is a fan edit of The Empire Strikes Back. Now, fan edits are a a curious beast. They are commercially released films that have been modified by an editor to add or remove scenes, re-order the film or even edit multiple films together to make something wholly original. 

One of my favourites as well as one of the most original was the fan edit of The Empire Strikes Back which was made to look as though it had been directed by Quentin Tarantino. That means it incorporates some of the tropes the director is famous for, such as telling the story in a non liner style, incorporating animation for some sequences and most importantly for us, the soundtrack was reworked. Gone is the classical score of John Williams. In its place is a mix of songs taken from Tarantino films, as well as some that were taken from his favoured era of the 60s and 70s. 

This edit is truly awesome and if you can find, I recommend you give it a watch. The soundtrack is also brilliant and that is why I was inspired to create a version of it. If you can find a copy of the film, it is well worth checking out. If you can’t just enjoy the awesome music that has been edited in. In fact, there was so much good stuff that I found that it needed to be a double to do the amount of good music justice. 

Side A

1. Space Oddity – David Bowie
2. Baby, It’s You – Smith
3. The Lonely Surfer – Jack Nitzche
4. Mind Power – James Brown

Side B

1. Run Fay Run – Isaac Hayes
2. Cissy Strut – The Meters
3. Down in Mexico – The Coasters
4. Summertime Killer – Luis Bacalov
5. Good Love, Bad Love – Eddie Floyd
6. Strawberry Letter 23 – Brothers Johnson
7. The Grand Duel (Parte Prima) – Luis Enrique Bacalov

Side C

1. A Silhouette Of Doom – Ennio Morricone
2. Slaughter – Billy Preston
3. Riot In Thunder Alley – Eddie Beram
4. The Last Race – Jack Nitzche
5. The Green Leaves Of Summer – Nick Perito
6. Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell
7. The Lonely Shepherd – Zamfir

Disc 4

1. I Can’t Sleep / They Can’t Touch Her (Betsey’s Theme) – Bernard Herrmann
2. Old Man – Neil Young
3. The Chase – Alan Reeves, Phil Steele & Philip Bringham
4. The Love You Save (May Be Your Own) – Joe Tex
5. Across 110th Street – Bobby Womack
6. The Ecstasy Of Gold – Ennio Morricone
7. The Flower Of Carnage – Meiko Kaji

The cover is an adaptation of one of the DVD sleeve that was produced for anyone who was able to download a copy and burn to a disc.

Remember, fan edits are not to be sold and only download them if you own the original film. 

As I have posted one alternative history LP for Pink Floyd this month, how about another. Zabriskie Point is a film that is most probably more famous for its soundtrack album than the film itself. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and produced by MGM, this was the movie studios attempt at a counter culture film which was thoroughly ignored by the people it was meant to appeal to. From a budget of $7million (not a small amount in the late 60s), the film grossed about $1million in return. It is noticeable for an appearance by a young Harrison Ford. Infamously, leading man Mark Frechette took part in a bank robbery three years after the film came out and died in prison from an accident with some weights. 

However, the soundtrack lived on as it included tracks by the Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope and songs unavailable anywhere else (at the time) from Pink Floyd. It was because of the Pink Floyd connection that I bought a vinyl copy of this record myself back in the dim distant past. Floyd had spent 1969 producing ‘Ummagumma’ and another soundtrack for the film ‘More’. They had done reasonably well with their LP sales, but this was the first year that the band had not released a single in the UK because, as Roger Waters once noted, without founder Syd Barrett, they just weren’t very good at it. It was because of a recording on their last single of the 1960s that Antonioni came a-calling. 

That recording was that single’s B-Side, ’Careful With That Axe, Eugene’. Antonioni was so impressed with the track that not only did he ask the band to re-record it (under the title of Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up) but to score the entire film. This the band did, but as has already been noted, the director decided against using the majority of their material for the film. This is a shame as there are some nice instrumental pieces here, as well as a couple of actual songs. Out of the actual songs, only ‘Crumbling Land’ made the soundtrack album as well as two instrumental pieces, ‘Heart Beat, Pig Meat’ and the aforementioned ‘Come in Number 51 (etc)’. The rest were consigned to the archive. 

What I have tried to do here is to present a soundtrack to Zabriskie Point that is made up of only Floyd music.

Love Scene – there were numerous version of this instrumental track, because Antonioni could not make up his mind what he wanted. Floyd produced at least seven variations, three of which have been included here. 

Aeroplane – one of many heavy rock pieces Floyd produced for the soundtrack. 

Unknown Song – initially released on the 1997 version of the soundtrack album, this contains melodies that were reused in ‘Atom Heart Mother’ as well as being a signal to what was to come from the band. The acoustic 12 string playing is reminiscent of ‘A Pillow of Winds’ from ‘Meddle. 

Crumbling Land – Pink Floyd do an Americana style song, which David Gilmour later noted, could have been performed better by any number of American bands. 

Auto Scene – A variation (and instrumental version) of ‘Country Song’. 

Heart Beat, Pig Meat – This would sometimes make an appearance with another Floyd project which never saw the light of day as an official released at the time. This was part of ‘The Man & The Journey’ under title of ‘Doing It’. 

The Riot Scene – Most probably the most famous un-released track from these sessions. this piano track was later taken from the archives, given some lyrics and called ‘Us & Them’. It would be included on the classic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ LP.

Country Song – the second song to contain lyrics, this would ultimately not appear in the film. 

Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up – The afore mentioned reworking of ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, this would take centre stage at the conclusion of the film. 

On The Highway – A shorter version of ‘Crumbling Land’

Side A

1. Love Scene (Version1)
2. Aeroplane
3. Unknown Song (Take 1)
4. Crumbling Land
5. Love Scene (Version 7)
6. Auto Scene (Version 2)

Side B

1. Heart Beat, Pig Meat
2. The Riot Scene
3. Love Scene (Version 4)
4. Country Song
5. Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up
6. On The Highway

This is not the best Pink Floyd album by any stretch of the imagination, but it still has its merits. It showcases the band as being able to tackle many genres as well as working to a schedule, something that would go out of the window after the success of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. I think there is a more constant feel to this album, compared to ‘More’ and the two vocal tracks (not including ‘On The Highway’ here) were really good. This though is a nice bridge between the first phase of Floyd and the beginnings of their soon to be world domination period. 

I do like a bit of Pink Floyd, especially in their more experimental days before ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ came out. They were bursting with ideas but they were struggling to find their sound. However, Pink Floyd entered 1969 in reasonable shape sales wise, but there was still some debate as to the direction the band would take. The band’s early material and their hits had been written by Syd Barrett, but due to reasons documented in numerous other places, he had left the band by April 1968. The band had already recruited Barrett’s friend David Gilmour to help take the heavy lifting of live work and so was already in place when Barrett left/was asked to leave. The bands second album, ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ had been released in June 1968 and was a mixed bag of psychedelic jams, first album outtakes, Barrett knock offs as well as one Barrett original. The album is, as drummer Nick Mason described it, a cross-fade between one era and the next. I’ve not seen a more apt description of that album anywhere else. 

With Barrett gone and the psychedelic era drawing to a close, the band were looking for a new direction. A way of keeping themselves busy as well as earning some money, the band took on commissions to write soundtracks. This included the films ‘Speak’ by John Latham, ‘More’ by Barbet Schroeder, ‘The Committee’ by Peter Sykes and there was some contributions to TV shows such as Tomorrows World. They would finish off the 60s by realising the half live, half studio album ‘Ummagumma’. 1969 was quite a productive year, but that does not mean that the music they were producing was as memorable as the work that had proceeded it or what was to come. This was a band treading water and wondering what to do next and listening to the studio set on ‘Ummagumma’ shows this. However, when listening to the material that band put out in 1969, I wondered if there was enough songs to make a stand alone album as a true follow up to ‘Saucerful of Secrets’. Well, this is what I came up.

All of the songs needed to come from the last months of 1968, which means that the ‘Point Me At The Sky’ single would still be part of this timeline. I changed the B-Side from ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’ to ‘Ibiza Bar’ from ‘More’. I quite like ‘Ibiza Bar’ as it borders on a hard rock sound Pink Floyd did not attempt very often. However, one of their other attempts was ‘The Nile Song’ from the same album was also in a similar style and sound very much alike as well. I did not like the idea of having two songs that sounded pretty much the same so I relegated one to a single B-Side. ‘Cirrus Minor’ also appeared on the ‘More’ and it could be argued that it is a strange choice as the opening track. It is a very mellow songs and not the bombastic here were are opening you’d expect on an album. It was the opening track on the original album and to my ears, this was the best place for it. I edited the introduction to ‘Grantchester Meadows’ over the end of ‘Cirrus Minor’ as we moved to a more folk orientated tune and it works quite nicely. We then get to ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, which is presented here in a stereo mix. The original single version was mono, but as this album would have been released in stereo only as all new Pink Floyd albums have been since 1969; that is the reason why this mix was included. This song was wasted on the B-Side of ‘Point Me At The Sky’. Side A finishes with ‘The Narrow Way (Part 3)’, the first Pink Floyd song with lyrics by Gilmour. Parts 1 & 2 were instrumental tracks and have been edited out, as they would have meant this side of the album would be too long. This record is meant to be more song based so having all of the instrumental noodling would detract from the record. 

Side B starts with a bang and the aforementioned ‘Nile Song’. We then go back to the more folky side of Floyd with the beautiful ‘Green Is The Colour’. The pace picks up again with ‘Biding My Time’ which was one of the few genuine Pink Floyd rarities to get an official release during the 70s, when the band put out the ‘Relics’ album. Cymbaline, one of the more beautiful songs from ‘More’ and like ‘Green Is The Colour’, was wasted on a soundtrack album. What follows is another rarity from the era in the form of the song ‘Embryo’. Only recorded as a demo in late 1968, it slipped out on the Harvest label sampler LP ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’. The song was never finished by the band but it did become a concert staple between 1970 and 71. We finish off with another song from ‘More’ with ‘Crying Song’. 

Playing through this compilation whilst writing this entry, it reminded me that even at this early stage, the band were capable of writing some quality material and this would have been a very good album, if a little eclectic with the amount of styles presented within the grooves. Granted, they were still trying to find the direction they were going to go in but this would have lead nicely into ‘Atom Heart Mother’, the studio album that followed in 1970. It was interesting to note that a lot of these songs were being performed by the band at this time as ‘The Man & The Journey’ show, which I also looked at back in April of 2022. 

Side A

1. Cirrus Minor – More
2. Granchester Meadows – Ummagumma
3. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Stereo Mix) – Relics
4. The Narrow Way (Part 3) – Ummagumma

Side B

1. The Nile Song – More
2. Green Is The Colour – More
3. Biding My Time – Relics
4. Cymbaline – More
5. Embryo – Picnic – A Breath Of Fresh Air
6. Crying Song – More

Single

1. Point Me At The Sky – Single A-Side
2. Ibiza Bar – More

The name of the album comes from the name given to some of the shows they played in 1969 which would also be known as ‘The Man & The Journey’. 

The cover has been adapted from https://www.reddit.com/r/pinkfloyd/comments/avlk6k/pink_floyd_the_man_and_the_journey_hypothetical/