Record Collector magazine, a magazine that I have been buying since since the very early 90s when I saw a picture of there Syd Barrett line up on the front cover. I had only just bought ‘Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ and wanted to find out more about the band during the Barrett era. Anyway, Record Collector has always been a great resource for information on all sorts of artists. In an article from at least eight, if not ten years ago, it mentioned a number of acetates Pink Floyd had recorded before they adopted their famous name. Before they were the Floyd, they went by numerous monikers such as Sigma 6, The Meggadeaths, The Abdabs, The Screaming Abdabs, The Tea Set and then The Pink Floyd Sound. There would also be a number of members who would leave before the band found fame. These would include Juliette Gale, who would later marry Floyd keyboard player Rick Wright and a guitar player who went by the name of Rado Klose.
One acetate which contained the songs ‘Lucy Leave’ and I’m A King Bee’ would appear on bootlegs over the years, but the other two did not and it was only with the release of a vinyl EP going by the name ‘1965: Their First Recordings’ that fans finally got to hear them. These songs are nothing like the Floyd of ‘Arnold Layne’ or ‘See Emily Play’, but a more R&B/Blues based sound that was the rage at the time. These songs would also be released on the ‘The Early Years 1965-1972’ box set.
Whilst trawling through fan made Pink Floyd LP sleeves, I came across this sleeve. The photo includes Rado Klose (he is the chap on the left) and I think it was taken in the back garden of 39 Stanhope Gardens, Crouch End, where Roger Waters and Nick Mason lived at the time. I thought it would be a nice bonus to present this as an EP the band could have put out if they had signed a contract with Columbia earlier than they did in reality. After all of the other Pink Floyd bits and pieces that have been presented this month to include this one as well.
Side A
- Double O Bo
- Remember Me
Side B
- Walk With Me Sydney
- Butterfly
As I was at it, I thought I might as well make a picture sleeve for the other two tracks. ‘Lucy Leave’ and ‘I’m A King Bee’. I thought I would use the name the band were using at the time these tracks were recorded which was The Tea Set. If this were to have been made back in 1964/5 for a UK releases, it is possible that only the promo version would have had a picture sleeve like this. We in the UK didn’t seem to warrant picture sleeves back in the day. If we were on the continent though, they did produce picture sleeves so let’s pretend it comes from Germany.
Side A
Lucy Leave
Side B
I’m A King Bee
As was mentioned earlier, I found this cover online but I did not make a note of who made it. The same with the ‘Lucy Leave’ single which was adapted from someone else work. Thanks whoever you are. Good job on both fronts. I was also surprised to find all of these songs on Spotify.