Pictured above: The Beach Boys in the studio, 1967
With recording of SMiLE almost complete on May 18th, 1967, The Beach Boys end up returning to California for final overdubs and mixing.
"Recording in the UK was actually very fun. I got to see Paul (McCartney) a lot which was nice, we kept trading song ideas. I hope I'm able to work on something with him eventually."
- Brian Wilson, 1975
SMiLE was released on June 12th, 1967. Thanks to Merseyside Summers and other musicians already paving the way for the psychedelic movement in music, the album did much better than it's predecessor, Pet Sounds.
SMiLE
Side A
- 01. Heroes and Villains (4:23) [1]
- 02. Vega-Tables (3:43) [1]
- 03. Do You Like Worms? (3:44) [1]
- 04. Child is Father of The Man (2:58) [1]
- 05. The Old Master Painter (1:55) [1]
- 06. Cabin Essence (3:30) [1]
Side B
- 07. Good Vibrations (3:37) [1]
- 08. Wonderful (2:03) [1]
- 09. I'm In Great Shape (2:48) [1]
- 10. Wind Chimes (2:26) [1]
- 11. The Elements (3:37) [1]
- 12. Surf's Up (5:21) [1]
Released: June 12th, 1967
Track sources:
Pictured above: Pink Floyd, 1967
After the release of A Seat at the Tea Set, Pink Floyd (having recently dropped "The" from their name), started work on recording their sophomore effort called at the time Projection. The songs recorded consisted of essentially two types, lengthy instrumental jams and shorter, for the most part, lyrical songs written by guitarist Syd Barrett (along with one song written by bassist Roger Waters). The album had many unique types of studio experimentation, from unique instruments to great use of reverb and making great use of stereo mixing (most apparent in the re-recording of the song Interstellar Overdrive).
One notable event during recording was Syd Barrett, hearing that The Beatles were recording a new album in Studio Two, visiting them as they worked on the re-recording of Penny Lane.
"So Paul (McCartney) and George (Martin) were busy working on Penny Lane when I saw this guy walk into the studio. He didn't really do or say anything, he was just watching in the corner. Now it wasn't unusual for people to come and go into the studio, but there was something about that guy. He seemed a bit off to be entirely honest. But I wasn't really doing anything else, so I decided to start conversation with him. Next thing I know we were on the rooftop doing Lysergic and just messing around... that's basically how I met Syd."
- John Lennon, 1976
Despite being 5 years older than Barrett and arguably one of the biggest musicians at the time, John Lennon was quick to make friends with the young Floydian, often keeping in touch with each other with the occasional LSD-consumed meetup.
As Projection was nearing it's the conclusion of recording, with it already having been renamed to The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, on May 12th Pink Floyd hosted and performed in a concert called Games for May which was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
The album was intended to be released on the ELP, however EMI executives, still not fully on board with the new technology, found a compromise: the album would be released both on ELP and vinyl, with the vinyl version cutting the songs See Emily Play (which was later released as a single on June 12th), Nick's Boogie and Reaction in G.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was released on August 4th, 1967, reaching #5 in the UK Charts.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
- 01. Astronomy Domine (4:12) [1]
- 02. See Emily Play (2:54) [2]
- 03. Nick Boogie (11:43) [3]
- 04. Lucifer Sam (3:07) [1]
- 05. Matilda Mother (3:08) [1]
- 06. Flaming (2:46) [1]
- 07. Reaction in G (7:08) [4]
- 08. Pow R. Toc H. (4:26) [1]
- 09. Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk (3:06) [1]
- 10. Interstellar Overdrive (9:40) [1]
- 11. The Gnome (2:13) [1]
- 12. Chapter 24 (3:42) [1]
- 13. Scarecrow (2:11) [1]
- 14. Bike (3:23) [1]
Released: August 4th, 1967
Track sources:
[1] - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967
[2] - 1965-1967 Cambridge St/ation, 2016
[3] - A Tree Full of Secrets, 1999 - Bootleg, CD 9
[4] - 1967-1972 Continu/ation, 2016 - Crowd cheering edited out
These albums are terrific! Love the artwork and creative track listings! I feel that the Merseyside Summers ending would be rather sad, maybe Billy commits suicide and his death is the final "BANG!" at the end of "A Day In The Life". That would make for a slightly less magical Sgt. Pepper equivalent, wonder what they would do to this TL's Summer Of Love! But anyway, keep up the great work, I'm loving it! :)
ReplyDeleteYou see, the thing about Merseyside Summers is that some aspects are pretty ambiguous, so it's really up to you to fill in the blanks
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