Nick Mason resurrects early Pink Floyd | Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets live

  • I never did get to listen to the early years box set but I do love the Barrett era of Floyd. I don't think those early years are so much underappreciated as overlooked. Or maybe people just prefer to avoid listening to music made by a man whose mental health is clearly in steady decline.


    I find the Barrett era of Floyd (and the albums he made afterwards) to be magical, funny, scary and, ultimately, quite upsetting. We had Dark Globe on in the car the other day and my wife and I just looked at each other, gave a heavy sigh and cried a little.


    As for Nick, though, personally I'm just happy to see the Floyd men still active.

  • I never did get to listen to the early years box set but I do love the Barrett era of Floyd. I don't think those early years are so much underappreciated as overlooked. Or maybe people just prefer to avoid listening to music made by a man whose mental health is clearly in steady decline.


    I find the Barrett era of Floyd (and the albums he made afterwards) to be magical, funny, scary and, ultimately, quite upsetting. We had Dark Globe on in the car the other day and my wife and I just looked at each other, gave a heavy sigh and cried a little.


    As for Nick, though, personally I'm just happy to see the Floyd men still active.

    The era I meant by "underappreciated" was the era after Syd's departure but before "Meddle" - the Syd era, though quite brief, was always pretty well-regarded.


    Yes - I'm happy Nick is doing this. I know some PF fans who like this era the most.


    (Yes, poor Syd - I wish he had experimented a little less back in the day. It's clear he was very imaginative and very creative - starting from that state of mind, dabbling in psychedelics is always going to be a risky proposition.)

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

  • Ah, I see what you mean. My apologies. I agree, that middling period from More to Atom Heart Mother does rank as the least appreciated era of the band. And I'm guilty of that lack of appreciation because I don't really like those albums at all!

  • Ah, I see what you mean. My apologies. I agree, that middling period from More to Atom Heart Mother does rank as the least appreciated era of the band. And I'm guilty of that lack of appreciation because I don't really like those albums at all!

    That era really is a mixed bag. I was glad to get the 2CD "best of" of the massive early years set - there are some very good songs on it. However, I agree - overall, a smattering of good songs among some very odd ones...

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  • RPWL released a live early Pink Floyd tribute album called RPWL Plays Pink Floyd, and it sounds, IMHO, even better than Pink Floyd. I've been to numerous Pink Floyd concerts and was blown away most every time. Nowadays, there are countless Floyd trib bands that will knock your socks off. I'm a huge fan of all the albums starting with Meddle thru Momentary Lapse Of Reason. Saw them for the Division Bell tour and was somewhat disappointed.

  • Oh, I loved the Division Bell album and tour. I remember the BBC screening one of the shows 'live' and a bunch of friends and I made it a big social occasion and watched it (one of our friends was actually there so it was quite something to be watching it, knowing he was in the crowd somewhere). If you haven't already, check out this site: http://yeeshkul.com/forum/forum.php they've got a lot of bootlegs from the Division Bell tour; maybe you'll find one that changes your mind.

  • Oh, I loved the Division Bell album and tour. I remember the BBC screening one of the shows 'live' and a bunch of friends and I made it a big social occasion and watched it (one of our friends was actually there so it was quite something to be watching it, knowing he was in the crowd somewhere). If you haven't already, check out this site: http://yeeshkul.com/forum/forum.php they've got a lot of bootlegs from the Division Bell tour; maybe you'll find one that changes your mind.

    I concur on "The Division Bell" album and tour - I loved them! :thumbup:

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

    Edited once, last by OneForTheVine ().

  • When I read the first post in this thread I honestly thought it was just an April Fool that had been bouncing around for too long... How did I miss this?! I hope they play some more gigs!


    I can definitely understand why Mason wanted to play some of the old stuff. They were a very exciting band back then, particularly live as far as I can tell, and very different to the band that emerged out of Dark Side.

    Was it you or was it me? Or was it he, or she?

  • The whole Obscured by Clouds/More period of the band is a little overlooked. Even Atom Heart Mother & Umma Gumma didn't catch my ear until much later on. I guess I'm still fairly lukewarm on those albums. Meddle was the first stand out album after that IMO, beyond that they were consistently brilliant. Animals remains my favourite Floyd album of all time, but DSOTM and WYWH are both masterpieces.


    I only got to see them once; on The Divison Bell tour at Earls Court. I remember they opened with Astronomy Domine wich was a surprise. We were in the cheap seats, for wich they even issued binnoculars! Fantastaic show though.

  • I wonder if he chose to do this because he felt this era of the band was underappreciated, or in honor of the early years box set, or both.


    Any ideas?

    When I learned about this tour, I was reminded of an old interview I read from around the Dark Side era in which Nick spoke quite fondly of Saucerful of Secrets, saying it was an album that he could put on and still enjoy listening to in the comfort of his own home.

    Perhaps that's not too surprising if you consider there are a couple of instrumental passages where he is prominently featured, especially the title track.

  • I’m a fan of all eras of Pink Floyd, but I have to say I like the Barrett era the least. The reasons are: 1) I don’t like Barrett’s voice, 2) some of the songs are too quirky and simplistic for my taste.


    On the other hand I really love the 1968–1972 era, which I find has been unfairly overlooked, obviously due to the monumental success starting with Dark Side. Thus I was very happy with the early years box set which I bought instantly. I often listen to bootlegs from especially this era and find them more interesting than the studio albums. They did a lot of improvisations and rearrangements of songs, which means you can follow the development of a song over the months and years. For instance, there are multiple quite different live versions of „Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun“, „A Saucerful Of Secrets“, „Careful With That Axe, Eugene“, „Astronomy Domine“, and „Interstellar Overdrive“, which make the studio versions somewhat pale by comparison.


    When I heard about Nick’s concerts I initially got the impression they would play Barrett era songs, but then I realized the set list has the same scope as the box set, which makes it much more interesting for me.


    Set lists may be found at http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/…ason-s-sos-2018/index.php

  • ... I really love the 1968–1972 era ... I often listen to bootlegs from especially this era and find them more interesting than the studio albums. ...

    Totally agree. For me, especially 69-70 when they were playing tracks like "Cymbaline," "Green Is The Colour" and various songs from AHM.


    Once they started touring Dark Side, they seemed more focused on their visuals and less with on-stage improvisation, though they did do some interesting versions of “On The Run” leading up to the release of that album.

  • I think Atom Heart Mother and Meddle are excellent albums. It's a pity Obscured by Clouds doesn't pack more punch because then I'd have an unbroken 8 album sequence from AHM through to the Final Cut.

  • I hope Nick comes to North America for some shows - I'd catch them in a heartbeat!

    ...and he is coming!


    I got tickets to the first Beacon Theater show in NYC and the one just announced in Philly two days later at the new venue, The Met. (It looks beautiful in pictures on-line; it opens officially next month.)



    All info here:


    http://thesaucerfulofsecrets.com/

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    • Official Post

    I'm looking forward to seeing the show this summer at the Loreley / Night Of The Prog Festival here in Germany!


    https://www.facebook.com/NightOfTheProg/

    https://www.nightoftheprogfestival.com/

    cheers

    Christian


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  • Christian

    Changed the title of the thread from “Nick Mason resurrects early Pink Floyd” to “Nick Mason resurrects early Pink Floyd | Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets live”.
  • The shows I saw were excellent (reviews in a different thread) - they are now back in the UK and imminently in Europe.


    Has anyone seen any of the UK shows?

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...