Pink Floyd release 18 archival live albums from pre-‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ era
Pink Floyd have quietly uploaded 18 archival live albums from before the ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ era – as well as a five-song EP of “alternative tracks” from 1972 – to streaming services.
All 18 of the live albums are pulled from concert recordings over the year of 1972, when Pink Floyd were touring in support of their sixth and seventh albums – ‘Meddle’ (1971) and ‘Obscured By Clouds’ (1972), respectively – and, most notably, road-testing and refining songs from the following year’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ album.
Six of the concerts were tracked in the UK – the first at the Southampton Guildhall on January 23, 1972, then four back-to-back shows at London’s Rainbow Theatre over February 17-20, and finally another London show (this time at Empire Pool in Wembley) on October 21.
Elsewhere, three of the albums were tracked at shows that Pink Floyd played in the US (New York, Chicago and Los Angeles), another three come from shows in Japan, two each come from shows in France and Germany, and the last two come from the band’s respective shows in Belgium and Switzerland.
The full list of concerts now available to stream (in the order of their performance) is as follows:
1. ‘Live At Southampton Guildhall, UK, 23 January 1972’
2. ‘Live At Carnegie Hall, New York, 5 Feb 1972’
3. ‘Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London 17 February 1972’
4. ‘Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London 18 Feb 1972’
5. ‘Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London 19 Feb 1972’
6. ‘Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London 20 Feb 1972’
7. ‘Live At The Taiikukan, Tokyo, Japan, 3 Mar 1972’
8. ‘Live At Osaka Festival Hall, Japan, 8 Mar 1972’
9. ‘Live At Nakajima Sports Centre, Sapporo, Japan, 13 Mar 1972’
10. ‘Live At Chicago Auditorium Theatre, USA, 28 April 1972’
11. ‘Live At The Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany, 18 May 1972’
12. ‘Live At The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, 22 Sept 1972’
13. ‘Live At The Empire Pool, Wembley, London, 21 Oct 1972’
14. ‘Live At Ernst-Merck Halle, Hamburg, Germany, 12 Nov 1972’
15. ‘Live At The Palais des Sports, Poitiers, France 29 Nov 1972’
16. ‘Live At The Palais des Sports de L’Ile de la Jatte, Saint Ouen, France, 1 Dec 1972’
17. ‘Live At The Vorst Nationaal, Brussels, Belgium, 5 Dec 1972’
18. ‘Live At The Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland 9 Dec 72’
Meanwhile, the compilation EP – titled simply ‘Alternative Tracks 1972’ – comprises trance remixes of ‘Any Colour You Like’ and a mash-up of ‘Speak To Me’ and ‘Breathe (In The Air)’, a demo version of ‘On The Run’, and “ultra rare alternative versions” of ‘Us And Them’ and a reprisal mash-up of ‘Time’ and ‘Breathe (In The Air)’.
As with all of the aforementioned live albums, the EP features generic artwork of a coloured lens flare overlaid with “Pink Floyd” and the record’s title. All of the albums have their release dates logged as the respective concert’s show date (with ‘Alternative Tracks 1972’ dated to January 1 of that year), and were issued under the label ‘Pink Floyd Music Ltd’ under licence to Sony.
The band made a similar move exactly a year ago, uploading 12 rare concert recordings – spanning January of 1970 to November of 1971 – to streaming services on December 16, 2021. With these new 18 album going live this week, last year’s batch were deleted from the band’s streaming catalogue. It’s unknown if they plan to have these be similarly limited – none of the band’s members have spoken publicly about the release.
2022 has been a busy year for Pink Floyd, starting with the release of their Ukraine benefit single, ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’, back in April (with a subsequent CD and vinyl release). September then saw the long-awaited release of Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’ remaster, four years after it was first announced. A month prior, it was reported that Pink Floyd would be selling their back-catalogue for £400million.
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Ellie Robinson
NME
