Pink Floyd Album: “1967: The First Three Singles”

With this single sampler, the spirit of the first Pink Floyd, led by Barrett, shines again. The 6 songs of the collector sound fresh and childlike, and at the same time are sometimes reflective of the late 60's English society and of the Floyd's early success (and the pressure that came with it). I would recommend it to Syd Barrett (the Floyd's first leader) fans, of course, as well as to anybody who know Pink Floyd's music a bit and want to know more about their psychedelic debuts in the London underground scene. Maybe you shouldn't begin to discover the Floyd's works with this one, though... NB the recording is mono, but the sound quality is perfect. The single sampler includes the first 3 singles of Pink Floyd and their B-sides, i.e. Arnold Layne, Candy and a currant bun, See Emily play, Scarecrow, Apples and oranges and Paintbox. All save one of these songs were previously available, either on Relics or Piper at the gates of dawn. This raises the important question:! the early singles have not all been released yet; Point me at the sky and It would be so nice have never been released outside the Shine on box set. When will EMI release all these singles on a single CD? Floyd fans all over the world are still waiting...

I picked up this cd while in the UK on vacation and it has easily become one of my favorites. "Candy and a Currant Bun" and "Apples and Oranges" are great rare songs that are worth the cost of this sampler CD alone. These plus mono editions of "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and more make this essential to anyone who likes early floyd.

First off, let me say that there is some damn good music on here. "See Emily Play" is possibly my favorite Floyd song, and "Arnold Layne" is also great. Hell, everything on here is good, although it's not the most mind-blowingly amazing thing I've ever heard. But what I think is most interesting about this is that you can hear what happened to Syd over the course of 1967. On the first single, "Arnold Layne"/"Candy and a Currant Bun", he's already very good. The second single, "See Emily Play"/"Scarecrow", shows him experimenting more and doing some really strange and interesting stuff. (The distorted piano solo in S.E.P. is a wonderful moment). But "Apples and Oranges," while a good song, is already beginning to sound like what he would do in the '70s after his breakdown--silly, jumpy melody, fragmented lyrics, etc. etc. When you get to the b-side, "Paintbox," it's a shock. After five tracks of Syd Barrett, we have a Richard Wright song, the first non-Barrett single and the first indication of Barrett's fading from the group. The style is vastly different, almost sounding like The Wall at times--but, unlike the Floyd's 70s stuff, it's very good... Perhaps an even more interesting CD is the "early singles" CD from some box set that I got off Ebay, which includes the '68 singles as well. There you can hear the quality steeply drop off after Barrett's leaving, from Wright's pretty good "It Would Be So Nice", to Waters' nice-but-sappy "Julia Dream", to the mildly-irritating "Point Me At the Sky", to the tedious original version of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene."

This is a fantastic CD- it's Pink Floyd's early singles. It's also impossible to find so if you're a fan and it's available, definitely get it. The songs are catchy, odd, witty, lyrical, a lot of fun and sound very different from the later work. These singles are more upbeat. The closest thing I can think of that's similar is some Pulp songs from Different Class. If you like Pink Floyd, you'll love this. It gives you a whole different view of the band, and will delight you for hours!

This is a must-have for any and all true fans of early Pink Floyd.Either get this or the actual full length hard-to-find 'Singles' CD.For those of you who might still think 'The Wall' was Floyd's second album(I've come across a few),you have plenty of great music to catch up on.Welcome,my friends!You get Floyd's first three 7" singles on this CD reissue,both A+B sides.Tracks that are sure to please are "Arnold Layne",the catchy "Scarecrow",the obscure but nicely penned "Apples And Oranges" and "Paintbox".How about the cover?Isn't it priceless?Highly recommended.