The Beatles – The Beatles (1968)

After the death of their own manager, Brian Epstein, The Beatles began to fall apart. There were many reasons why this was so, but their manager’s passing began this process. Sadly, The Beatles struggled to be cohesive as musicians together from then on in.

This album was intended to be completely different from the previous two albums released in 1967. It sounds like it as well. Sadly, it is not the best album that The Beatles ever did. There are great moments here though, so let’s examine this album, track by track.

We begin with Back in the U.S.S.R. which is a comical story of sexual romping. It’s a controversial topic about loving Russian girls. Airplane sounds are everywhere, and some really great guitar playing is here. It’s an interesting piece to kick off an album with. Nice job by the group.

The next song, Dear Prudence, is a gentle acoustic driven piece by John Lennon. The harmonies here are just fantastic to hear on this song. A good effort here, worth a listen. Some great lyrics are here too.

Glass Onion is John Lennon referencing a load of songs done previously by The Beatles. It’s lyrically a weak effort, even though the melody and instrumentation beg to differ here. It’s okay a listen, perhaps alluding to Alice In Wonderland? It’s a good, not great song though. The outro is very discordant.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is truly a nonsensical piece from Paul McCartney. It’s difficult to tell what the meaning of this song is, although he sings about a family sort of situation. It hasn’t dated that well, but it’s enjoyable.

The short and random Wild Honey Pie is a great interlude in between songs. It sounds odd, as it is supposed to be. It’s over before you know it though.

The next song The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill is rather an uninspired story about which references Captain Marvel, and has kids singing in the background. It could have been reworked a bit, but it’s still listenable, despite it need some editing here.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps is a solid piece by George Harrison which features Eric Clapton playing a Gibson Les Paul. There is some story behind that. The song itself is actually very good, it’s a shining moment on the album. Good stuff.

Happiness Is A Warm Gun is a psychedelic piece with some additional twists and turns. It’s a good piece in terms of structure, and is a John Lennon classic. It talks about having a fix (of Heroin likely) and said warm gun, which is likely about love. A good listen.

The Paul McCartney piece Martha My Dear is lovely sounding. It’s a nice piece about a girl that Paul is singing about. A good song, even though it is familiar territory by The Beatles here. The orchestration in the background is a nice touch to the song.

The John Lennon piece I’m So Tired is about that particular feeling one gets when insomnia is experienced. It also refers to attempting to rectify a love based situation as well. It’s a better effort by John Lennon here on this album.

Blackbird is a great acoustic piece. It is so pure, simple and well done that it is a highlight of the album. You can hear foot tapping away in the background and the singing is fantastic here. A must listen. The bird chirping in the background is great too.

Piggies is a political song, if you know what it is about. It’s a good piece about the dog-eat-dog nature of Capitalism towards the rest of humanity. Hence the song title. It’s a really good listen. If you research this song on the internet, you’ll find something freaky about the history of this song.

The follow up Rocky Racoon is pretty ordinary. It sounds like a child’s story tale set to music, but seems a little weaker in relation to the other songs on the album. It just is disappointing in some respects. It’s still worth listening, but not by a great deal.

The Ringo Starr song Don’t Pass Me By is well written, but the fiddle is annoying and not really necessary. The rest of the song is decent but is fairly forgettable really. Goes on for too long as well.

Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? is filler. It could have been easily scrapped, but probably not really necessary. It’s a bit different to what the previous songs have been like, fortunately. Chugging piano and Paul’s singing drives this one on.

I Will is a refreshing break from the mediocrity of the previous few songs. It’s a nice love song about being devoted in love. This should be a great song for a good band to cover at some point. A nice, kind and gentle song.

The last song of side one, Julia, is a John Lennon ode to his own mother, who was tragically killed when he was younger. A nice and solid piece from John Lennon. Simply powerful here. The lyrics are fantastic for this song. Very, very good.

The song Birthday is an uptempo piece about the said topic. It’s better than lame Happy Birthday singing for sure, and is fast and pacing with some very good guitar work here. This puts us into a better listen so far on side two of this double album. Good work.

Yer Blues is supposed to be a blues parody. It does sound like a rather poor quality blues number here. It does have some great lyrics in the bridge, but once again, could be better done for sure. It’s a drag to listen to.

Mother Nature’s Son is a better effort and has some nice acoustic guitar and orchestrated accompaniment in the background. Foot tapping is here again as well. It’s a beautiful piece, one of the better ones on side two for sure. Paul McCartney does this very well here.

The weird song Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey is a random piece. It’s enjoyable, but rather trashy. It’s worth listening to anyway, but lyrically isn’t inspiring.

The song Sexy Sadie is a great sort of tale about said woman who John Lennon lusts after. Fictionally of course. It is actually well written and there is some great piano work here, which Radiohead were inspired to write Karma Police from. But that song is completely different to this one, it’s a nice number here.

Helter Skelter is a proto hard rock/heavy metal piece. It’s not quite that, but sounds fantastic compared to everything else on this double album. It just kicks ass. Everything about it, from Paul’s singing to the harmonies and drumming, is just spot on. A must listen for anyone who wants a reference point for heavier rock and roll. It’s an extended piece with many twists and turns. The ending is fantastic.

Long, Long, Long is a subdued piece compared to what was offered previously. It works very well here. It’s an acoustic and organ keyboard based number with very quiet and subtle singing. Maybe Miles Davis got the idea for his album In A Silent Way from here? But it’s a good listen. The ending is different, too.

The directly political Revolution 1 is an interesting one. It’s one of the highlights of the album, and has some very decent lyrics in it. “If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow,” is a great line, for example. It rocks very well, and is worth listening to for sure. Catchy too. It cautions about any sort of political revolutions of any sort, brilliant.

The next song Honey Pie is very much an old fashioned piece by Paul which harks back to pre-1960’s jazz and big band music. If you are a fan of this sort of thing, you may enjoy this one. It’s not outstanding, but still, it’s okay. The lyrics are very whimsical.

Savoy Truffle is a rather silly piece about food and the experience of different tasting desserts. It’s a foodie anthem that is quite catchy. Good work from George Harrison. The brass section here is great.

Cry Baby Cry is a nice childlike song with some psychedelic lyrics for us to hear. It refers to a medieval setting with kings, queens and other noble like characters. Simple and effectively done, the calm before the storm here.

The extended piece Revolution 9 is a weird one. It harks back to John Lennon’s experiments on his own experimental albums done around this time with Yoko Ono. It sounds like a strange LSD trip, and is not really necessary here. Sure, it is well pieced together. But it isn’t needed here at all. Only worth listening to once for most people here.

We finally finish here with the beautiful ballad Good Night. It’s a good way to finish off this album. It’s another childlike lullaby here. Good stuff.

This album is a big mish-mash of things. Unfortunately, it is not as good a listen as the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Abbey Road albums. Still worth having in your collection as a history based record, but even then, this could have been bettered.

7/10

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold As Love (1967)

After the release of Are You Experienced, Jimi Hendrix and his Experience band went to work to deliver the follow-up. It was also released in 1967 and confirmed Jimi Hendrix’s place in history. It’s perhaps not as strong as the first offering by the group but is still a great album. Let’s dive in and have a listen.

We begin with EXP is a blast of science fiction in musical terms. Science fiction was not very popular in movie culture until much later. This proves the forward thinking on the subject of U.F.Os by the group. An interesting intro.

It leads into Up From The Skies, which features a good wah-wah guitar part and some calm vocals by Jimi Hendrix. It proves the ability of the group to create a nice sounding and variable piece musically. It’s just chilled, which is great.

Spanish Castle Magic is a loud, raw and driven piece by the group. It features Jimi Hendrix playing a Mosrite guitar, as opposed to his typical Fender Stratocaster, which is unusual. Still, it works well and sounds great.

Wait Until Tomorrow tells a tale of lost love in an instant. The song is a great story like tale in this respect, but Hendrix sounds so optimistic about it all, it’s forgivable to cover a difficult subject. It’s a good piece by the group.

Next up is Ain’t No Telling. Even though this one is not as strong a piece as the other songs on the album, it sounds just really great. It references Cleopatra too. It’s really short, but good listening.

The next piece is legendary. Little Wing features excellent guitar work by Jimi Hendrix himself with some imaginative lyrics. It has been covered by a lot of artists from all genres, cementing its relevance, even today.

The centrepiece of this album follows. If 6 Was 9 speaks about being independent and doing one’s thing lyrically. It does this in such a Hendrix style way and is such an impressive statement from him. Great stuff from Jimi Hendrix. The instrumentation is just as good as the lyrics, both intertwine in importance. Brilliant.

You Got Me Floatin’ is a great pop piece by Jimi Hendrix. It’s short enough and catchy enough to make it onto the album. Although this album may seem not as impressive to others out there, it’s a solid number, even on its own. It demands listening.

Castles Made Of Sand is another short and sweet piece. It refers to the fact that nothing lasts forever. Despite all this, Jimi Hendrix’s great music is still popular today. It’s such well-done music that one listens to it and feels impressed by what is offered. The outro is superb.

The following song is sung by bassist Noel Redding. She’s So Fine does sound very good indeed, and references the hippies of the time and the strangeness of the lady spoken about. It’s a good piece with some great drumming as well from Mitch Mitchell. Not at all bad.

Back to Hendrix on vocals now arrives One Rainy Wish. It talks about dreaming and the perceptions of such dreams, talking in particular about golden roses. It’s a little weaker, but still a great song by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. This whole album is so consistent, even though it’s not Hendrix’s best. Well done.

Little Miss Lover has some funky like wah-wah guitar parts and a groove to match. It’s a good piece, and very poptastic. Not bad a sonic journey.

Axis: Bold As Love is the final and title track. It refers to an emotion that is often ignored by others. It’s not the most original Hendrix piece, but speaks directly about colours and relating them to emotions. An epic way to finish the album, and what a great listen we have heard.

This recording further cemented Jimi Hendrix’s place in rock history. Although he only made three official records during his short lifetime, his influence has lasted ever since he recorded these superb albums. Do yourself a favour and give this one a good listen. It’s so surreal and imaginative sounding that it is a wake-up call to all music lovers out there.

9/10

Nirvana – In Utero (1993)

Kurt Cobain was not in a good state of mind by 1993. He had struggled to cope with fame and heroin addiction as well. Plus, marrying Courtney Love wasn’t exactly a great move. He still had some great music in him though and unleashed this album in that year.

The album is a step closer to what Kurt Cobain wished to do musically. It’s a rawer and more unapologetic stance in comparison to Nevermind, with help from producer Steve Albini. Indeed, Kurt Cobain disliked Butch Vig’s production on Nevermind intensely and although this album was mixed for a more pop sort of audience, there is no doubt that the music here is a more uncompromising version of Nirvana than Nevermind ever was, especially lyrically. Perhaps the name and artwork of the album referred to his daughter being conceived, quite odd really.

We start off with Serve The Servants and we have Kurt sounding more distressed than ever. The band puts in a great performance here though, and there are plenty of distorted guitars here to boot.

The next song Scentless Apprentice is a heavy and distorted pop Grunge song to boot. It goes from slow to furious in a nanosecond. Dave Grohl really does well here on drums and keeps the groove going well.

Heart-Shaped Box is an indirect stab at Kurt’s wife Courtney Love and has some pretty freaky lyrics. Kurt’s guitar work sounds really good here and is the standout of this song. “Forever in debt to your priceless advice.” Sounds like a man who was not enjoying his life.

Rape Me is notoriously explicit. But it’s a catchy piece at that. Kurt insists he is not the only one who desires this feeling and is rather an odd concept to get your head around. It sounds a lot like Smells Like Teen Spirit in the intro, at least.

The next track Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle is a slower and more melodic song, but still sounds messed up Kurt Cobain style. It sounds not out of place on the album, however.

The following track Dumb is a mainly acoustic and cello piece where Kurt sings about comparing happiness to stupidity. It’s a strange notion, but one that has meaning behind it. A good and more mellow song nonetheless.

Very Ape is a rather throwaway song. Good thing it only lasts a couple of minutes. Interestingly, this song has the riff at the start that was used in The Prodigy’s Voodoo People track. It’s a rather odd Nirvana piece regardless.

Milk It goes from PiL style guitar parts in the quieter section, to a loud noisy roar in the main sections of it. Kurt wasn’t happy with himself at this point, “Look on the bright side is suicide.” and despite the negativity, it is good Grunge pop.

We come across another hit single. Pennyroyal Tea starts off with a mellow acoustic part before Kurt Cobain launches into music that tells the world about some of his various problems. Kurt wanted to lay everything bare here.

It goes deeper on the next piece Radio Friendly Unit Shifter and Kurt Cobain questions the reasons for his problems in life. He repeatedly asks, “What is wrong with me? What do I think? I think.” From a lyrical point of view, we know that Kurt Cobain was losing it mentally, amongst the great music here.

Tourette’s comes next and is a much more pacey punk song about nothing in particular. It has a great chord progression in it, however. It just kicks ass and changes the mood a little bit before the last track.

All Apologies finishes Kurt’s career, for the most part, with a musical suicide note. He questions everything that he stands for and leaves us sadly with this song. It’s a good epitaph for his musical life.

This album sold well, but not as much as Nevermind did. Sadly Kurt was in a state of mental decline at this point. His death by suicide left behind a musical legacy that should have been continued. Still, this album is a great if not dark listen to all rock fans out there. Much like Kurt’s idol Ian Curtis of Joy Division, suicide was seen as acceptable, sadly. It’s best to focus on the music instead, and this album is just awesome.

Nirvana fans should check out the re-releases and extra tracks put onto those remastered re-releases. It’s a great Grunge album for sure regardless.

8/10

Stone Sour – Stone Sour (2002)

Nu Metal is fairly recent a musical movement, hence the name. It is basically a modern day heavy metal movement with mega drop-tuned guitars and mainly percussive sounds. Bands like Korn come to most people’s minds with this genre, but don’t forget Stone Sour though. The band released this album after a long period on/off as a band in 2002, and no doubt was immediately seen as the up and coming of the Nu Metal movement. The group had already been prevalent in the metal scene for years, but this is a great effort which gave them recognition in the music world regardless. Notably, the group had some former members of Slipknot in their ranks.

So from the start, we have Get Inside. This album is really heavy straight up. Like, mega. The sound is immediate and cranked to full. It’s a great way to start your day if you enjoy really heavy metal music. The music is inspired by metal greats, such as Metallica. But it sounds far more demonic.

The next piece Orchids is groovetastic. This is a band of variety, compared to some thrash metal and death metal bands out there. It’s good to hear such inspiration, even in the heaviest of music. It goes into a quiet midsection, before returning to full volume to surprise you.

Cold Reader has some brilliant guitar work. One thing that is underappreciated about metal guitarists, in general, is how excellent the guitar work is. Even at these tempos, the guitar work is very good. Something to keep an ear out for. There is a brilliant use of the “f” word here in the song, and if only people could say it like this every time that they used it, the world would be a better place.

Blotter has a really weird intro of someone who sounds possessed on an answering machine message at 7AM, before diving into a fairly average song. It feels a little weaker here, but it’s still Nu Metal to the max.

The next song Choose is much better than the previous song, starting off with a keyboard-based groove, before going into a riff-heavy piece. It is more songy and consistent than you’d think. A great Nu Metal song.

After that, we have Monolith, a slow piece with some awesome drum work here. The words refer to anti-religious sacrifice, so quite simply if you are a fan of Hillsong, do not listen to Nu Metal. It’s likely satanic for the most part. The guitar solo sounds halfway between Kirk Hammett and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Inhale comes next, and has more of a progressive chord melody than the other songs. It’s a good song with almost a singalong chorus for the most. It then goes into some manic screaming. It’s almost pop music upon listening. It’s no surprise it was released as a single.

Bother is a melodic and melancholic piece which is even more pop. It features, unusually for this music vocals, strings and acoustic guitar, nothing else. It was written and performed solo by singer Corey Taylor but was later attributed as an effort by Stone Sour. It’s really beautiful listening.

The follow-up Blue Study returns to Nu Metal territory on the album. It has some classy screaming on this particular song. The screaming on this album is very close to the emotional screaming that Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails did in the 1990s. But unlike Trent Reznor, Stone Sour are directly following a Nu Metal mission, no mistake about it.

After that, we have Take A Number which features more prominent bass lines in the song where Corey Taylor goes from modest singing to screaming maniac in a short time. It’s Nirvana-ish in that respect, and it loosely follows Grunge music in that respect.

Idle Hands is a great song. No doubt about it. In fact, it’s songs like these which combine many different elements of different genres of music and place them into Nu Metal. If you listen closely, there are rock, punk and many other influences in the tracks made. Even some disco like sensibilities exists here.

Tumult is a headbanging piece for Nu Metallers. It’s rather explicit but involves keyboards, sex sounds and loads of screaming vocals. It’s super intense, particularly at the end of the song. Not bad if you want to go crazy.

The last piece Omega is the funniest thing on the record, although there are humourous moments elsewhere too. It’s actually a spoken word piece which features Corey Taylor drunk doing some rambling. It’s a must listen for a laugh. More bands should do this sort of thing. It’s about the failure of government.

This is a cult classic amongst Nu-Metal fans, but there is more musical variety than you would think. It’s not a bad listen, despite the fact many people do not enjoy Nu Metal. But if you want to receive an audio assault (metaphorically of course) this is a great way to experience it. And unlike Metallica, it actually can scare kids away. Recently Stone Sour have re-released this album remastered, with some additional songs that are just as good. If you like this sort of music, ensure you keep an eye out for that one.

The musical equivalent of a horror film and no Slayer don’t come close to that.

6/10

Coldplay – Parachutes (2000)

Some might say that Coldplay killed rock music. That is a highly negative and incorrect assumption. In fact, Coldplay kept guitar driven music alive throughout the 2000s and did a very good job of doing so, with nobody special keeping the rock and roll flame burning afterward. This release, coming out during the dawn of the new millennium, set English music onto a new trajectory.

This album is more than the hybrid Oasis/Radiohead style the band professes to offer. It made singer Chris Martin and the rest of the band pop/rock superstars, which they still are to this day. Their first two albums, in particular, were amazing, and this is the first of those two.

Don’t Panic with its strummed acoustic intro gives vague reassurance to the meaning of existence. It’s a very short song being just over two minutes and introduces the band’s sound. Indeed, we are halfway between Oasis and Radiohead for the most part, but the songs are original in any case/

Shiver follows which tells a lover not to do so in the cold of the night. It’s a good pop song, and we can already sense the quality of the album by this point. It’s really nice sounding music.

The follow up is the James Bond 007 inspired Spies. It shows the paranoia, panic, and imagination of a particular spy trying to survive. It’s an unusual twist on an unusual concept.

After that, we have Sparks with its melancholy sound and fantastic guitar parts. Chris Martin, although not the world’s greatest singer by any means, sings this song nicely.

Yellow is a great hit single and is a love letter to not just a potential lover, but the world as well. “Look at the stars, look how they shine for you, and everything you do. And it was all yellow.” Great lyrics.

Trouble is about being stuck in a bad situation. It refers to a spider’s web and being stuck in that. Boy, these guys could write great songs! At least better than any of their contemporaries of the time.

The shortest track on the album, the title track Parachutes is a low fi recording of Chris Martin singing and picking acoustic guitar away, whilst reminding his lover he will always be there for them. Quite romantic.

The outer space influenced High Speed is just thrilling to hear. It has strummed acoustic guitars, space noises, and a super trippy outro. It’s one of the most underrated Coldplay songs you will hear. Nice job on the sound and mix here boys.

We Never Change pines for the simple life and things that stay the same, which is difficult in these internet and technologically driven times. It’s a great concept in a song, sounds so subtle and nicely done.

Everything’s Not Lost comes next and it finishes the album nicely, with reoccurring slide guitar and keyboard patches. It also has the hidden track Life Is For Living after some silence, and it’s also worth listening to, unlike most hidden tracks.

Coldplay went mega after the release of this recording, and we had A Rush Of Blood To The Head afterward. It’s a simple and fantastic album and has influenced legions of musicians all around the world to this day. If you like melancholy niceties and an original twist on music, try this album as it is likely you will enjoy it, for that reason. It’s a unique listen.

8/10

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

Led Zeppelin really shines on this recording. Prior to this recording, Led Zeppelin had given us the Led Zeppelin I, II and III albums with each one being a step ahead of it in a logical progression. This is their best effort ever and sounds so awesome, even nearly 50 years later. The artwork and Zoso symbols have their own mystical meaning behind them as well. In short, it’s just brilliant.

We begin with Black Dog, which is a layered and interesting piece. “Hey-hey mama, gonna make you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove!” sings Robert Plant. It’s a cool song with distorted guitar riffs and sexual wordplay. Just awesome.

The next song Rock And Roll is a straight ahead rock and roll piece that has stop/start motions and a 50s piano to boot. By this time, we sense that something very special musically is here, and this album is just a super listen.

The Battle Of Evermore follows with Mandolin (a Chinese instrument) by guitarist Jimmy Page and Sandy Denny doing backing vocals. It tells a tale directly inspired by The Lord Of The Rings book series. It may sound weird written here, but it is actually not a weird listen. It’s a beautiful and soulful piece.

Stairway To Heaven is quite possibly the most overrated rock song in history and has often been abused in its popularity. Still, there is no denying that this song is great. It starts off with fingerpicked acoustic guitar, before having various layers and elements segue into it, and finishes with a soul touching guitar solo and Robert Plant’s lone voice ending. It’s such a wonderful song to fit into the album. Led Zeppelin fans love this one. Interestingly enough, many people namely Christians think if you play this song backward, it has satanic quotes on it, though that’s not the purpose of the song whatsoever.

We go back to The Lord Of The Rings (again) with Misty Mountain Hop. It’s a keyboard driven song that sounds quite relaxing indeed. It’s a slightly weaker track but it’s still essential listening on the album. Sounds majestic.

We have the pounding Four Sticks next. It’s a good one, with Robert Plant singing some eastern music influenced harmonies. It’s brilliant, in many respects, of course.

Going To California is a delightful semi-country ballad. It’s so simple and beautiful that fans of Led Zeppelin III will love this one. But as the harmonies at the end of the song tell you, it’s much better a recording than many of the pieces on that particular album. Inspired and great listening.

When The Levee Breaks was originally recorded by another blues artist way back in the 1920s, so this is a cover. However, it is mind-blowingly awesome and sounds really trippy. It takes you into another world of music and is super special. It ends the album well.

This album not only defined the hard rock of the time, it deeply transcended it. It was such a special album in terms of overall quality that it has featured in many history books as one of the greatest albums of all time. It’s definitely in the top ten of the listings for the greatest albums ever. If you like hard rock with great performances and attitude, start here. You won’t be disappointed.

9/10

Pink Floyd – The Early Singles (1992)

We are really spoiled for choice by some of the best early Syd Barrett era songs by Pink Floyd here. Prior to this, the singles were difficult to obtain and collect for the fans of early Pink Floyd. This retrospective collection is something of a blessing. It’s one of Pink Floyd’s greatest compilations.

We have most of the singles of the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd time here. It’s only missing Vegetable Man and a few other songs. This release alone is solid gold as the tracks here are very consistent.

We begin with Arnold Layne, the first single and an interesting story about a dude who steals women’s clothes off washing lines and gets jailed for it. It’s a warped tale basically, but complete with futuristic sound effects. Awesome.

The next song Candy And A Currant Bun refers to sweets and childhood sweethearts. It’s a lovely song in that respect. In fact, these songs are the best and most revolutionary statements since the early music by The Beatles. Pink Floyd changed everything.

See Emily Play talks about an unusual girl (perhaps a ghost?) who plays with other children. It features unusually spacey slide guitar, rolling drumbeats, electronic textures, and a catchy chorus. Brilliant.

The Scarecrow is the album song from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and it is an appropriate B-Side here. Once again its interesting textures and tale of a scarecrow await you.

After that, we have Apples And Oranges which is another entertaining tale. These songs do hark back to a simpler time, before the internet and when life was more relaxed. In those days things were better in some ways before technological development changed everything in its pace.

The follow-up Paint Box tells the story of finding a girl and taking her on a date, complete with psychedelic imagery. These songs are so unique and wonderful that it makes John Lennon’s efforts around the time seem lackluster.

It Would Be So Nice tells an everyday sort of tale. We hear about a day in the life of Syd Barrett and how he feels about everyday living. It’s fantastic to listen to, even today.

Julia Dream is next and is an audiovisual fantasy. It’s so deep and emotionally oriented that one would like to know exactly what was in Syd’s mind when writing these. It is truly sad to know the story of Syd’s mental health decline in retrospect.

The next song, Point Me At The Sky is about going to space travel, and never coming back. It’s just a wonderful and melancholy based piece that you will treasure every moment of it.

We conclude this LSD style space travel journey of this album with the instrumental Careful With That Axe, Eugene. It’s an excellent sounding piece and flows nicely at the end of the album. It was one of the latter pieces during very early Pink Floyd, and points ahead to the excellent electronic noodling of the Atom Heart Mother and Meddle albums.

If you absolutely love Pink Floyd, and especially Syd Barrett, a great suggestion would be to track this recording down. It’s such a brilliant compilation that pays direct respect to the crazy diamond of Pink Floyd, so much so that all Syd Barrett fans should seek this out. It’s just as good and as valuable as The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Truly brilliant. It’s not on Spotify or other music streaming apps, instead, you should order this one online.

9/10