TRACKLIST:
Tracklisting
Disc One
01. Shine On You Crazy Diamond 26:53
02. Raving And Drooling 17:21
03. You Gotta Be Crazy 17:38
Total Time 61:52
Disc Two
01. Speak To Me - Breathe 5:25
02. On The Run 5:03
03. Time 6:26
04. Great Gig In The Sky 7:11
05. Money 9:03
06. Us And Them 7:48
07. Any Colour You Like 8:01
08. Brain Damage 3:39
09. Eclipse 3:36
10. Echoes 23:32
Total Time 79:44
Remaster:
1. Lots of bumps, clicks and pops needing repair.
2. Hiss and other recording noises also reduced.
3. Tone imbalances corrected.
4. Segmental amplitude and tone drops repaired.
5. Re-work bass of heartbeat segments of Dark Side of the Moon.
6. Segmental channel imbalances and dynamics corrected.
7. Speed corrected using standard commercial and live references.
8. Re-track given that Dark Side of the Moon was tracked incorrectely.
9. Place Echoes (encore) at end of Disc 2 rather than beginning.
Can now hear audience member saying "We're from Planet Earth" and Roger stating that it is 1974
A Work In Progress.
Music collectors might expect that all recordings from 1970s Pink Floyd have been found, traded and distributed but here we are in the 21st century and new little treasures are still popping up. Take for example this recording. The source for this remaster project has been dubbed source number 4 for the Pink Floyd November 15th, 1974 concert. It was released by Rover Records under the title How Time Flies. Once torrented on the Dimeadozen website, a spirited discussion occurred regarding its characteristics and quality, compared to other sources. We agree that it is the best quality source of that nights event but felt that work needed to be done to improve the listening experience. Below, with permission, we present the lengthy and well thought out description of this recording.
I think its best to address the issue of How Time Flies originally being announced as the November 14th, 1974 concert at Wembley -this is also the date printed on the cover. What we have here is in fact the concert from the following evening, November 15th, 1974. Its pretty clear that this was nothing more than an honest, albeit tragic mistake and not an attempt to rip anyone off. That being said, some enthusiasts feel that the performance of the 15th is actually superior to that of its infamous successor. Previously, there have been versions of this show that have circulated both incomplete and intact. The first source was used for the majority of past releases including the incomplete Money on Flashback (FB0133), the often copied (and complete) Black Holes In The Sky first from Great Dane (GDR CD 9101) and later speed corrected by Harvested (HRV CDR 022), as well as the surprisingly good We Are From Planet Earth (STTP 184/185) from the often spotty Shout To The Top label. A second, inferior source was used for Akashics Electric Magic (AKA-26) with slightly better versions of this source circulating via trader circles afterwards, and then in 2004 a mysterious, incomplete soundboard recording surfaced of this show offering a third, albeit odd perspective of this show (being that it was primarily drum and bass tracks) represented on silver via disc 2 of Sir?©nes Absolutely Years (Sir?©ne-119).
The tape begins midway through Roger Waters introduction of Shine On You Crazy Diamond indicating that it is a new song. (PRRP: we have repaired this introduction, in this release). What follows is a lengthy solo synthesizer introduction from Richard Wright that foreshadows his work on the Wish You Were Here and Animals albums, coming across as celestial, in an almost Kitaro-esque way. This introduction is unique to the shows from this year as it evolved into the shorter, more familiar chord sequence and clear melody by the time of the first shows in April of 1975. Theres a small amount of microphone noise as the taper gets settled (PRRP: much of which is now minimized), but it is brief and doesnt affect the enjoyment of this developing epic whatsoever. Theres also a really strange bit at 1:42 that sounds like some acoustic guitars being strummed and Pictish ranting - an anomaly present on ALL sources, so apparently this came from the stage. The introduction continues at length until the vocals finally enter at the 8:27 mark, and things start sounding more familiar. Although the song was still relatively new, it is probably the most developed of the newer songs, and despite being played as a complete suite (instead of in halves as it would be from 1975 onward), it is the closest to its final form of the new material. After 1974, the band would never play Shine On as a complete piece again, so that contributes to the value of tapes such as this.
Floyd surely recognized the benefits of developing new material in a live setting after the tremendous success of Dark Side Of The Moon. Any musician can understand the value of gauging both audience reaction and the overall flow of new songs onstage, but the band clearly jumped the gun on Raving And Drooling and You Gotta Be Crazy during the French tour earlier in 1974. These songs started to gel more throughout the winter tour, but are still somewhat embryonic during this performance and at times bearing only a passing resemblance to the final versions heard in 1977.
Raving And Drooling I Fell On His Neck With A Scream (as introduced by Waters) begins with a truly bizarre taped recording that actually is some chap (Jimmy Young) raving and drooling nonsensically! Apart from that, the song itself has evolved to be fairly close to the much later version everyone knows from Animals. The bridge section about 10 minutes into the song features some interesting volume swells/feedback unique to this era, and theres no 23rd psalm recitation.
The audience is apparently a bit impatient as the band tunes up before You Gotta Be Crazy and Roger responds by saying Were going as fast as we can. While one person in the audience tells Roger, Were from planet Earth, another shouts 1967 to which Waters retorts, 1967 no, youre wrong this is 1974! And this is another new tune especially for YOU. And its called You Gotta Be Crazy. Which of these two people he was addressing with this last comment, we will never know. The song itself is more together than it was during the French tour earlier in the year, but is still the least complete in relation to its finalized version from the Animals era. Vocally it comes across more melodically than on other nights, but the lyrics are delivered in a rapid-fire fashion making it difficult to discern what Gilmour is singing. Fortunately, the lyrics were printed in the tour programs for the audience. There are some interesting passages after the 2nd verse with Gilmour vocalizing in the style of Atom Heart Mother prior to the 3rd verse, and a rather lengthy instrumental section after it.
The sound quality seems to improve slightly for the Dark Side Of The Moon set and it is a fairly standard post-album release performance. The band sounds more confident and enthusiastic and the audience erupts with rapturous applause from start to finish. Gilmour delivers fantastic solos in Money and Time, while On The Run has something of a Bladerunner vibe this evening. It should also be noted that backing vocals sound absolutely fantastic throughout the suite - especially on The Great Gig In The Sky. The critics may have bashed the Wembley gigs, but the crowd responds with absolutely thunderous approval at the conclusion of Eclipse. They knew that Dark Side Of The Moon was well on its way to becoming an epic masterpiece. But in 1974, the audience had no way of knowing of the greatness that was to come from the material presented in the first set and that it was still..a work in progress.
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