PINK FLOYD 'RELICS' 1971 FIRST PRESSING EARLY BARRETT YEARS COMP TEXTURED

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PINK FLOYD 'RELICS' 1971 FIRST U.S. PRESSING ~ EARLY BARRETT YEARS COMPILATION TEXTURED SLEEVE ~ EARLY LABELS ~ FIRST MATRIX MARKINGS 
PINK FLOYD "RELICS: A BIZARRE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES & CURIOS" RELEASED: MAY 15, 1971 EDITION: FIRST US PRESSING 1971 w/ 'RICK' SONG CREDITS TEXTURED 'BLOTTER PAPER' COVER~ 'STEREO SW-759' UPPER LEFT CORNER LABEL: HARVEST SW-759 MASTERING: CAPITOL STUDIOS PRESSING: CAPITOL RECORDS ~ WINCHESTER PLANT ( ----◁ ) MATRIX: A (Etched) SW-1-759-F3  ----◁ (ST is crossed out and SW written in) MATRIX: B (Etched) SW-2-759-F13  ----◁
CONDITION: VINYL: VERY CLEAN  JACKET: VG+ SLIGHT FOXING ~ TINY LOWER SEAM SPLIT SEE FULL CONDITION DETAILS BELOW
I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection this winter and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 40 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this fantastic, clean copy of Pink Floyd's 'RELICS'.
This is a rare original American First Pressing from 1971. It has the textured paper cover and the Jacket is made of very sturdy thick cardboard.
This is the American pressing with the trippy "Four-eyed can opener face" cover on both sides. It has the First Pressing labels and Matrix markings.
This is my original copy that I've taken great care of for many years. I've owned this copy for roughly 45 years now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're a Pink Floyd fan, this album is a great place to start exploring the music of early Floyd. These songs really evoke psychedelic memories of 1967-69. 
It's a great representation of their early catalog. A spiraling, whirlwind, psychedelic tour of Pink Floyd's early career and their constantly emerging sound in those early years.
These songs are all from 1967-1969, the band's most psychedelic era and they all share a general lysergic theme. Syd Barrett's touch is all over this album.
~~~~ This album was released in May 1971, after "Atom Heart Mother" was released the previous Fall and became an unexpected hit and best seller. I think the success of 'Atom Heart' surprised both the Record Company and Pink Floyd.
'Atom Heart' was the band's first #1 album and their first 'Gold' album, so their parent record Company, EMI, wanted to capitalize on their success by releasing and repackaging some of their older material to take advantage of the 'new' interest in Pink Floyd. EMI wanted to jump on the market while the iron was hot.
By the Spring of 1971, Pink Floyd were busy writing and recording "Meddle."
It had been over 6 months since 'Atom Heart Mother' was released and EMI were afraid that there would be too long of a stretch between 'Atom Heart' and Pink Floyd’s next studio album. On the one hand, they were worried that fans would lose interest and, on the other hand, Floyd's new music and songs, like 'Echoes', would launch them in a new direction and they would never be the same as they were back in the Syd and pre-Gimour days.
EMI felt it was the perfect time to release an album of older Pink Floyd material to keep interest up and to introduce 'new' 1971 fans to Pink Floyd's back catalog.
EMI released 'Relics' in May 1971, on their own 'Starline' subsidiary, as a bridge between 'Atom Heart' and Floyd's next album, which would turn out to be 'Meddle'.
After Relics' was released, fans felt it was assembled poorly and 'rushed' to the market. Yes, it was urgently pulled together, but the album's contents also show that EMI thought very long and carefully about what to include on it.
EMI was careful not to call this album a 'Best Of' or Pink Floyd's 'Greatest Hits'. It wasn't either of those things. What it contained was just what they titled it, "A Bizarre Collection of Antiques and Curios" a perfect title for this album.
EMI assembled 'Relics' to showcase both the history of the band and it's diversity.
It's a great representation of both the melodic & accessible early psychedelic tinged songs by the band, but also some of the more experimental sound collages. 
The album clearly documents how Pink Floyd evolved from 1967 to 1970. You can really hear and experience the musical boundaries being stretched by the band. The overall influence of the band's early leader Syd Barrett is clearly on diaplay.
This album pulled together early non-album singles, two A-sides and three B-sides, several previously unreleased songs, a few album tracks, and two powerful lengthy instrumental tracks. This album collected many of their early, whimsical psychedelic Britpop singles, but not all of them. 
This collection combines Syd Barrett's 3 best early singles, some of Richard Wright's early B-sides, and two fabulous early Roger Waters rarities. 
At the time, this album was the best way to get many rarities from early in Pink Floyd's career. It was the first time many of these songs were released. Five of the songs on this album were unreleased in any format at the time, and many of the others were only available as odd, rare, expensive 45s.
When this album came out, and for many years after, this was the the only way you could obtain Pink Floyd's first two singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" on an LP record.
This album also reminds us that the 45 single was a popular format in the 1960's and that Pink Floyd released several great songs only in that format back then. Even back then, their 45s were very hard to find. Many of today's Pink Floyd fans and collectors have never seen an original Pink Floyd 45.
~~~ I'm old enough to remember that, at the time this was released, fans were upset that certain songs weren't included.
I agree that there are a handful of exceptional singles and early songs that could’ve been included here, but I also feel that this album, as it is, gives the listener a better, true a picture of the diversity and genius of Pink Floyd's earlier work.
EMI packed everything they could onto this album. The album is 50 minutes long, which was pushing the time limits for an album in 1971. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The songs in this collection of 'Antiques and Curios' include:
Arnold Layne (Syd Barrett) Interstellar Overdrive (Syd Barrett/Roger Waters/Richard Wright/Nick Mason) See Emily Play (Syd Barrett) Remember a Day (Richard Wright) Paintbox (Richard Wright) Julia Dream (Roger Waters) Careful with That Axe, Eugene (Waters/Wright/Mason/Gilmour) (Studio Version) Cirrus Minor (Roger Waters) The Nile Song (Roger Waters) Biding My Time (Roger Waters) Bike (Syd Barrett)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EMI's CHOICE OF MATERIAL FOR THIS ALBUM
This album was noted at the time for it's inclusion of 3 different Syd Barrett-era hit singles, "Arnold Layne", "See Emily Play" and "Bike," as well as the rare B-sides to three other early Floyd singles. 
“Bike” is a fantastic, bright, jangly, eccentric, funny song. One of my favorite 'Syd' songs. Full of strange sound effects and even stranger lyrics, innocent and child-like.
On a good stereo system, it really opens up and reveals the sound of clocks, bells, gongs, gears, and those insane repeating Goose sounds.
It's taken from Floyd's 'Piper...' album, where it closes out that album. Here on 'Relics' it also closes out the album, almost like a final glimpse back into Syd's unique world. I think that it's a terrific way to close out this excellent compilation.
Almost as strange is Syd's "Arnold Layne", Pink Floyd's first single, written about a real person in Cambridge, a cross-dresser, who used to steal bras and panties from outdoor clotheslines. Very odd and 'different' for 1967 England.
The promo Video is even stranger, showing Syd and the band goofing around with a mannequin on the beach in East Wittering.
Syd's "See Emily Play" was the band's 2nd single.
The story goes that the song was about a 15-year-old schoolgirl Emily Young, who was the daughter of a very proper British Lord or Baron, but also a hip young partier who was a regular at the UFO Club, known there as “the psychedelic schoolgirl”. Barrett encountered her playing in the park one day after he took LSD and was sleeping in the woods after a show.
It's one of the most extraordinary pieces of music that Syd ever recorded, and one of their most popular and best selling early singles.
The song influenced a lot of young, 'proper' British teens to explore psychedelia, which was exploding all over England at the time.
The song also has some great guitar work by Syd, who famously used his Zippo lighter as a 'slide' and created some bizarre effects.
Again, all of these early Pink Floyd songs sound amazing and fantastic on a modern stereo system. They sounded 'hip' on 1960s stereos, but modern turntables and systems reveal so much more detail and strange sounds that were 'missed' back in 1967.
This album, on a clean, early pressing, like this one, really needs to be heard again, 50+ years later, to appreciate how inventive, strange and brilliant Pink Floyd was in their early years. 
~~~~ For this 'Collection of Curios' they obviously needed to include something from Floyd's first album. I think the inclusion of "Interstellar Overdrive" is a perfect choice. I think it accurately sums up the overall sound and feel of 'Piper...' 
It's one of the freakiest, weirdest, and most psychedelic instrumental songs ever recorded and is a great example of the band in the Barrett era.
It's not a 'Syd' song or a 'Roger' song, but a true full band effort. Everyone contributes their own special talents and the result is a fantastic song that only Pink Floyd collectively could make. It really was a genre-defining, psychedelic piece of music in 1967.
In retrospect, after this album came out, some fans complained that putting this nearly 10 minute song on the album prevented the inclusion of several other rare, shorter, songs that were hard to find on vinyl at the time and would have been nice to include instead.
I'm old enough to remember that, at the time, fans were upset that the terrific "Point Me at the Sky", one of their best early post-Barrett singles, as well as other early songs like 'Vegetable Man', 'Scream Thy Last Scream', and 'Candy and a Currant Bun' weren't included, but I think that "Interstellar Overdrive" is essential and fits perfectly.
The way it's placed on side one, sandwiched between their first 2 Syd Barrett written singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" is perfect and helps point out that early Pink Floyd wasn't 'only' a singles or psych band. They had very diverse styles and sounds in their early days.
~~~~~ “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” is appropriately on this album as it was an essential part of Pink Floyd’s early repertoire and a classic early track. The version on this album is the studio B-Side, but the song was much better live.
It starts out as a slow, innocent, calm, organ-based instrumental jam, featuring some unusual bass and guitar noodling. It builds and builds, gets darker and darker, then Waters whispers the only lyrics, '...careful with that Axe, Eugene...'. Then that scream, which is so much better live than in the studio. Following Roger's shriek, the band go off into a fantastic intense extended jam. Classic early Pink Floyd.
Traditionally, Floyd would preview their songs live in concert before they appeared on record, and I always wonder what it muts have been like to hear this live, fresh and loud, with 'virgin' ears. Must have been amazing.
~~~~ This collection has a lot of focus on Syd, which is not a bad thing, but Richard Wright also gets his moments to shine.
The two Richard Wright songs "Remember a Day" and "Paintbox" are short, beautiful songs that prove he was a good composer, singer and essential part of the band's overall sound.
“Paintbox” was originally released as the B-side to the odd 1968 single, “Apples and Oranges”, which didn't sell well. It features Wright's usual light, jazzy, psych piano style. It has a section written in Minor Key, which Richard Wright used often and gave Pink Floyd it's unique sound. This great B-side would have disappeared into obscurity if they didn't put it on this album.
The other Wright song is the pleasant, dreamy, poetic "Remember a Day" which was the obscure B-side of the "Let There Be More Light" single, released only in the U.S.
It's a catchy, but dreamy, song about nostalgia for the innocence of early childhood.
The story is that Nick Mason couldn't come up with a 'proper' mellow drum backing, so he was replaced by producer Norman Smith on drums.
As us 'Syd' collectors know, this song features one of the few Syd guitar solos on early Pink Floyd records. Syd tended to 'noodle' and make flourishes and 'sounds' on his guitar, rather than play traditional solos.
This song has Syd playing some solo bottleneck slide guitar and is overdubbed with Syd on Acoustic guitar as well.
Again, an odd B-Side that would have disappeared into obscurity if not included on this compilation.
~~~~ In stark contrast to Richard Wright's softer songs, this album has a couple heavier hard rocking songs.
"The Nile Song," taken from the 1969 'More' film soundtrack, is one of the heaviest, hard rocking songs Pink Floyd ever recorded.
Again, as this collection intended, it shows another side of the band. This song, like many of the songs on this album, shows that Floyd was capable of performing many styles of music, not just the Psych stuff they're best known for. They could have been a typical late 60s Hard Rock band, but they chose NOT to do that and chose a different path instead.
"The Nile Song" is uncharacteristically a straightforward hard rocking song. It showcases 'newcomer' David Gilmour’s voice and blazing guitar work.
Also from the 'More' soundtrack, this album contains "Cirrus Minor." 
The song is eerie and spacey, almost 'ambient'; a much more contemplative sound. It contains Birds singing, a floating but majestic organ sound, and some odd otherworldly lyrics. Again, it shows Floyd's diversity in that they could also write cool background music for Movie Soundtracks; something they did often in those days.
~~~~ Speaking of eerie, ambient songs, this album includes “Julia Dream” which is another rare B-side from their 4th single, "It Would Be So Nice" released in 1968.
The song was written by Roger Waters and is a soft, dreamy, spooky, acoustic song featuring Wright's keyboards and 'new' guitarist David Gilmour.
~~~~ To show off the band's early diversity, they included the previously-unreleased  “Biding My Time”. 
This song was performed live as a part of their short-lived "The Man and The Journey" project, but the rare studio version showed up on this album. It was a outtake from the 1969 'UmmaGumma' sessions. It's a slower, lazy, bluesy guitar-led track with a 1920’s cabaret feel. The second half of the song is a great blus jam.
It, again, shows Floyd's diversity by having a Brass horn section and a Trombone solo, reportedly played by Richard Wright. Gilmour also does a nice solo.
There were many 'rare' previously released songs on this album when it was released in 1971, but this song was brand new and 'unreleased' at the time. Actually Five of the songs on this album were unreleased at the time it was released. That was one of the main reasons to buy this album back then. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pink Floyd clearly had a pioneering vision right from the start, and their early material helped define what was normal and acceptable in late 60s UK Pop.
They helped define and expand the direction that psychedilic music of the late 60s would venture into. They singlehandedly took things to a whole new level.
I'm old enough to remember when this album originally came out. Listening to a modern re-issue of 'Relics' today is nothing like hearing it in 1971.
At the time this was released, it was an amazing Pink Floyd album. It was full of rarities that were impossile to find on record back then.
Today, with streaming, multiple re-issues and Box sets, this material may not seen exceedingly rare, but believe me, in 1971 it was, and we were very happy to have much of it compiled onto this album.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In summary, this album is far more essential to a Pink Floyd collection than most people realize. Relics is a 'must' for any Pink Floyd or Psych collection.
If you're a Pink Floyd fan, you should have a good clean early pressing of 'Relics' in your collection The modern vinyl reissues or CD's, with lame cover art, won't do. Like many albums, the later pressings don't sound anywhere as good as the original First Pressings.
Early Pink Floyd songs had so many effects and things buried in the mix that you need to hear it on early pressing vinyl, the way the band intended.
The weird sound effects and odd musical moments sound fantastic in crip, clear, dynamic original Analog.
You either want the original UK release, with Nick Mason's amazing lysergic cover art, or an original American first pressing like this one, with the blotter acid paper, textured cover, and the equally lysergic 4-eyed bottle-opener faces cover.
~~~~~~~~~ CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
VINYL: The vinyl still looks fantastic. Clean, bright and shiny. No significant scratches or damage. I'll call it VG+ to keep the most discernable collectors happy, but you can see from my up-close pictures of the vinyl that it looks excellent. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.
LABEL: The Labels are the First Pressing Green and Yellow Harvest version with the original perimeter text starting at 8 O'clock: "MFD by Capitol Records, Inc. a Subsidiary of Capitol Industries, Inc. U.S.A. (R) Capitol Marca Reg. US Pat: No 2.631.859". This early label has the song credits to 'Rick' not 'Richard' Wright. The labels are clean and bright with no marks or damage. The spindle holes are crisp and sharp, suggesting minimal playing.
JACKET: This is the original early thick 'blotter acid' textured cover. The issue with these early odd paper covers is that they aged poorly and most of them have some darkening areas or 'foxing' on them. Most early covers that aren't in the shrink show some degree of foxing. This one has some areas of darkening, but not too bad. I tried to give close-up pictures of the edges and corners. 
The only 'flaw' is a small, roughly 2-inch seam split on the bottom left. It's not too bad, but should be noted. I gave a picture. When sleeved, you don't really notice it at all.
Overall, a quite nice original first US Pressing of this classic Pink Floyd album. I'm sure you'll be happy with it, just like I was for 45 years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Add this fantastic Pink Floyd album to your collection today. It would make a great addition to any vinyl record collection. 
~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far.  -- JOHN