Pink Floyd - Rare Singles

So today Pink Floyd releases newly remastered versions of their 14 major studio albums, along with some other treats, like a six-disc version of Dark Side of the Moon, a new best of album to come shortly, and more. This is exciting for new Pink Floyd fans, who have yet to discover the band, and dedicated Pink Floyd fans, who have lots of money to shell out on fresher, cleaner, fancier versions of what they already have. Pink Floyd was my top favorite band in high school, and they remain one of my favorites to this day. But I guess I fall under that group who already has all this material (albeit in less shiny forms), but doesn't have the money to go out and buy new copies every time they release a new version (you know how many times they've re-released Dark Side of the Moon? And to this day, I've only bought it once).

However, this is a perfect opportunity for me to introduce you to a Pink Floyd compilation I put together myself a number of years ago. I call it Rare Singles, and it puts together a lot of the non-album material from the Floyd's early days. In 1971, the band itself released a compilation titled Relics, which consisted of a few early singles, some standout tracks from their first few albums, and one or two unreleased tracks. I eventually discovered that there were other early singles not appearing on this disc, or any other easily acquired disc (that is, without shelling out a fortune for one of the box sets). So, I decided to "upgrade" Relics by creating a new compilation that would dispense of all the album tracks, and replace them with more of the hard-to-find stuff.

I think it's a fantastic compilation, and it sounds really great. It brings out more of Syd Barrett's genius through those early singles that are mostly forgotten today, and it also has a nice balance of stuff that showcases the rest of the band. I also threw in the great track Embryo which appears only on Works, an otherwise unremarkable Pink Floyd compilation released in 1983, as well as a live version of the song which stretches it out and gives it more life. You know record companies are in that game to scam fans out of their money, so they'll release compilations with mostly stuff they already have, plus one or two rarities they can't get anywhere else. I think it's dishonest, and so that's the point of Rare Singles - to put all (or at least a lot of) that rare stuff together on one disc. You'll never see it on store shelves, but I think it would be very popular if such a disc were ever released.

Here's the track list:

1. Arnold Layne
2. Candy And A Currant Bun
3. See Emily Play
4. Apples And Oranges
5. Paintbox
6. Scream Thy Last Scream
7. Vegetable Man
8. It Would Be So Nice
9. Julia Dream
10. Point Me At The Sky
11. Careful With That Axe, Eugene
12. Biding My Time
13. Embryo
14. Embryo (Live at BBC 1970)

And for the cover, I made a point to search out a rare picture of the band that includes both Syd Barrett and David Gilmour, which bridges the gap between the two main and early lineups, and represents the spirit of the compilation.