BBC Sessions 1967–1971 (Prof. Stoned 2023) (v1.0: 25-02-2023)

Pink Floyd - BBC Sessions 1967-1971 (A Prof. Stoned Comp 2023)
16bit/44.1khz (CD Quality)

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Session #1

01. Pow R. Toc H. (short)
02. 'Hans Keller talks..'
03. Astronomy Dominé
04. 'Interview Hans with Roger and Syd'

Recorded: Lime Grove Studios, London UK; Sunday 14 May 1967 between 23:05 and 23:30PM
Broadcast live: BBC1 TV 'The Look Of The Week'; Sunday 14 May 1967 between 23:05 and 23:30PM
Source: soundtrack from film master

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Session #2

01. The Gnome
02. The Scarecrow
03. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
04. Matilda Mother
05. Reaction In G
06. Flaming

Recorded: Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London UK; Monday 25 September 1967 between 2PM & 5PM
First broadcast: BBC Radio 1 'Top Gear'; Sunday 01 October 1967 at 14PM
Producer: Bernie Andrews
Engineer: Dave Tate
Presenters: John Peel/Pete Drummond
Sources: 02-03,05-06 tape; 01,04 off-air recordings

Note: The master recordings of this session were wiped somewhere in 1968 to save space and cost, as was common policy with the BBC. However, producer Bernie Andrews had the foresight to make a recording of the complete aircheck for himself, straight from the signal that went to the transmitter. Frustratingly, Pink Floyd could not be bothered to make a deal of acquiring this tape for their 2016 Early Years boxset, even though there was contact between the parties involved (Andrews passed away in 2010). The tape remains in private hands to this day. However, there is an MP3 (at 192 kbps) out there that comes from a 90m cassette tape which Bernie Andrews copied from his reel. This source is in pretty good quality but it is incomplete: 'The Gnome' and "Matilda Mother' do not appear on it and until now these two tracks have only circulated in poor quality. Therefore, I am thrilled to present two previously UNCIRCULATED fully lossless off-air recordings of those 2 songs that are *vastly superior* to the current best sources. Enjoy!

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Session #3

01. Green Onions
02. Instrumental

Recorded: 39 Stanhope Gardens, Highgate, London UK; Tuesday 12 December 1967
Broadcast: BBC1 TV 'Tomorrow's World'; Wednesday 17 January 1968 at 18:40PM
Source: soundtrack from film master

Note: Edits taken from "Let There Beeb More Light". Complete version with voice-over included in 'Completist Stuff' folder. PF lived at this address from 1965 to 1966. It was owned by Mike Leonard, a former college tutor of the band members.

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Session #4

01. 'John Peel'
02. Vegetable Man
03. 'Vance/Peel'
04. Scream Thy Last Scream
05. 'John Peel'
06. Jugband Blues
07. Pow R. Toc H.
08. 'John Peel'
09. 'Interview John Peel with Nick'

Recorded: Maida Vale studio 4, Delaware Road, London UK; Wednesday 20 December 1967 between 2:30PM & 6PM
First broadcast: BBC Radio 1 'Top Gear'; Sunday 31 December 1967 at 14PM
Producer: Bernie Andrews
Presenters: Tommy Vance/John Peel
Sources: off-air recordings

Note: This session was wiped by the BBC in 1968 as well and sadly no high-quality copies have survived (most likely). This has been mastered from the same old 'best source' except for a previously uncirculated recording of "Pow R Toc H'. It is much less hissy than the source we already had but does have a sharp high-end cutoff at 6kHz, so it remains a bit lo-fi. The PF session was re-broadcast on 11 February 1968 and featured a contemporary 1-min interview with Nick Mason which also appears here for the first time. This recording session would prove to be Syd's swansong with the Floyd, including three new tracks that poignantly portray his declining mental health.

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Session #5

01. Untitled

Recorded: Lime Grove Studios, London UK; Tuesday 26 March 1968
Broadcast: BBC2 TV 'Sound of Change'; Tuesday 10 September 1968 at 20PM
Source: soundtrack from film master

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Session #6

01. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Recorded: Abbey Mills Pumping Station, Stratford, London UK; Wednesday 28 March 1968
Broadcast (partially): BBC1 TV 'Omnibus: All My Loving'; Sunday 03 November 1968 at 22:40PM
Source: soundtrack from film master

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Session #7

01. 'John Peel'
02. Murderotic Women
03. 'John Peel'
04. The Massed Gadgets of Hercules
05. 'John Peel'
06. Let There Be More Light
07. 'John Peel'
08. Julia Dream
09. 'John Peel'
10. 'Brian Matthew interviews Roger'

Recording: 201 Piccadilly, Studio 1, London UK; Tuesday 25 June 1968 between 2:30PM & 6PM and 6PM & 9PM
Broadcast: BBC Radio 1 'Top Gear'; Sunday 11 August 1968 at 15PM
Producer: Bernie Andrews
Engineer: Dave Tate
Presenter: John Peel
Sources: 02,06,08,10 transcription disc; 01-09 tape

Note: A high quality tape of the original transmission might still exist in the vaults but seems to have gone MIA and has never been circulated. Instead, the BBC has a different 2nd generation tape of the complete 8/68 aircheck with notable tape damage and loss of fidelity on file as their 'master'. This is what was used for the Early Years boxset and also various bootlegs/roio's which you may have heard (a flat digital copy has circulated for over 20 years). This version here combines a superior recording from "Top of the Tops" transcription disc #192 with patches from the 2nd generation tape where necessary. Only Tr. 04 does not appear on the disc, but Tr. 02 & 06 are slightly edited and so patches from the tape source had to be inserted for completeness' sake. Tr 08 is complete but has Brian Matthew talking over the intro, so that fragment was also replaced with the tape source. The Roger interview was recorded in the afternoon of this 2-part session.

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Session #8

01. 'Brian Matthew'
02. Point Me At The Sky
03. 'Brian Matthew'
04. The Embryo
05. 'John Peel'
06. Interstellar Overdrive
07. 'John Peel'
08. Baby Blue Shuffle in D Major

Recorded: Maida Vale studio 4, Delaware Road, London UK; Monday 2 December 1968 between 2:30PM & 6PM and 6PM & 9:30PM
First broadcast: BBC Radio 1 'Top Gear'; Sunday 15 December 1968 at 15PM
Producer: Bernie Andrews
Presenter: John Peel
Sources: 01-04 transcription disc; 05-09 off-air recordings

Note: No quality tape masters have survived in the BBC archives. The first two songs are sourced from a sublime rip of "Top of the Tops" transcription disc #208 and appear here in the best quality heard so far. IO comes from a passable off-air recording, while the early version Narrow Way Pt.1 is probably of the lowest quality in this collection.

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Session #9

01. Daybreak (Grantchester Meadows)
02. Cymbaline
03. Green Is The Colour >
04. Careful With That Axe, Eugene
05. The Narrow Way Pt. 3

Recorded: Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street, London UK; Monday 12 May 1969
First broadcast: BBC Radio 1 'John Peel'; Wednesday 14 May 1969 at 20:15PM
Producer: John Walters or Pete Ritzema
Engineers: Chris Lycett and possibly Allen Harris
Presenter: John Peel
Source: tape

Note: The 15ips master reels of this session still exist in excellent shape. They were freshly re-transferred at Abbey Road Studios for the Early Years box but a flat digital copy had previously been circulating among fans in 2004. The EY version has its flaws and thus I have opted to work with the 2004 version here, except for Daybreak, which for some reason sounds much better while the other tracks don't (to my ears). It is a glorious session, which puts a few pieces from the unfocused Ummagumma and soundtrack More in a much better light.

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Session #10

01. Moonhead

Recorded: BBC TV Centre, London UK; Sunday 20 July 1969 between 22 and 23PM
Broadcast live: BBC1 TV 'Omnibus: So What If It's Just Green Cheese'; Sunday 20 July 1969 at 22PM
Source: off-air recording

Note: Pink Floyd was commissioned by the BBC to perform instrumental music live on the air as the Apollo 11 crew’s video and audio signals came streaming in across the emptiness of space. The song's main theme was later more or less recycled as the middle part of 'Money'. It survives only as a so-so fan recording.

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Session #11

01. 'John Peel'
02. The Embryo
03. 'John Peel'
04. Fat Old Sun
05. 'John Peel'
06. Green Is The Colour >
07. Careful With That Axe, Eugene
08. 'John Peel'
09. If
10. 'John Peel'
11. Atom Heart Mother
12. 'applause'

Recorded: Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street, London UK; Thursday 16 July 1970 between 9 and 10:30PM
First broadcast: BBC Radio 1 'In Concert'; Sunday 19 July 1970 at 16PM
Producer: Jeff Griffin
Engineer: Chris Lycett
Second Engineer: Bob Conduct
Presenter: John Peel
Source: tape

Note: Two 15ips master reels of this session still exist in excellent shape. A flat digital copy has been circulating among fans since the late 90s and that is what has been used here. The performance of AHM which features the 10-piece Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the 20-piece John Alldis Choir -as on the record- is simply a work of art.

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Session #12

Stereo:
01. 'applause'
02. Fat Old Sun
03. 'John Peel'
04. One Of These Days
05. 'John Peel'
06. Echoes
07. The Embryo
08. Blues

Mono:
01. 'John Peel'
02. Fat Old Sun
03. 'John Peel'
04. One Of These Days
05. 'John Peel'
06. The Embryo
07. 'John Peel'
08. Echoes
09. 'applause'

Recorded: Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street, London UK; Thursday 30 September 1971 between 10 and 11:30 PM

Radio 1 (mono):
First broadcast: BBC Radio 1 'Sounds of the 70s'; Tuesday 12 October 1971 at 22PM
Producer: Jeff Griffin
Engineer: Chris Lycett
Second Engineer: John Etchells
Third Engineer/tape op responsible for recording the concert to reel: Bill Aitken
Presenter: John Peel

BBC Transcription Service (stereo):
Complete broadcast: WNEW-FM, New York, 1976/77
Producer: Pete Dauncey
Engineer: probably Adrian Revill
Recorded to 8-track multi tape and mixed to 2-track stereo in Oct/Nov '71.

Sources: tape (mono); transcription disc and off-air (stereo)

Note: The BBC had two recordings made by two different departments, each using their own mics, recording equipment and technicians. The mono version was mixed on the spot for immediate broadcasting in the UK within two weeks. The stereo version was mixed after the show at the BBC's editing room for the purpose of being distributed through transcription disc, allowing overseas radio stations to re-broadcast the concert. The mono recording exists in the BBC Sound Archive as a 2nd generation tape at 15ips and was used on Early Years. The producers of the boxset were probably unaware that stereo versions of 3 tracks existed on transcription disc and likely on tape as well in a separate archive in a different BBC department. In fact, the concert's 8-track multi tapes might still exist somewhere too, as evidenced by notably different mixes of Echoes and One of These Days that appeared on a 1983 BBC transcription disc set (In Concert-307). Although mixed to stereo in 1971, 'Blues' and 'The Embryo' have never appeared on transcription disc and are assumed to have been thrown out shortly after. They were aired once in the mid-70s by a New York radio station and then captured on cassette tape by a number of fans. How the deejay in question (Alison Steele) was the only one -ever- to obtain a tape containing these two lost tracks remains a complete mystery.

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Bonus: 'Completist Stuff'

See Emily Play [1967-07-06] ('Top of the Tops' TV appearance, poor audio)
Flaming [1967-09-25] (Andrews MP3, voiceover on intro)
Flaming [1967-09-25] (off-air, no voiceover, uncirculated)
BBC TV 'Tomorrow's World' [1967-12-12] (complete with voice-over]
Pow R Toc H [1967-12-20] (off-air, alt. source]
Murderistic Women [1968-06-25] (transcription disc, edited, not remastered)
Let There Be More light [1968-06-25] (transcription disc, edited, not remastered)
Julia Dream [1968-06-25] (transcription disc, voiceover, not remastered)
BBC TV 'Science Session' [1969-03-05] (off-air)

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Total time: 5h03m19s
All tracks are Mono except where indicated.

Notes & Mastering: Prof Stoned
Special thanks: Hallucalation, Colin H., RonToon, Chris M.

Source of information: PINK FLOYD BBC RADIO 1967-1971 © Ian Priston & Phil Salathé / The Bee Smart Book Co. [2022]

v1.0: 25-02-2023

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Note:

Here's another BBC comp that (hopefully) will rock your world, and one that I've been wanting to do for years. It collects all the surviving TV and radio sessions from this era in the best possible quality, newly restored and mastered by yours truly using demix technology. There are quite a few exclusive finds here.

As you probably know, Pink Floyd has released the majority of material here on their boxset The Early Years in 2016, the audio parts of which revealed some research errors by the compilers. Especially the BBC material was prone to harsh criticism by fans as it was often mastered from inferior sources and also the mastering itself left something to be desired. There are glitches, truncated audio, excessive use of noise reduction and heavy boosting of the signal. Some tracks are mastered way off-speed, some are taken from abysmal sources that were submitted to the BBC by fans in the pre-internet era. Apparently, nobody thought to check whether perhaps better sources had occurred in fan circles in the meantime, most notably an excellent fan compiled compilation called "Let There Beeb More Light" which came out in 2014.

Chances of PF correcting these mistakes with a new BBC collection are slim to non-existent. Nick Mason has recently expressed to have no interest in releasing more archive material (he considers the EY box final) and he was pretty much the driving force behind it in the first place. I won't mention the other two men who prefer to keep themselves busy with entirely different matters.

So, here's a shot at doing a 'definitive' version. At this point, it's neither complete, nor is all the material here taken from the best sources in existence because some material is still known to be in private hands. But as with all my BBC collections, this is an ongoing project and I will update once I find or am offered better audio sources.

PS 02/2023

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Sources:

- Bernie Andrews MP3
- various Colin H. sources
- digital transfers from BBC transcription discs #192 & #208
- Let There Beeb More Light (2014 fan-made 5CD collection, mastered flat)
- The Early Years (mostly audio from film)
- RonToon's 24/48 vinyl rip of The Best Of The BBC Rock Hour #214
- (1968 - 1971) BBC mono masters
- Kbrubaker cassette / Neonknight tape transfer, September 2016
- BBC Rock Hour (1971) {Original Pre-FM Broadcast Reel Master} FLAC
- Marbal cassette / Neonknight tape transfer, November 2015

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A note about mastering with demix technology:

You may have heard some of my recent offerings where I have used demix pro for spectral extraction. I believe it is the most revolutionary audio processing tool since ages. It enables us to break a mono signal down into 4 dedicated elements: vocals, drums/percussion, bass guitar and whatever remains after. These extractions are of such precision they allow for a realistic reconstruction of a mix.

Why is this useful? Well... the original mix may have flaws that affect the quality of the sound. By nature, the process of mastering is designed to improve upon such flaws by applying equalization and/or processing of dynamic range. But what if one element within a recording needs more treble, while another element is already bright enough? At that point, EQ is not sufficient anymore because your choices will affect both. Of course, mastering does not begin and end with just EQ; there are always other ways of emphasizing or hiding elements in a recording. But spectral extraction allows you to improve upon the sound of one element without 'harming' the sound of all the others and also to re-balance those elements if necessary.

It goes without saying that all tracks that were originally in mono have stayed mono. The goal has not been the change the integrity of the original recordings but to make them sound as pleasing as possible. A perfect mix does not need fixing but nearly all recordings here were made under primitive circumstances and mixed directly to mono while the band performed. Heavy compression was used to keep things in place. If one element suddenly became louder than others, the compressor would slam the recording level back down. This was certainly necessary because the audio signal needed to be as loud as possible for when it was put on the air.

I have used demix on all the recordings with decent fidelity. Being able to correct balancing mistakes; having the flexibility to mesh the bass guitar and kick drum together nicely and putting the vocals precisely in the mix where they need to be is a great luxury. Especially when it doesn't have to be achieved with buss EQ and/or compression. I believe these new masters have a more dynamic, open sound than the source material. No ambiance effects were added except for a bit of echo on the vocal of one track (Set the Controls 3/68). The goal has been to stay true to the original feel but with added clarity and depth.

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I have used the following digital studio gear and monitoring in the making of this:

- DeMix Pro 3.0.1
- Cubase
- Universal Audio UAD-2 Satellite Quad-Core (incl. various extra plugins I purchased over the years)
- PMC IB2s & iLoud Micro monitors
- Adobe Audition
- Izotope RX9