"It was insane to see many underground artists moving to Blackhill when in the previous year was, like, only Pink Floyd and Soft Machine. [Peter] Jenner and [Andrew] King did an impressive job by signing with a lot of groups."
-John Peel, 1994
Taking Four to Know
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| Promotional photo of Rubber Band, 1967. (L-R: Steve Took, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Syd Barrett) |
For Rubber Band, the success of Arnold Layne and Rubber Band's Theme reflected into their managers, who saw the group as potential golden-egg layers. The band produced the songs during the recording sessions of their debut album, There Is a Happy Land.
For the album, the band had Rick Wills and Willie Wilson, then from the Flowers backing them, and keyboardists Richard Wright, who was invited by Syd to help eventually, and Vincent Crane, who was recruited from the gigs in the British Underground. Mike Vernon was guaranteed to help the band to produce the album. Syd and Bowie recorded the album from 14 January to 25 April 1967, being released two months later.
Released on 25 June 1967 and issued in both mono and stereo sounds, Rubber Band's debut album, There is a Happy Land, was received with mixed to positive critics. The characteristics of the album flirted with/merged Psychedelic music, folk tunes, blues sets and vaudeville into, mostly, novelty songs. Entirely written by Syd Barrett, Marc Bolan and David Bowie, the album is remembered by their unusual themes for the time, such as adultery, transvestism, explicit lyrics, which some critics harshed the content of the album.
For the album, the band had Rick Wills and Willie Wilson, then from the Flowers backing them, and keyboardists Richard Wright, who was invited by Syd to help eventually, and Vincent Crane, who was recruited from the gigs in the British Underground. Mike Vernon was guaranteed to help the band to produce the album. Syd and Bowie recorded the album from 14 January to 25 April 1967, being released two months later.
"[...] I invited Rick because we still talked since that day when I left Pink Floyd and we had a cordial friendship. Vernon offered us other people, but Rick was quite fun to work with."
"When I still was in Pink Floyd, we recorded a session with our tunes, but we actually never released it until 2015, when Gilmour and I wanted to do it. I had other couple of new songs written, but I can say that about a half of my songs on There Is a Happy Land were written before 1966."
-Syd Barrett, 2018 (A Breath of Fresh Air - The Music Times)The duo got old songs to record them, with Syd bringing old songs such as Lucy Leave and Candy and a Currant Bun, while Bowie brought his singles which failed to another opportunity, like Baby Loves That Way and You've Got a Habit of Leaving, recorded with his previous bands as Lower Third and The Buzz, while Marc Bolan brought his set of songs that haven't been recorded as demos. Steve Took was the only member that had any songs.
"I've seen a lot of potential coming in those songs, but it wasn't at the right time, y'know, and I felt that re-recording them would make'em better known. I also had a few new songs, as Syd had, because Jenner and King wanted a new set of music to perform to the public, so we shown a few new tracks."
-David Bowie, 2003The recording sessions finished with the last takes and overdubs to the title track, There Is a Happy Land. Four days later, the group, backed by Vincent Crane (now a member of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown) and the Flowers, would present themselves at the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, performing the entire album plus the then-unreleased Interstellar Overdrive (without David Bowie), and unreleased songs of the next album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Rubber Band – There is a Happy Land
Rubber Band - There is a Happy Land (1967)
Genre: Psychedelic pop, acid rock, mod, novelty, proto-punk
Total: 39:53
Side A - 20:28
1. "Lucy Leave" (Syd Barrett) - 2:53
2. "You've Got the Power" (Marc Bolan) - 2:35
3. "The London Boys" (David Bowie) - 3:20
4. "Matilda Mother" (Barrett) - 3:58
5. "You've Got a Habit of Leaving" (Bowie) - 2:31
6. "Desdemona" (Bolan) - 2:25
7. "Snowing" (Barrett) - 2:46
Side B - 19:25
8. "There is a Happy Land" (Bowie) - 3:11
9. "Mustang Ford (Go Go Girl)" (Bolan) - 2:37
10. "Let's Roll Another One (Candy and a Currant Bun)" (Barrett) - 2:45
11. "Rubber Band's Theme" (Bowie) - 2:17
12. "Midsummer Night's Scene" (Bolan) - 2:35
13. "Baby Loves That Way" (Bowie) - 3:03
14. "Arnold Layne" (Barrett) - 2:57
Released on 25 June 1967 and issued in both mono and stereo sounds, Rubber Band's debut album, There is a Happy Land, was received with mixed to positive critics. The characteristics of the album flirted with/merged Psychedelic music, folk tunes, blues sets and vaudeville into, mostly, novelty songs. Entirely written by Syd Barrett, Marc Bolan and David Bowie, the album is remembered by their unusual themes for the time, such as adultery, transvestism, explicit lyrics, which some critics harshed the content of the album.
The album was produced by Mike Vernon, with Syd Barrett playing the lead guitar, David Bowie playing the acoustic guitar, backed by The Flowers, composed by the former members of Jokers' Wild, the bass player Rick Wills, and drummer Willie Wilson, and featured the participation of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright.
There is a Happy Land had two songs released as singles before the album, the double A-side Arnold Layne and Rubber Band's Theme, backed by Candy and a Currant Bun. Both songs on A-side were successful. After the release, Bolan's Desdemona was released as single, being initially banned, but later was unbanned after the explicit verse was altered.
There is a Happy Land had two songs released as singles before the album, the double A-side Arnold Layne and Rubber Band's Theme, backed by Candy and a Currant Bun. Both songs on A-side were successful. After the release, Bolan's Desdemona was released as single, being initially banned, but later was unbanned after the explicit verse was altered.
The album reached number 6 in UK Album Charts and number 126 in Billboard 200. In the following years, the duo expressed favorable opinions about the album, as did the members of Pink Floyd. John Lennon's opinion on the album was favorable, regarding it as the best thing that came out from 1967. There is a Happy Land was very well-received by the public, mostly by the UK Underground, and in later years, it outstands as one of the records of the Summer of Love.
"After the sessions of A Coeur Joie, Michael [Magne] came to me and Nick and said commented how There is a Happy Land, mostly Arnold Layne, Desdemona and Rubber Band were big inspirations to write the soundtrack for the film. We shared that Syd was our friend and Rick contributed for the album."
-David Gilmour, 2015Still, the Rubber Band didn't stop going to the studios. A week after the Games for May concert, both started to record their second album with the working name, Astronomy Dominé, working in the scheme of touring and recording the album. The band also began to tour in France, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, and Denmark.
Pink Floyd in 1967, before a BBC Session.
During the sessions, musician Michael Magne approached the band to record two songs in the soundtrack for the upcoming film, A Coeur Joie. Obliged to stay at the EMI Studios, Magne and the band reached a deal, with Rick needing to record the songs with the Pink Floyd . The band recorded two Magne's compositions, I Must Tell You Why and Do You Want to Marry Me?. Later asked, Magne agreed to let the band to feature the songs in their debut album.
In the same week, Pink Floyd recorded two jams, both entitled Nick's Boogie and Reactioning, the first one credited to the entire band, and the second to the entire band plus Syd (since the group performed it with him before). The last song to be recorded was Rick's Remember a Day, when the There is a Happy Land sessions ended, with Norman Smith playing drums, since Nick couldn't play the right part. The name, Projection, was suggested by Syd, after a private listening with Gilmour and Wright.
"The sessions of Projection were really different from There is a Happy Land, it looked like an alternate universe, or something. Whilst the time I passed with Syd and Bowie remained happy and mellowed, the sessions with Pink Floyd were... a bit cold, y'know? Certainly Roger was competitive, and with Syd, the man who dared to leave the band, surely it wouldn't be so different."
-Richard Wright, 2001 (Wearing the Inside Out: Stories Inside the Pink Floyd)
"I never broke my ties with the guys [members of Pink Floyd]. Me and Roger we technically avoided each other since that day. We just started to talk with each other again... two years later, I guess. Even I suggested to them the Projection name, it surely combined with the amazing album that was."
-Syd Barrett, 2007Although Pink Floyd finished the sessions in the first week of June, they've performed the album in its entirety at the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream and Games For May. In the first, the band co-headlined with Rubber Band, performing at the festival around 5AM after a concert in the Netherlands on the same night. In the latter, both bands performed the albums, with Pink Floyd featuring Syd Barrett and without Roger, performing Reactioning and Interstellar Overdrive. The concert was known by both bands being banned from the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the steal of the mixer, the Azimuth Co-ordinator.
Blackhill Enterprises released I Must Tell You Why b/w Nick's Boogie, peaking in number 10 in UK Singles Charts, and being Pink Floyd's debut and first hit in France. One month after the release, Pink Floyd decided to release Remember a Day b/w Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk. Remember a Day peaked in number 4 in Britain, while the backing single failed to chart.
Pink Floyd – Projection
Pink Floyd - Projection (1967)
Genre: Psychedelic rock, freakbeat, experimental
Total: 40:39
Side A - 21:32
1. "Remember a Day" (Richard Wright) - 4:33¹
2. "Walk With Me Sydney" (Roger Waters) - 3:11²
3. "I Must Tell You Why" (Michael Magne, David Gilmour) - 2:36³
4. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" (Waters) - 3:054
5. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Waters) - 5:27¹
6. "Do You Want To Marry Me?" (Magne, Gilmour) - 2:40³
Side B - 19:07
7. "Nick's Boogie" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Nick Mason) - 11:49²
8. "Reactioning" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason) - 7:18²
Author's addendum:
And there are the first debut albums! Syd, Bolan and Bowie, as a group, manages to rise into an early fame in Britain and throughout Europe, while Pink Floyd still tries to carve their path to success in Europe (for a while in the United Kingdom and France). In the next part, there'll be the plots of Soft Machine, Beatles and Beach Boys.
Track sources:
Rubber Band - There is a Happy Land:
[1] Pink Floyd - The Early Years: Cambridge Sta/tion
[2] Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
[3] David Bowie - Early On (1964-1966)
[4] David Bowie - David Bowie (1967)
Pink Floyd - Projection:
[1] Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
[2] Pink Floyd - The Early Years: Cambridge Sta/tion
[3] Michel Magne - Bande Originale Du Film "A Cœur Joie"
[4] Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Pink Floyd's debut album, named Projection, was released on 4 August 1967 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records. The album had a controversy when Tower Records, responsible to distribute the album in the US, released the first pressings as an Extended play, omitting the entire second side. Fulfilling the contract with subsidiary Tower, the distribution in the US was briefly interrupted until the creation of Blackhill Records and signing with the main label, Capitol, when the albums started to be released with Side B. The extended play pressings became a rare item in the following years.
The album was promoted by Syd Barrett, having mixed opinions about the wide different sound from Rubber Band's There is a Happy Land. Two of the songs were featured in Serge Bourguignon's Two Weeks in September (À Coeur Joie), credited to guitarist David Gilmour and composed Michael Magne. Highlighted songs were Remember a Day, released as single, and Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, and the Side B on its entirety. The lyrics verge between being sick, love and nostalgia, while Side B are two experimental instrumentals.
Produced by Beatles' engineer Norman Smith, Projection peaked in number 9 in UK Album Charts and number 177 in US Billboard 200. David Gilmour played the lead guitar, Roger Waters was the bass player, Richard Wright played the keyboards, and Nick Mason played the drums (except Remember a Day).
In contemporary opinions, interviewer Hans Keller blamed the album for being too loud, and Syd Barrett expressed his passion for the album. In later opinions, Iggy Pop said the album was highly influential on The Stooges, while Nirvana's Kurt Cobain affirmed that Projection is one of his favorite albums. David Gilmour and Roger Waters later expressed their dissatisfaction with Projection, contrasting with the opinions of Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
Produced by Beatles' engineer Norman Smith, Projection peaked in number 9 in UK Album Charts and number 177 in US Billboard 200. David Gilmour played the lead guitar, Roger Waters was the bass player, Richard Wright played the keyboards, and Nick Mason played the drums (except Remember a Day).
In contemporary opinions, interviewer Hans Keller blamed the album for being too loud, and Syd Barrett expressed his passion for the album. In later opinions, Iggy Pop said the album was highly influential on The Stooges, while Nirvana's Kurt Cobain affirmed that Projection is one of his favorite albums. David Gilmour and Roger Waters later expressed their dissatisfaction with Projection, contrasting with the opinions of Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
Author's addendum:
And there are the first debut albums! Syd, Bolan and Bowie, as a group, manages to rise into an early fame in Britain and throughout Europe, while Pink Floyd still tries to carve their path to success in Europe (for a while in the United Kingdom and France). In the next part, there'll be the plots of Soft Machine, Beatles and Beach Boys.
Track sources:
Rubber Band - There is a Happy Land:
[1] Pink Floyd - The Early Years: Cambridge Sta/tion
[2] Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
[3] David Bowie - Early On (1964-1966)
[4] David Bowie - David Bowie (1967)
Pink Floyd - Projection:
[1] Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
[2] Pink Floyd - The Early Years: Cambridge Sta/tion
[3] Michel Magne - Bande Originale Du Film "A Cœur Joie"
[4] Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
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