The first official collection of Pink Floyd was released on May 14, 1971, by EMI and produced by Norman Smith.

"Relics" includes 5 tracks already appeared on LP and 5 singles released only on 45s, plus an unreleased track, and is extremely useful for fans who were increasingly multiplying to delve deeper into the "Pink Floyd" world.
From the gospel according to Nick Mason: >>To fill the gap while we were working on Meddle, we fell back on an old record industry formula: a compilation of singles and other marginal tracks. Relics—"A Bizarre Collection of Antiques and Curios"—contained only one new track, Roger's "Biding My Time", where Rick finally inflicted us with the sound of his trombone. Relics was released in May, just before we played at the Crystal Palace Garden Party<<

Eleven tracks: let's examine them in a historical-musical journey.

1) ARNOLD LAYNE - written by Barrett in 1967, already released on 45. This was the first single released by Pink Floyd, marketed on March 11 with "Candy and a currant bun" on the b-side, and once released, it achieved enormous success, reaching the twentieth position in the British charts, even though some radios refused to broadcast it due to the lyrics, where the protagonist had the hobby of collecting (or rather stealing) women's clothes. Already from here, the band's originality is evident: the keyboard and guitar design something absolutely new and never heard before and have nothing to do with the prevailing beat fashion of that period, much less the lyrics. The lead voice is Barrett's, but Waters and Wright also intervene. The recording of the song occurred on a four-track recorder for mono reproduction; bass and drums were recorded on one track, guitar and "Farsifa Duo" keyboard on two others. All effects, such as the doubling of the drums, were added when these three tracks were combined onto the fourth, and the vocals and guitar solos were added as overdubs; a final mix of the song was then mastered onto a mono tape. Interestingly, before sending the 45 tapes to EMI in February 1967, Pink Floyd recorded the piece twice, even though there was no improvement. The tapes reached EMI on February 27, 1967, but the recordings were made on February 1 at Sound Techniques studios located in the Chelsea area, the very day of signing the contract with EMI. An interesting anecdote regards the promotional video of the song, shot along the Sussex coast: the four had just finished the shooting, which saw them playing with a mannequin dressed in various ways when a policeman approached asking if they had seen anything strange, and they innocently responded no, promising to alert him if they noticed anything suspicious; the law probably hoped for a raid since the already famous Keith Richards lived nearby, evidently not new to oddities; luckily they didn't check the car, in which there was the mannequin with a policeman helmet!

2) INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE - written by Barrett, Mason, Wright, and Waters in 1967, taken from "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Entirely instrumental, it is characterized by a raw riff, among the most frightening in the history of rock; a splendid psychedelic vision, as well as a space journey of Barrett's imagination, a rather unimaginable work for the times (and probably even for today). The track, like the whole album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", was recorded at Abbey Road studios. It was one of the early Pink Floyd's battle horses, but when played live, it was not subject to length limits and was composed of improvised sections, as it was often played with different elements, though in the same order; in practice, everything was based on Barrett's riff, and at least one instrument had to follow a certain rhythm, leaving the rest to improvisation. Reformulating this song to make it shorter (even half of when it was performed live) and render it capable of sustaining listener engagement, needing to be recorded on disc, was not easy: the song was cut, and the solos were reduced, not without Syd's discontent. The track, as we can hear it today, lasts 9.41 minutes and is the emblem of an Artist ended too soon, leaving us with this illustrious manifesto of genius and fantasy, a cornerstone of psychedelia, a milestone of rock.

3) SEE EMILY PLAY - written by Barrett in 1967, already released on 45. A track with freak-psychedelic flavors, with a peculiar atypical interlude by Wright. It is a revisitation of a previous band piece, "Games For May", which was written and performed specifically for the concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall on May 12, 1967, during the "Free Games For May" evening, precisely. Besides, that very evening, an entirely innovative device was used for this piece: the Azimuth Coordinator, operated by Wright; it was formed by two channels, each with a control bar, one for his Farsifa organ and one for sound effects. If the bar was vertical, the sound was centered, but moving it diagonally would send the sound to the speaker in the corresponding corner of the room. This way, Wright could rotate the keyboard sound within the auditorium or make footstep noises seem to move side to side. We remember again that this was 1967, and no musician of that time could ever conceive such an idea. The four tried recording the single at Abbey Road but, failing to reproduce the "Arnold Layne" sound, returned to Sound Techniques Studios to recreate the magic formula. It is said that during the piece's recording session, on May 21, 1967, Gilmour visited his friend Barrett in the studios just as Syd was using his favorite effect, a Zippo lighter on guitar strings, as if it were a slide effect. The single was released on July 14 and reached number seventeen on the British charts, thus enabling the group to perform at Top of the Pops.

4) REMEMBER A DAY - written by Wright in 1967, drawn from "A Saucerful of Secrets". A track with almost anti-Floyd arrangement, so much so that because it had a different drum sound from their usual battering style, Mason entrusted its execution to Norman Smith, the producer, as he would only have been needlessly anguished trying to achieve such a result; Smith's voice is also highlighted in the choirs. "Remember a Day" was initially recorded under the name "Sunshine" for the previous album but was discarded during the assembly. It should be noted that Barrett plays the acoustic guitar on this track, even though it was completed after his departure from the band. The track clearly shows Wright's excellent compositional skills as well as still stable psychedelic cries. The album was released on June 29, 1968, the same day the Pink Floyd played at the first free concert at Hyde Park together with Roy Harper and Jethro Tull.

5) PAINTBOX - written by Wright in 1967, already released on 45. Recorded on November 15 at Abbey Road studios, it wasn't quite a success, perhaps due to the poor recording quality. Besides, Pink Floyd had just returned from a series of concerts in America, two days earlier they had played in the Netherlands, and the night before the "Jimi Hendrix Tour" in London had started (with Hendrix himself and his Experience, the Nice, the Move and other bands), which was a "one nighter tour" (consisting of playing each night in a different city) and on the day of these single recordings, they were to leave for Hampshire where they would play at 18.10, so it's possible that the excessive workload during that period negatively influenced the recordings. The song, still in Barrett's style, resonates with Beatles influences; it's the anecdote of a guy who gets drunk and tries to forget his girl's disapprovals. It was published on November 18 on the b-side of "Apples and Oranges".

6) JULIA DREAM - written by Waters in 1968, already released on 45. One of the most beautiful songs ever written by Waters, an acoustic, dreamy ballad, with very sweet lyrics. It's recorded at Abbey Roads Studios first on February 13 under the provisional title "Doren's Dream", and then on February 23 with the definitive title "Julia Dream", with Gilmour on guitar. Curiously, when the single was released on April 12, as a b-side to "It Would Be So Nice", Barrett was still depicted on the cover.

7) CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE, EUGENE – written by Gilmour, Mason, Waters, and Wright in 1968, already released on 45 and also present on "Ummagumma-Live Album" live recorded at the College of Commerce in Manchester, as well as in "Live At Pompeii". It is very likely the first track composed with Gilmour in the lineup. Hallucinatory. Waters' inhuman scream introduces a dark, boundless atmosphere, to say the least, enveloping. The rhythm overall conveys a bidimensional sonic macrocosm: on one side a heterophonic infrastructural texture, on the other a stereophonic effect of spatial depth; undoubtedly, the studio version enjoys excellent instrumental balance and is far superior to the live one, less choral and refined. Instrumental, still evolving, it was presented for the very first time titled "Keep Smiling People" at Paradiso in Amsterdam on May 23, 1968, and was recorded on November 4 at Abbey Road Studios with Norman Smith's production; afterward, during a live recording session at BBC Maida Vale Studios on December 2, it was announced as "Baby Blue Shuffle In D Major". It was finally published on December 17 with the definitive title "Careful with that Axe, Eugene" as the b-side of the more commercially appealing "Point Me at the Sky". Performed on March 19, 1969, at the Royal Festival Hall in London during two concept shows called "The Man" and "The Journey" under the title "Beset by Creatures of Deep" and later reworked in a shorter version for John Peel's Top Gear Radio Show on June 25 titled "Murderistic Woman", it is also featured in the soundtrack of "Zabriskie Point" by Michelangelo Antonioni in 1970 in a slightly different version titled "Come in Number 51, Your Time is Up".

8) CIRRUS MINOR – written by Waters in 1968, drawn from "More". An acoustic ballad introduced by birdsong, with Gilmour's voice describing lunar atmospheres, is performed without drums and ends with the organ similar to "Celestial Voices" in "A Saucerful of Secrets". The entire "More" album, the soundtrack for the film of the same name, was composed in just eight days over Christmas 1968. Director Barbet Schroeder offered £600 to each band member.

9) THE NILE SONG – written by Waters in 1968, drawn from "More". It is perhaps the closest to hard-rock ever recorded by Pink Floyd, with Gilmour's powerful and rugged voice. The lyrics are the dream vision of a child who, along the Nile's banks, sees a woman lift off into the sun. Raw and touching. "More" was released on July 27, 1969.

10) BIDING MY TIME – written by Waters in 1969, unreleased. Performed under the title "Work" during the concept presentations "The Man" and "The Journey" for the first time on April 14, 1969, and subsequently in the related tour. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios on July 9, 1969, produced by Norman Smith, under the title "Biding My Time", it was performed live only twice, on January 18, 1970, at Fairfield Halls in Croydon and five days later at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. It is a slow blues, with the peculiarity of the final trombone played by Wright. Traces of blues will only be detectable in "Seamus" henceforth. Perhaps the lyrics partly refer to Norwegian Wood by the Beatles.

11) BIKE – written by Barrett in 1967, drawn from "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". A cheerful freak-song apparently nonsensical, it was performed for the first and only time live on May 12, 1967, at South Bank Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, under the provisional title "Bicycle". The clocks at the finale were contained in Abbey Road's collection of instruments and sound effects, skillfully harnessed by Pink Floyd under Norman Smith's guidance; the same finale heavily resembles "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles. Waters' voice is placed in a fade-out. The lyrics are directed at a girl, and in its purity it may seem childlike (but this is not a criticism, rather the opposite). As in "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", it's also chosen as the eleventh and final track here.

The absence of tracks from "Ummagumma-Studio Album" and "Atom Heart Mother" can be explained by considering these records as concept albums: extracting pieces from the original context would have somehow diminished the value of the pieces themselves. (this is just a hypothesis).
The cover is a drawing by Nick Mason reworked by Storm Thorgenson (remember Mason was an architecture student). From "Inside Out": >>When we changed the graphics for the digital version of Relics, Storm chose the original image I had drawn for the album, a fantasy tribute to Heat Robinson and Rowland Hemmet, and commissioned a three-dimensional model to see what that object would have looked like if it ever existed<<

This record, far from being a simple collection, should first and foremost be considered as a tribute to the genius of Syd Barrett, as if to say: "Without you, we wouldn't exist, thank you again, Mad Diamond!"

Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos

01   Arnold Layne (02:54)

Arnold Layne had a strange hobby
Collecting clothes
Moonshine washing line
They suit him fine
On the wall hung a tall mirror
Distorted view, see through baby blue
Oh, Arnold Layne
It's not the same, takes two to know
Two to know, two to know
Why can't you see?
Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne

Now he's caught - a nasty sort of person
They gave him time
Doors bang - chain gang - he hates it
Oh, Arnold Layne
It's not the same, takes two to know
Two to know, two to know
Why can't you see?
Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne

Don't do it again

02   Interstellar Overdrive (09:42)

Instrumental

03   See Emily Play (02:53)

Emily tries but misunderstands, ah ooh
She often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrow
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play

Soon after dark Emily cries, ah ooh
Gazing through trees in sorrow hardly a sound till tomorrow
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play

Put on a gown that touches the ground, ah ooh
Float on a river forever and ever, Emily
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play

04   Remember a Day (04:26)

05   Paintbox (03:28)

Last night I had too much to drink
Sitting in a club with so many fools
Playing to rules
Trying to impress but feeling rather empty
I had another drink
Drink - a - drink - a - drink - a - drink

What a way to spend that evening
They all turn up with their friends
Playing the game
But in the scene I should have been
Far away
Away - away - away - away - away
Getting up, I feel as if I'm remembering this scene before
I open the door to an empty room
Then I forget

The telephone rings and someone speaks
She would very much like to go out to a show
So what can I do - I can't think what to say
She sees through anyway
Away - away - away - away - away

Out of the front door I go
Traffic's moving rather slow
Arriving late, there she waits
Looking very angry, as cross as she can be
Be - a - be - a - be - a - be - a - be
Getting up, I feel as if I'm remembering this scene before
I open the door to an empty room
Then I forget

06   Julia Dream (02:32)

07   Careful With That Axe, Eugene (05:45)

Careful with that axe, Eugene
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

08   Cirrus Minor (05:03)

In a churchyard by a river,
Lazing in the haze of midday,
Laughing in the grasses and the graze.
Yellow bird, you are alone
In singing and in flying on,
In laughing and in leaving.

Willow weeping in the water,
Waving to the river daughters,
Swaying in the ripples and the reeds.
On a trip to Cirrus Minor,
Saw a crater in the sun
A thousand miles of moonlight later.

09   The Nile Song (03:23)

I was standing by the Nile
When I saw the lady smile.
I would take her out for a while,
For a while.

Oh, my tears wept like a child.
How her golden hair was blowing wild.
Then she spread her wings to fly,
For to fly.

Soaring high above the breezes,
Going always where she pleases.
She will make it to the islands in the sun.

I will follow in her shadow
As I watch her from my window.
One day I will catch her eye.

She is calling from the deep,
Summoning my soul to endless sleep.
She is bound to drag me down,
Drag me down.

10   Biding My Time (05:14)

11   Bike (03:22)

I've got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It's got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things

I've got a cloak
It's a bit of a joke
There's a tear up the front
It's red and black
I've had it for months
If you think it could look good
Then I guess it should

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things

I know a mouse
And he hasn't got a house
I don't know why
I call him Gerald
He's getting rather old
But he's a good mouse

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things

I've got a clan of gingerbread men
Here a man
There a man
Lots of gingerbread men
Take a couple if you wish
They're on the dish

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things

I know a room full of musical tunes
Some rhyme
Some ching
Most of them are clockwork
Let's go into the other room and make them work

12   Candy and a Currant Bun (02:42)

Oh my girl sitting in the sky
Go buy candy and encouragement
I like to see you cry
Lay back

Oooh, don't talk to me
Please, just fuck with me
Please you know I'm feeling frail

Talk, talk, talk to me
Please just walk with me
Please no feeling frail

It's true sun's shining very bright
It's you I'm gonna love tonight
Ice cream tastes good in the afternoon
Ice cream tastes good if you eat it soon

Ooh, don't touch me child
Please - no !
You drive me wild
Please you know I'm feeling frail

Don't try another cat
Don't go where other you must know why
Ver very very frail

Oh my girl sitting in the sun
Go buy candy and a currant bun
I like to see you run
Like that...

13   Scarecrow (02:08)

14   Apples and Oranges (03:01)

Got a flip-top pack of cigarettes in her pocket
Feeling good at the top
Shopping in sharp shoes
Walking in the sunshine town feeling very cool
But the butchers and the bakers in the supermarket stores
Getting everything she wants from the supermarket stores
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges

Cornering neatly she trips up sweetly
To meet the people
She's on time again
And then
I catch her by the eye then I stop and have to think
What a funny thing to do 'cause I'm feeling very pink
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges

I love she
She loves me
See you
See you

Thought you might to know
I'm the lorry driver man
She's on the run
Down by the river side
Feeding ducks by the afternoon tide
(Quack quack)
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges
Apples and oranges

15   It Would Be So Nice (03:40)

It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet, sometime

Everybody wakes, and in the morning
Hot tea and can't stop yawning
Pass the butter please
Have you ever read the Daily Standard?
Reading all about the plane that's landed
Upside down?

And no one knows what I did today
There can be no other way
But I would just like to say

It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime

Everybody cares about the weather
And everybody should know better
What a waste of time
Everybody lives beneath the ceiling
Living out a dream that sends them reeling
To a distant place

But no one knows what I did today
There can be no other way
But I would just like to say

It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
It would be so nice
To meet sometime

16   Point Me at the Sky (03:36)

17   Heartbeat, Pigmeat (03:08)

18   Crumbling Land (04:13)

In a while I'll find the time to make the sunshine mine
In a smile I saw a single eagle in the sky
Wheeling, soaring, gliding by

On a hill there lived a man with many shining things
Shiny pool, a shiny car and shiny diamond rings
Wining, dining, shining king

And the eagle flies in clear blue skies
Breathing in the clear blue air
Back here on the ground another dealer coughs and dies
And fifty more come rolling off
The Ford production line

Then a man appearing like up in our on the sand
In his hand a moving picture of the crumbling land
Screaming, scheming, movie man

Here we go, hold your nose and see if something blows
Close your eyes, count to ten and see the sunrise rise
Climbing, high into the sky

Climbing all the birds a lake, a dove, the lies
On the finger of the king
On high the eagle spies the glitter of a gun
And wheeling in a climbing turn he flies into the sun

19   Come in Number 51, Your Time Is Up (04:56)

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