Many have attempted to find the answer only to fall by the wayside, their search for the truth let down by ill-preparation. Head Full of Snow will do no such thing. Instead we will weigh up the pros and cons of each era with the pivotal album remaining off-limits (for the record, a decent enough album but, in my opinion, one that’s outrageously overrated). This way there should be no fear of falling on our collective swords, long before the battle has been won.

Pre-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd

Prior to The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd were one of Britain’s finest exponents of psychedelic rock… for all of two albums. These were 1967′s Piper at the Gates of Dawn and 1968′s A Saucerful of Secrets. The first, written largely by and featuring the vocals of Syd Barrett, lurches from acid space-rock freak-out tracks like ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, to the whimsical Barrettisms of classic toytown-psych, ‘The Gnome’.  The second, recorded when Barrett was sinking deeper into acid-induced oblivion and featuring only one of his compositions, the spine-tingling, eerily uncomfortable ‘Jugband Blues‘, continues the psychedelic standard of the debut with the likes of ‘Set Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ and ‘Corporal Clegg’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKN0-BC9PPg

Following these first two releases, as well as non-album singles such as ‘Arnold Layne’, ‘See Emily Play’, ‘Apples and Oranges’ and ‘Julia Dream’, and, of course, the unceremonious expulsion of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s ground became a little patchier.

More (a movie soundtrack) followed, with its mish-mash of styles and lack of cohesion, after which Pink Floyd began their drift towards The Dark Side of the Moon and a more “traditional” prog rock sound, which would see Roger Waters pretty much take the reins as Floyd’s creative force, whilst David Gilmour settled in as the lead vocalist. Ummagumma, is perhaps the most disappointing release of this transitional period, which despite being home to the blissfully gentle pastoral-folk of ‘Grantchester Meadows’, is elsewhere pretentious and nigh-on unlistenable in equal turns.

Atom Heart Mother continues the push to separate Pink Floyd from its psychedelic past, but it’s not until 1971′s Meddle that the pointers for The Dark Side of the Moon really fall into place, with the 23 minute ‘Echoes’ sounding, for all intents, like a dry run for parts of the eternally-celebrated Pink Floyd axle. With another film soundtrack in the bag in the shape of 1972′s Obscured by Clouds, 1973 arrived and the Floyd changed.

Post-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd

The first release following The Dark Side of the Moon was 1975′s Wish You Were Here, an album that not only eclipses its predecessor in terms of greatness, but also sees Pink Floyd back at their best following the dumping of Syd Barrett. Superior psychedelia had finally given way to superior progressive rock.

With the songs ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I- IX) and the title track, it puts Pink Floyd back at the top of their profession. The fact the album is about Barrett also provides a fitting, if belated and slightly hypocritical tribute from his former cohorts. An eerie moment that has since passed into rock folklore occurred during its recording and can be read about here.

Animals in 1977 maintained a standard, but despite its undoubted proggishness with just the three main songs, the lengthy ‘Dogs’, ‘Pigs (Three Different Ones)’ – including a commendable dig at anti-freedom campaigner and professional busy-body, Mary Whitehouse – and ‘Sheep’, it couldn’t hold a candle to Wish You Were Here.

This was followed in 1979 by The Wall, the Floyd album that even newborn babies have heard of, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous single ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. The lengthy concept album features quality tracks such as ‘Nobody Home’, ‘Comfortably Numb’, and ‘In the Flesh’, but “lengthy” is the operative word in this case, with too much filler wedged in between the killer, padding out the album’s story, somewhat unnecessarily. But nonetheless, it was the last decent album Pink Floyd recorded, as the onset of the 80s saw them polluted by the same disease that struck down any band whose roots were in the 60s but chose to continue recording beyond the 70s – that of trying to stay abreast of the new kids by embracing pop/rock.

Pink Floyd, in one shape or another, recorded three more albums before calling it a day with 1994′s The Division Bell, but these were as far from the psychedelic beginnings and prog rock fruitions as it was possible to get. Being as such, they don’t warrant inclusion in Head Full of Snow’s search for the better Floyd incarnation.

The Verdict

Despite a strong showing from Wish You Were Here, and a fair bit of fluff from before the days of The Dark Side of the Moon, it’s the earlier incarnation that takes the title. The psychedelic rock and sometime whimsy of the Barrett era beats the often laborious, and dare one say, sometime boring prog of The Dark Side of the Moon and beyond.

And so ends our quest. Take this answer with you and step forth into the world, a better person for it.

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Mixing a variety of styles including the blues and elements of psychedelia into one progressive rock melting pot, intodown paint musical soundscapes that bring to mind early Pink Floyd, post-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd and the 13th Floor Elevators in varying degrees.

With frontman and guitar-warlock Michael Clark – who looks like the ringmaster at the Devil’s own rock ‘n’ roll circus – citing the likes of Peter Green, Mayall and Cream era Eric Clapton and the psychedelic gypsy himself, Jimi Hendrix, as chief amongst his influences, they bang out the sort of music that gets the HFoS seal of approval.

intodown have an album out, Brave New World, available through their website, and a taster of their style can be sampled on the intodown MySpace page. ‘Sonic Voyage 3′ in particular has that early Floyd sound, reminiscent of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ from Piper at the Gates of Dawn, whereas other tracks sometimes dabble with a more Gilmouresque sound.

If largely instrumental freakouts be your thing, then you could do a lot worse than lending your ears to the eclectic sounds of intodown, “the 60’s band from the future.”

www.intodown.com
www.myspace.com/intodown

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Image from: Marmalade Skies

In fact, mentioning Focal Point is no mere accident as two of the similarities between the misfortunes of the two bands sits firmly on the less desirable side of uncanny. Both had the sort of backing other bands could only dream of – Focal Point had The Beatles and The End had the Rolling Stones (more specifically Bill Wyman). Both were allowed to slip into obscurity through no fault of their own. The death of Beatles manager, Brian Epstein saw Focal Point’s priorities at Apple Records thrown onto the backburner, whilst Rolling Stones’ business manager Alan Klein sat on The End’s one and only album, Introspection, for eighteen months before it saw a release, at exactly the time when musical trends had moved on.

The End had started out as The Innocents, performing backing for singer Mike Berry, who ‘d later go on to appear in later series of British sit-com, Are You Being Served.

Now anybody whose heard The End’s Introspection will agree that they were far better than a session outfit for a future sub-holiday camp entertainer, a point not lost on Bill Wyman when their paths crossed in the first half of the 1960s, appearing further up the bill than the Stones, and he offered his assistance should the time come they wished to branch out on their own.

Which is what two members of The Innocents, Dave Brown and Colin Griffin, did, recruiting three more members, two of whom would later be replaced, and becoming The End.

Bill Wyman kept his word and prior to the band decamping to Spain to take a pop at the Spanish music circuit, he and the then Rolling Stones engineer, Glyn Johns, produced The End’s single ‘I Can’t Get Any Joy’ – a title that proved  an unfortunate portent to the band’s future fortunes in the UK market.  Success in Spain saw their sound drifting towards a more guitar-based psychedelic one and it was Wyman again who suggested the band begin working on an album to capitalise on the psychedelia buzz that casting its basket of flowers into the heart of the UK scene.

July 1967, and The End began work on Introspection – Their Bill Wyman produced, one and only album that down the years would become something of a psychedelic holy grail.

Recorded at around the same time as the Rolling Stones were recording Their Satanic Majesties Request, the album featured guest appearances from Charlie Watts and Nicky Hopkins (session keyboardist on many a classic Stones tune) and is unashamed psych-pop; a factor that would play a major part in Introspection’s lack of success, come its eventual release.

A single, ‘Shades of Orange’ backed with ‘Loving Sacred Loving’, was released to a good reception and these songs would later go on to cause quite a stir amongst bootleg afficianados ever-eager to unearth the next lost pièce de résistance,  who mistakenly thought them to be unused Stones tracks – and if that wasn’t enough to get the juices flowing, ones  that featured The Beatles(!)

Once completed, Introspection was placed in the ‘capable’ hands of the aforementioned business manager, Alan Klein, where it would remain for eighteen months before seeing the light of day in 1969. Decent reviews weren’t enough to counter a lack of interest from The End’s record company Decca, nor the fact that the market had shifted to favour heavier psychedelic and progressive rock, and the album sank without trace. Colin Griffin says: “I think if Introspection had been released a year earlier it may have made an impact…”

Such was the fickle nature of the ever-changing swirl of trends and fashions that spiraled through the latter half of the 60s. An album eighteen months out of time.

The End drifted apart following the disastrous release, with three of the members (including Dave Brown) leaving psychedelia well and truly behind  to form hard rock act, Tucky Buzzard.

And that was it until 1999, thirty years on from the release of Introspection, when they reformed for a festival in Spain, the country in which they’d enjoyed the lion’s share of their success.

The End had their all-too-brief moment but were denied a shot at true greatness by the conspiracy of human ineptiitude, record company apathy and damned bad luck.

Introspection is released on the Decca label and available from Amazon.co.uk

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Focal Point were the first signing to The Beatles-owned company, Apple Publishing, which would go on to become their record label, Apple Records.

Consisting of Scousers, Paul Tennant and David Rhodes, what at the time must have felt like a rare stroke of luck followed a chance encounter with Paul McCartney in London’s Hyde Park. Quickly signed after approval by the likes of John Lennon, Brian Epstein and Apple’s head honcho Terry Doran, the two formed a group with which to perform their songs and Focal Point released ‘Sycamore Sid’ in 1968, backed by the rather old-fashioned, if melodious, sound of ‘Love You Forever’. In the absence of a fully operational record label at Apple, the single was released on the Deram imprint of Decca. It would be the group’s one and only release.

‘Sycamore Sid’, an ode to the legendary Brits-Bluesman John Mayall, who had taken to living in a tree, failed to create the anticipated buzz and Apple quickly lost interest in their maiden signing. This was despite throwing money at them in the initial stages and even going so far as to rent the group a flat whilst they recorded demos.

For Focal Point, the race was over before they’d even had a chance to put their spikes on. Their return to Liverpool saw them unceremoniously ex-communicated by the management without so much as a bye or leave, as the focus was shifted onto the new Apple golden boys, Grapefruit.

They never recorded again, although there were a number of demos and finished recordings made prior to the bubble bursting. Locked away since the 60s in the Deram vaults, these songs have resurfaced in recent years on the Apple Records compilation 94 Baker Street and the Focal Point retrospective First Bite of the Apple – See what they’ve done there?

The 94 Baker Street CD – the title of which, incidentally, is taken from the address of The Beatles’ Apple Boutique, which also doubled as the makeshift offices for their burgeoning record label – features the single ‘Sycamore Sid’ and its B-side, plus what the group had hoped would be there inaugural release, the surrealist psych-pop nugget ‘Never Never’ and ‘Girl on the Corner’. There is also a rough take of the excellent ”Cept Me’, which sets a slightly darker tone with its two note refrain giving this tale of isolation in a carefree, swinging London, a more sinister edge.

First Bite of the Apple has all these and then some. Twenty tracks in all, although the final six are just demos and alternate takes. Barring these, this is probably the album Focal Point would’ve released in 1968, had they been given half the chance.

Such is fate. It’s fair to say that barring The Iveys, who went on to become Badfinger, none of the initial signings of Apple Publishing came out the other side of deal with any of  the longevity or success that had been anticipated. Focal Point were just another casualty of the psychedelic tapestry weaving its way across the English music scene during the late 60s. They may have been forgotten, but their music lives on. It’s just a case of seeking it out.

Edit. Focal Point are still performing as a band to this day. This year they’ll be performing in Liverpool and throughout the North of England as well as supporting Status Quo at the Tidworth Festival in July.

Paul Tennant has just published his McCartney-endorsed book entailing their incredible journey and entitled All You Need Is Luck. It is currently in pre-production for a film scheduled to begin shooting in the summer of this year.

Focal Point feature at Marmalade Skies

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