Missing Pieces: Japan Tour 1972 (Sigma 34)
Disc 1: (60:00) Tokyo Taiikukan, Tokyo, Japan – March 7, 1972 – Dark Side Of The Moon – Speak To Me, Breathe, On The Run, Time, Breathe (Reprise), The Great Gig In The Sky, Money, Us And Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, Eclipse, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Disc 2: (56:27) Echoes (Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan – March 8, 1972), A Saucerful Of Secrets (Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan – March 9, 1972), Atom Heart Mother (Nakajima Sports Center, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan – March 13, 1972)
Missing Pieces from Sigma compiles new tape sources from Pink Floyd’s second visit to Japan. Disc one is entirely from the second show of the tour with disc two containing three tracks from various Japanese shows.
The March 7th 1972 show in Tokyo on disc one is Pink Floyd’s second night at Taiikukan and features a new incomplete alternate source. The tape features the entire Dark Side Of The Moon and the encore “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun”, missing “One Of These Days”, “Careful With That Axe Eugene”, and “Echoes”. The older source was previously issued on Live In Tokyo 1972 (Zeus) that had an incomplete “Set The Controls”, cut off after just 5:30. When Missing Pieces was announced “Set The Controls” was advertised as 12 minute complete version and there claim is true.
The source used for Zeus is very good and clear but suffers from overbearing low end distortion in places and runs about 2.5% fast. The new source used on Sigma 34 is slightly distant with emphasis on the low end but fortunately doesn’t distort as bad as the older source and runs at the correct speed. I do find it strange how “One Of These Days”, “Careful”, and “Echoes” are completely missing yet the taper captures a complete encore. My guess would be that these do exist but are being held back for some reason.
The additional material from disc two starts with “Echoes” from March 8th in Osaka and marks the third source from this show to be pressed on silver disc. Highland issued the first source on Fourth Eclipsed Night (wrongly attributed to March 9th) while the second source was pressed on Darkest Moon (Sirene) and followed by Naniwa…Natural Dark in Osaka (Highland). The difference in sound quality between Darkest Moon and Naniwa was only marginal and both were excellent releases, being more enjoyable than the first source. After comparison with Fourth Eclipsed Night (Highland) and Darkest Moon (Sirene) the performance matches perfectly which proves the date and venue are accurate. Roger whispers “This is called Echoes” before the track to great applause. The new source is more distant than the others but overall offers a fuller range of frequencies. While the first source has a rather flat sound, the second source captures more detail but has a very thin one dimensional quality to it. Recently, a bonus CDR was released titled Darkest Moon Master and will more than likely be issued as a pressed version from Sigma in the future, hopefully with upgraded sound. Although the new source is distant, it would be interesting to hear the entire tape someday.
There has been some speculation about the authenticity for the remainder of Missing Pieces and for good reason. “A Saucerful Of Secrets” and “Atom Heart Mother” have never appeared on any sources associated with the dates listed and are subject to skepticism. “A Saucerful Of Secrets” was thought to maybe come from the mislabeled Fourth Eclipsed Night (actually from August 9, 1971 in Osaka but labeled March 9, 1972) but when compared is a very different version. So until more of this new source surfaces or another collector can identify it, this remains a mystery to me. It is, however, a good strong performance of the piece in decent sound quality.
The final track, “Atom Heart Mother”, is listed as being from Sapporo on March 13th but again no source has listed this track before. The source is very distant and muffled, losing much detail. The track starts with a short taped segment of the choir before the band crashes in and is a good performance although the recording doesn’t do it justice. Although I can’t attribute this to any other night, I still think it is rather unlikely from Sapporo but I would love to be proven wrong if and when more surfaces.
When Sigma 34 was first announced, it was exciting to hear that new sources for these shows had surfaced but leaves me asking why more complete sources weren’t issued instead of a compilation of different nights. Is this really all that exists from these new tapes or is this just a sampling of things to come? The March 7th show in Tokyo would make a great release if the remainder of the tracks are found but when all is said and done, disc two is more a curiosity for the completeists and not really essential for Floyd fans. Missing Pieces is packaged in a double slimline jewel case with a distant stage shot for the front cover and a glimpse of the infamous Binson tape echo on the back.
22 Comments
Do we have more sources to verify if AHM was played in Sapporo or not?
hi plomerus, i ordered it in japan but it will take some weeks to have it, i’m very curious ,however i’m sure if anything is suspicious you’ll detect it, hope to see your review soon
Unfortunately, I’ll probably only have enough time to compare discs 1/2 with 3/4 for differences, but being that I listen very carefully for cuts/crossfades, if anything seems suspicious I’ll certainly bring it to light.
LET’S LISTEN AND JUDGE….HOWEVER I REMIND YOU THAT SOMETIMES SOMEONE ADDS OTHER GIG’S SONGS TO FILL SOME RELEASES AND SAYS THAT’S NEW MATERIAL DISCOVERED ( AND THAT’S NOT….)
Well I guess Sigma is responding to some things mentioned here with Sigma 40…supposedly containing March 8th, 9th, and 10th 1972…so how ’bout them apples?
THANKS TMOQ FOR THE INFOS,I ASKED GLENN ABOUT HIS FUTURE PLANS AND HE TOLD ME THE BOOK WILL BE RELEASED SOON IN THE STATES AND IN A BIG PORTION OF EUROPE TOO!!! WE’LL WAIT FOR IT….ANOTHER GREAT BOOK THAT SHOULD HIT THE ROAD, IN THE NEXT MONTHS, IS A FANTASTIC BOOTLEG HISTORY ( VINYL ONLY) WITH TONS OF FULL COLOUR PICTURES, THE AUTHOR IS A WELL RENOWNED ITALIAN COLLECTOR AND DEALER , I LOOKED AT A PROOF COPY AND IT’S ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, HOPE HE WILL RAISE ENOUGH FUNDS TO RELEASE IT VERY SOON (UNFORTUNATELY IT’S A PRIVATE PUBLISHING)
HI “DCD” MEANS ONLY A DOUBLE CD, BYE AXEMAN
Roberto, what do you mean by ‘DCD’? What is ‘DCD’, and which title’s DCD are you referring to?
For those who are interested, the “In The Flesh” book has been re-issued! It’s called “Echoes” and is currently only available in the UK. I recently got mine but have not had a chance to look thru it but hopefully the errors have been corrected. Not sure if there any plans for the to be released in the US.
TRUE!!! I PERSONALLY DETECTED SOME ( VERY FEW) ERRORS THAT EXCLUDED SOME GIGS BUT THE TRACK LISTS ARE VERIFIED, I KNOW GLENN VERY WELL AND HE ASSURED ME HE MADE THE BEST EFFORT TO CHECK EVERYTHING, HE PLANS TO REISSUE THE BOOK ( THAT SOLD VERY WELL) BUT FOR SOME PERSONAL REASONS HE HAS NO TIME AT ALL. BESIDES THESE FACTS, I ASKED ONE OF THE TOP FLOYD COLLECTORS IN THE WORLD( FOR TAPES) TO CHECK THE STUFF ISSUED AS BONUS TRACKS AND HE CONFIRMED ME THAT “SAUCERFUL” AND “ATOM” WERE NOT FROM THAT CONCERTS AS HE OWNS THE COMPLETE TAPES AND SIMPLY THEY ARE NOT THERE… I BOUGHT THE DCD AND I’M HAPPY WITH IT THIS TIME BUT I KEEP MY OPINION ABOUT THIS RELEASE
Yes, the Povey-Russell book has at least a few, probably several or so, noteable errors in it, and the track listings aren’t complete & confirmed for every single performance. I don’t know about *all* editions of it, but when I got mine several years ago, I was told that there were supposed to be only a couple minor errors. I was somewhat surprised to eventually discover what seemed to be certainly more than that – incl. the BBC show of 1968-06-25 being completely missing! But despite all the errors, it’s still quite a useful info. source, although it certainly would be cool/great to have the errors corrected.
besides the mistakes in the Povey/Russell book, a small number of the track listings in them are not 100% complete and verified.
Even the Povey-Russell book has errors. Historically, throughout the course of the Sirene era and Sigma the mistakes have been few and far between. Beyond that I’d say 90% of these releases are the very best available, the only current competitor being Godfather, whom have managed to avoid too much crossover by focusing on mostly exclusive shows. Again, I don’t think Sigma made this release as a “cash-in” and I do enjoy its contents personally.
I GUESS THAT SIGMA LABEL SHOULD CHECK BETTER THEIR SOURCES: IT’S NOT DIFFICULT TO LOCATE THE WONDERFUL POVEY-RUSSELL BOOK THAT COMPILES EVERY POSSIBLE GIG IN THE ENTIRE FLOYD CAREER WITH FULL TRACKLISTINGS, AND AS I’M AWARE THAT SOMETIMES MISTAKES ARE BEHIND THE CORNER EVEN FOR THE BEST LABELS( I REFER TO THE CORRECT DATE OF “MELBOURNE 71” FROM THE GODFATHERECORDS LABEL),FOR THE LABEL DEVOTED ONLY TO ONE ARTIST IT’S NOT FAIR INCLUDE STUFF WITH DUBIOUS DATES.. HOWEVER THE CONCERT FROM TOKIO IS BETTER THAN ZEUS RELEASE AND WORTH HAVING, BUT IT’S DIFFICULT, FOR ME, NOT THINKING THAT THIS RELEASE IS NOT ACCURATE , MAYBE A CASH-IN ONLY?!?!
I think in many cases the labels receive tapes that are labelled incorrectly, and have nothing further to go on than that and the actual sound quality. MAYBE some take an extra step to research how many times something has been released previously (or request their sources provide more info tp begin with). I highly doubt labels that aren’t “artist specific” are spending even a fraction of the amount of time we here invest comparing, dissecting, and cataloging; just a quick scan of the Highland discography will reveal quite a few errors, but also a diverse roster…I’d like to think labels that are “artist specific” – focusing solely upon Springsteen, Dylan, Stones, Floyd, Zeppelin (etc.) are a bit more careful crosschecking sources and background information. It’s all speculation unless one of us actually managed to arrange some anonymous interviews with the folks behind the labels…something that I’ve thought about quite a bit since becoming involved with CMR…and perhaps that will transpire at some point, but for now I’ll take it on faith that Sigma has only ever had the best intentions as far as what they’ve elected to release – after all, obviously quite a few items have been relegated to bonus gift items or CDR only releases that other, less-discerning labels might press up regardless of quality. When all is said and done, though I’m hoping that my “Sigma theories” ultimately do come to fruition, I’ll be content to have whatever fresh silver they produce considering more and more folks are opting for the CDR only route. All that aside, errors and mysteries give us a chance to serve a higher purpose beyond providing perspectives on the latest releases & make things a bit more exciting – though, it would be ideal if all the labels were careful to verify their sources before pressing items nonetheless!
Well, I didn’t necessarily mean to imply that any potentially false info. was ever deliberately intended to mislead any of us. But still, I can’t help but curiously wonder what Highland was thinking when they released “Dark Soundboard of Philadelphia” – one of the worst ones. However, most of us have given them the benefit of the doubt, and even if it ever were intentional deception, we seem to have mostly forgiven them for it.
That Ayanami “Detroit 1973” debacle probably transpired due to the label receiving misinformation themselves – and considering the title was deleted shortly after release, it confirms for me that it was simply a mistake that was unfortunately discovered a bit too late. That being said, I still need it to complete the collection anyway… Nevertheless, “Missing Pieces” is a strange release for Sigma, but should they offer further compilations in the future, it would be nice to see an updated collection of rarities ala the Highland anthologies.
Sigma has a great reputation and I highly doubt they would intentionally mislead us with this title. If more from these sources does exist in their vault, then maybe they can shed some more light on the subject by releasing them individually.
Forgot to add that, as I told my cyber-friend Tmoq in an e-mail a couple/few weeks ago, if the info. stated by Sigma turns out to be false, then I think that would seem to be the first time ever for them – possibly even going back to their days as Siréne, but certainly not as Ayanami, as many of us should remember their ignominiously infamous “Detroit 1973” that was available for a brief period before Ayanami probably realized what an outrageous rip-off it was and thus canceled it, apparently.
Also consider this one was released to retail in time for the anniversary of these concerts – perhaps that’s another motive behind this release.
This appears to be Sigma’s most unusual release so far – possibly even going back to their days as Siréne & even the pro-CDR label Ayanami. They’ve never previously issued compilations, added bonus tracks (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that), or released any rare studio tracks, although in the case of rare studio tracks, it’s probably understandable since there doesn’t seem to be much left out there that hasn’t already been made available, even in upgraded sound quality. Anyway, it’s cool to see them do something at least a little different, for a rather nice change.
Very interesting review, wgpsec – thanks. I can add that at least I really like each piece of artwork for this one. It certainly beats reading about someone having both of their legs amputated above the knee & nearly dying due to the horrors of “flesh-eating bacteria”.