Aphrodite (Siréne – 160)
Hakone Aphrodite, Hakone, Japan – August 6th, 1971
Disc 1/Source 1: The Circle Game (Buffy Sainte-Marie), Soundcheck, Announcement, Soundcheck, Atom Heart Mother, Soundcheck, Green Is The Colour, Careful With That Axe Eugene, Soundcheck, Echoes
Disc 2/Source 2: Soundcheck, Atom Heart Mother, Soundcheck, Green Is The Colour, Careful With That Axe Eugene
Siréne’s Aphrodite features two of the three different audience sources available for Pink Floyd’s appearance at this two day Open Air Festival. The third source, not included on this title, was previously released on silver disc as Echoes Of Japanese Meddle by Shout To The Top. Not one of the three sources actually documents the complete performance.
The first track on disc one is “The Circle Game” performed by Buffy Sainte-Marie who was a Native American international activist pop star, also on the bill, and why this recording is included here is very strange other than the fact that it was probably recorded by the same person.
Source one is a good, clear and very listenable recording. It contains all the long pauses and tunings between tracks and is believed to be the first presentation on CD of this source. “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” has a brief spot about a minute and a half into the song where it sounds like it may have been accidentally recorded over followed by a tape crinkle. This also has the longest “Echoes” available and is very enjoyable in this recording, especially in the funky section. Sadly, it is still incomplete, missing the end, but is still about 20 minutes long.
Source two contains only the first three songs and is a bit overloaded during “Green Is The Colour/Careful With That Axe, Eugene” with a tape flip/change 1:16 into “Eugene”. Aphrodite did not include “A Saucerful Of Secrets”, which is sometimes included with this source, but some have speculated that this comes from another source or a different night altogether.
It is unclear whether or not “Fat Old Sun”, “Set The Controls”, or “The Embryo” were played. They may have been cut due to time restrictions associated with festivals. “Cymbaline” has been documented on Echoes Of Japanese Meddle as being played which also has an unblemished “Careful With That Axe, Eugene”.
Aphrodite comes with a large sized program replica from the two day festival and really only has seven scattered pages that pertain to Pink Floyd and is entirely in Japanese, of course. Sort of an expensive title considering the amount of content, hopefully Siréne will reissue this title without the program replica, making it more affordable for collectors. Perhaps it would have been better for them to include a third disc presenting the other source instead of the program. But still, this is another nice Sirene production and is a great supplement to Shout To The Top’s title.
