Pink Floyd – Landover 1975 (Sigma 75)

Landover 1975 (Sigma 75)

Capitol Center, Landover, MD – June 10th, 1975

(55:11):  Raving And Drooling, You Gotta Be Crazy, Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part 1-5, Have A Cigar, Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part 6-9

Pink Floyd’s touring activities in the mid seventies were a bit odd.  Dark Side Of The Moon had already been released and played to death live, and in 1975 the band scheduled a long tour of north America with no new album to promote.  Their follow up to the previous album would be released in September, several months after the tour, and would feature only two of the four new songs premiered.

After more than a  month break the second half began on June 7th in Atlanta followed by two nights, June 9th and 10th, at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. The first concert exists complete and was pressed several years ago on Exposed In The Light Of Landover (Godfather Records GR396/397).  The second Maryland show has only the first set extant.

Landover 1975 on Sigma is the first silver pressing of the fragment.  The sound is very good to excellent, an upgrade over the first night, except for some instances like during “You Gotta Be Crazy” where the sound becomes a bit muffled and deteriorated.

The tape starts off with Roger Waters introducing the opening song, saying “we’re gonna start with a new song, it’s called ‘Raving And Drooling I Fell On His Neck With A Scream.'”  The first show in Maryland was a bit lackluster, but the second is quite intense.  Nick Mason is particularly animated in the opening number, giving a happy little lilt to the chugging beat.  It results in one of the best versions of the song this summer. 

“You Gotta Be Crazy” follows and, like the first song, is very tight.  Gilmour misses one of the vocal cues in the middle, but otherwise it sounds very hazy and, at times, dangerous. 

Before “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-5” Waters gives a rather lengthy explanation of the song, stating it is partially about Syd Barrett “late of this band.”  The sections of the piece are well defined.  Dick Parry gives an excellent saxophone solo in the middle of the piece, right before the segue into “Have A Cigar.” 

Like the initial live recordings later in the summer, Waters sings the lead vocals.  Thankfully his voice doesn’t crack much.  Like all the performances of this tour, “Have A Cigar” has the extra chorus and the bass-lead riff as a bridge back into “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9” which ends the tape. 

It is a shame the latter half of the show with the Dark Side Of The Moon suite and “Echoes” is missing because the first half is extremely strong.  Usually when Sigma release a tape fragment they usually augment it with others in an anthology of tapes.  But they chose to release this one solo with no additions from other concerts.  Landover 1975 good release for the Pink Floyd collector who already has everything.