Pink Floyd “Money / Brain Damage – Eclipse” (Tomahawk Records LP)
The vinyl revival saunters on in collectors circles and with sales of the black stuff rocketing if you believe the estimations coming from Urban Outfitters, it’s here to stay. Conversely at the same time less CD singles are being made so what does a good label to do get those snatches of recordings being heard? Sure, it makes good marketing for the indie labels to outsource their tunes to the ever lovable 7” single in a dizzying array of colours, with picture sleeves and pin badges – we can all feel like we’re 11 years old again with the multiples of oddities being offered with our little diskettes, dashing home to fill the house with noise, knowing what we’re going to hear is closely racing towards the top of the charts, while playing Russian roulette with the flip side – whether that 3 minute ditty will be worth it’s weight in measured madness while the band derp around in the studio or it was something that was knocked off with the hot hand of the record company on their collars.
But what does this mean for our bootlegging friends? The last great CD single from an unofficial source was – to my mind – Midnight Beat’s impressive shaped Apple picture disk of Ringo Starr’s takes on “It Don’t Come Easy” but that was released in 1997. It’s been over 15 years since then but the vinyl explosion has been our best friend. Indeed, if you’re working on the grey side you have a couple of unfinished tracks that are exclusive to you, you need a little return on your diamonds but don’t have enough good sources to wait around for, you take down the vinyl road and if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Produce your own single.
Tomahawk records bring is two Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ (or DSOTM if we’re following the trend) era outtakes / demos. Following the great Animals / Wish You Were Here demos that leaked last year, these are great additions to the outside works of the band. Released in two different versions – one a picture 12” platter, the other a shaped 7” picture disk, both featuring the Hipgnosis produced prism in the middle.
The tracks belong in one in a hundred collections or there about according to the rumours so will be wildly familiar to any listeners ears but here’s how they sound here;
Money – Roger Waters’ Home Demo – Exclusively acoustic, Roger’s vocals are audible but slightly distant, stripped of any other overdubs it’s a brilliant listen, a blues on it’s own would be my overall assessment.
Brain Damage / Eclipse – Work In Progress Studio outtake – Fades up at the beginning from the lyrics “The Lunatic Is In My Head”. This take is missing Peter Watts’ ‘I Can’t Think of Anything To Say” spoken parts, and most of Rick Wright’s organ and the grand, orchestral swath of Rick’s synth too.
The main drawback to these tracks would be their brevity – We certainly would buy these from a CD retailer but Tomahawk have hit on a great collectable, aesthetically pleasing way of owning these platters. Both versions limited to 200 numbered editions each. They are suitable additions to a collection or compilation otherwise, this wax stands up for itself.
One thing I must mention, the dead wax appears around the opening of the record, pushing the grooves to the centre – One of the only times I’ve seen this done and a brilliant gift to the sticky fingered of us or someone who might be teaching their significant if ham fisted other how to treat vinyl.
