Pink Floyd – Trademark Moo (Highland HL630)

Trademark Moo (Highland HL630)

Pritchard Gymnasium, SUNY Stony Brook, New York – April 11th, 1970

(73:21):  Astronomy Domine, Careful With That Axe Eugene, Cymbaline, Atom Heart Mother, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, A Saucerful Of Secrets

Trademark Moo is the earliest extant tape from Pink Floyd’s third US tour.  Highland’s is the first commercial silver release of this show but it has circulated as Suny is the Day, Genuine New York 1970, and  New York 11.4.70.  The label unearthed a copy that is closer to the master cassette and is more complete and much better sounding than anything else in current circulation. 

It begins with Roger Waters speaking about tuning up, staggering about and changing the echo unit before the band is ready to play the opening number “Astronomy Domine” and the tape runs out at nine minutes nineteen seconds in the final song “A Saucerful Of Secrets”.  There is a small cut at the end of the nightmare interlude in the middle of “Cymbaline” but otherwise is unedited.   It is very bright, clear and in great shape for a tape that is more than thirty years old.    

The third tour began on April 9th at the Fillmore East, followed by a show at Five Stages in Chicago on April 10th and then this show at the Pritchard Gymnasium on the campus of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  They brought the Azimuth Co-ordinator with them for the first time to America and the effects are audible on this tape, especially during “Cymbaline”.  The usual ninety minute set was cut down to just over an hour for unexplained reasons. 

The two acoustic numbers, “Grantchester Meadows” (usually segued with “Astronomy Domine”) and “Green Is The Colour” (usually segued with “Careful With That Axe, Eugene”) were dropped along with “The Embryo”.  What is left in an intense performance dominated by the long psychedelic instrumentals with no respite for the audience.  “Cymbaline” is performed very well and has the audience wondering about the footsteps during the “nightmare” section. 

“Atom Heart Mother” is played six months before the album’s release and is received well.  By the end Waters says, ‘This could be the last piece we play …. the title track ‘A Saucerful Of Secrets'” which the taper says he likes.  The beginning, “Something Else”, really benefits from the Azimuth Co-ordinator sounding very spooky in the cavernous venue and the tape unfortunately runs out after nine minutes as “Syncopated Pandemonium” is heating up. 

This recording is known for the taper chatting with his date during the brakes in the music and they have some bizarre conversations about classes and the CIA.  Pink Floyd would come back to Stony Brook in support of Meddle and play on November 14th, 1971 of which no tape has ever surfaced.  These are the only two concerts they performed in Suffolk County and cemented their legend on Long Island that lasts to this day.