Pink Floyd and The Incredible String Band.
Pink Floyd.
The second half of Side 1 of the studio album is occupied by Roger Waters’ contribution, which comprises two separate tracks. The first of these is a beautiful, wistful song called “Grantchester Meadows”, which opens up with the sound of an insect lazily buzzing. The title refers to a real place in Cambridge, UK. Anyway, it was the start of many such songs which the group was later to record, and it really is l lovely gentle song to listen to. “Hear the lark and hearken to the barking of the dog-fox, gone to ground. Listen to the flapping of the kingfisher gently lapping in the water.” The song ends with the return of the buzzing insect, but this time accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps going from the left to the right speaker, where there is the sound of a whacking, repeated four times. The fourth is the loudest, and abruptly terminates the buzzing. This is classic Pink Floyd, as, in its own way, is the second piece…
This next one is called “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict”. I kid you not, and it does what it says on the tin. The first bit is a clever varied instrumental using assorted electronic hoots and whoops, which continue faded into the second part. Here Roger Waters does a way over the top Scottish accent voicing almost unintelligible words, eventually culminating in the clear phrase “And The Wind Cries Mary”, the title of a celebrated Jimi Hendrix song. Excellent stuff, and again the rough harbinger of some of the group’s later adventures.
From the inside of the gatefold, this is his photo (with Jude):
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