Pink Floyd - The Man and The Journey

In 1969, Pink Floyd was touring with a show that was alternatively titled “The Man and The Journey” and “The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes.” The show was a concept that involved two parts. The first was about a man going through the usual bits of daily life, and the second was some kind of journey, possibly more cerebral than physical.

At one point, the band considered issuing a live album of the show but ultimately decided to go in a different direction and issued Ummagumma. One of the problems may have been the length of the program. Pink Floyd recently released the compilation box set The Early Years, 1965-1972, which includes a show recorded in Amsterdam that runs about 84 minutes.

Ummagumma included live recordings on sides one and two, and studio recordings on sides three and four. However, the studio cuts were actually solo recordings – each member of the band got half a side.

For this re-imagined album, I wanted to recreate The Man and The Journey using the studio tracks from Ummagumma. But to flesh out the album, I required two live tracks from Ummagumma as well as one non-album single. I also rearranged the tracks to better fit the concept.

SIDE A

1. Grantchester Meadows (daybreak, part 1)
2. Sysyphus [pt 3] (work) 
3. Sysyphus [pt 4] (teatime) 
4. The Grand Vizer’s Garden Party [pt 1] (entrance) 

SIDE B

1. Biding My Time (afternoon)
2. The Grand Vizer’s Garden Party [pt 2] (doing it!) 
3. Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict (sleep/nightmare)
4. The Grand Vizer’s Garden Party [pt 3] (daybreak, part 2) 

SIDE C

1. Sysyphus [pt 1] (the beginning) 
2. Careful with That Axe, Eugene [live] (beset by creatures from the deep) 
3. The Narrow Way [pt 3]
4. The Narrow Way [pt 1] (the pink jungle) 

SIDE D

1. Sysyphus [pt 2] (the labyrinths of auximines) 
2. The Narrow Way [pt 2] (behold the temple of light) 
3. A Saucerful of Secrets  [live] (the end of the beginning)

First, I took the tracks from Ummagumma that had been part of “The Man and The Journey” show. Then, I removed those tracks that had already been featured on previous Pink Floyd albums. Finally, I tried to fit in the remaining Ummagumma tracks where they seemed to make the most sense concept-wise.

The album starts with “Grantchester Meadows” (as Daybreak, Part 1), but instead of using the Ummagumma version, which only features Roger Waters, I used the BBC recording, which also includes David Gilmour. Then come parts three and four of Richard Wright’s “Sysyphus” (for the Work and Teatime sections, respectively). Side A concludes with part one of “The Grand Vizer’s Garden Party" (as Entrance).

The second side opens with “Biding My Time” (as Afternoon), followed by part two of “The Grand Vizer’s Garden Party,” (Doing It!). The rest of Side B continues with “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict,” (Sleep/Nightmare); and part three of “The Grand Vizer’s Garden Party (Daybreak, Part 2).

So ends “The Man” portion. “The Journey” then begins.

The first part of “Sysyphus” begins Side C (as The Beginning). I initially wanted to use the b-side single version of “Careful with that Axe, Eugene” (as Beset by Creatures from the Deep), but it’s too short and would have resulted in Side C being much shorter than the other sides. So I went with the live version from Ummagumma which is three minutes longer. This is followed by the third and first parts of “The Narrow Way,” the last track (as The Pink Jungle).

The final side opens with the second part of “Sysyphus” (as The Labyrinths of Auximines), followed by the second part of “The Narrow Way” (as Behold the Light of Auximines).

The album concludes with the live version of “A Saucerful of Secrets” (as The End of the Beginning). This presented a minor dilemma for me -- I'd wanted to leave out any songs that had appeared on previous Pink Floyd albums. But I'm left without an ending. For the live performance of "The Man and The Journey," the show ended only with the "Celestial Voices" section of "A Saucerful of Secrets." But since Ummagumma includes a live version of the entire song, and because the fourth side would be a bit short without the full version, the whole song is included.

By rearranging the tracks, the album immediately resembles more of a group effort than the arrangement of Ummagumma.

The cool album cover art is the work of http://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com