Pink Floyd has gone way back and revisited work from its beginnings. The band announced today that it is releasing a massive 27-disc box set called The Early Years 1965-1972. The collection features early singles, unreleased music and video, previously unseen photos, and more, all from back when the group was making a name for itself.
When it comes to music, The Early Years 1965-1972 delivers. The collection includes 10 CDs, nine DVDs, and eight Blu-ray discs, which together contain more than 130 audio tracks. There are more than 20 unreleased songs, plus BBC Radio sessions, remixes, outtakes, and alternative versions. Pink Floyd also promises rare concert footage, interviews, feature films, and new sound mixes. Basically, serious fans will drool over this huge collection.
The box set comes as seven individual book-style volumes, and each holds material from the Pink Floyd archive, as well as recordings from radio and TV. In total, there are 14 hours of video, including restored footage, more than 100 photographs of the band, and 40-plus memorabilia items. The first five U.K. singles are included on 7-inch vinyl with replica sleeves.
Of the seven volumes, six are organized by year, while one comes as a bonus volume called Continu/ation. The first volume, Cambridge St/ation, covers the years 1965-1967, while the remaining five year-specific volumes feature a single year each: Germin/ation (1968), Dramatis/ation (1969), Devi/ation (1970), Reverber/ation (1971), and Ofusc/ation (1972).
The collection’s release will coincide with that of a companion edition called Cre/ation — The Early Years 1965-1972. Much smaller, the 2-CD collection will include only some of the box set’s highlights. It won’t be nearly as comprehensive, but on the plus side, it will be much less expensive.
Both collections offer a look at how the band grew over its early years, showing off the talent of Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and David Gilmour. The Early Years 1965-1972 and Cre/ation are due out on November 11.
