Top of the Pops video(s)?

[oldperfume]

Hello to all!
Has anyone else heard this : That they found a couple of copies of Syd's Floyd doing "See Emily Play" on "Top of the Pops"?? I heard it's not in the best quality but I don't think any of us care, do we!?! If legend is true, they were on 3 different times but back-to-back in June '67. They supposedly have the 1st & 3rd shows. Show #1, Syd was into this & even though it's lip-synched, is still good. Supposedly, the 2nd week he showed up in scruffy rags but changed into his pop star clothes. The 3rd week he showed up & played ina bunch of "rags" & was quoted as saying that if Lennon didn't have to do TOTP, he didn't either. Anyway, where can I or anyone else see this or buy it? This has been written up on different websites & web news sites. If you know anything, please respond....Thanks

[Keith Jordan]

A good find but only for serious collector types me thinks. I hear the image quality is not too good at all.

Some excellent information from Brain Damage here > http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/latest/pi ... ening.html

[snifferdog]

Ah, you beat me to it It sounds like the tape's in horrendous condition - just how much restoration can be done on it I wonder?

[Keith Jordan]

I cannot believe the BBC didn't think their archives were the archives of popular culture and the development of TV which should have been preserved carefully..... NOT WIPED AND RE-USED!!!!!! The things they would have deleted!!

[snifferdog]

Alas it's not just the BBC who were guilty of that

[Wolfpack]

Alas it's not just the BBC who were guilty of that

Their performance on Dutch television ('Fanclub' or 'Fenklup'), in spring 1967, also appears to be wiped.

Maybe I have good "news".
I bet at least one photo of the second or third TotP performance has survived, under our very eyes:

source: http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/galle ... m.jpg.html

I've seen this picture in a bigger size, on internet. Only then you can clearly see Syd's in a bad way.

Proofs why this could be one of the legendary "scruffy" TotP-performances:
- Background looks like TV studio.
- Syd's clothes look gruffy: buttons of his jacket are open in a sloppy way. Note the sloppy, open sleeve on his right hand.
- Syd is unshaved. His haircut looks like that on Piper-cover but is in a mess

Some fans have identified the photo as being from the gig of 1970. But I think this is clearly the 1967-Syd.

I'm curious for comments.

[my breakfast.]

Maybe I have good "news".
I bet at least one photo of the second or third TotP performance has survived, under our very eyes:

source: http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/galle ... m.jpg.html

Syd's guitar has a lead coming out of it. TOTP never went to such details, and in videos of that time they never bothered putting leads in peoples guitars on that show. I think you can also see an amp back there. The backdrop could be anything, even small gigs like that had light shows by 1970.

Who took all the TOTP photos anyway?

[Wolfpack]

Syd's guitar has a lead coming out of it. TOTP never went to such details, and in videos of that time they never bothered putting leads in peoples guitars on that show. I think you can also see an amp back there. The backdrop could be anything, even small gigs like that had light shows by 1970.

So, ToTP is ruled out because of the lead coming out of Syd's guitar.
Are there other BBC-shows of that period (July 1967) which can be candidates?

The photo does not look like Syd in 1970 to me. Does anyone agree?
And to me the style of photographing typically looks like photo's made of television performances. (That's why I'm thinking of a television performance.)

I've read a theory that there were no three ToTP-performances at all. There was no reason to have a band performing the same song, three subsequent weeks on the same show. Or was there?
(What would make just a medium hit like 'See Emily Play' make so special to have such an honor? And what made a not very well known Pink Floyd so special?)

Looking from a distance, my wild guess is that the three shows of the "ToTP-myth" could have been three different TV-shows (different titles) in the same period. (One of them being ToTP.)
Isn't the account of the three ToTPs mainly based on a quote from one Pink Floyd-member in an interview, years later?
Maybe at least one of the two "scruffy" television performances were in fact somewhere else?

Apparently, Syd didn't just complain about lip-synching. The complaints went further than that.
I think that even if Syd was given the opportunity to both play and sing a hit single, he still would have enough complaints to get "scruffy". And at that time, Lennon didn't appear live on shows like TotP either. And Pink Floyd refused to play their singles live. (An attitude which is said to have resulted in 'Reaction in G', as response.)

Even though two ToTP shows are said to have survived, we only see screenshots of one performance with Syd's Pink Floyd. And I'm not surprised.
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/ ... lyplay.jpg
I'd be surprised if they did have more than one. Because not only Syd but also the television audience must have got very, very bored by having the same band with the same song for three weeks in the same show. It would almost have been "Pink Floyd Month" at ToTP.

Just brainstorming. I'm curious for comments. Correct me whenever I'm wrong.

Who took all the TOTP photos anyway?

That would be interesting to know. Was every show photographed? I've understood such BBC-shows were both taped and photographed.
And also, could there still be logbooks?

[zag]

That photo was taken during Syd´s solo gig with Gilmour (bass) and Shirley (drums) 6/6 ´70 at The Olympia Exhibition Hall, London.

[Wolfpack]

That photo was taken during Syd´s solo gig with Gilmour (bass) and Shirley (drums) 6/6 ´70 at The Olympia Exhibition Hall, London.

That's also what I heard. But is that just a guess or is there any proof?
The photo doesn't look like Syd in 1970 to me. That's a problem I have with it.

More about 'Top of the Pops':
The ToTP-screenshots in MOJO show a silver, mirroring background. Syd is standing. He looks together and enthousiastic.
But also photo's exist were Syd is sitting on a cushion in front of a similar type of mirroring background. Maybe this could also be from TotP, but Syd is not scruffy here either! He looks together and enthousiastic.
That would make two ToTP-shows were Syd is together and enthousiastic. And that doesn't match with the legend.
So, what is the story behind the television performances of 1967?

The only scruffy 1967 television performance I've seen in any form is 'Apples and Oranges' for USA television. And, if it can be counted, the scruffy photo I've just shown and wildly guessed as being from 1967.

Just curious.

[zag]

But is that just a guess or is there any proof?

That photo is on cover of Random Precision (Recording The Music Of Syd Barrett 1965-1974), ISBN 1-901447-5-1 by David Parker and it says "Cover photograph: Syd at Olympia, June 6th 1970 © Retna Pictures.

[Wolfpack]

That photo is on cover of Random Precision (Recording The Music Of Syd Barrett 1965-1974), ISBN 1-901447-5-1 by David Parker and it says "Cover photograph: Syd at Olympia, June 6th 1970 © Retna Pictures.

Thanks. Does this information came from Retna Pictures, or is it a guess from David Parker? (I often see photo dates wrong in books and articles.)

Sorry for splitting hairs, but I'd like to investigate such matters like a crime scene investigator.

If this really is Olympia, I think there are still questions. Syd stands with his mouth close to the microphone. While he is said to have been avoiding the microphone. In a surviving recording his voice can't be heard, except for final song 'Octopus'. In that song he is mainly shouting, only mumbling the spoken part ("Isn't it good...") close to the microphone.
Another story says that the PA-system was bad. Which could mean that Syd was close to the microphone all the time, but unheard.
Sound experts would have to judge the recording to hear what's really happening here.

Can someone tell the guitar chord Syd is holding on the photo? (If any chord at all?)

[karmania]

Re: Extravaganza Music and Fashion Festival

Jerry Shirley (on playing live with Syd, Extravaganza Music and Fashion Festival, June 6th, 1970) He was going to do it, he wasn't going to do it, it was on and off, so finally we said, 'Look, Syd, come on, man - you can do it!' We got up, I played drums, David Gilmour played bass and he managed to get through a few songs. It got good, and then after about the fourth song Syd said, 'Oh great; thanks very much' and walked off! We tried, you know.

So DO WE HAVE A PHOTO WITH DAVE AND SYD at OLYMPIA??

[oldperfume]

That pic everyone says is Syd on TOTP's , the black & White photo above on this link??
I read somewhere that this was snapped during a "Games for May" rehearsal at Royal Albert Hall. The pics of Syd on TOTP's, the colored ones, are 3 seperate shows. Look at Syd's clothes & you'll see 3 different shirts,etc, etc. It looks that way to me but if I'm wrong tell me....please!! Also, no matter HOW bad the condition is of the TOTP videos, they HAVE to put them out. I'm from the US: We've got the 2 Arnold Layne vids, "Astronomy" w/ the pretensious Hans Kellar & The "Jugband Blues" video when it's apparent what condition Syd is in. Also, "Let's make Love in London". THAT"S IT!! I always wondered how much more (if any) Syd
"stuff" the English get compared to what us Yanks get? Alot, a little, the same? Please let me know , I'm curious on this. I for one can do with less "Syd Barrett" home made tributes & more of the real thing, if there is any! Thanks...

[zag]

That pic everyone says is Syd on TOTP's , the black & White photo above on this link??
I read somewhere that this was snapped during a "Games for May" rehearsal at Royal Albert Hall.

That b/w picture is from Olympia, June 6th ´70. In Royal Albert Hall pics Syd has different guitar, clothes, hair....
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Searc ... ames%20may

We've got the 2 Arnold Layne vids, "Astronomy" w/ the pretensious Hans Kellar & The "Jugband Blues" video when it's apparent what condition Syd is in. Also, "Let's make Love in London". THAT"S IT!!

"Apples & Oranges"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwwwkTiF ... re=related

"Green Onions" and "The Jam" (Careful with that Axe, Eugene ?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayXJhiWl ... re=related

"Interstellar Overdrive" Ufo Club
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr0hdXPH ... re=related

"Interstellar Overdrive"(?) early ´67 UFO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V799HqAgxXY

"Scarecrow" Promo film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ_JKcPdH6w


Thanks for the 3 separate TOTP session pics, Karmamania.