These days, when a bootleg from a band like Pink Floyd is released on vinyl or CD, it’s almost always going to be something that was already out there. It’s exciting to get a cool new pressing or a fresh look at old material, but finding something totally new is another thing entirely. There just aren’t too many vintage recordings left to discover from bands of that magnitude. However, a couple of months ago, a record was released that appears to be some genuine, undiscovered early Pink Floyd material. Someone ripped the vinyl to digital, and it started making its rounds online, where it stirred up a bit of controversy. It’s so rare to find something new that many people thought it had to be a misattributed date to a concert that we were already aware of. After further investigation however, the consensus seems to be that it is indeed newly discovered material. So, if you haven’t heard about it yet, let’s discuss “A Psychedelic Breakfast” in all its glory.
There are still many unanswered questions about the recording, but there are a few things that we can say for sure at this point. It was recorded at the University of California, San Diego on October 18, 1970. It’s a mono audience recording, and it’s probably not the complete show. Pink Floyd was on the bill with several other bands, and they were not the headline act. Perhaps most shockingly, it was only $3.50 USD to get into the show, if you can imagine that. According to the sleeve, this was an “open air concert” and the recording is “available for the first time in 50 years” with the audio enhanced and mastered. Lastly, aside from the digital rip, which is now in various places online including the Internet Archive, the only place you can get this is apparently this vinyl pressing. I can’t tell you the label, because this is one of those “Not on Label” releases. This always makes it a little harder to track down, but I can understand why they might want to stay anonymous.
This is a double LP release, and I wish I knew if the recording was cut for time (like they wanted to press no more than 2 LPs) or if it’s simply all the material they had to work with. Either way, it’s available in both green and pink marble versions, and is apparently limited to 300 copies on colored vinyl. There are also supposedly 300 “splash” copies available, but I haven’t seen any of those. The marble looks absolutely stunning, and each set comes housed in a high-quality gatefold sleeve. The whole package looks amazing and is very well made, so I’m glad I decided to grab one of each color. The records themselves are nice and heavy, and the labels look sharp. Each side has a different one of the four band members featured on it, which is a nice touch.
Sound wise, for an audience recording in 1970, it doesn’t get much better than this. It almost sounds like a soundboard, but the audience noise suggests otherwise. I don’t usually do this, but I listened to both of my sets before writing this and can say confidently that both of my copies sound great. It’s an excellent transfer to vinyl, and there is no real surface noise to speak of that gets in the way of the music. There is audible crowd noise, but it’s very quiet. This, combined with hearing the way in which Roger converses with the audience, leads me to believe that the crowd must have been incredibly small. You can tell there are a couple of fans who know who they are, but not many. Some parts of the recording get a little quiet, but it’s amazing how the all the nuance of the music still remains present. One or two people have already “remastered” the vinyl rip of the show and released the results digitally, but as of now, I haven’t heard any of these and can’t say what the difference is. There are spaces between songs, but the cuts are professionally done.
Audience Recording – University Of California, San Diego – USA – 18th October, 1970
A1 Astronomy Domine
A2 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
B1 Interstellar Overdrive
C1 Green Is The Colour
C2 Careful With That Axe, Eugene
D1 A Saucerful Of Secrets
As far as the individual songs performed, we get right into it with “Astronomy Domine”. Gilmour’s use of a wah pedal and phaser are quite distinct from most other versions I have heard. The track gets a little quiet in places but still sounds great. “Set The Controls” is announced next by Roger, and his voice is very clear. The recording pans a bit from side to side, but once again, nothing that really detracts from the music. “Interstellar Overdrive” is the first place I realized that the audience must be a bit sparse, but the ones who are there are super excited to hear the band play. You can tell they must have heard the album and are really into it. There is a bit of tuning up at the beginning of this song, which was a common fixture in early Floyd shows through to DSOTM. “Interstellar” is even more heavy on synth and keyboards than most other versions I have heard, and this is a great one. The cut after this track is a bit abrupt compared to the others, but not distracting.
The band continues into one of my favorite early classics tracks with “Green Is The Colour”. At this point, there is a little more crowd noise present, and I can say with confidence that this is the first time I have heard barking dogs (unintentional ones) on a Floyd boot or any other boot for that matter. We get to hear David sing here, which is just awesome. There is no doubt this particular “Green Is The Colour” is now one of my favorite versions. When Roger announces “Careful With That Axe” as the next song, the fans in the audience go nuts. You can tell that this is probably the song they came to hear.
“A Saucerful Of Secrets” takes up the entirety of side four, and the sound quality remains amazing. This track has some extra texture with highlights of guitars and keyboard but also has a bit of tape flutter. Funny enough, it almost adds to the ambience of the recording. I guess it’s something you just have to hear. As a drummer, one of my favorite parts on the whole show is hearing Nick go into a bit of a tom heavy drum solo. It’s not like a solo you’d hear Tommy Aldridge play in an Ozzy song, but it fits the tune, and the crowd absolutely loved it. It’s always nice to hear one of the most criminally underrated drummers of all time get a bit of attention once in a while. And then… we reach then end. Was it the end of the show? Is there more to be released or discovered in the future? Only time will tell. If someone does have the rest of the recording, though, I would sure love it if they released it.
Obviously, if you can find a copy, this is a release I highly recommend picking up and adding to your collection. Even though there is no label name mentioned on the packaging, it does have a sort of catalogue number of SD70, which obviously stands for San Diego, 1970. With the pictures here though, I’m sure you won’t have a problem identifying “A Psychedelic Breakfast” if you happen to come across it in the wild. The pressing and packaging are both 10/10 here. The marble coloring is some of the nicest I have ever seen, and I couldn’t possibly choose between these two colors. If I get a chance to get a “splash” version, I’ll probably pick up one of those as well. Audio wise, it’s an audience recording, but it’s so good it could be mistaken for a soundboard. After two listens, I’m rating this one a 9/10. As I mentioned before, a rip of this is now available online. If you want a physical copy, though, I would start looking sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out!