The best flashback ever is available for free on VEVO.com until midnight Eastern time, Feb. 28: A Pink Floyd Miscellany: 1967-2005, a one-hour, utterly thrilling compendium of videos celebrating the 45th anniversary of the release of the band’s first single, “Arnold Layne,” and its new release, the Immersion box set for the classic The Wall.
It’s great fun to watch the innocent bandmembers frolic on a beach with a mannequin in the black and white 1967 “Arnold Layne,” original Pink Floyd leader Syd Barrett‘s brilliant, oddly twinkly tune about a transvestite who steals women’s outfits from clotheslines. (Interestingly, the heterosexual Barrett, who famously suffered a breakdown and inspired Dark Side of the Moon, went through a lipstick-and-heels period himself, according to Mark Blake‘s book Comfortably Numb). The commercially disastrous yet rather catchy 1968 single “Point Me at the Sky” shows them as World War I flying aces with a Gypsy Moth biplane. The rare “Cymbaline” stars David Gilmour singing part of the soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder‘s first film More, about a nightmare girl on the isle of Ibiza. 1971’s “One of These Days” features the irresistible animation of Ian Eames — ballet dancers, orangutans, clowns, and a Mad Man-like falling figure against trippy geometric backgrounds. Eames later created the “Time” clocks for Dark Side of the Moon.
1973’s “Money” is still the greatest Pink Floyd tune, and the video holds up just fine. The nostalgic 1994 video “High Hopes” mourns the band’s notorious divisiveness and looks backs to its idyllic origins in Cambridge, England. It ends with guys carrying a huge bust of Syd Barrett into a sunset. But it’s not half as nostalgic as the 2005 reunion concert version of “Comfortably Numb.” Quick, get comfortable and watch A Pink Floyd Miscellany: 1967-2005 before it goes away forever (or gets released commercially, which really ought to happen).
Update: in lieu of Miscellany’s inevitable removal, watch the official video for “Money” below:
