Pink Floyd have released a new video for their 1969 cut “Green Is the Colour.” The video is one of many works included in the band’s upcoming box set, The Early Years 1965–1972, which features rare tracks and video from the group’s first eight years.
“Green Is the Colour” comes from the band’s third album, More, which was the soundtrack for a 1969 movie of the same namely director Barbet Schroeder. It was Pink Floyd’s first album without founder Syd Barrett, whose mental illness led to his departure from the group.
Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters recalled that Schroeder wanted the music for More to relate to what was occurring within its scenes. “So if the radio was switched on in the car for example, he wanted something to come out of the car,” Waters said. “I was sitting at the side of the studio writing lyrics while we were putting down the backing tracks. It was just a question of writing eight or nine instrumentals.”
Schroeder recalled that the Waters and the group created the music for his film in a hectic two-week period. “Roger was the big creative force,” he said. “The sound engineer couldn't believe the speed and creativity of the enterprise.”
The live footage included in the “Green Is the Colour” video comes from Pink Floyd’s performance at the Pop Deux Festival in Saint-Tropez, France, on August 8, 1970. The box set features other video from the performance as well. Pink Floyd previously released a video for “Grantchester Meadows,” from their 1969 album Ummagumma.
The Early Years 1967–1972 comes out November 11 and features 27 discs altogether, including CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and seven-inch vinyl records. A two-disc overview, The Early Years 1967–1972: Cre/ation, will be offered as well.
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Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.
