Interstellar Overdrive

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"Interstellar Overdrive"
B-side label of the French Arnold Layne EP, featuring an edit of "Interstellar Overdrive"
Instrumental by Pink Floyd
from the album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Released5 August 1967 (1967-08-05)
RecordedMarch and April 1967
Genre
Length9:41 (album version)
16:49 (London '66-'67 version)
3:02 (Tonite Lets All Make Love in London version)
14:57 (1966 recording)
Label
Composer(s)
Producer(s)Norman Smith

"Interstellar Overdrive" is an instrumental composition written and performed by the English rock band Pink Floyd. The song was written in 1966 and is on their 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, clocking in at almost ten minutes in length.[1][2] It features long sections of free-form instrumental improvisation reflective of the group's live performances.

The song originated when guitarist

Tonite Let's All Make Love in London, which was recorded at Sound Technique Studios in early 1967 and was released in the same year. Other versions of the track appear on various bootleg recordings. The piece has been covered by acts such as T. Rex, Pearl Jam, Camper Van Beethoven, Hawkwind, the Melvins, and Simon House
.

Composition and music

"Interstellar Overdrive" was one of the first psychedelic

fretboard.[11] The free-form section (and also, "Pow R. Toc H.") was inspired by Frank Zappa's free-form Freak Out! and The Byrds' "Eight Miles High".[8]

"Interstellar Overdrive" shares an emphasis on

modal improvisations, flourishes on the Farfisa organ, and quiet interludes.[13] The song gradually becomes almost structureless and in free-form tempo, punctuated only by strange guitar noises.[5] Eventually, however, the entire band restates the main theme, which is repeated with decreasing tempo and more deliberate intensity.[13] Waters once called the song "an abstract piece".[14] A bass riff in the song later evolved into another Pink Floyd song, "Let There Be More Light", which was written by Waters.[11][15][16]

Recording

The stereo version of the song has an organ moving from speaker to speaker; the effect is lost on the mono version of the song, where it simply gains an extra organ and guitar sound.

delay effect was created by producer Norman Smith by superimposing a second version of the song over a previous version.[3] Smith played the drum roll on the song near the very end.[27]

Alternative versions and live performances

The studio recording on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the one that most listeners are familiar with, yet several other versions survive from both the recording studio and the stage. It was first recorded as a demo on 31 October 1966,

engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood.[32]

For the session, which was booked for two hours, Wood and

4-track recorder[35] in one take, as the band didn't want to have to play through the song again.[32] The band then played another original instrumental, titled "Nick's Boogie".[32] While 5 seconds of the band playing[32] was included in Whitehead's Tonite Let's All Make Love in London film, edits of the recording was included on the film's respective soundtrack.[2][33][34] The soundtrack (released in 1968)[nb 5] includes an edited version of the song and two reprises of it.[34] The full version is available on the album London '66–'67.[nb 6][33][34] While attempting to get the band a record deal, Boyd returned with the group to Sound Techniques studios.[38][39] There, Boyd and the band recorded a demo tape which was to be given to various record labels, one of the songs that features on the tape was "Interstellar Overdrive".[39] An early, unoverdubbed, shortened mix of the album's "Interstellar Overdrive" was used for a French EP released in July 1967.[nb 7][5] The 40th anniversary edition of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn[nb 8] contains two different, five-minute-long versions of the song,[2] one of them being take 6 from 16 March.[19]

Despite its encapsulation of their concert repertoire under the leadership of guitarist and composer Barrett, the long, improvisational, freeform structure of the piece is not particularly representative of the group's recorded output. As drummer Mason states in his book

live album.[48] The song was played by Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets in 2018.[49]

In 1969, Frank Zappa joined the band onstage at the Actuel Festival in Amougies, Belgium, to perform a long loose version of the song.[50] Although Zappa himself later had no recollection of the performance, Floyd drummer Mason praised him, saying, "Zappa is really one of those rare musicians that can play with us. The little he did in Amougies was terribly correct."[51]

The song has been released in many different lengths across different releases, original 1967 Piper at the Gates of Dawn releases have the track at 9:41, whilst the edited 1968 Tonite Lets All Make Love in London version clocks in at 3:02. This same recording was released in its entirety twice, first on the 1990 reissue of the album, and then again in 1995 on the EP London '66–'67 clocking in at 16:49. The earliest studio recording of the song to be released was the 1966 recording with a running time of 14:57 and was released in 2017 on the Interstellar Overdrive single. Three live performances of the song featured on The Early Years 1965–1972 boxset, with timings being 4:24 (recorded in 1969), 8:57 (recorded in 1967) and 9:37 (recorded in 1968).

Covers and legacy

"Interstellar Overdrive" has been covered by many artists, including Teenage Fanclub[52] and Kylesa.[53]

  • Camper Van Beethoven covered the song[54] on their studio album Camper Van Beethoven.[55]
  • Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets included it in their repertoire of early Floyd material. "What I don't want to do is slavishly copy what we did on the album," Mason noted. "The great thing with 'Interstellar' is that it's a piece that lends itself to improvisation. What I'd like to do is capture some of the weirdness – some of the very specific things that Syd did – but actually bring a bit of our own language into it."[49]
  • The album version was ranked number 36 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.[56]
  • The song featured on Pink Floyd's compilation Relics,[57] and was considered for—but ultimately left off—their career-spanning retrospective Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.[58]
  • "Interstellar Overdrive" was used in the 2016 film Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.[59][60]

Personnel

Personnel per The Piper at the Gates of Dawn liner notes.[61]

with:

References

Footnotes
  1. ^ UK Starline SRS 5071/EMI IE 048 o 04775[20]
  2. ^ US Harvest SW-759[21]
  3. ^ UK Harvest SHDW 403[22]
  4. ^ US Harvest SABB-11257[23]
  5. ^ UK Instant INLP 002[36]
  6. ^ UK See for Miles SFMDP 3[37]
  7. ^ France EMI Columbia ESRF 1857[40]
  8. ^ Two CDs: Europe EMI 503 9232;[41] three CDs: Europe EMI 50999 5 03919 2 9[42]
Citations
  1. .
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ Pinnock, Tom (24 July 2015). "Pink Floyd's 30 best songs". Uncut. p. 11. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016. "Interstellar Overdrive" was avant-garde rock music.
  5. ^ .
  6. ^ Cavanagh, John (2003). 33 1/3: Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Bloomsbury. p. Ch. 1.
  7. ^ "The History of Prog in 50 Albums". Prog. 6 November 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Manning 2006, p. 26
  9. ^ Chapman 2010, pp. 125–6
  10. ^ Chapman 2010, p. 126
  11. ^ .
  12. .
  13. ^ a b Palacios 2010, p. 189
  14. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 129
  15. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 200
  16. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 319
  17. .
  18. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 187
  19. ^ a b Palacios 2010, p. 195
  20. ^ "Pink Floyd - Relics (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs. 14 May 1971. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  21. ^ "Pink Floyd - Relics - A Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1971. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  22. ^ "Pink Floyd - A Nice Pair (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 18 January 1974. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  23. ^ "Pink Floyd - A Nice Pair (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1975. Archived from the original on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  24. ^ Manning 2006, p. 34
  25. .
  26. .
  27. ^ a b Chapman 2010, p. 170
  28. ^ a b Manning 2006, p. 28
  29. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 136
  30. ^ Palacios 2010, pp. 136–137
  31. ^ a b c Palacios 2010, p. 156
  32. ^ a b c d e f g Palacios 2010, p. 157
  33. ^ a b c d e Manning 2006, p. 31
  34. ^ a b c d e f Chapman 2010, p. 123
  35. .
  36. ^ "Various - Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1968. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  37. ^ "Pink Floyd - London '66 - '67 (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1995. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  38. ^ Manning 2006, p. 29
  39. ^ a b Manning 2006, p. 32
  40. ^ "Pink Floyd, The* – Arnold Layne (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs. 1967. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  41. ^ "Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at Discogs". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  42. ^ "Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at Discogs". Discogs.com. 11 September 2007. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  43. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 232
  44. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 299
  45. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 275
  46. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 301
  47. .
  48. .
  49. ^ a b Yates, Henry (July 2018). "Set the controls for 60s Floyd". Classic Rock. No. 250. p. 14.
  50. ^ "Pink Floyd - with Frank Zappa 1969". YouTube. 3 July 2017. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021.
  51. ^ Fanelli, Damian (21 November 2017). "Watch Frank Zappa Jam with Pink Floyd". Guitar Player.
  52. ^ "The King - Teenage Fanclub : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 11 December 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  53. ^ Sullivan, Patrick. "Like Black Holes in the Sky: The Tribute to Syd Barrett - Various Artists : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  54. .
  55. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Camper Van Beethoven - Camper Van Beethoven : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  56. ^ "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". Stereogum. 30 May 2008. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  57. ^ Kellman, Andy. "Relics - Pink Floyd : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  58. ^ Guthrie, James. "James Guthrie: Audio: Building A Compilation Album". Pink Floyd. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  59. ^ "Benedict Cumberbatch on playing Doctor Strange: 'The real superhero is my wife'". inews.co.uk. 27 October 2016. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  60. ^ Hoffman, Jordan (2 November 2016). "Why Doctor Strange shares its psychedelic DNA with Pink Floyd". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  61. ^ The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Media notes). Pink Floyd. EMI. 1967. SCX6157.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

External links