''Relics'' (subtitle: ''A Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios'') is a 1971

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

by English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

band

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

. The album was released in the UK on 14 May 1971 and in the United States on the following day. Initially released by Starline, the compilation was reissued by Music for Pleasure in the United Kingdom, while

Harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most l ...

and

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

distributed the album in the United States. A remastered CD was released in 1996 with a different album cover, picturing a three-dimensional model based on the sketch drawn by drummer

Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason, (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He is the only member to feature on every Pink Floyd album, and the only constant member since its formation i ...

for the album's initial release.

Release

The release of ''Relics'' occurred because the band's record company, EMI, were concerned that they had gone into the studio to record what would become ''

Meddle ''Meddle'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released by Harvest Records. The album was produced between the band's touring commitments, from January to August 1971 at a series of locations around London, including EM ...

'' without any songs or ideas, effectively starting from scratch. This, combined with their ever-increasing touring schedule, made EMI realise that no new product would be released for some time, possibly not until well over a year after completing their previous album, ''

Atom Heart Mother ''Atom Heart Mother'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released by Harvest on 2 October 1970 in the UK, and by Capitol on 10 October 1970 in the US. It was recorded at EMI Studios (now Abbey Ro ...

''. In order to issue some more "product" for fans, they decided to release a budget priced LP on their Starline label, combining early singles, B-sides, album tracks and one unreleased song, "

Biding My Time "Biding My Time" is a composition by Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. Prior performance and recording Prior to the ''Relics'' compilation album, "Biding My Time" was an unreleased recording, heard only by fans who attended concerts where the band ...

". The compilation contains material from the first three albums: ''

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 5 August 1967 by EMI Columbia. It is the only Pink Floyd album made under the leadership of founding member Syd Barrett (lead vocals, g ...

'', ''

A Saucerful of Secrets ''A Saucerful of Secrets'' is the second studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 28 June 1968 by EMI Columbia in the United Kingdom and on 27 July 1968 in the United States by Tower Records. During recording, the mental ...

'' and ''

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka ...

''. ''Relics'' has been re-released on numerous occasions, and at times without the proper authority. One such incident involved EMI Australia releasing the album without the band's consent. This led to the LP being withdrawn and, as a result, the album became a rarity. ''Relics'' was made readily available again when it was officially issued on CD in 1996. ''Relics'' was reissued again on CD on 17 June 2016, featuring the original sketch artwork cover and containing the same mastering as the 1996 edition.

Mixes

''Relics'' was most noted for its inclusion of the band's first two

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was their original frontman and primary songwriter, becoming known for his ...

-era hit singles, "

Arnold Layne "Arnold Layne" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd. Released on 10 March 1967, it was the band's first single release. It was written by Syd Barrett. Lyrics The song's title character is a transvestite whose strange hobby is stealing wo ...

" and "

See Emily Play "See Emily Play" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, released as their second single in June 1967. Written by original frontman Syd Barrett, it was released as a non-album single, but appeared as the opening track of the U.S. edition of ...

". Due to the lack of available stereo masters, both tracks were reprocessed into

Duophonic Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...

stereo for the album's original release (the 1996 CD release reverts to the original mono mixes). Also included were the B-sides of the three follow-up singles, with the tracks " Paint Box", " Julia Dream" and "

Careful with That Axe, Eugene "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" is an instrumental piece by the British rock band Pink Floyd. It was recorded in November 1968 and released as the B-side to the single " Point Me at the Sky", and featured on the 1971 compilation album ''Relics ...

" appearing in true stereo. ''Relics'' has the only CD release of "Paint Box" that has the same length (3:33) that the original single version had; on the albums '' The Early Singles'' (1992, part of '' Shine On''), '' 1967: The First Three Singles'' (1997), and the 40th anniversary edition of ''

'' (2007), it fades out about 13 seconds later. The album was not a definitive collection of non-album material, as several single A-sides were omitted ("Apples and Oranges," "It Would Be So Nice" and "Point Me at the Sky"), as well as one B-side ("Candy and a Currant Bun"). Until this was rectified with the release of ''The Early Singles'' (1992), it was left to the 1970 "The Best of Pink Floyd" / "Masters of Rock" compilations and bootlegs such as '' The Dark Side of the Moo'' to plug the gap on lp.

"Biding My Time"

The album also includes a previously unreleased studio recording of a

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-s ...

composition, "Biding My Time". The song originally was titled "Afternoon" which had been heard by live audiences as part of the '' Man and the Journey'' concert sequence. Following the sessions for ''Ummagumma'', it was reworked as "Biding My Time", before being held over for two years until the release of ''Relics''. Unusually, Wright plays trombone on this track.

Cover and machine

The album cover was designed by drummer Nick Mason, and was inspired by his time studying architecture at the

Regent Street Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

. In 2008, Mason sold a limited edition of 195 signed prints of this cover. In addition to variations on the original design, the album was released in several countries with different artwork. The four-eyed face on the original US album cover was an antique bottle opener. When the album was released on CD, former

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10c ...

partner

Storm Thorgerson Storm Elvin Thorgerson (28 February 1944 – 18 April 2013) was an English graphic designer and music video director. He is best known for closely working with the group Pink Floyd through most of their career, and also created album or other ar ...

had a real-life version of the contraption on the cover made and presented it to Mason. It is still in Mason's office. Both Thorgerson and his assistant, Peter Curzon, came up with the idea after viewing the head sculpture which appeared on the album sleeve of ''

The Division Bell ''The Division Bell'' is the fourteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 28 March 1994 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and on 4 April by Columbia Records in the United States. The second Pink Flo ...

'', constructed by John Robertson. While the 2016 CD reissue by Pink Floyd Records reverted to the original sketch cover, it also contains photographs of the three-dimensional object inside the booklet. In May 2019, for the 48th anniversary of the album's release, Nick Mason's official Twitter account, as well as the official Pink Floyd Facebook page, posted a fan made animation of the original cover art. This animated tribute was made by Scandinavian artist Alex Teglbjærg, Artist on the border. The animation was used by Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets for the Echoes tour of 2022. It was used as the backdrop for the performance of the final song Bike.

Track listing

Side one

Side two

The Capitol reissue of the cassette (4N-16234) is in original order.

Personnel

;Pink Floyd *

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

– lead and rhythm guitar , lead vocals , vocalizations , backing vocals *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, original cover design *

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, lead vocals , vocalizations , backing vocals *

Rick Wright Richard William Wright (28 July 1943 – 15 September 2008) was an English musician who was a co-founder of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He played keyboards and sang, appearing on almost every Pink Floyd album and performing on a ...

–

Farfisa organ Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professiona ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, lead vocals ,

;

tack piano A tack piano (also known as a harpsipiano, jangle piano, and junk piano) is an altered version of an ordinary piano, in which objects such as thumbtacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the ha ...

electric harpsichord An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

;Additional personnel * James Guthrie – remastering supervision * Norman Smith – drums and backing vocals , drum roll *

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including '' The Wall''; Ray Ch ...

– remastering

Charts and certifications

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Relics (Album) Albums produced by David Gilmour Albums produced by Joe Boyd Albums produced by Nick Mason Albums produced by Norman Smith (record producer) Albums produced by Richard Wright (musician) Albums produced by Roger Waters Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson Pink Floyd compilation albums 1971 compilation albums Capitol Records compilation albums EMI Records compilation albums Harvest Records compilation albums B-side compilation albums