Point Me at the Sky
| "Point Me at the Sky" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:PointMeAtTheSky.jpg | ||||
| Single by Pink Floyd | ||||
| B-side | "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" | |||
| Released | 17 December 1968 | |||
| Recorded | 4 November 1968 | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, progressive rock, hard rock | |||
| Length | 3:35 | |||
| Label | Columbia (EMI) (UK) Capitol Records (Canada) |
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| Writer(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Norman Smith | |||
| Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||||
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"Point Me at the Sky" is the fifth United Kingdom single by the British band Pink Floyd, released on 17 December 1968.[1][2] The song was an early collaboration by bassist Roger Waters and guitarist David Gilmour.[3] The single was not released in the United States, but it was in Canada (Capitol Records 72563) as well as in Japan, and some European countries. The vocals on the verse of the song are sung by Gilmour, and the bridge vocals are shared between Gilmour and Waters.
Other releases
"Point Me at the Sky" has since become the least readily available of all officially released Pink Floyd recordings. It was left out of the 1971 collection Relics. It was first released in the United States in 1978 on a mail-order-only promotional album, "A Harvest Sampler" (catalog number SPRO-8795/6), in an otherwise unavailable stereo mix, and was not commercially re-issued until the 1992 CD collection The Early Singles, a bonus disc in the Shine On box set, which used the original mono mix.
Because it was not intended for album release all available versions of this recording are a mono mix. There has never been a stereo mix version. The mono mix has a rather "muddy" sound quality. Musically, the song starts out quietly and then becomes a heavy piece of psychedelia.
The record did not chart. The B-side of the single, "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", became far more popular, as it was later included on two different Pink Floyd albums and played regularly at concerts throughout the early 1970s.
Video and photos
The group made a promotional film for the song in which they posed in goggles and flight outfits with a vintage aeroplane, registration G-ANKB (a De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth[4]) A still picture from this photo session was included in promotional materials given away with the U.K. single and on a picture sleeve version released in The Netherlands. Alternate still shots from the same session appeared in the artwork for the 1973 LP A Nice Pair and the booklet for 1992 remastered CD of A Saucerful of Secrets. The film also features another vintage aircraft, G-ADBO (an AVRO 504N[5]), plus scenes of trains at Paddington Station.
A different performance of Point Me at the Sky was recorded and broadcast by the BBC in late 1968, but this has never been officially released on record.
Personnel
- David Gilmour – electric guitars, electric slide guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (verses, second half of choruses)
- Roger Waters – bass, backing vocals, lead vocals (first half of chorus and final verse)
- Rick Wright – Hammond organ, piano, glockenspiel, backing vocals
- Nick Mason – drums, maracas, temple blocks
Legacy
Roger Waters has called "Point Me at the Sky" a "notable failure" of the post-Barrett era.[6] Following its lack of chart success, the band decided to stop releasing singles in the U.K. altogether and concentrate only on albums, since, according to Waters, "we were no bloody good at it."[7]
References
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