FOR SYDIOTS ONLY: Wondering and Dreaming (a self-interview with Ewgeni Reingold)

The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit  "pinched" this from  the Spanish blog Solo En Las Nubes, so we are "pinching" it from them. Life isn't fair, but if you want fair, there's one in Dallas every October...


http://atagong.com/iggy/archives/2012/02/wondering-and-dreaming-a-selfinterview-with-ewgeni-reingold.html

Wondering and Dreaming (a self-interview with Ewgeni Reingold)

The Venn-diagram-intersection of Proto-Floyd, Vintage-Floyd and Syd Barrett anorak sets isn't that ginormous and even if a same person carries different identities throughout forums and social media websites you keep on stumbling upon each other. Unfortunately, the Reverend is not really sure what the previous sentence really tries to say.

The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit came acrossEwgeni Reingold around October 2008 and our Russian friend is the living proof that new blood can bring a breath of fresh air into our rather sclerotised Syd Barrett community. Without wanting to sound too morbid weSydiots need to realise that there are only a good two, perhaps three, decades left to unravel those great unsolved Pink Floyd or Syd Barrett mysteries. After that we will only have memories from third-party sources and not from the (f)actual people themselves...

All it takes are some adventurous people who dare to ask some questions, search through archives and go digging for the holy grails that are still undiscovered. Ewgeni did just that and his YouTube channel has several gems, not only from Pink Floyd or Syd Barrett, that would have stayed unnoticed without his research.

The Spanish blog Solo En Las Nubes had the honour to self-interview Ewgeni and the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit simply pinched the result and put is here. Life isn't fair, but such is life.

Wondering and Dreaming (a self-interview with Ewgeni Reingold)

What if I told you that the rarest Syd Barrett and early Floyd audiovisual material has been published on 4 DVDs, that is it of professional quality, is extremely detailed, has been thoroughly researched and was compiled by just one person?

Right.

One of the greatest pleasures in life is to share what you love. This is the motto of Ewgeni Reingold, born in the city of Samara (Russia) on 12 May, 1991. He still lives there today and studied German and Public Relations at its university.

Ewgeni has had the honour to grace us with a self-interview. At the end of this entry, we'll describe this DVD collection in detail. But for the moment, let's focus on the what, how, why and when and who is responsible for such great work.

1. How did you discover Syd Barrett’s music?

Well, I’ve been a music fan since I was four or five years old. My parents used to play Beatles albums on a vinyl player, so I became an obsessive Beatles fan. Then I discovered new groups little by little: The Who, The Kinks, The Hollies, lots of old Merseybeat and all that things. In April of 2006 I heard a radio show about Syd Barrett. It smashed my mind completely. All that really weird music, the tragic story and all that stuff...

I listened to this special late night show with headphones, lying in my bed. I still remember the really strange feelings when I listened to “Interstellar Overdrive” for the first time. It was completely new music to me. Of course, I had listened to several Pink Floyd songs on the radio and on TV before (like “Time”, “Another Brick” and so on) but I didn’t like it at that time.

I didn’t expect to listen to THIS Pink Floyd. Fortunately I taped the program from the radio and listened and listened to it again and again. I still have this tape.

I became a big Syd fan: I began to search for early Floyd CDs and his solo albums around town and as I didn’t have Internet at that time, looking for video stuff and bootlegs.

2. How did you come to the idea of making those Syd DVDs?

It was around 2009. I realised that I had tons of video stuff related to Syd and the early Floyd. I loved the “Have You Got It Yet?” series so much, but the quality of the video material was poor. So I thought: “If I have these videos on my hard drive, why not making the definitive video anthology covering all the 1966-69 videos? That’s the moment, when the “Ultimate Collection” DVD’s started to materialize.

I didn’t know how to make DVD’s, so I spent a huge amount of time trying to make discs. When I finished that, I shared this on Yeeshkul and was shocked by a wave of greetings from Floyd fans. In the summer of 2011 after long research and trading with collectors, I started to make an upgraded anthology – 4 DVD’s (can you imagine?). It was called “Wondering and Dreaming” and included EVERY bit of known footage of Syd Barrett on circulation.

3. How long did it take to make “Wondering & Dreaming”?

Almost 2 years. New upgrades and new videos started to appear. (Amazingly, in the summer of 2010 we got the “Dope” footage!), I became more interested in trading with other collectors, not just using sources floating on the Internet. At this time I became more professional in using video decoding, DVD authoring etc.

Every DVD of this series has liner notes, correct dates and cool picture galleries.

4. What’s your favourite video with Syd?

It’s a difficult question; honestly, I like it ALL and can’t choose. I just hope more footage to appear in the future, especially the recovered “Top of the Pops” footage.

5. What was the most difficult video to find?

Definitely “Die Jungen Nachtwandler” footage from 24.02.1967 (UFO Club). Of course, this video surfaced around 2004-5, but I was looking for a better quality copy from the Bavarian Archive. Shit! It took me four years to get it, and finally I succeeded. You can compare the quality easily and the new version rocks!

Have you noticed that Soft Machine also appears in this scene?

I also want to mention other rarities: Jugband Blues with the original soundtrack (it sounds terrible, but this is an alternate unbooted mix!), Syd’s 1969 home movies in better quality and John Latham “Speak” – Floyd 66-67 backdrop film.

6. What do you think about the recent Pink Floyd re-re-re-re-re-releases?

It was great, those guys changed their minds and gave us the chance (finally) to hear something new, not just again a “super-dooper-cool” remastering. Of course, I really want to hear more unreleased Syd music. The full December ‘64 session, Bike with alternate lyrics (and other “Piper” era early mixes), the Stockholm tape in full and the holy grail of all Syd collectors: The De Lane Lea sessions from the Fall of ‘67 (John Latham, “Intremental”, In the Beechwoods, Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream). I would pay a high price to hear all that.

7. Can you imagine Syd Barrett today and still active as a musician?

No, I just can’t imagine Syd writing songs and performing in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Another Roky Erikson and the Aliens? Definitely not. It was a tragedy and big loss for popular music, but... Syd belonged more to the 60s than the 70s.

Most great music was gone in 1971-72 (with the exception of some glam) and briefly returned in 1976 with punk (just my opinion). I can’t imagine Syd playing hard rock or progressive and I can’t imagine him and Pink Floyd in the 70s. By 1970 Syd's songs became darker and depressive. Songs like “Birdie Hop” or “Word Song” are difficult to listen to, you know... I think Syd said to us all what he wanted to say and that he left rock music at the right time.

8. What are your hobbies?

Just listening to music, reading books (not often). My favourite music era is the 60s: Kinks, Soft Machine, Pretty Things, lots of raw garage and R&B, proto-punk. My last major discovery is Them with Van Morrison, T2, and The Untamed. If I had a time machine, I would go back to 1965 or 66 and never return at our times again.

9. Tell us something about the Russian pop-rock panorama.

Well, there is absolutely nothing much to say about that. There is no normal pop and rock scene, just shit everywhere. “Russian Rock” is like... well... quasi-folk in the worst sense of the word, and I can't define that as rock music honestly. You can check examples of this on YouTube (Воскресение Случилось Что-То В Городе Моем or Цой - Группа крови). The only good example is some good punk rock from the USSR, there were some nice groups in the mid-80s, but mostly it was just ripped off from well-known groups like T.Rex etc...

10. What more can you say?

Just do what you want to do and feel free to express yourself. Listen to great music and keep on rockin'!

© 2012 Antonio Jesús, Solo en las Nubes. Pictures courtesy of Ewgeni Reingold. Notes & Introduction : the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit. Translation mistakes, typos and all possible errors are entirely the responsibility of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit.

Wondering & Dreaming DVD Collection (written by: Ewgeni Reingold)

Almost 4 years ago I decided to make a first major DVD compilation of all Syd Barrett material in circulation. The first set was called “Ultimate Collection” and released in 2009.

But all is different now because this time I used non-compressed sources for this anthology and also because many upgrades have appeared since the last time. I decided to make the most complete picture, using all available sources (such as: there are 4 versions of “Jugband Blues” with different audio and video, 2 versions of the complete “Look Of The Week” because I can’t choose what’s the source is the best, etc...)

This 3 DVD set covers the most important years in the Syd Barrett and early Pink Floyd group history – 1966 to 1969. I also added a 4th bonus DVD with related material (such as: “Speak” by John Latham)

I would like to thank all people who help me in this project: Pete M, Ron Toon (& Harvested), Captain Bronstain for his technical help & patience, Felix Atagong & Mark Jones for his wonderful covers.

Enjoy !

Wondering & Dreaming DVD 1 (1966-67)
Torrent:http://www.yeeshkul.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26610

1. Syd’s First Trip – Summer of 1966
1.1 Source 1: VHS
1.2 Source 2: HRV (edited, best quality)

2. “San Francisco” by Anthony Stern - 1968 (ARTE rebroadcast)
3. “Tonight Let’s All Make Love In London” – Floyd’s bits, 1967

4. London 66-67 – Filmed on 30.12.1966 (?), 11/12.01.1967, 17.01.1967 (?)
4.1 Copy from Japan Laserdisc (Interstellar Overdrive & Nick’s Boogie)
4.2 Unissued Fragment
4.3 Promo video for “London 66-67” release (1994)
4.4 Interstellar Overdrive (VH1 edited version)

5. Syd’s Silent Home Movies – 1966 or early 1967
5.1 Source 1
5.2 Source 2

Running Time: 71:18

Wondering & Dreaming DVD 2 (1967) 
(same download location as above)

1. Scene Special aka “It’s So Far Out It’s Straight Down” – filmed on 27-01-1967
1.1. Full TV Special – Broadcast on 7.03.1967, taken from 2nd Gen S-VHS
1.2. Interstellar Overdrive – without voiceover (HRV)
1.3. Excerpts from Documentary, best ever quality

2. Excerpt from “Dope” Movie – January or February 1967

3. Excerpt from “Die Jungen Nachtwandler” Documentary, filmed on 24-02-1967
3.1 Interstellar Overdrive - Master Copy from BR
3.2 Interstellar Overdrive – VHS source
3.3 UFO Club – outtakes

4. Arnold Layne – Promo Film, Filmed in Late February 1967
4.1 Master Copy (?) (HRV)
4.2 16:9 Version

5. Beach Home Movies – Spring of 1967
5.1 Zoomed Footage
5.2 Original speed (and silent)

6. Abbey Road Home Movies – April 1967
6.1 Source 1: VHS
6.2 Source 2: HRV (edited, best quality)

7. Bouton Rouge – “Arnold Layne” Second Promo, filmed 29-04-1967
7.1 Original Non-Remastered Source
7.2 HRV Remaster

8. Look Of The Week – 14.05.1967, Source 1
8.1 Raw most complete source – Pow.R. Toh.H., Astronomy Domine, Interview
8.2 Pow.R. Toh.H. (without logo)

Running Time: 84:50

Wondering & Dreaming DVD 3
Torrent:http://www.yeeshkul.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26725

1. Look Of The Week – 14.05.1967, Source 2 (BBC 4 rebroadcast + different source of interview) HRV
2. Top Of The Pops (See Emily Play) – 6.07.1967, Reconstruction

3. Pathe Newsreel (Scarecrow) – filmed on 8.07.1967
3.1 Original Complete Pathe Newsreel (21-09-1967) HRV
3.2 Scarecrow (16:9 Version)
3.3 Pathe Complete Outtakes feat. Pink Floyd, HRV
3.4 Pink Floyd Outtakes, best quality

4. Beat Club Mentions – 1967 to 1969
4.1 Hit Parade (22-07-1967)
4.2 “Reaction In G” audio from unknown source, 1969
4.3 Probably Pink Floyd footage, 1969

5. American Bandstand – 7.11.1967
5.1 Complete (Apples & Oranges, Interview)
5.2 Excerpts without timecode

6. Central Office Of Information (Jugband Blues) – filmed on early December 1967
6.1 Original Uncut Source with original audio
6.2 Harvested Remaster
6.3 BBC Soundtrack (fake)
6.4 “Seven Ages Of Rock” version

7. Tomorrow’s World – Filmed on 12.12.1967
7.1 Complete (Green Onions, Unknown song)
7.2 The Story Of Pink Floyd – first mention, 1994
7.3 Roger Waters on Jools Holland Show (without timecode)

8. Christmas On Earth Continued – 22.12.1967
8.1 Joe Cocker – “With a Little Help From My friends” promo
8.2.Floyd Footage – zoomed

9. Home Movies - Filmed Between 1966 and 1969
9.1 New Edit from best available copy
9.2 Zoomed footage
9.3 Best quality excerpts

Running Time: 81:20

Wondering & Dreaming DVD 4 (bonus) - (1967 to 2010)
Torrent: http://www.yeeshkul.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27280

Related Material (1967 – 1993)

1. Jeannetta Cochrane (Peter Whitehead 1967 Footage & IO soundtrack)
2. John Latham “Speak” (Pink Floyd Backdrop 1966-67 Film)
3. Road 1967 Footage ? (Taken from “Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd Story” DVD)
4. Mike Leonard – Pathe Newsreel (1968)
5. Mike Leonard – Pathe Newsreel Outtakes (1968)
6. Richard Laing ,1966 clip (Infamous Syd’s related psychiatrist)
7. Duggie Fields, 1975 clip (Syd’s neighbor)
8. Look At The Life, 1967 Film (feat. Iggy The Eskimo)
9. Excerpts From Anthony Stern 1968 Movie (feat. Iggy The Eskimo)
10. Peter Whitehead Interview (1993)
11. “A Day So Dark So Warm” – Syd’s Last Circulating Footage (1998, Better source, than usual)

Old Documentaries (1988 - ?)

12. Dave & Rick Interview (1988)
13. Knebworth Documentary (1990, Complete from better source, incl. 1969 Home Footage)
14. Eight Miles High (Japan Version)
15. Eight Miles High (English VHS)
16. Eight Miles High (Another Different Version)

Sad News (2006)

17 BBC News # 1
18. BBC News # 2
19. Sky News
20. Auction News
21. Mick Rock talks about his Book

Oddities (2007 - ?)

22. Seven Ages Of Rock (early Floyd part only)
23. Project Syd – Friends About Syd
24. Funny Cartoon
25. Here I Go – Promotional Clip, 2010

Running Time: 143 Minutes

Although there are several download locations for these DVDs the Church only deliberately gives the 'official' Yeeshkul torrents. Yeeshkul is a place where Pink Floyd audio collectors meet and share files through a torrent network. Registration is needed to access the files.

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Solo en las Nubes self-interviews (in English)
It is with great pleasure that the Reverend introduces a new contributor at the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit. Not only did Antonio Jesús live in the beautiful city of Cambridge but as editor of the slightly fantastic Spanish Syd Barrett blog Solo en las Nubes he has published severalAutoentrevista or Self-Interviews with Barrett specialists, biographers and friends.
Felix Atagong: an honest man
Warren Dosanjh, Syd Barrett's first manager
Kiloh Smith Interview, hosted at Syd Barrett Pink Floyd
Lee Wood, the man who knows everything
Duggie Fields, much more than a room-mate
Antonio Jesús Reyes, a new career in a new town
Wondering and Dreaming (a self-interview with Ewgeni Reingold) 

Posted by Antonio Jesús