The Green Telescope - Thoughts Of A Madman (1988)

The Green Telescope were a garage beat band from Edinburgh, Scotland, who formed in the early 80's, and consisted of Lenny Helsing on guitar and vocals, Bruce Lyall on organ and Colin Blakey on bass. Before any records were made, Blakey left and was replaced by Alan McLeann, and the group then added a drummer in Gavin Henderson, although Steve Fraser temporarily took over from McLeann, playing bass on the three tracks the group recorded for the 1985 Psycho label compilation, 'The Waking Dream'. Those three compilation recordings had gained them something of a following, and in January 1986 they redorded a session for the Andy Kershaw radio show. Following this the band released their debut single, 'Face In A Crowd' b/w 'Thoughts Of A Madman', on Wump Records, and featuring new drummer Mal Kergan. Later the same year they released four new songs on the 'Two By Two' EP, which was released by Imaginary Records. In 1988 they contributed their take on Syd Barrett's 'Scream Thy Last Scream' for the Imaginary Records tribute album 'Beyond The Wildwood', but this was to be their last recording as The Green Telescope, and they disbanded shortly afterwards, immediately regrouping as The Thanes Of Cawdor, and then later shortening that to The Thanes. Under this name they released their first album, 'The Thanes Of Cawdor', in 1987, and this saw them win support slots with the Soup Dragons and Primal Scream, and become one of Scotland's best and most respected bands. To hear how they got to that stage of their career, here is everything that The Green Telescope recorded in the late 80's.  

Track listing

01 Face In A Crowd (single 1986)
02 Thoughts Of A Madman (b-side of 'Face In A Crowd)
03 Turnin' Out (from 'The Waking Dream' compilation 1985)
04 Can't Step Off The Path (from 'The Waking Dream' compilation 1985) 
05 I'm A Living Sickness (from 'The Waking Dream' compilation 1985)
06 Two By Two (from the 'Two By Two' EP 1986)
07 A Glimpse (from the 'Two By Two' EP 1986)
08 Make Me Stay (from the 'Two By Two' EP 1986)
09 Thinkin' About Today (from the 'Two By Two' EP 1986)
10 Scream Thy Last Scream (from 'Beyond The Wildwood' tribute to Syd Barrett 1988)
11 Who Knows? (Andy Kershaw session 1986)
12 X+Y=13 (Andy Kershaw session 1986)
13 Try To (Andy Kershaw session 1986)
14 Horror Asparagus Stories (Andy Kershaw session 1986)

Various Artists - Remembering 1968 - A Tribute To Pink Floyd

1968 was a pivotal year for Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett had become increasingly unpredictable during the band's 1967 tour, and by the end of the year the band had added guitarist David Gilmour as the fifth member. Gilmour already knew Barrett, having studied with him at Cambridge Tech in the early 1960's, and the two had performed at lunchtimes together with guitars and harmonicas, and later hitch-hiked and busked their way around the south of France. In January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises announced Gilmour as the band's newest member, intending to continue with Barrett as a non-performing songwriter. The plan was that Barrett would write additional hit singles to follow up 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play', but in a pique of frustration at the situation he instead introduced 'Have You Got It Yet?' to the band, intentionally changing the structure on each performance so as to make the song impossible to follow and learn. Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, and matters came to a conclusion in January, while en route to a performance in Southampton, when a band member asked if they should collect Barrett, and according to Gilmour, the answer was "Nah, let's not bother", signalling the end of Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd. After Barrett's departure, the burden of lyrical composition and creative direction fell mostly on Roger Waters, and while playing on the university circuit, they avoided Barrett songs in favour of Waters' and Richard Wright's material such as 'It Would Be So Nice' and 'Careful with That Axe, Eugene'. In 1968, Pink Floyd returned to Abbey Road Studios to record their second album, 'A Saucerful Of Secrets', which included Barrett's final contribution to their discography with his 'Jugband Blues' closing the record. Waters began to develop his own songwriting, contributing 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun', 'Let There Be More Light' and 'Corporal Clegg', while Wright composed 'See-Saw' and 'Remember A Day'. Released in June 1968, the album featured a psychedelic cover designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis, and it peaked at number 9, spending 11 weeks on the UK album chart. In December of that year, they released 'Point Me At The Sky' as a single, but it was no more successful than the two singles they had released since 'See Emily Play', with neither 1967's 'Apples And Oranges' or 1968's 'It Would Be So Nice' making any impression on the charts, while Barrett's 'Scream Thy Last Scream' was abandoned completely as a single after recording finished in January 1968. Despite the moderate success of the album, it paved the way for a change in direction, from the psychedelic pop of 'See Emily Play', 'Arnold Layne', and the 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' album into a much darker, more cosmic entity, with spacey tracks like 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' foreshadowing what was to come from them in the next few years. Because this was a transitional time for the band, the music that they produced in 1968 has been picked apart by numerous bands over the years, and covered on albums, single b-sides and tribute albums, and so I've collected the best of them as an alternate overview of a significant year in the life of Pink Floyd. 

Track listing

01 Remember A Day - Crystal Jacqueline And The Honey Pot
02 It Would Be So Nice - Captain Sensible
03 Let There Be More Light - Flying Circus
04 Careful With That Axe, Eugene - Vespero
05 Point Me At The Sky - Mandra Gora Lightshow Society
06 Julia Dream - Us And Them
07 Corporal Clegg - Samarin, Morgan And Hull Llp
08 Scream Thy Last Scream - The Green Telescope
09 Jugband Blues (If The Sun Don't Shine) - Opal
10 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun - Psychic TV