Some Questions You May Be Asking Yourself About From A Tongue So Strange...

What's an anomaly?

Taken from What Goes On: "I'd say it's any sound which some people feel shouldn't really be there, and in a perfect world, wouldn't be there! Something which, years later, people are finding and saying, "So what caused that?", or "What did he say again?". Examples are edits which stick out (where takes have been joined together), vocal chatter not directly part of the record, recording glitches .... It's not only limited to mistakes -- a mistake is an anomaly, but not all anomalies are mistakes."

Pink Floyd have a reputation for perfectionism when it comes to their recorded output, so Floydian anomalies are fewer and further between than Beatles anomalies. But that's what makes them so special! Anyway, there must be enough of them to warrant this whole website, right? Otherwise, why would I waste so many hours working on it? But I digress...

How can I hear these anomalies?

Well, some are obvious after they're pointed out. Others you may need to listen for carefully on a good pair of headphones turned up way loud in a quiet room (at your own risk :), or using the OOPS stereo technique which I will discuss later. In every case, I will note the time position of the anomaly, using the EMI Remastered CD times as a reference. However, your CD player(s) may read time positions differently, so these are only given as a rough guide.

What's this OOPS thing?

Glad you asked. OOPS stands for Out-Of-Phase-Stereo, also known as LMR (Left Minus Right). You know when you're listening to your portable CD player, and the headphone jack gets pulled out a little bit, and it gets all quiet and different-sounding? OOPS! You've just accidentally discovered a way to remix your entire CD collection. OOPS removes everything which is mixed in the centre of the stereo field, leaving only a mono image of the sounds mixed just to the left or right. For some songs, where the vocals are in the centre and all the instruments are elsewhere, this produces a nifty karaoke effect. For other songs, a lot of Pink Floyd songs, it removes the loudest and most distracting part of the mix, leaving all the quiet background stuff where all the anomaly gold is hidden. You don't need to do this with headphones, however: you can use any competent audio application on your computer. E-mail me if you need instructions.

What if I hear an anomaly that's not on the list?

What if I disagree with one of your entries?

What if I can't get enough of this wonderful site and I want to shower unconditional love upon its creator?

Great! I'd love to hear all about it. Drop me (Botley) a line. That's botleysmith@yahoo.com. At this point, the anomalies list is far, far away from being anything close to complete, so any and all forms of contribution and/or encouragement are in very welcome indeed.

Back to From A Tongue So Strange