Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (CD 1994)

FIRST CLASS ALBUM. IN MY OPINION THE BEST BY PINK FLOYD, STILL SOUNDS GREAT AFTER 40 YEARS!! THIS IS ONE OF THE GREAT BRITISH ALBUMS OF ALL TIME.

For those who love the psychedelia of the 60s, and believe that Sid Barret was a genius, this would probably be the album... tho' they would most likely already have it. If you're looking for precursors to the band that produced "Dark Side..." or "The Wall", there's not very much here that resonates, apart from "Interstellar Overdrive" and perhaps "Astronomy Domine". Many of the tracks are clever, but don't really keep your interest, or even make you tap your feet (or nod your head). I would suggest that the later Floyd albums would be of much more interest, but this does provide an idea of where the Floyd came from.

A classic,timeless album, hard to believe this is now now over 40 years old. This is Floyd's first album that bravely went where no other band have ever been before. I think that is what first drew me into this album, there was no attempt to produce a pop album that was going to compete with the Beatles - they were out on their own and with the very tallented Syd barret leading the way, carved their own path into musical history.
I first heard this album when I was a young boy in short pants because I am lucky to have older brothers with good taste in music and I was amazed to find that about 20 years later I knew all the words to songs like 'Bike' and 'The Gnome'. Then I found that I listened to the other songs with a different perspective and I appreciated how good the whole album was. Now another 20 years later, I consider myself to be more musically educated and I'm still enjoying the album.
There is no doubt some people thought the album was a bit wierd in parts when it was released and some still think so today. But this is one that you should give a go, even if you are not a Pink Floyd fan. Like it or not the first time, you will want to hear it again.
Alan

"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is the only Pink Floyd album dominated by founder member Syd Barrett. Barrett, who died recently, was already drifting away into his own private world by the time of the album's release in summer 1967, and so the recording sessions caught him at the height of his powers.
Pink Floyd had recently enjoyed 2 hit singles: "Arnold Layne", a bizarre ditty about a man stealing women's clothes from washing lines, and the thoroughly commercial games-for-May romp of "See Emily Play". The "Piper" album brought everything together and epitomised the summer of '67 as powerfully as the Beatles' "Sgt Pepper" or Procul Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale".
I was too young to hear the album in 1967, but caught up with it in 1974 and it's been a part of my life ever since; ebay was an ideal place to find it on CD.
"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" has eleven tracks, eight of them Barrett songs. Syd was also the lead singer and lead guitarist - very much the "main man". Roger Waters also contributed vocals and played bass guitar, Rick Wright was on organ and piano, and Nick Mason played the drums. Dave Gilmour wasn't in the band just yet.
"Astronomy Domine" is one of the most thrilling opening tracks on any album, ever. The lyrics, when viewed on a page, give no hint as to the enormous strength the song acquired once the Floyd added music: the fade-in, intercom chatter, swooshy space effects, and guitar, bass, organ and drums playing in total harmony and sympathy - the listener really does get a feeling of leaving this Earth and orbiting the planets above. The instrumental track "Interstellar Overdrive" does the same trick on side 2, although it's a more drawn-out affair.
Tracks 2, 3 and 4 are also Barrett songs: "Lucifer Sam", "Matilda Mother" and "Flaming". Fast, slow and mid-tempo, they complement each other brilliantly. Barrett's lyrics range from the evocative ("Aross the stream with wooden shoes Bells to tell the King the news" etc) to the downright playful ("Sleeping on a dandelion too much I won't touch you but then I might").
Next up is an instrumental, "Pow R. Toc H." It's arguably the weakest track on the album, but is still a fine example of "The Pink Floyd Sound", the band's unique selling point that would propel them to greater heights after Barrett's departure.
Side one ends with Roger Waters's no-nonsense "Take Up Thy Stethoscope & Walk". Its "Doctor Doctor" refrain and high-energy instrumental break is a million miles away from Barrett's more poetical and melodic output.
After "Interstellar Overdrive", Barrett takes over again and the final four tracks on the album are his: "The Gnome" and "Scarecrow" are almost childlike in their charm and simple observations, whereas "Chapter 24" is a mystical ode to the virtues of change, action and movement. The final track, "Bike", has many admirers, but I've always found its eccentricity rather uncomfortable. Some of the lyrics are hilarious ("I know a mouse and he hasn't got a house I don't know why I call him Gerald"), but when Syd enters his "room of musical tunes" at the end, you know that in real life he's retreating into his own private world and his days with Pink Floyd are numbered. Sad.
After this album Syd left the band, Dave Gilmour joined and Pink Floyd went global. But "Piper..." remains an astonishing record. It could only have been released in 1967, and is the sound of a young band making brilliant music.

Memories of the 60s come flooding back with this early Floyd mixture of primitive pop and freaky galaxial space-rock. Very evocative to me because it was a constant soundtrack to my Carnaby Street years. Since then the tragic fading influence of Roger "Syd" Barrett makes this album a landmark, recorded in 1967 in the next-door studio to the Beatles while they were making Sgt. Pepper. Of the 11 songs, 8 are solely written by Syd and 2 more bear his hallmark. The 'Piper' title alludes to a chapter in the Wind in the Willows. Great stuff - they don't make 'em like that any more!