THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

Being the first album of, perhaps, the best band in the history of rock music, one easily realizes the historical value and importance of ''The Piper....'', definitely one of the most important debuts ever released. This value becomes greater as this album is Syd Barrett's main legacy in the art of music. Beyond the theoretical part though, if we stay focused in the music itself and judge it objectively, ''The Piper....'' has little to do with the later Pink Floyd phenomenon.

Pink Floyd back in 1967 was perfectly synchronized with the timespace of London's underground scene. New drugs, free minded youth, experimentations, psychedelic sounds, what an era! All of the above are P.F's music basic components. The truth is that Barrett was a talented visionary that was able, as a composer, to write songs in the thin line between melodic pop music and abstract, surrealistic psych. I'm certain that with the visual perspective of their live shows, the experience must have been way more admirable and intense but this feeling isn't captured sonically in the album that much. Here you can listen to some nice tunes, good songwriting, some weird atmospheres, that's all. I'm sure that if one listened to it without knowing that this is Pink Floyd, no big deal, really. The classic melody of ''See Emily play'' is still enjoyable though and ''Astronomy Domine'' still stands tall and proud, half a century later, mysterious and enigmatic in its wonderfully crafted twisted harmonies. A very good debut from a band that would evolve to music gods with the absolute artistic Midas touch, in an age of no knowledge of this fact! 74/100