THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

London's 1967 psychedelic scene was mostly inspired by the uprising of the Beatles' music during the decade. Knowing this, many bands were quick to jump on the wagon before the music became less popular. Thus, they pulled out their joints and bongs and hit the records as fast as they could. One of these more successful bands was undoubtedly The Pink Floyd, a group of young, 20-year old Englishmen burst onto the psychedelica charts. George Waters from Surrey, Roger Barrett from Cambridge, Nicholas Mason from Birmingham, and Richard Wright from Middlesex were all heartily ready to dive into the nonsensical genre of psychedelic and space rock.

Many people consider that Pink Floyd's debut is what undoubtedly brought progressive rock into life, not to mention revolutionizing it's own genre. And I must say I agree. Sure, the album does have many elements that were used in later progressive works, but psychedelic rock wasn't a new subject for many people. Artists like Jimi Hendrix and Simon Dupree and the Big Sound (which would later become Gentle Giant) both had distinct marks on the genre itself, but Hendrix died promptly in 1970 and The Big Sound were declared as a straight pop band until they reformed in the same year. So even though those artists did help the popularity of the genre, psychedelica itself didn't become crazy popular until the late 60's. And sure, Floyd helped mold that genre as well as strongly influence future space rock bands like Eloy, but that doesn't mean that this album was particularly good.

I've never fancied music that attacks my eardrums. I've found it painful, but I know a lot of people can see it as art. Well, you can also see that Piero Manzoni's 1961 piece 'Artist's Shit' was also artistically sound, but that doesn't make it spectacular. Let's get to the tracks. There's the ever-famous 'Astronomy Domine' heading off the list, with it's wonky sound effects and space rock vibe. I've never much liked this song, I always preferred 'Interstellar Overdrive' over it, and I consider it a much better piece of music as well as being more structured. 'Lucifer Sam' is a pretty average song, but mostly just a mediocre doodling track that I guess I wouldn't mind listening to on most occasions. Then there are the abysmal songs, like 'Pow R. Toc H.', 'Flaming', and 'Chapter 24'. Although they are clearly trippy jams, they aren't really that great as music. In fact, they're pretty bothersome. They go nowhere, as well as being downright silly lyrical and vocal-wise. 'Matilda Mother' is a cool song, probably my favorite, with its ominous sound and dark melodies. It is mixed in with some psychedelic ramblings, but that's good in this case because it's well-balanced. The album ends with the sound-symphony of 'Bike'. It isn't really well structured at all, and falls apart really quickly. The end with the bike sounds is more of an excuse to end the album than a good finisher.

Overall, this album is bad. Maybe good for prog-historian's sake, but I don't like it in any way other than that.

I do not recommend this album.