THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

Sometime in the early months of 1967 at Abbey Road Studios, four well-known history making lads from Liverpool were putting the final touches of a certain well-known history making concept album that would turn the recording industry upside down. One day four other lads from London working in another studio down the hall came by to visit these Liverpool lads. A few polite greetings and exchanges were made and the London boys quickly went back to work. Little did the lads from Liverpool know that these four youngsters from London were about to push psychadelic rock into the outer limits and continue to keep pushing well into the seventies.

Ok, enough of the trivia. While you can say this album is somewhat tame and primitive, you have to remember, it was 1967! You can certainly see the birth of this ingenious sound they were driving at. Yes, I agree Syd was a genious and listening to this album makes you kind of sad that his excesses got the best of him later on. Of course, most geniouses are usually a bit "off" anyway. Let's remember Johnny boy down the hall certainly had his moments too (like going up on the roof of the studio while on acid only to have Paulie come up and bring him down). I wouldn't recommend this album as starting point for a Pink Floyd beginner but it's really an interesting piece of work to eventually checkout later on. I didn't even get around to listening this 'til the 80s and I was into PF since DSOTM came out in 1973. Enough said, 4 Stars.