THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

Honestly, if you are a Floyd fan, a space rock fan or even a prog rock fan - this is an absolute must in order to understand the formation and roots of space rock/ prog rock. Listen to this then Wish You Were Here and the difference is enormous - what a change - from raw and full of energy with whimsicalness/ nursery rhyme-type and full of humour - to seriousness, sublimity and beauty. But then listen again - between the notes of Pow R Toc H and Interstellar Overdrive you can hear the embreyo of what became.

The 4 tracks Astronomy Domine (without doubt the best track on the album), Pow R Toc H, Take up Thy Stethoscope (an enormously fun wild and free track) and Interstellar Overdrive are the beginnings of Prog rock and need to be played and understood if you want to understand Prog rock (Space rock really). Rich Wright's organ playing is great fun, but even more fun is Syd's guitar - full of energy, wild, and seemingly played with care-abandoned. Gilmour was a brilliant mimic later-on, but clearly developed his own style - and maybe that's the difference.

The other 7 tracks all belong to Syd - I know they are whimsical psychedelic pop, but I really love all of them - they are fun, with crazy lyrics and with a great sense of humour - so sad for someone who was to fade away so much.

This is a masterpiece - it is Syd Barrett's masterpiece - his Pink Floyd's masterpiece. Without this album you will not understand how Pink Floyd became.

I hope that at least with Syd's passing, many will flock to the shops and add this to their collection and place it proudly next to Wish Youe Were Here.

Wish You Were Still here.....

Good bye Syd Barrett - see you in heaven where no-one loses their mind and the music will be far greater tahn anyone on Earth could ever do.

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