THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

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With the possible exception of Court of the Crimson King, the best debut album by any group in ANY genre. Maybe it was the acid, maybe its was the genius of Syd Barrett (and/or Roger Waters), maybe it was London in 1967. Whatever. Although comparatively "immature" next to their later work, Piper stands as a towering achievement in prog-rock, and remains among a handful of standard-bearers in the genre.

The first Pink Floyd album is more psychedelic than progressive, though british psychedelia was always close to progressive rock and probably it was the british psychedelia that opened the path to the progressive rock, because most of the progressive rock early bands were psychedelic oriented (The Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Deep Purple, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson and etc all had psychedelic influences in their early albums). The album is dominated by Syd Barrett´s compositions. Unfortunately he had problems with the band so early. It would be interesting if Pink Floyd could continue with him more time.

The first song is astronomy domine, with good guitar riff, soloing, drums, organ and electronics. There´s a great instrumental interlude between the main verse, sung double-voice.

The next song is Lucifer Sam, has a great bass and drums riff, with some organ and guitar effects, then a great guitar riff, some good soloing by Barrett. The lyrics, completely non-sense.

The next is Matilda Mother, has great keyboard and bass intro, the comes a good guitar riff and good singing by Wright and then the drums. The second verse is sung by Barrett, then the first verse again, but with other lyrics. There´s a good organ solo in the middle by Wright and then the third verse, with strong singing and guitar, the chorus again and a drum and organ riff till the end. Great song.

The fourth song is Flaming, starting with weird noises, then organ, happy (though always melancholic) singing by Barrett, then good acoustic guitar, drumming, lots of strange percussion, good keyboard and guitar work in the instrumental section.

Then, Pow R. Toc H., starting with weird noises and singing, then turning into a instrumental tune with a jazzy piano and drumming for some time, then some strong drums, weird guitar and percussion noises, the weird Pow R. Toc H. singing, then some weird keyboards to join the guitar and the percussion, and an interesting guitar and keyboard riff in the end.

The next is the only Waters composition in the album, Take Thy Sthetoscope and Walk. There´s one verse (not much inspired), then some soloing in the middle, solos of every instrument (piano, guitar, bass, organ, weird noises) completely at will, what means totally unorganized. Then some singing again and the song ends.

The next is the 10-minute instrumental Interstellar Overdrive, with a powerful guitar riff in the start, along with good drumming. Then comes the organ and some free bass lines. Some strange guitar solos and then a little bit weird things (of course). Literally guitar noises and organ chords follow these weird things, then the drum joins the guitar noises. Then comes some bass lines, lead organ notes and guitar sound effects. More noises, organ, guitar and bass, along with some percussion and drumming and then a normal guitar riff before the main riff again, this time running from one to the another speaker and a guitar solo and organ fading out

Then starts The Gnome, a childish song, with good percussion and guitar riff. The Barrett´s singing is very like child songs. The chorus has a great organ solo, sounds a little magical. The lyrics are nonsense. Surely a creation of Barrett´s psychedelic mind.

The next song, Chapter 24, in contrast, is very sad. The organ tone and the bass create a very sad mood to the song. Barrett´s singing is sad as well. The song is great, there are some great percussion, great bells in the chorus in the ascending verses and organ notes in descending verses. Then a organ solo with guitar noises. The first verse again. The organ riff is very beautiful through the whole song and the tone is very, very sad. In the end, the last word sung many times, like chorus with delay. Great song.

The Scarecrow is the next song. Though it has the same organ tone than the last, there´s some strange percussion, good guitar riff and not so sad singing by Barrett. there´s some of the magical innocent Barrett´s world. Then a good guitar and organ solo till the end of this short song.

The last one is a classic of weirdness, Bike. The singing is very funny, some guitar and organ riff during the verses and some electronic and drums (very loud) at the end. There´s some percussion and piano notes in the middle. The lyrics are funny as well. After the sung part, comes some weird sounds, most percussion, some keyboard too and then the end that is really, really strange sounds in the end.

Well, that´s the great masterpiece of psychedelia. Barrett was without a doubt a genius doing these kind of music and the album is very, very good.

Some absolutely stunning stuff on here - Overdrive , Domine - but also too much Psychy-pop stuff. I love psych but here this is too poppish for me to actually enjoy it , so I made an early Floyd compilation incuding this one , Ummagumma, Saucerful and Relics . I now listen a lot more to their early stuff

and it all began here... with syd barrett. although this album may seem crazy, immature and generally an outcast to the rest of their albums, it actually paved the way to lead into albums like meddle and dark side by introducing us to a new kind of sound. intense psychadelia which gradually lead into a more serious and progressive psychadelia, album by album.

This album will make you laugh, pine for syd, appreciate gnomes, scarecrows and the 60's psychadelic drug scene. i dont think anyone can find a trippier album than this (except maybe ummagumma). although the lyrics are a more random and childish, the guitar work and power of the floyds music is still clearly present. the vast expiriments with sound and instruements never fail to please and there is even a taste of progressive rock with the lengthy interstellar overdrive.

a masterpiece. and if there is anyone who sees this as a poor album compared to the rest then dont look at it as a pink floyd album. just listen to the album with a free mind and you will gradually be marvelled and mentally scarred by this amazing album. piper gives you pink floyd at their best plus the amazing thought that things continue to be as amazing or even better from then on.

Not Pink Floyd's best by a landslide, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is still a decent album with some great moments. "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" are the album's two strongest tracks, the former being a classic Syd Barrett slice of psychadelia which features some of his best lyrical work, the latter being a chaotic improvisational epic. The album's other best songs are the great rocker "Lucifer Sam", and another improvisational classic "Pow R. Toc H.", which includes some great Rick Wright piano. Not all is good with this album though. It also features the terrible Barrett tunes "Flaming" and "The Gnome", as well as Roger Waters' horrid songwriting debut "Take Up Thy Stethescope And Walk". The album is one that you should definitely give a listen, but it is by no means a classic.

When I bought this album I was already a "Dark Side of the Moon" fan, and to be honest "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" sounded me as an heresy. Why were my idols playing that exuberant and lysergic music? But the answer was simple Syd Barrett. With the pass of time I learned to love this album and today is one of my favorites, even if has almost nothing in common with the progressive Pink Floyd.

"Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is a semi conceptual album inspired in Syd Barrett's favorite children's book "The Wind and the Willows" and because of that is somehow naïve and innocent, but it's also an ode to madness, sometimes confusing and sometimes totally lack of coherence, but that insanity is the key of it's beauty and transcendence.

The album starts with "Astronomy Domine", a typical psychedelic song of the late 60's with a pop edge and guitar based sound plus simple but effective drums. Even when Floyd didn't even dreamed with DSOTM we can listen some spacey sections, as an Avant premiere of the sound they will develop years after.

"Lucifer Sam" is a song where Roger Waters demonstrates what his capable of with his powerful bass, reminds by moments to the Batman Theme (remember the 60´s series?), a good song but nothing special, except maybe for the complex mixture of instruments in the middle section of the track and the overplayed keyboards that sound like Farfisa Organ.

"Matilda Mother" reminds of Sergeant Pepper's and it must have been a classic when the album was released, but today sounds outdated, even when it's a very complex track with multiple changes and elaborated vocals. You can almost feel the effects of the LSD when you listen this song.

"Pow R Toc H" can be described in two words pure acid, the song is plagued with sounds and shouts, almost always out of tune, that would be totally out of reality if it wasn't for the extraordinary piano sections by Wright that brings as back to earth.

"Take thy Stethoscope and Walk" is without doubt one of the worst song of the album, incredibly was composed by Roger Waters and is a typical 60's song but lacks of imagination and coherence. The next track "Interstellar Overdrive" is one of the first clear attempts of space rock, still confusing and chaotic but very interesting, the band offers something innovative.

"The Gnome", "Chapter 24" and "The Scarecrow" are three weak Barrett songs, again the band offers nothing different to what second-class bands done before, pretty forgettable except for the historical value of being composed by Syd Barrett.

The album ends with the childish and naïve "Bike", don't know why but I find this song very interesting and well done, as a curiosity, in the middle section there's a moment silence and a explosion of clock like sounds that for an instant transports the listener to Dark Side of the Moon.

"Piper at the Gates of Dawn" explores two aspects of psychedelic music, the exploration of a world that goes further than the senses and at the same time an absolute demonstration of mental insanity, which explains Syd Barrett's future breakdown. Not progressive by any mean but an absolute masterpiece of British Psychedelia that can't be easily understood by those of us who didn't lived the excesses of the late 60's.

An essential piece of music, basic to understand the history of one of the most incredible and innovative bands of Progressive Rock.

Amazing how simply writing about this album causes such a lysergic response in most people that they forget how to spell or form complete sentences. I'll try to buck that trend, as well as provide a moderate view.

"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" (and the singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play") occupies a similar place in musical history and the specific band's discography as the first GRATEFUL DEAD releases. Both serve as time capsules for the 'sound of the psychedelic 60s', representing the two cultural centers of the time: Swinging London and Haight-Ashbury. Being such a specific point in time, both were fated to sound dated within a few years, and yet are still drawn on for inspiration by diverse musicians to this day. Neither example represents the bands' trademark sounds, as both bands changed considerably after the loss of a key founding member (Barrett and Pigpen). Both bands managed to earn their eventual acclaim not by deliberately courting chart success, but with a dedication to touring and providing the concert-goer with a unique and 'mind-blowing' experience. "Piper at the Gates of Dawn", as well as the GRATEFUL DEAD's eponymous first album, has a number of solid songs that are nonetheless relatively forgettable, or would have been had they come from other bands with less follow-up. Some are lovably naiive and playful ("Bike", "Lucifer Sam"), and resemble Barrett's later solo work more than PF's later development- which is shadowed in the proto-prog "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive".

Personally, I think that while this is an important and eerily fun album, it is not really in the progressive rock genre; it's mainly going to appeal to the FLOYD completist or lovers of the psychedelic era. If you can manage to forget or ignore the later PINK FLOYD legacy, this piece of acid rock history becomes much more enjoyable.

One cannot deny the wizardry of Syd Barrett on Piper...Sure the album was pscho pop at times but as one of the previous reviewers so aptly puts it, you needed to be around at the time to truly appreciate this genre of music and the datestamp it relates to. Personally I prefer the spacier tracks like ' Astronomy Domine' and ' Interstellar Overdrive' and preferred the direction the band took after barrett's departure but ' Bike' you just can't help loving it and admiring Barrett's eccentricities not to mention acid infused creative flashes.

I have refrained from reviewing this album since I knew the band the first time when they released "The Dark Side of The Moon" during my teenage. Hooked to the band with DSoTM I explored other albums the band had released previously. With the fact that I lived in small town in East Java, Indonesia, it was not that easy to get the other album of the band. Until I got it later in 1977 when I was on tour (with friends of mine who loved 70s music at that time) to Bali Island, Indonesia. I was dissatisfied with this debut album at first listening and I did not play it for a long time. To me, what was the difference between this album and the Beatles?

Couple months ago I purchased a book "SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS - The Pink Floyd Odyssey" by Nicholas Schaffner. I did not really read the book seriously and it was in fact interrupted by reading Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code". Under the pressure of the editor of local newspaper who asked me to review the SAUCERFUL book, I finally complete the reading of SAUCERFUL last week. What a great book really! Oh man . the book has helped me a lot in understanding the band as a whole starting from its embryo stage until the break up with Roger Waters. I am really touched with many passages written in the book about the band.

Specific to "Piper", the book has helped me "reposition" (ahem . it seems like I'm a marketing / strategy guru like Kotler or Porter??? No .. no . I'm just a prog listener ..) my view about this album. It helps me putting things into perspective. You will listen to this album at its center like enjoying the Beatles. BUT . hold your thoughts for a second . get your CD of PF other albums, any album. And then try listen to it carefully. Don't stop listening to it until you find the passage or "nuance" that is very specific and reminiscent of the soul of "The Piper" album!

Yes, the Piper has inspired later albums of Pink Floyd. The band members admitted it clearly. That's why on the "Wish You Were Here" album the band made a tribute to Syd Barret, the founder and song writer (early stage) of Pink Floyd. The song "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" was created as tribute to Syd. "Remember when you were young / you shone like the sun .". As one review about this album, you will appreciate The Piper when you were around at that time. So, absolutely we cannot compare this album with current digital era albums.

I'm not gonna review this album track by track as it is a classic album. It suffices to say that this is a MASTERPIECE as it laid a solid foundation for next generation of prog music. The Piper has inspired not only later Pink Floyd but also many new bands like Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles, RPWL, Riverside and countless many more .. Any of you who are new to prog world or who think that this album deserve less than four stars MUST read the book written nicely by Nicholas Schaffner (die hard fan of Pink Floyd). GW, Indonesia.

Reference:

SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS - The Pink Floyd Odyssey, Nicholas Shaffner, Delta Book, 1991. (One of touching stories was when Dave Gilmour frequently visited Syd Barret as a mentor after couple years Syd was not with the band. A lot of humanity aspects I have learned from the book.). Oops . by the way .. I have no financial interest at all with the publisher of the book. I just want to share how great the book is, full stop!

This is a rather tough one to rate, and I'm afraid I'm going to take a lot of flack for it...on one hand, there are definite signs of potential, and on the other, there are also some very obvious problems with Piper. This is not a work of genius. I'm sorry, but drugs and genius really should not be in the same sentence. Drugs do not create genius--they hamper whatever genius might in fact be there. Whimsical, yes, but genius--I'm afraid there's a definite lack of maturity here. Who knows, maybe SYD BARRETT's songwriting would have matured with adulthood, if he had been able to continue functioning well as a musician, but the fact is that this and his solo works are all we have to judge by. And let's get this straight right now--I have all respect for the man and what he has been through. However, I still reserve my right to exercise my own judgment and my own tastes on the work, even if that may prove irritating to some.

The first problem I have is that some of the songs on here are...well...too pop- oriented. I think, if I remember correctly, that at that time, PINK FLOYD was aiming to follow up their hit singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and while this may well have been a necessary career move at that time, I still find the songs a little underdeveloped and too childlike (think of "The Gnome"). Which is no surprise given that they're aimed at the same audience that ate up the "utterly puerile" Please Please Me by the Beatles (that excellent Beatles comment coming from RICK WRIGHT). Furthermore, one conclusion I definitely came to is that, while he is not a bad vocalist, SYD BARRETT definitely needs RICK WRIGHT's backing vocals and (sometimes) lead vocals to help soften his voice, and also provide a needed contrast. The best song with vocals on the album, "Matilda Mother", is perhaps the prime example of this balance, featuring both vocal talents just about equally. "Astronomy Domine" is quite good, but not so energetic as later renditions such as the ones on Ummagumma or even PULSE. One song that BARRETT sings well on his own, though, is "Lucifer Sam".

Still, this album definitely does show the future promise of PINK FLOYD. While we have to remember that the FLOYD members were quite young at the time (the band's "middle child", RICHARD WRIGHT, would have only just turned 22 at Piper's release) and therefore all of their styles will seem rough, you can particularly see that RICK WRIGHT and NICK MASON are laying the groundwork for their future work, particularly in the instrumentals "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Pow R. Toc H." (minus the strange noises!). ROGER WATERS still has a ways to go, though--his songwriting is fragmented at best, as evidenced on "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk".

While I don't think this is a bad album, it just doesn't get the kind of time in my CD player that its big brother A Saucerful of Secrets or even the compilation Relics gets. Both of those albums, I think, are better representations of PINK FLOYD at this time period, and may appeal more to those who are not exclusively fans of the SYD BARRETT era. Piper may be OK, but I think that claims of genius are highly exaggerated. Had BARRETT had more time to write music unimpaired, his future works could have possibly been...but this one doesn't come up to that bar, and I suggest only getting this one after having completed most of the rest of your collection.

With their first album, PINK FLOYD presented the world with the first great psychedelic rock album of all time. It's worth to say they were not the first with this new music experimentation, but they soon after would be the reference band. In that time, there was clearly separation from Britain's rock, which was seen as social phenomena and sold to masses; and American rock, more acid and still in an underground market. In fact, in Britain (and all over the world), the commercial wave of Beatlemania was on the top. When Pink Floyd arrived with their debut album, they offered an alternative music, which was some sort of approximation with American rock. They did not manage to escape some poppy Beatles inspiration, particularly in the vocals and melodies.

Beware that, this is a very experimental work, with spacey songs like Astronomy Domine and the suite Interstellar Overdrive (this one the most experimental of the album), the danceable poppy funny policial Lucifer Sam, the splendorous guitar and keyboard psycho arrangements of Take Up The Stethoscope and Walk with its blues bass rhythm, the somewhat middle- aged epical Scarecrow and the delusional Bike.

This is an essential progressive rock album, as it is the debut of one of the most important and first generation bands of the progressive scene (that opened the gate to several bands), but also because it is the first album exploring at the limit the psychedelic movement and the first with spacey tracks (what kind of complete collection does not have the historic origins?).

My rate: 8,5/10

The Syd Barrett-era ('67-'70) was musically totally differrent from the mid-FLOYD-era ('73- '79) and in my opinion it's unfair to compare these two PINK FLOYD line-ups. Syd Barrett was a very gifted song writter, many put him on the level of the legendary Ray Davies and John Lennon. Unfortunately Syd became a victim of schizophrenia and acid-abuse. He lost contact with the reality and was thrown out of the band by his very good friend Roger Waters, despite his hugh role. The debut-album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is a pivotal blend of rock, pop and psychedelia. The first track "Astronomy Domine" still sounds very powerful and compelling featuring a menacing climate, fiery electric guitar and Syd's unique vocal contribution. Another great song is "Interstellar Overdrive" with its hypnotizing atmosphere and propulsive guitarplay. The early PINK FLOYD was not only Syd Barrett, if you listen to "Scarecrow" you will be delighted by the floating Farfisa organ sound from Rick Wright. I have to admit that not every composition on this debut-album is on the level of above-mentioned tracks but most of the music on "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is a fine and unique blend of almost childish lyrics, very adventurous ideas and strong compositional skills, created by four creative musicians.

"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is an amazing psychedelic rock album with a progressive edge and experimental approach. I've red in a magazine, that it was the first album in history, where progressive arrangements were truely intigrated in the music, so it is one of the most important records for the genre. I don't think that it is the best debut album of all time, but one of the most important. Syd Barret's acid-influenced lyrics fit perfectly to the up-spaced music, which is sometimes really out of mind.

The awesome "Astronomy Domine", the nice "Matilda Mother", the space-epic "Interstellar Overdrive" or the little gem "Bike" are some of the best tracks ever recorded in psychedelic rock. Press called it the most psychedic album ever recorded, with that statement I absolutely agree. But don't forget the follow-up "A Saucerful Of Secrets" (first album with David Gilmour and final with Syd Barret), which has the equal importance in psychedelia. TPATGOD may not be a masterpiece, for that banner it lacks consistence, but it's a undeniable classic in psychedelic rock.

The first two Pink Floyd records are far away from the space-prog style of later records and the commercial approach of "Dark Side Of The Moon" or "The Wall", but are in their psychedelic style absolutele classics too. If you just start listening to Pink Floyd, begin with the famous records, because it's more accessible, after that, you will wonder about what you will find here. It's completely different! That was the strength of this band, they've sounded different from album to album and wrote history like no other band in experimental aspects. The promising beginning for the musical chameleon, which is called Pink Floyd.

album rating: 8/10 points = 79 % on MPV scale = 4/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

Great early psychedelic prog! This is definitely not the Pink Floyd that most people are used to hearing, as the madman known as Syd Barrett was at this time the main creative force behind the band. The album, though somewhat naive, is a very charming and well done album. Syd Barrett had a mind like noone else, and his unique personality shines through on this album. Sadly this was the last album Syd would be with Pink Floyd, only contributing one song to the album "Saucerful of Secrets", but his creative (and insane) legacy will live on forever in this truly unique peice of music. Shine on Syd!... RIP

4/5

Pink Floyd's debut... one of those psychedelic "masterpieces" that everyone praise so much. Me personally fails to look at this one as a masterpiece, but OK, there are a couple of great songs here. "Astronomy Domine" for instance. Excellent track! "Interstellar Overdrive" too is an incredible good track that I really like. 50% of the rest, however, is not good at all, IMO. Syd Barrett get's a bit tiresome after a while, and the album get's a bit boring. It's a nice attempt as an first album, but I still don't enjoy it as much as later stuff.

2.5/5, maybe 3/5 on a good day!

"Lime and limpid green, a second scene, A fight between the blue you once knew."

And so the otherwordly 'Astronomy Domine' snakes its way into your consciousness, the first of many brutally original pieces of music to come from the inner reaches of Roger "Syd" Barrett's genius. Barrett's use of colours as imagery in 'Astronomy' rivals that of Jimi Hendrix in his song 'Bold As Love'. 'Astronomy' has probably stood up best to the test of time.The Gilmour-led 1994 version of the Floyd amazed their legions of followers by starting off many of their sets with this tone-setting 'classic'.

While no doubt influenced by the Beatles, one has to ask 'Where did this come from??? Psychadelia all but exploded on the scene when Syd took his contemporaries on his fantastical and mythical journey in "PATGOD" a Syd Barrett solo album in all but name. His catchy and brilliantly written songs like 'Matilda Mother', 'Flaming', 'Scarecrow' and 'Lucifer Sam' (all 3 minutes and under) could have taken the place of the FLOYD's earlier successful singles 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play' and done just as well. Syd Barrett is an extremely talented lyricist with a knack for creative subject matter. What is better than writing pop songs about siamese cats and male cross-dressers?!?

Barrett's most progressive/psychadelic/acidic piece is 'Interstellar Overdrive'. Clocking in at nearly ten minutes (a length no doubt unheard of at the time, 1967) it is easy to picture this noodling, meandering, improvisational song being played at the UFO Club, stretched out to sometimes as long as twenty minutes as hundreds of young Londoners went along for 'the trip'. The driving repetitive guitar/bass riff is addictive if not repetitive.

And then there is 'Bike'. If ever there was one song that could best illustrate Syd's lyrical style it is this song. Lots of alliteration, and whimsical rhymes in this innocent piece. Your five year old daughter will appreciate this song as much as your thirty or forty year old self.

"PATGOD" is important as a historical recording, and it is an excellent addition to anyone's music collection, whether they love progressive, psychadelic, acid and/or space rock, for it indeed has elements of all these (at the time) experimental genres. However, as much as it pains me to say this, "PATGOD" is not a masterpiece! There are some flaws here. A glaring one of note is 'Pow R Toc H', an amateurish and uninspired piece with nonsensical 'lyrics'. This song screams LSD, and indeed it ends with a sort of freak-out. 'Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk', 'The Gnome' and 'Chapter 24' are also relatively weak.

To date there have already been over 75 (count 'em!) Prog Archive reviews of Pink Floyd's seminal debut album, and at this point it probably doesn't need any more. But here's a recording that can't help but elicit strong opinions, pro or con, so who am I to resist getting a word in edgewise?

But instead of yet another song-by-song analysis (there're plenty of those to go around), I'll stick to just a few observations.

1) Once upon a time I might have given the album a mere 2-star rating, or even worse: for hard-core collectors or completists only. When I first heard it, probably as a part of "A Nice Pair", with the equally obscure "A Saucerful of Secrets", I just couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. The childish fairy tale lyrics and nursery school melodies (not to mention the primitive, lo-tech production job.the record was originally released in mono, fer cryin' out loud!) didn't seem to bear any relation to the same Pink Floyd responsible for "Dark Side of the Moon" or "Wish You Were Here". And still don't, I hasten to add.

2) But, in retrospect, that doesn't make the record any less of a classic. The same naive innocence is all part of its timeless appeal, especially when played alongside such intimidating instrumental freakouts as "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Pow R. Toc H", or the awesome "Astronomy Domine". Can any other Floyd album boast the same musical range, the same breadth of vision? (Save your rebuttals for the Forums, please.and don't even mention "Seamus"..!)

3) Part of what gives "The Piper" its classic status has nothing to do with the music on it. The tragedy of Syd Barrett's life, and the lingering shadow of his unfulfilled potential, is just as important a factor, for better or worse. Consider this: had Syd left the band in perfect health the album might be fondly recalled today as just another slice of groovy but dated hippie nostalgia.

4) It might be more sensible (and I'm probably not the first to say so) to regard "The Piper" as the first Syd Barrett solo album, with future members of the group Pink Floyd as his backing band. After all, it's closer in spirit to "The Madcap Laughs" than to "A Saucerful of Secrets".

5) And yet nothing in the later Floyd catalogue could have existed without it. Syd is the spectre haunting everything else the band ever recorded: most famously "Wish You Were Here" of course, but thematically and/or stylistically hardly less on any other album.

.and so, finally 6) If you consider yourself in any way, shape or form a fan of Pink Floyd, you need to hear this album, if only to put their later success in better perspective.

... And now for perhaps the greatest psychedelic-rock album of all time... enter Mr. Syd Barrett and company. "Piper..." was the first full album by London's "The Pink Floyd" and showcases their creative yet drugged out free form musical compositions. Without a question this is Barrett at his best and most evocative music from his creative mind. Included on this album are 2 of the most respected and copied tracks from the psychedelic era namely "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive". I have always loved the early FLOYD albums and consider this album to be one of my personal favs from this era.

Having bought (and loved0 Meddle, I naturally went to get all the earlier albums. This one may have been innovative, psychadelic and all the other descriptions lavished on it in the other reviews, but it doesn't disguise the fact that most of the songs are puerile rubbish. Syd Barrett was barking mad, not a genius. The lyrics for Bike could have been written by a six year old and several other songs fall into the same category. Only Rick Wright manages to conjure something listenable at times but he's fighting a losing battle. Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Overdrive are passable but, overall, the best thing to do with this LP is to turn it into an ashtray or a clock. Thank God Dave Gilmour came along and they moved forward to produce some later masterpieces.

A superb debut, certainly different to their later stuff, but excellent none the less. Each track is well crafted, none of them too long, and all catchy and listenable. 'Astronomy Domine', 'Interstellar Overdrive', 'Scarecrow', 'Bike', 'Lucifer Sam', etc, are all damn good and fun tunes! Not a bad one here, and all filled with the enthusiasm of youth! Listen through your headphones and be amazed! These were the days of stereo experimentation, and Interstellar Overdrive and Bike particularly benefit from this 'mucking about' with the sound. Strange to think that, after this and 'Saucerful Of Secrets', they were to lose their way, not producing a really good album until 'Meddle'. Recommended, both to Floyd fans, and also to classic sixties pyschedelia buffs. An excellent cover too!

This album was the pinnacle of the pop-psychedelia genre. Songs like ''Bike'' represents in a good way the style. There are definitely highlight on this album, particularly ''Astronomy Domine'', and Interstellar Overdrive, wich is way better live, though. Some songs are filler to me, really this is a must have as it is the starting point of a monumental band, and the only one with Syd Barret, wich was a genius in his days. He definitely is the frontman of the band, as every song is touched by his dynamic and enthusiastic approach to music. Pogressively talking, this does not touch Atom heart Mother or Meddle, but a pretty enjoybale album. 3.5/5

PINK FLOYD borns with this good album full with Syd's psychedelia and dominated by his lyrics and style. Unfortunately it has a poppier side in some songs that, in my opinion, makes the album doesn't survive the challenge of time. The only tracks that i really care are "Lucifer Sam" and the opening "Astronomy Domine". I think "Interstellar Overdrive" is a bit overrated and i see nothing special with it. The other good songs are "Matilda Mother" and "Pow R Toc H", which aren't anything special either but are still very fun and enjoyable. "Bike" is a fun song that can get a bit annoying, and has some disturbing noises at the end that are very scary. The USA and Japan releases contain "See Emily Play", and i think songs like "Candy and a Currant Bun", "Apples and Oranges" - which are found on the "Early Singles" from the Shine On box set - would fit very well in here and add a lot to the album's overall enjoyment.

Unfortunately even though PIPER has its great moments i prefer listening to some of its songs separatadely instead of the whole album. I prefer the "Early Singles" and "Saucerful of Secrets" to this one. Don't get me wrong, I do respect Syd and his way of composing, but i think it just doesn't appeal so much to me as it appeals to many other people. Another point that i'd like to make is that this is not the kind of music that has to be studied through a cold technical view caring for "how the members play this or that instrument" or the "production quality" and "musical complexity". The songs here are meant to show the hidden corners of someone's mind (Syd), it is actually very profound in terms of emotion and very personal. But, again, i don't feel very connected to this world and i simply feel a "fun" side at the songs, but nothing deeper than this.

Essential psychedelic album!

Three little masterpieces of psych music: "Astronomy Domine", "Pow R Toc H" (can be read as "power touch") and "Interstellar Overdrive" are included here and they are essential to any psychedelia devotee. Barrett's songwriting is at first hard to grasp, especially if you are accustomed to the "classic" spacey Floyd era of the 1970s. But once you get into his wildly imaginative Tolkienesque scenery with odd childlike rhymes, you will appreciate it even more. Waters' "Take Up Thy Stethoscope..." is perhaps the weakest song on the album - his time had not been come yet! A defining moment for prog rock, but also an acquired taste.

Not my favorite Album!! Too early in their musical path, very poppy!? in some instances, and to much Syd influence; not, that was something bad, but not their best effort... However, for historical reasons, you have to have this on your collection

Pink Floyd first album: how distant they sound from their classical progressive period of the beginning of the 70s.

A good work although the psychedelic spice informs clearly the date of its release: 1967. Maybe we could see it as a concept album centered around psychedelism and space (and madness).

This album is covered by mystery and legend and a reviewer feels sometimes like touching a sacred symbol of an obscure religion.

But the songs are there, the result is fair, and we have to remember always the year, the available means, the fact that's a debut work, etc.

Great moments: 'Astronomy domine' really a good opening; 'Lucifer Sam' and 'Mathilda Mother' the best songs - although the later could be confused with some Moody Blues song but it is still OK; "Interstellar overdrive", a kind of mini-epic to be heard sparsely; 'The gnome', the most interesting of the several weird tracks of the album. Other songs are below average and are only listenable when one wants to get the work entirely not picking only the most agreeable songs.

Undisputedly a LANDMARK, not necessarily a masterpiece. A work to be compulsorily added to any prog collection. Total: 4.

This is my favorite PINK FLOYD album, and I respect it as well as for the pleasurable music it has, but also as a psychedelic relic from 1967. I think that most of the best rock music emerged from that era, like CREAM and THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE.

The opener "Astronomy Domine" introduces the listener to the chaotic world free associations and dreams. I think this is a bold opener, as it hasn't got anything to do with any rational musical directions associated with early psychedelia (like blues or folk), but it has unconventional chord progressions and very lunatic musical ideas. The following "Lucifer Sam" has a more conventional 60's rock song as it's basic structure, but it's attacked with mysterious sounds and has a very manic and good overall feeling in it. I think that it paints us a portrait a black Siamese cat. "Matilda Mother" is also a true gem on this treasure chest, lyrics are thought provoking and the descending chords in the beginning and in the verses create a very mysterious and exiting feeling. "Flaming" begins with an oppressing sound wall, which morphs to a psychedelic pop song. I first had bit uncertain feeling about this, but somehow the tune opened after several listening times and I started to enjoy it much (I heard that the original name of this song was "Flamingo" but the last letter was dropped out). I also enjoyed "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" which begins and ends with symmetrical drumbeats, and in addition of furiously manic opening and closing verses there's only a freeform psychedelic assault, which amused me lots. The biggest representative of this side of the band is of course "Interstellar Overdrive", which gives us a hint of the material they did on stage during this time. "Scarecrow" and "Bike" are then happily nut acoustic SYD BARRET songs, but they are also very pleasing. Their single "See Emily Play" which was as a bonus track on some import releases of this album is then one of the best songs the whole band has ever recorded.

I guess this album which I value extremely wouldn't please those who have just found PINK FLOYD via "Dark Side of The Moon" album, but I would recommend listening this if you are open minded, or you like the music of late 60's. This is the most classic album which this band ever recorded in my opinion.

Pink Floyd's debut is a view into a different train of thought in music. They weren't writing songs about begin dragged down by the stone or about running like hell, no, this album is a lot simpler than those days. This is not really progressive in terms of music, lyrics, or anything really, nothing more than psychedelic rock with playful pop lyrics. This is not the Pink Floyd everyone would come to know in 1973, this is Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd. Not saying that when Syd was in the band the music was bad, it's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. All the key members of the band are there (except for the absence of David Gilmour), and they all are in top form for the music they created on this album.

The opener of the album, the fan favorite Astronomy Domine has a rather simplistic guitar theme and some nice vocal from Barrett. Among the best tracks on the album, it isn't wrought with the acid washed overtones of the rest of the album. Lucifer Sam is a playful tune about a black cat, with a nice guitar riff from Syd and some strong drum work from Nick Mason. Matilda Mother is an ethereal piece with ambient organ from Wright taking the forefront. The lyrics on this song (as well as the vocals) are dreamy and take the listener to another place. Flaming and Pow R. Toc H. are the weakest tracks on the album, being nothing more than noise and incoherent melodies, a bit disappointing in comparison with the rest of the album.

Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk is the sole lyrical contribution of Roger Waters on this album, and the lyrics are considerably weak in comparison with Syd's psychedelic walls of lyrical material. The drumming and vocal work on this song are considerably strong, though, despite weak lyrics. Interstellar Overdrive is the longest song on the album, clocking in at nearly 10 minutes. What you'll find here is a psychedelic freak out instrumental with no real coherent structure or melody. But what I find so interesting on this song is that all of the musicians find there own space and explore their respective instruments to the point of a sonic assault that leaves nothing alive.

The final third of the album continues the trend of playful pop melodies with psychedelic overtones, the best of these four songs being Bike, which takes a dissonant turn and haunts the listener with a chilling organ riff. The finale of Bike can also be considered as psychedelic drivel and adds nothing special to the album.

Overall, I think that all Pink Floyd fans should check out their respected roots. The Syd Barrett dominated incantation of Floyd wouldn't last long and soon enough we'd be graced with strong albums exploring and experimenting with different sounds moods, modes, and tempos. I give it a solid 3.5/5.

This album is dramatic despite that blind critics give to it an important credit in the development of space/ psychedelic jammings. "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" reveals only one definitely classic tune: the improvised, freak-out, druggy "Interstellar Overdrive". In a sense this song prefigures the space out and psychedelica nirvana of German krautrockers. This affirmation is partly true because the History and musical sources don't give reason to the Floyds. in 1967, Soul Caravan (Xhol) published their furious "Get In High", Embryo recorded "For Eva...The debut of krautrock experimentations beat everything released by the almost conventional psychedelic pop of Pink Floyd (in the late 60's). Soft grass as "Scarecrow" or the "honest" and gently psychedelic "Astronomy Domine" indicate that the band's priority is to satisfy the public with easy (and rarely efficient) hippie spaced out effects. Late 60s gorgeous acid rock trips and alternatives to common psychedelic pop music are associated to these names: Xhol, Tangerine Dream at their rocking period, Zendik, Organisation, "Zodiak free arts lab" (family tree with Kluster, Eruption...).

I remember the disappointment i felt when i first heard this record,i was not expecting to hear poppy,psychedelic music with silly, story book-like lyrics.I'm sure a lot of people had the same experience, but this was recorded in 1967 and this is Syd Barrett's PINK FLOYD(not Rogers),and David Gilmour isn't even in the band yet. I feel this album has huge historical significance in the genre of psychedelic music.It's very cool to think that back in those days PINK FLOYD and SOFT MACHINE played together all the time at the "UFO Club".In fact the debut album from both bands have a similar style with those short poppy psychedelic tunes.Both bands would really be known for what they would record in the early seventies,so to go back to the debuts of both of these legendary bands can be a surprise and a disappointment for a lot of their fans.I have to thank Finnforest for his respect and knowledge of Syd Barrett and PINK FLOYD in general.It's the former that caused me to upgrade this review.And please check out his fantastic review of this album. Things get started with "Astronomy Domine" a PINK FLOYD classic that is great to hear live.Roger's bass playing is prominant,especially in the intro.Mason is all over this classic space rock track.This is the perfect song to start the album off with and it's a top three tune for me.And really this track and "Intersteller Overdrive" give us a hint at what this band would do later in their careers. "Lucifer Sam" is a very swinging, sixties sounding tune(haha),that is one of my favourites on the record.Drums and bass dominate and i like the organ 2 1/2 minutes in. "Matilda Mother" is another really good song and a top three track for me.Some good organ work from Richard. "Flaming" is a little haunting to begin with before turning lighter with vocals. "Pow R. Toc.H." is an instrumental that opens and closes with experimental sounds while in between we get a good piano,drum melody. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" is the only song not written by Syd Barrett.Roger Waters did this one.The instrumental parts are great, with organ and drums leading the way. "Intersteller Overdrive" is my favourite on this album, and is possibly the first spacerock song ever recorded.The guitar and bass are terrific as we travel through space in our minds."The Gnome" is a silly acoustic song,while "Chapter 24" is a slower paced,spacey tune."Scarecrow" is also another silly song that features farfisa organ and percussion. "Bike" is catchy, and i can't help but love it. There is something charming about this record,while the two monster songs "Astronomy Domine" and "Intersteller Overdrive" showed the music world that PINK FLOYD were a band that had to be taken seriously!

As usual for a first effort, I was quite reluctant in reviewing this first Floyd album (or is it Syd's album ?). "Piper At The Gates of Dawn" is the title of a chapter in Kenneth Grahame's book, "The Wind in the Willows", one of Syd's favorites. Like the band posted on their web-site after Syd's death :"Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire". Roger met Syd and Nick at the Cambridge Lyceum. In 1963, Roger founded his first band with Nick and Rick (The Sigma Six). Syd will join them pretty soon and this was the start of a magical band. The name « Pink Floyd » is found by Syd (it refers to two blues singers : Pink Anderson and Floyd Council). There is one interesting quote from Roger about Syd (available on www.pinkfloyd- co.com) :

"All that stuff about Syd starting the space-rock thing is just so much f.ck..g nonsense. He was completely into Hillaire Belloc, and all his stuff was kind of whimsical, all fairly heavy rooted in English literature. I think Syd had one song that had anything to do with space, 'Astronomy Domine', that's all. That's the total sum of all Syd's writing about space and yet there's this whole f.ck..g mystique about how he was the father of it all. It's just a load of old bollocks, it all happened afterwards. There's an instrumental track which we came up with together on the first album, 'Interstellar Overdrive', that's just the title, you see, it's actually an abstract piece with an interstellar attachment in terms of its name."

About the future of the band in terms of live appearances, Roger will comment in 1967 :

"We can't go on doing clubs and ballrooms. We want a brand new environment and we've hit on the idea of using a big top. We'll have a huge tent and go around like a travelling circus. We'll have a huge screen 120 feet wide and 40 feet high inside and project films and slides. We'll play the big cities or anywhere and become an occasion just like a circus. It'll be a beautiful scene. It could even be the salvation of the circus." Quite premonitory, right ?

I would certainly not recomend this album to enter the Floyd's catalogue. I consider this one more as a testimonial of an era and a tribute to Syd. The brilliant opener "Astronomy Domine" is the highlight. An incredible psychedelic trip. Completely innovative for the era. If only it could have set the pace for the rest of the album ! "Lucifer Sam" is a good pop / psyche tune. Great bass playing and drumming. "Mathilda Mother" is completely psyche and interesting. This song will be quite downsized by the producer for this studio release. During their live renditions it was easily extended to anything between ten to twenty minutes.

As far as their live sets are concerned, the band will play approximately 135 concerts from April 29 and December 22nd, 1967. One concert every other day. For six months. Some concerts in the US will be cancelled (nine in total) because the working permit was delayed by the US authorities. Amongst them, three were planned in the famous Whisky-A-Go-Go club (you know the whisky bar from The Doors...).

They were also one of the opening acts of the "Jimi Hendrix Experience" tour and performed twice a day for several days during this tour (total of over thirty shows in three weeks). On December 2, 1967 for the show at The Dome (in Brighton) it is said that David Gilmour made his first appearance with the Floyd to replace Syd. Mitch Mitchell (the drummer of The Hendrix Experience) mentioned that David joined the tour half way through with no other precision. During this period they will appear about ten times on the TV.

"Flaming" is another childish / poppy / psychedelic tune (it was composed by Syd before PF). Not bad though. "Pow R. Toc H." is a jazzy impro song. At times some fearful and strange noises appear (I guess this feeling would rise with the use of some popular products from that period). Being non addicted to those, I am not very enthusiastic about this song either.

"Take up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" is composed by Roger. It was an attempt to recreate the Floyd's sound on stage but the middle part of it was edited by Norman Smith (one of the producer). Drum part reminds me a bit the one for "Set The Control". Good psyche moment again.

"Interstellar Overdrive" is another great tune; comparable to "Astronomy". Again, it is such a pity they didn't investigate more into this direction for the other tracks. This could have led to a more solid effort. Pure craziness and "trip" oriented. This track sounds like they used to do when playing live (although it could last for about half an hour...). "The Gnome" is again a tune that could easilly be skipped. Sounds like a very poor Beatles song. Same applies to "Scarecrow", "Chapter 24" and "Bike". Still quite innocent, the melodies are more catchy. As far as "Bike" is concerned, Norman Smith one of EMI's staff producers, will say that it was one of the last tracks where Syd was truely in control (it is the last track of the album, but not the last one to be recorded).

As a commentator says in the DVD "Pink Floyd : From the Inside", it is quite an overrated album. I fully agree. Although it was quite innovative and different for that period, too few good tracks sit here to really enjoy it. For as much as I have seen of them in videos, it must have been a better experience to watch them live with their use of light shows already. I guess it must add to the atmosphere and provide a unique ambiance... The album will reach Nr. 6 in the UK charts. This album is the archetype of the psyche sound and is reminiscent of some bands from the West coast (Airplane, The Doors ...). Some great moments like "Astronomy" and "Interstellar" and several good ones for this emblematic "psychedelic prog rock" album. The producers wanted to avoid long tracks on this album. This will lead to some kind of disappoinment from their fans who were expecting those ones to remind their live sets. I guess we would all have loved that. Three stars.

Opening with Astronomy Domine, my favourite of their big psych work-outs, even here in truncated form, Pink Floyd's debut album immediately attracts attention. A mixture of outright psych indulgence like perennial concert favourite Interstellar Overdrive, and catchy pop hooks filled with warped characters like the gnome Grimble Gromble [inspired by Tolkien] though sadly the Cambridge knicker-snatcher Arnold Layne was not included. It's all sung in Barrett's characteristic English whimsy of course which both lends its charm as well as rooting the album solidly in the 60s, but when it works it is a brilliant evocation of the period that reaches out across the years. And who isn't moved by the imagery of Bike?

As close to Prog Rock as you are likely to find in 1967

The impact this album must have had on it's release must have been staggering - and it must have been easy to fall into a "love or hate" category, as the stunning production puts this album into a class of its own.

Forget Acid Rock - this is nothing like the psychedelic noodling and simple, catchy melodies of Jefferson Airplane et al, it's a collection of music that's uniquely English and that can only have been produced in the late 1960s, as it captures perfectly the essence of the London Underground circuit (and I don't mean the Circle line here...).

The side openers, "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" are legendary - and rightly so. The painstaking attention to detail in what seems like spontaneous, even random music is incredible - small wonder neither sound quite right when covered by other bands - you could play every note precisely right, but completely lose the feeling that Pink Floyd manage to muster.

Those are covered in minute detail in other reviews, so I'm going to turn my attention to the remaining songs - short shots of psychedelic sublimity that often (wrongly) get dismissed as simple pop songs.

Every song on this album feels like it was forged in a different dimension, and "Lucifer Sam" is no exception. While the riffing is superficially unremarkable, and the overall construction a standard song with additional instrumental passages, the mashing up of time caused by Barrett's guitar experimentation and Wright's keyboard during the song and particularly the instrumental bridges lend a peculiarly spontaneous feel to the whole piece.

"Matilda Mother" carries remarkable presence, thanks to the reverb-drenched vocals and heavy-handed stereo panning. Gone here is feeling of a standard song - there is a refrain as opposed to a chorus, and the instrumental bridge is a pure slice of Eastern- feeling psychedelia thanks to Wright's modal keyboard runs and Barrett's drones. The coda (the instrumental passage that closes the piece) bears a striking resemblance to "Norwegian Wood" by the Beatles - was this a co-incidence, given that the Fab Four were also in Abbey Road (working on Sgt Pepper...) at the time the Floyd were creating their debut?

"Flaming" begins with a crushing, deep dischord, which fades to a pastoral song with the most incredible production effects thus far - the cuckoo that follows the line "Lazing in the foggy dew" still makes me jump and look around to this day, and the tinkly bells that accompany the line "Watching buttercups cup the light" has the feeling of perfect timing without any real reason why - but my favourite bit is the instrumental section that follows the line "Hey-ho, here we go, ever so high...". Beautiful pastoral images are painted with a positively lysergic wash in the soundscape.

The opening vocalisations of "Pow R Toc H" are madness encapsulated, and Rick Wright shows a gentle bluesy jazz edge to his keyboard skills, roaming through modes in what would appear to be a jam, until a sudden change and darkening of mood brings more vocalisation madness and guitar experimentation from Barrett. Like decent Jazz, the instruments give each other plenty of room for expression, and Mason's sensitive percussion brings out every bit of drama and mood change, until Wright hits us with a new, mellower keyboard idea for the third and final section of this short piece. The vocalisations are brought back as a kind of leitmotif, showing again the great patience in construction that the Floyd were capable of.

"Take up Thy Stethescope and Walk" features a pulsating backdrop against which Wright and Barrett experiment to their heart's contents, with Waters providing the earth, or link to reality with his bass before Mason mashes up the drums for a blend of psychedelic swirls and colours in yet another cunningly constructed instrumental - or so it would seem! A vocal section kicks in just in time for the ending.

"The Gnome" sould be seen as just a novelty item - something to dismiss. But doing so would be to miss out on even more fantastic psychedelic imagery, with great production enhancing wonderful musical exploration. Sure, the lyrics aren't anything to go wild about - but the vocal treatment and sympathetic instrumentation combined with Barrett's amazing ear for a melody are.

"Chapter 24" has a really epic feel to it, and is too short by far. The Eastern feeling (common to much psychedelic music) returns, but, as ever, it's in the perfect instrumentation that satisfaction is to be found. Unusually, there is no "beat" to this piece, and hence it has a unique ambient quality that I cannot think of a precedent to.

"The Scarecrow" has an accompanying video, which is full of the same pastoral images that the song paints. The constant clippy cloppy hooves paint a picture of a comical horse dancing to what is essentially a very simple song - but with Syd's own brand of rythmic invention and lyrical genius. The closing instrumental section gives a taste of what you want - a little more intensity in sound - before finally moving to the most eccentric track on an already eccentric album.

"Bike" has probably been covered in enough depth elsewhere, and is just as notable as any other song on this album for its amazing instrumental arrangement, uses a refrain rather than a chorus, and each verse increases in intensity until the final couple of minutes of musical madness. The room of clockwork toys positively drips with cavernous reverberation until the maniacal laugh that closes the piece that this little section is a trip all by itself.

All in all, an astonishing and practically unprecendeted debut from a band that justifiably deserves all the credits it still gets, despite the odd turkey here and there.

It's Progressive Rock, alright - before its time, yet unmistakably a product of its time.

[Review of standard CD release and album content] Yes, it is a masterpiece. I understand why some people have such trouble accepting that and yet must respectfully correct them. You must remember this was pre-White album and you cannot judge this next to mid 70s classic mainstream Floyd. It was a different time, different band, and different universe spiritually.

This is one of the most important albums of the last century and must be experienced with an open mind and a 1967 London mindset. It did not simply try to take the period pop sound and add the group's spin, but rather created a new sound completely born of the eccentricities of their Cambridge upbringing, the natural beauty surrounding the town (Grandchester Meadows and the like), psychedelics (in Syd's case), and their artistic interests. It was a revolutionary sound and it holds up beautifully today because it is real, unlike some other 60s albums that sound very stale now.

This is an album that I hated the first many times I heard it as a teen. I had the same complaints as many here, too weird, too silly, where's that smooth Gilmour sound to party to? Wrong I was. It took years for me to understand how perfect this album is, and why the Floyd members themselves praise Syd so highly. It belongs on the shelf of any person claiming a respectable Prog (or even Rock) collection. If you're a newbie to music, just make sure you're ready for a strange trip. This ain't no "Learning to Fly," this is the real deal.

[Review of 40th anniversary special edition 3-disc release] The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is one of the most important albums in rock history and a singular work of genius by the late great Syd Barrett. It is a perfect testament to a brief moment in London history, that like the Summer of Love in the Haight, was essentially over by the time the public figured out it was happening. Only the people who were there in 66 and 67 will know what it was really like. As a big fan of Barrett and his muse I had high expectations of what a 40th anniversary edition might be like. For the most part it is one huge bummer. Let's get the biggest atrocity out of the way first before reviewing the package content.

As a Floyd fan, I am really disgusted with the surviving band members for the lack of their personal contributions and recollections, their memories of this most special album. Come on!! This is the big 40th special edition, it's a groundbreaking album, and Syd just passed away. Could there have been a bigger MISSED OPPORTUNITY GUYS for the inclusion of a page or two from Roger, Rick, Nick, even Dave and Norman Smith? For such a big moment, I would think each could have taken a moment to contribute their personal memories of the sessions, their views on Piper's place in history, and most importantly a bit of gratitude to their recently fallen band leader. But of course there must be some liner notes by a journalist, or some studio notes from Abbey Road, right? No. Nada. They may have some lame reason why this wasn't feasible, frankly I don't care. Guys with their power could have made something very special happen here if they had the will, sadly, they did not. But think for a moment how cool those pages of personal notes would have been in this little book format they released. Rant over.

Let's take a look at what you get for your money, considering that many of you have already purchased Piper several times in various forms. You get two versions of the actual remastered album, the stereo version and the mono version. This is nice for mono fans and audiophiles with trained ears who can appreciate the differences. Then there is the all important bonus third disc of extras. This is where many Floyd fans are frustrated, wishing they had released all of the missing lost recordings like Vegetable Man, Scream Thy Last Scream, etc.My understanding is that they chose to stick with only the songs that were a product of the actual Piper sessions and not get into the slightly later stuff. Whether this is the real reason or whether they just saw more opportunity in releasing those in yet another package is for Floyd fans to debate. On this bonus disc you will get Arnold Layne, See Emily Play, and Paintbox which were already out there on Relics and Saucerful. The more interesting items are Candy And A Current Bun and Apples And Oranges (two versions), two singles. These are really nice psychedelic pop songs though probably not as strong as Piper tracks. Then there is an alternate version of Matilda Mother and two different versions of Interstellar Overdrive. These are very cool because Syd never really did anything the same way twice. As with Syd's solo work, "alternate versions" are gold because they are often like another new song, a completely different take or feel. That is not so much the case here because Syd had more constraints than he would have later, but they're different enough to get excited about for Barrett fans. So if you don't care about a mono mix, and you don't care about these different versions, there is really no reason to spend the extra money if you own the standard Piper.

Let's move on to the packaging. Looks impressive on the web scans, doesn't it? It's nothing to get too excited about. For all that packaging, you get a few pages with lyrics and photos. The reproduction of Syd's collage notebook is of interest to very hard core Syd devotees and those folks will already have this in their possession. For the regular Floyd fan this little 12 page booklet will mean nothing more than what their 2nd grader brought home from art class. Syd's artistic jottings and musings are nice but they are not exactly as essential as his music. That's all there is. The package itself is of fair quality, I have a hunch that the glued portion of the construction may not hold up that well if one opens it often to remove CDs, but we'll see. The CDs are held in digipak holders glued to the inside and back covers. The back one that holds discs 2 and 3 is really cheesy, they place one disc partially over the other so that they can touch, and so you must remove the top disc if you want to get the one on the bottom. Sure it's not the end of the world, but again, this is Pink Floyd. You would think they could afford to do this thing up really nice. Maybe they decided they'd try harder for the 50th anniversary.

Piper (and Pink Floyd, and Syd) are favorites of mine. You'll note I gave Piper 5 stars in my album review. I don't mean to be overly negative here but I wanted to make damn sure people realize this "Special Edition" is mostly hype.ZERO LINER NOTES for Chrissakes.so they don't spend extra money if these little tidbits are not important to them personally. I am really amazed this is the best they could do, given their budget freedoms and the importance of this material. This is 5-star music but this release is 2 stars, for hard core fans and collectors only. Everyone else should stick with their regular Piper remaster until the 50th anniversary edition is released. Hopefully Roger will grace us with a few of his wise musing at that time. [In the meantime, Syd fanatics will get far more bang for their buck with the new Mick Rock book, featuring tons of stunning rare Syd photos and sincere interesting recollections of their personal friendship-see my review in the book forum.]

Progarchives is a peculiar site. Quite a few reviewers seem so enamoured of Pink Floyd's classic 1970s albums (particularly MOON and WISH) that they don't know how to deal with THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN, which is a totally different kettle of fish. Still, when people rate ANIMALS, or the dreadful THE WALL, higher than this astonishing debut, something must be dreadfully wrong.

THE PIPER doesn't offer you sedate, organ-led symphonic suites, or misanthropic rock songs with fabulously bombastic guitar solos. It's an all-out attack on the senses. It's supposed to make you see VISIONS, for goodness' sake! Simply put, it's one of the most original British albums of the 1960s. Naive, childlike pop songs are combined with wonderfully unsettling sonic experiments.

Between the two World Wars, Dadaists and Futurists (operating mainly in Paris, Berlin, Moscow and New York) shocked the world with chaotic, overwhelmingly unmelodious musical experiments. They reached hardly more than a handful of listeners. In the 1960s, Pink Floyd gave the world "Pow R Toc H", "Interstellar Overdrive" and other outrageous compositions, which they would eventually sell to millions. The importance of this revolution is hard to overstate. The Floyd put their stamp on many of the Space Rock and Krautrock bands you find on this site; they also had considerable influence on avant-garde jazz. Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal's brilliant early albums for ECM are full of Floydean echoes.

At the time of writing, a new 2-disc edition of THE PIPER has been announced, which will include, among other things, two of Syd Barrett's best early songs, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play". Since the original album version of THE PIPER is slightly less than 42 minutes, this kind of treatment was long, long overdue. You can always count on EMI for overcharging the listener for relatively small amounts of music - witness the way they're still trying to sell us the Beatles.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was quite a remarkable debut at the time. Pink Floyd had a unique and unusual sound compared to other groups from the period and they had the oddball Syd Barrett at the helm, with his strange, psychedelic lyrics. At that time and many years later, this work was considered groundbreaking. To this day quite a lot of people and historians still think so.

I can respect the historical importance of this work, but I find I listen to this less and less as I grow older. To me, it hasn't aged well like Pink Floyd's 1970s albums. Maybe most people overlook the sloppy musicianship or the sloppy production and see through to Barrett's genius, whatever that may be. The band was quite young and not quite so skilled on their instruments. Barrett certainly had some interesting ideas, but his lyrics leave much to be desired as well as his vocal delivery. The band seems to play its best on Interstellar Overdrive, a psychedelic jam instrumental. That's obvious because this is what they excelled in during live concerts. Here the band plays tightly and explores some really interesting sounds. Other songs of note are Lucifer Sam and the very strange Bike (which is worth hearing if you've never heard it before). The rest of the material doesn't seem very inspiring to me. It has more of the feel of a couple of teenagers goofing off in the garage. They have their moments, but the overall impression approaches mediocrity.

By all means get this if you're interested in the beginnings of progressive rock and psychedelic rock. It does lay a foundation for the future of both genres. However, if you're just looking for something like a masterpiece, you may be wondering what the big deal is. Essential for historical significance and Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett fans. For the rest, it's good enough for three stars.

This review is of the new 2007 40th Anniversary edition.

Firstly the packaging - this is a 3-CD set (I believe there is also a 2 CD edition) which comes in a DVD size book with cloth cover. It's very nicely produced with all the lyrics and a special booklet of Syd Barrett collages. Two complaints though - CD's 2 and 3 are placed on top of each other at the back of the book and are hard to extract and I was expected an essay or something detailing the history of the album, but there's nothing!

What of the music? Well, I must admit that this is the first time I've heard the complete album (gasp). I can't help being reminded of Andy Partridge and the Dukes of Stratosphear, as this is surely the psychedelic album that they had in mind when recording tracks like "Bike Ride to the Moon". It has a lot more in common with Sgt.Pepper than just the fact that it was recorded at Abbey Road at around the same time with the Beatles' engineer Norman Smith, but it's certainly a bit too weird for the average Beatles fan who was listening to "When I'm 64" at the time. Strange noises and lyrics about gnomes and bicycle baskets abound and it's all the work of Barrett (apart from one Waters song). I'm not a huge Floyd fan - whilst I do like them I find a lot of their work one-paced and soporific - but this is a very interesting listen (but then again, I like "Ummagumma"!). I'm not familiar enough with it to detect differences between the mono and stereo versions, but most of the Beatles albums were originally mixed in mono so it wouldn't surprise me if, like Sgt Pepper, the mono mix was different.

CD 3 contains the singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play" along with some other new tracks and alternate versions of some of the original album tracks, unfortunately there is no information about the origin of the new tracks.

In summary, this is a seminal album of any genre and this is a nice package but I have to deduct a star for the lack of information.

By the time this debut album emerged to shake the UK psychedelic scene in 1967, that scene was already at least two years old, as were the aspirations of the founding PINK FLOYD members. They had paid their dues gigging all around the country and, while they were by no means gifted musicians, they had that most essential commodity to 'make it': a superb songwriter.

SYD BARRETT is such a bittersweet figure. This album is his crowning achievement, capturing the free spirit of the age in a series of pop vignettes interspersed with courageous experimental psychedelic freakouts. His influence can be heard in every subsequent PINK FLOYD album, a ghost on WATERS' shoulder. Here he combines crafted ingenue - an artless childishness augmented by his unaffected vocals - with genuine compositional ability and pop hooks. The resultant music is always fun even when it asks serious questions, is always strange even at its most straightforward. As with so many musicians of this period, he burned bright for such a brief time, then flamed out.

'Astronomy Domine' starts the album strongly, with RICK WRIGHT handling the vocals. The opening notes of 'Lucifer Sam' send me straight to my DVD copy of the Gerry Anderson TV series 'UFO'. The low-slung guitar sounds featuring here and in 'Matilda Mother' are so evocative of the six years from 1967 to 1973. Fairy stories, memories of childhood, a witch's black cat, all fodder for BARRETT's mysticism. 'Flaming' brings in overt drug references and the first of many psychedelic freakouts. BARRETT here is a child, describing his trip with simplicity and beauty ('Watching buttercups cup the light') and behaving with playful ambiguity ('I won't touch you/But then I might').

The heart of the album is a series of pyschedelic experiments. 'Pow R Toc H' is WATERS' heavy-handed attempt to fit in with BARRETT's delicate vision, and it strikes the only sour note on the album, sounding more ominous than playful. 'Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk' begins as a pop song, but within thirty seconds has become another psych/blues jam. Fun but not essential. 'Interstellar Overdrive' is absolutely essential, however, even though the live version on 'Ummagumma' is superior. The legendary opening guitar riff is followed all too quickly by nearly eight minutes of improv insanity. The single plucked guitar note is particularly strange - yes, we've heard weirder since, but this was 1967. Any self-respecting psychedelic group has tried their hand at this track (including THE MARS VOLTA with JOHN FRUSCIANTE at the helm one night when CEDRIC was unwell). The studio version here finishes with a stereo-effect reprise of the opening riff, adding to the general weirdness and air of experimentation.

The album's third part returns to the beautiful BARRETT palette of psych pop. 'Gnome' is a playful return to the fairy tale, as is 'Scarecrow', reminding listeners in a very late 60's DONOVAN-like fashion to pursue their inner child. 'Chapter 24' is a strange song among strange songs, a tarot-like reading of the seasons, or perhaps a compendium of fortune cookie advice. I can't work out whether BARRETT wants to be taken seriously here, though I tend to think this is a piss-take. 'Scarecrow' might as well be BARRETT's unconscious autobiography. Read the lyrics closely...

'He's resigned to his fate 'cause life's not unkind. He doesn't mind. He stood in a field where barley grows.'

'Bike' deserves a mention on its own. Because of its appearance on PINK FLOYD compilations it is well known, and is many fans' first encounter with BARRETT's whimsy. But in treating 'Bike' as a novelty song, people miss the point. 'Look,' he is saying to his girl - and to us. 'This is my life - a collection of small and insignificant things. Once you see them the way I do, you can come into this other room, this central room of my life, in which music occupies the central place, and understand what I'm about.' That's the meaning of the powerful last verse, and explains why the music slows down for it. I find this song compelling and extremely poignant, the crowning moment of SYD BARRETT's genius.

There's barely a wasted moment here. ROGER WATERS' latter-day self indulgence is nowhere to be found: the band here have exercised admirable restraint. Other bands would have filled a side with 'Interstellar Overdrive' (a la 'In-a-Gadda-da-Vida') but here they present a stripped-down version. Others also would have found a place for the various singles they'd released, but not PINK FLOYD.

This is a blueprint for the psychedelic era, a proto-prog album, and essential listening for anyone trying to understand the evolution of popular music, let alone PINK FLOYD.

An Escher Designed Room Of Musical Tunes

Genre debates have no place here. File under ORIGINAL and ignore the idiot who walks into the Colosseum in Rome circa 80AD and twitters:

- Oh I see you've gone for that Greco/Roman style thing here...it's really coming back in vogue now you know ? -

This is a recording that CREATED the stylistic cliches we now detect in all those bands who subsequently came in it's wake.

It may be considered a rather redundant exercise to imagine the music presented here stripped of its psychedelic coating but I think it may serve to illustrate a point:

Without the framework of Syd's songs (or basic harmonic progressions and melodies) the Floyd would have amounted to no more than another fashionable 60's freakout combo that collapsed under the weight of its own creative inertia. A fantastic lightshow that serves to conceal much more than it illuminates.

Pink Floyd minus Talent = a very bad Hawkwind multiplied by 100

To wit, most of the successful material on Piper consists of short pop songs around which the band weave their spacey 60's backdrops. It is testimony to the resilience of Syd's original constructions that they hold up so well in spite of the deranged chaos that threatens to engulf them completely. Therein lies the tension that all satisfying structures need to posses as a sure sign of strength.

Or at least it was until Mr Barrett's musical and chemical substance ratio went seriously awry. Thereafter, the strengthening tension disappears, and that sublime and inspired derangement of the senses, which is so perfectly captured here, withers into a sad and bloated corporate version of the counter culture.

'Astronomy Domine' - forget the notion that Syd Barrett created space rock - it proved to be the ultimate cul de sac of genres that no-one has ever escaped from with a shred of integrity intact. This is just a GREAT POP SONG with 1967 Zeitgeist lyrics.

'Lucifer Sam' - best song title EVER but rather disappointingly, appears to be just another GREAT POP SONG about a black cat

'Matilda Mother' - fantastic jangly guitar riff throughout this one and the vocal harmonies are achingly gorgeous. Some Oedipal references in the lyrics perhaps ? GREAT POP SONG

'Flaming' - beautiful tune with completely drippy lyrics (unicorns, buttercups and eiderdowns anyone ?) Like all of Syd's best work, the chord progression is extremely unconventional and in less talented hands would sound just plain odd or wrong Somehow he made these angular sequences work.

'PowR TocH' - worst song title EVER and the album's first 'baby clanger' with cod jazz piano from Wright over some cod jazz drums from Mason. The opening section is clearly composed and what follows sounds like an unconvincing jam.

'Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk' - perhaps a variant on 'Physician Heal Thyself ?' Anyway, I thought it sounded like the Seeds when I heard this the first time (Which is certainly not a bad thing)

'Interstellar Overdrive' - Great opening riff a surefire 24 carat classic and then.....the remainder is probably culpable for 'space rock', yes folks, that heinous genre which, like it's half sister sibling 'ambient' shares a passion for putting any old [&*!#] through a big reverb. If you just want to listen to stimulating timbres for their own sake - buy a sample CD.

'The Gnome' - charming, funny and whimsical with a sublime tune. Much imitated style of songwriting but the imitators like Bowie, Bolan and the rest just weren't up to penning this type of GREAT POP SONG.

'Chapter 24' - I think this is the verbatim text of some eastern mystical tome ? Rather silly but redeemed yet again by the intoxicating other worldliness of Barret's voice. Exquisite.

'The Scarecrow' - Odd little waltz tune graced by some clever phrasing by Syd to get all the words into the meter. Haunting organ sound used to great effect throughout the album

'Bike' - A love song that possibly reveals more about the author that he would have cared to. Within it's modest 3min 26 sec span, Syd manages to sound cheerful, sad, lonely, bored, poignant, irreverent and all points in between. The object of his affections would also probably reciprocate these feelings, and when the mood turns darker at the end,

- I know a room of musical tunes -

you suspect that Barrett foresaw his own descent into oblivion/derangement. It was perhaps sadly, inevitable.

The 'squeaky toy' loop section at the end which fades out has haunted me for years. Like so much of the record it is both thrilling AND unsettling.

This is the only Pink Floyd album I ever still listen to.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is the classic debut album from legendary prog rockers Pink Floyd. It sticks out from the rest of Pink Floyd´s discography as it has Syd Barret on vocals and guitar. Syd had a very fragile mind and had to leave Pink Floyd after this album. He was replaced by David Gilmour who has been with Pink Floyd ever since. Syd Barret had a major role on The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, as his voice is very distinct and his lyrics are very strange. His guitar style is very much rooted in sixties rock, but there are also some pretty inventive things going on here and there like on the spacy opener Astronomy Domine.

The music is very psychadelic with weird lyrics and spaced out sounds on top of more conventional sixties rock. The vocal based tracks like Lucifer Sam, Matilda Mother, Flaming, The Gnome and Bike are all great examples of how Pink Floyd sounded at the time. Astronomy Domine stands out from the rest of the songs at it is a timeless classic. Pink Floyd never made a song like this again and no other band has ever been close. This song is a true progressive classic.

There are some psychadelic jam session tracks here too in Pow R. Toc H. and Interstellar Overdrive where I find the first the most rewarding. Interstellar Overdrive isn´t very exciting to me. It´s way too long and noisy to fit my taste.

The musicianship is good and you can hear that this band has great chemistry ( no pun intended).

The production is actually a very good sixties production. One of the best psychadelic productions from that time.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is a classic psychadelic rock album and it´s essential to that style. I have always enjoyed this album tremendously, but the instrumental noisy tracks never excited me much so I´ll rate the album 4 stars. This is a must hear of course.

Pink Floyd begins!

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is where it all began for Floyd. While in 1967 this was top notch stuff from any band - wild and experimental - these days it stands as a monumental insight for one of progressive rock's greatest acts. This is nothing like anything you'll hear from Floyd afterwards, since at this point they were led by genius songwriter Syd Barrett who took the band down much more psychedelic roads, but who was also trying to make the band more of a commercially viable band with their shorter and poppier songs, a few of which were released as singles before the album (never to make it onto the actual debut, but would resurface later on compilations like Relics) such as the very Beatles-esque See Emily Play and the always fun cross-dressing romp Arnold Layne. But enough about that, let's get to the album, shall we?

This album is great, but it is wildly different in style, even within itself. This makes for a very interesting mix, and a very good one at that. On the one hand we have the shorter and less complex songs that still make for an earful like the bass dominant Lucifer Sam and the highly relaxing Flaming, these ones will likely never be remembered as ''epic prog masterpieces'', but their melodies and amusing lyrics really do make for a good listen. Other songs on the album become completely bizarre. Lyrically, songs like The Gnome and Scarecrow will have the audience thinking ''whaaa...?'' and then laughing at their own need to try and understand the lyrics. Bike has to be Pink Floyd's most fun song to play to anyone who thinks they know the band inside and out after they've heard Dark Side Of The Moon ten times since it is an absolutely mad piece with quirky lyrics and some of the most fun an jumpy instruments to ever make their way onto a psychedelic album.

But we're missing the best part yet. The Truly psychedelic pieces on the album are what the band would soon evolve off of to form what would later be known as progressive rock. Astronomy Domine would still be played by the band in concert to their last days together, never sounding dated (which really shows how far ahead of their time the band was). It's also a surprisingly heavy piece with Barrett's guitar piercing the foreground. The biggest standout on the album, by far, has to be the longest track on the album, Interstellar Overdrive. This psychedelic instrumental was apparently written by Barrett after he had gotten his hands on some drugs and imagined himself flying between Mercury and Jupiter, which in reality were really a plum and a peach sitting on the table in front of him (if I recall my trivia correctly, that is...). Once again guitar driven and wonderfully spaced out with some great hard panning (which is rarely used well, but is here) near the climax of the song.

There's been many versions of this album released over the years as well, and I suppose it's time to give a nod to the 40th anniversary edition of the album released in 2007. This one came in two forms - one as a double album, and one as a three disc box set. Honestly, unless you don't have the album already or just must have the album in all it's forms, the two disc edition of the album is useless. It simply contains the album in mono and in stereo on two different discs with an expanded booklet. The 3 disc edition on the other hand is something else. Still more for fans thanks to its price, this one really is a good package. The first two discs are the same as the double album (mono and stereo), but the third disc is a collection of rarities and alternate takes. Some of the songs also appear on Relics, but many of the alternate songs, such as the two different versions of Interstellar Overdrive (which actually do sound different from the original, noticeably) are not available elsewhere to my knowledge. It also comes with a wonderful booklet with some great pictures and a booklet of work reprinted from a collage done by Syd, which is a nice addition. However, if you don't know what you're going to think about the album when you're buying it, you're better off with a one disc edition that includes just the album.

But let's get around to a rating, shall we? This one certainly is not for everyone, but everyone should hear it at least once. This is not Pink Floyd's masterpiece, and it isn't going to get five stars based sheerly on its importance to music (which it could in most cases), but 4 is a very appropriate rating. Recommended to all, if you haven't already heard it, just sit back and enjoy.

The best debut, I've ever listened to!!! Unique pure psychedelic album. I'm not agree that Pink Floyd are in the section for psychedelic/space rock. I think only the four albums from the 60s are psychedelic, with only the first one pure psychedelic. This first one - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - I'm trying to review now, but this is not easy aim. It is really innovative and creative album for its time and because of that the album is acknowledged fully much later than its release. The ideas implemented and implicated in the release are still explored by many artists and bands. This album is one of the most influential of all times and a inexhaustible source of energy and creativity of the modern top musicians. For example, I listened the newest album of Oasis with strongly psychedelic influence and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn's influence in particular. If I look at the year - 1967 - I would say that this perfect musicianship on the album is achieved only for two/three years of practicing in playing. Just genius attainment for the band called Pink Floyd. Furthermore, the album has deep and qualitative sound. Everything I said makes the album 5 stars!!!

Interesting? I guess so. Innovative? Most likely. Is it art? Yes,is art. Do I like it, do I think it's a masterpiece? Definitely not.

My first problem with PINK FLOYD's debut album is generated in my mind, I have to confess. I just can't get over the fact that this is the same band that would give me "Animals" or "Dark Side of the Moon" or "Meddle". In a way, then, me not liking "The Piper at the Gates at Dawn" is then purely my fault.

But if that was the case, I would definitely enjoy this music if I imagined it to have been written by somebody else. There's countless examples of cases where ignoring the band playing the music made me like it even more. After all, I'm first and foremost reviewing music. And there's where I find the biggest flaw in this record: it is just not good music.

Sorry Barrett adorers all around the globe. I can't see the magic. I hear, I admit, original ideas; I detect, I confess, a talented person behind the compositions; I see potential. And that's all I see: potential. I can't be happy with poppy/psychedelic songs like "Matilda Mother" or pseudo-unique experiments like "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" (this one crafted by future-real-masterpiece-craftsman Roger Waters.) Yes, I hear some details here and there, some original ideas that sadly don't help make the listening experience any more bearable. Sorry, I'm not happy just when I'm supposedly being exposed to originality; it first hast to be good, then original. It could be debated that something original by default is always something good. With that position, I have to say, I most fervently disagree. The world of music is full of experimental waste.

So then we reach the two songs that should, according to many, make me realize how extraordinaire this album is: "Astronomy Domine" and "interstellar Overdrive". Again, I don't fail to listen music that must've been incredibly new for the time, and yes, very progressive. They still leave me cold. The second one, in particular, appears to me as the ultimate example of why drugs and music are a perfect match, and at the same time the worst match possible. Many people see magic, "avant-garde", pure genius; I just hear a musician making noise with his guitar with certain coherence, I must say, but in the end that's it. I'll agree it can be the more interesting track in this album, but, again, that still doesn't make it good.

In the end, you should ignore me and go buy this album because it definitely is important from a historical-musical perspective, and maybe even from a purely musical one. But you'll also have to forgive me for ignoring all the people who adore and revere this record, as I certainly don't, and I'll give it the rating that it deserves for me: 2 stars for the music, 3 stars for originality. I can't round up as that would make this album as good as "Atom Heart Mother" and that's totally preposterous for me. Therefore, 2 stars sounds just fine.

My friends and I, once upon a time, used to listen to music and play board games (mostly Risk), and we listened to quite a bit of old Pink Floyd. For those who are mostly familiar with the band's more familiar works, this earliest album can prove quite shocking.

"Astronomy Domine" When I think of psychedelic 1960s rock, I think of a certain Jefferson Airplane album and "Astronomy Domine." The vintage guitar sounds, coupled with soft, moseying vocals, and an unconventional chord progression make for some far out business. Syd Barrett-penned music involves a lot of semitones, even with chords bopping back and forth around half-steps. It even has a spacey introduction, setting the overall mood for the album.

"Lucifer Sam" What essentially could pass for James Bond music is ultimately a song about Barrett's cat. Electric guitar pounds out a descending riff, which falls out of an echo machine.

"Matilda Mother" For the first time, listeners of Pink Floyd hear the enchanting voice of keyboardist Richard Wright. The dark Phrygian mode the organ solo is in during its solo adds a sinister layer.

"Flaming" This fanciful song has a childlike quality, and as usual, a seemingly darker nature underneath. There's a powerful acoustic guitar chugging out the rhythm during parts, but mostly the music is vocal, with some steady drums, bass, and organ. The instrumental section in the middle is a bit haunting.

"Pow R. Toc H." Percussive and high-pitched vocals begin this highly experimental track, before Wright has a piano solo over simple bass and drums, all heavily panned to one side. After a second wild section, there's some light organ and soft electric guitar. The piece ends with the album's most bizarre moment, cementing it as my least favorite on the album.

"Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" Repetitive rhyming lines punctuated by vocal sputtering, and crispy electric guitar are what this Roger Waters-penned song is all about. Given the writer, the bass stands out much further in the mix.

"Interstellar Overdrive" Essentially an instrumental improvisational jam, this is downright bizarre! The bass is steady, the drums of Nick Mason simple and panned all the way to one side of the mix, with some gritty and "out-there" electric guitar playing from Barrett. This piece soon becomes freeform, punctuated by peculiar guitar noises and other weird sounds. The ending pans from side to side rapidly, and can almost make one listening through headphones dizzy! This can definitely weird out those who call themselves Pink Floyd fans but only know the 1970s output!

"The Gnome" This is a fun little romp with some silly lyrics.

"Chapter 24" Loosely based on the Chinese tome I Ching, this song has a prominent melody and some interesting keyboard work and bass.

"Scarecrow" A clicking and clocking begin this song, which is another lighthearted song featuring a lead keyboard. The lyrics seem to describe the existential problems of being the titular being.

"Bike" A jaunty song, this has some strange lyrics, which may prove much simpler than they seem, but given the cacophonic, and almost horrifying final moment of the album, it seems that isn't the case.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is a huge fan favourite but I have never been very fond of it. There are standout tracks Astronomy Domine, Lucifer Sam and Instellar Overdrive but most of the album is fairly typical psychedelic stuff that everybody was doing around 66-67.

On subsequent solo albums Barrett has continued to prove that he was a songwriter that never got much further then basic chord strumming with only rare hints of his frail genius (yes Barrett fans, you may shoot me now). He might have been a very inspiring and enigmatic figure but musically he's more cult then true talent. Except for Obscured By Clouds, I prefer every other Floyd album to this one.