THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

My first thoughts on hearing this in 1968 were "what the """"? It's bizarre, often atonal style and very basic musicianship is not attractive and I confess I almost gave up on Floyd altogether, especially after the next album turned out to just as bad. The one long track, Interstellar Overdrive, is passable, as are Astronomy Domine and Lucifer Sam. However, the rest is pretty awful, especially the bizarre Pow R Toc H, Take up thy Stethoscope and Walk and Bike. I guess I never took LSD or magic mushrooms so psychadelic doesn't do it for me at all. But Sid Barrett's drug problem got worse and he went, Dave Gilmour came in to sort things out and they gradually developed into one of the greatest bands in any genre. But this is not the place to start listening to them! For hardcore fans only.