POINT ME AT THE SKY

Now with Syd Barrett gone, enter David Gilmour, who would lead the band to far greater commercial and critical success. However, while Gilmour's entry into the band opened plenty of new doors for Pink Floyd, it certainly does not show in this single. 'Point Me At The Sky' is a fairly obscure Floyd track, appearing only here on any non-compilation release. Although the spacey ambiance of the band is still here, the songwriting has taken a dive from the early Barrett-led singles. But without divulging into favouritism towards Barrett or Gilmour, 'Point Me At The Sky' is a fairly underwhelming track. Although there is some nice futuristic potential here, the track does not feel as if it goes anywhere, save for a rather lame chorus that feels wholly out of place in the scheme of the track. However, the lyrics are somewhat interesting, offering an apparently bleak vision of the near future (read: our present day). But especially in the context of being a single, 'Point Me At The Sky' is fairly lackluster.

The highlight of this single is the psychedelic b-side 'Careful With That Axe, Eugene', which is a classic track of the band's early career. It doesn't seem to fit well on a singles release, but even only being five minutes in length, it really works well as a jam, building up gradually before letting all hell loose. Listening to this track, one can really see where more modern bands like The Mars Volta got their sound from. However, while 'Careful With That Axe, Eugene' is very good, it doesn't change the fact that the main point of this single (being the title track) is quite weak and not worthy of being a single.