The Piper at the Gates Of Dawn
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=116334
Printed Date: July 26 2025 at 22:14
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Topic: The Piper at the Gates Of Dawn
Posted By: Mortte
Subject: The Piper at the Gates Of Dawn
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 02:31
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There has been thread of Yes & ELP albums, so I decided to start threads about Floyd albums (we will see am I going to start a thread of every album). I think Piper is their third greatest album at the moment. When I heard it first time (my brother bought me a cheap version of it in time when I was quite recently started to listen prog) I react almost like UFO has landed in our yard. I had heard before it only Relics from their psychedelic period. But in some years I started to love their Piper-Atom Heart period more than their after that period. What all the others think about this Floyd-debut?
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Replies:
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 03:50
| Yeah 1967-1971 is my Pink Floyd (doesn't mean I dislike 73-79 though)... And third fave/greatest sounds about right. My parents owned The Wall, so it was one of my "random" favorite albums as a child (from what I could discover in their half-decent record collection). Piper... however was the first Pink Floyd album I bought. As often in my late teens I was flicking through some 1 or 2 box of LP's in a record shop - often trying out stuff based on (to me) appealing cover art alone. I was both drawn to that kaleidoscope photo and also reminded having seen what must have been a short clip from an early live performance of Astronomy Domine in some rock documentary. It was just Syd wearing a cape chanting the ooo-ooo-oo-part of the mentioned song - I think. At least I felt that I recognised it as the album opener. It was just the perfect discovery for me back then. Every song is a whole universe-or a trip in itself. Transcendental music (mostly) within the three minute pop song format. An ear opener for sure. Its still perfect but I guess i listen to Meddle and Saucerful a little more often these days. As with a lot of my "old music" discoveries back then (and still really) it felt way more cutting edge and interesting than 90% the "new" music I listened to - which was mostly boring alternative rock I guess. |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 03:58
| One can't underestimate Piper's important to the genre of Psychedelic Space Rock with Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Over Drive being the catalysts, imo. I could listen to those two songs forever. The Barrett penned acid-folky numbers never really moved me but really rung a bell with British and European audiences and still do, I'm sure. And of course there's Bike which I want played constantly at my funeral. There's no other way to cast off the gloominess of such a gathering than that incredibly quirky song! ;) |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 04:09
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Saperlipopette! wrote:Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 06:54
| ^When I listened Relics first time, I couldnīt listen Interstellar Overdrive whole through. I skip it in the middle into See Emily Play, where also that first chaotic part was too much for me and I ended the whole album listening. I think I listened the whole album later, but I just wasnīt then ready to psychedelia...if I remember right, I was then eleven years old. Nowdays I of course love Interstellar as also the whole first album! |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 07:47
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Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 09:04
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"I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like It's got a basket, a bell that rings and Things to make it look good I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it" Quite possibly the best lyric ever written. |
Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 09:05
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There are many krautrock bands that are entirly greatfull to the contributions and gatways that album opened, together with Saucerful of Secrets -------------  
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Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 09:07
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My thoughts about it today? Couldn't care less. ------------- |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 10:41
My 2nd favorite PF album after The Final Cut. I listen to my own version which includes "Candy and a Currant Bun" & "Apples and Oranges." Syd was brilliant until he 'tattooed his mind all the way"  ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 10:48
 ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 12:41
Yes...the best written while on 'Acid'....probably. ;) ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 13:02
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Decent debut....but imho an overrated album (though it only gets 3.88 here at PA) The two long tracks being the 'most interesting' to me and perhaps a harbinger of where Floyd would eventually travel after Barrett burned out. BTW...not picking on Barrett here..but I have always thought his input, while creative and unique, wasn't what made Floyd eventually become such a great band. I think Sean's review is spot on...for the most part. "Totally unrepresentative of the real Floyd..."....."Hard to say this album is not essential (historically, anyway), but at least I can say that it's only moderately good." http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=8097 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 13:42
| ^well if all your measurements are based on how prog it is I guess Piper must feel overrated but apart from the two longish tunes there's nine timeless psych-gems that sound way fresher today that anything ELP ever recorded. |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 15:54
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^Uh...I never said anything about how proggy it is...perhaps you are getting that from his review...but nevertheless there's nothing 'fresh' about Barrett's acid tinged silly pop songs imho that others weren't doing then and better...try the Beatles for one. :) ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 16:47
Lucifer Sam, Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Over Drive are great. And it seems I come back to the same concept each time I listen to any album from that time period: that if the band relies too heavily on psychedelia, the result is invariably uneven, with a few really splendid songs I still listen to. Piper at the Gates of Dawn is one such album. Which is why I prefer The Doors, Hendrix, The Beatles, and even the Moody Blues and Procol Harum from the same time period. Less reliance on psychedelia, more rounded albums of songs that stretch boundaries and touch on many genres. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: philipemery
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 18:14
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I enjoy Piper At the Gates. In no way do I think it is their third greatest (in my book that goes to The Wall, behind Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon). But it is not something I would vehemently argue against. I find it to be a very significant album, and would listen to it day and night if given the option (especially over Saucerfull of Secrets, More or the godawful Ummagumma, or what I consider the worst output by Floyd... Obscured By Clouds). Piper is an album though I feel is criminally underrated in their discography, and I think gets far too overlooked. Honestly, it pains me that I see Saucerfull get far more attention nowadays. My favorite songs on it are Astronomy Domine, Interstellar Overdrive, Bike, Matilda Mother, and Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk. All great work. Barrett's work would become far to ignored by the world in later years, I feel. His solo work is well worth a listen btw. ------------- But the sun is eclipsed by the moon. -- Pink Floyd |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 18:51
Until the next listen. ------------- |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 18:55
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67-71 Floyd saved me this summer. such a treasure. |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 22:02
| Oh God I canīt understand peopleīs will to use "overrated"-word these days. But I can understand Piper is not for everybodyīs tastes. It was also really hard to digest at first after been so much excited about Dark Side of the Moon. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: September 20 2018 at 22:06
| It's not really among my favourite Floyd albums... though of course that still makes it at least a good album. Astronomy Domine is indeed among my favourite songs from them, though, and I do like some other songs on it. Interstellar Overdrive has been a rather frustrating one, because I do love that opening riff, but most of the song is just psychedelic jamming that I can't fully get into... however, one of the live versions on the new early years box-sets really fix it for me... slightly changed, but just enough to make me enjoy that middle passage very well indeed (and just about the same applies to Por R Toc H, which I hadn't been able to get into until I found one of the live versions on those albums). |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: September 21 2018 at 14:42
| About Interstellar Overdrive I was really surprised it was actually a mix of two different takes. Before I read about that I had always thought they had played it whole through and just overdubbed some parts into it. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: September 21 2018 at 21:24
| ^ I didn't know that. But I guess that's not so surprising given the oportunities that studio tech give the bands. Actually, I have read about this sort of things being done with live recordings too. |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: September 21 2018 at 22:05
for the longest time my least favorite classic Floyd album.. the MTV Nostaligia driven sh*t they did post Roger doesn't count. I simply never got the 'englishness' of it. The whimsy and silliness of it. Where they let the instruments do the talking.. and just played hell yeah man.. I could dig it. Still really don't today.. but listenable.. and Lucifer Sam really is a killer little song...and did finally get bumped by The Final Cut for least favorite Floyd album. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: September 22 2018 at 04:14
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I love this album. For a long time Animals was my favourite Pink Floyd album but in recent times I've developed a new appreciation for Piper at the Gates of Dawn to the extent that it challenges Animals as my favourite Pink Floyd album. ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: September 22 2018 at 05:33
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It has a very good title aslo, very mystical and fairytale like. Is the piper, the pied piper of Hamelin -------------
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: September 22 2018 at 21:17
| ^ Indeed. Too bad they play no pipes in the album. |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: September 22 2018 at 21:23
Actually, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is a chapter title of Kenneth Grahame's children's book The Wind in the Willows. Unfortunately, Mr. Toad does not make an appearance on the album either. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: September 22 2018 at 22:31
| But anyway itīs great title, really now think itīs kind of childrenīs music as most of the psychedelic music is although children canīt understand it (at least I didnīt when I was a child). |
Posted By: AZF
Date Posted: September 23 2018 at 04:22
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I always had More down as Pink Floyd's weakest album. Syd's songwriting improved on his solo albums but they were hamstrung by woeful production. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn listened to out of context is ok. I can leave a lot of stuff off the second side. But the first side is an accomplishment. Further than The Beatles did. If it had actually been released when it was recorded (and produced by a more attentive producer) Soft Machine would have been regarded as having the better debut. |
Posted By: Fischman
Date Posted: September 23 2018 at 12:02
| Like many, I didn't disccover early Floyd until after becoming enamored with Dark Side/WYWH. Knowing this was a significantly a different group/different sound, and not being specifically a psychedelia fan, I had no expectations going in. I rather took to it though. And while it's not one of my faves, it's still a worthy part of my collection. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: September 24 2018 at 06:06
| Discovered this gem back in 87 as a stoned 15 y.o. !! Still lovin it as a sober 46 y.o. Man, Ricks Farfisa is magnificent. |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: September 26 2018 at 06:13
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Having seen Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets on Monday evening (lots of fun!) I was reminded that actually Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Overdrive are really a major source of what I see as "my kind of music"; apart from the Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows, nothing did more for my taste historically than these two songs; this marvellous combination of experimentation, sound exploration and solid rock, rhythmic structure and chaos brought together in new unique ways. Astronomy Domine is such an iconic opener. For this alone Piper already cannot be praised enough. I also love love love Pow R Toc H, so that's the three longest tracks then. I couldn't connect well to many of their shorter more flimsy songs for a long time but I warm up to some of them over time, for example Lucifer Sam and Bike were just such delights in Nick Mason's show, and I appreciate the versatility of that album.
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: September 26 2018 at 06:45
^ Ah, another closet psychedelic junkie! Welcome to the club!  ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |