Pink Floyd Album: “Piper at the Gates of Dawn [3-CD Deluxe Edition]”

Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is one of my favorite albums, and personally I've always found it to be Pink Floyd's best album(and if any discography is jammed with classic albums it's the mighty Floyd's). Every song featured is a psychedelic gem/masterpiece that pushed the envelope of what was possible at the time. Syd Barrett knew how to write song's that were experimental, but also extremely interesting and to be truthful accessible.

That's just a brief review of the album, believe me I could go on for hours on Piper, its just that great. However the purpose of this review is to go over the particulars of the 40th anniversary edition. Overall it's fantastic. There are two major incentives for true fans that already own the album, and don't want to buy it just for the new packaging. First off the mono mix of Piper(disc one of this set) completely blows the stereo mix out of the water. After listening to the mono mix I can confidently say I will not be listening to the stereo mix all to often. The mono mix was supposedly mixed by Barrett himself, and offers a slightly more psychedelic mix than the stereo mix most are accustomed too. Effects that cant be heard in the stereo mix jump out. The vocals have a much more cosmic sound to them, and the instruments just leap out of the mix in a kaleidoscopic swirl of sound. However there are some interesting qualities in the stereo mix(Disc 2), that make it worthwhile as well. While the mix doesn't leap out like the mono does, the stereo mix offers interest for those with headphones, as instruments move in and out of the left and right channels creating interesting panning effects. Overall I prefer the mono mix but the stereo mix deserves a listen now and then, to decipher its own different sonic textures.

The other big incentive for long time fans is disc three, which includes the early singles which are "Arnold Layne", "Candy And A Currant Bun", "See Emily Play", "Apples And Oranges", and "Paintbox". Also included are 2 takes of "Interstellar Overdrive"(that are substantially different from the version on the album), "Matilda Mother"(with new lyrics), and a stereo mix of "Apples And Oranges". This disc is not your average rag tag collection of bonus tracks the early singles are all top tier Floyd songs, and are finally available by means other than buying a greatest hits collection("See Emily Play", "Arnold Layne", "Paintbox") or hunting down the now hard to find early singles promo, or the currently out of print and incredidbly expensive Shine On box set("Apples And Oranges", "Candy And A Currant Bun"). "Apples and Oranges" and "See Emily Play" especially rank up there in my top ten favorite Floyd songs. The two alternate versions of Interstellar Overdrive are also rather interesting, and the take of "Matilda Mother" is fun to listen to with its new lyrics.

The packaging itself is also great including a twelve page reproduction of one of Syd's actual notebooks.

So overall is this the best way to buy Piper? Well if you already own it and you truly enjoy it than this is well worth it. However if you've never even heard Piper before it might be a good idea to just go ahead and get the regular edition, unless of course you want the singles, as this really the best way to get them. So if you are a true fan of Floyd than consider getting this, I can say this is the best music purchase i've made in a long time and i'd heard Piper at least a thousand times before buying this.

Whilst today stereo is the norm, in 1967 it was a small minority market and much more time was lavished on the monaural version than on the stereo mix, which would be done in a day or two, after the mono master had been completed, and was often not released until after the standard mono version. Consequently, there were often significant differences between the two. I can remember spending far too many teenage hours comparing mono and stereo versions of albums by the Beatles, the Pink Floyd and others on headphones using a customized mono record player with a stereo cartridge wired to a second amplifier. To me, a psychedelic record such as Piper cried out for stereo effects, and thanks to the crisp production of the late Norman Smith and the sound engineering of Peter Bown at Abbey Road, I was not disappointed.

It was an exciting time at Abbey Road, too, as the Beatles were ensconced at the same time in another studio working on Sergeant Pepper, and met the Floyd while they were working on Pow R Toc H. The Pretty Things also started work on SF Sorrow there, again with Norman Smith (who also engineered Sergeant Pepper), before the Floyd's sessions were complete.

Piper was the only album that Syd Barrett made in full with the Floyd. He wrote eight of the nine songs and contributed his unique space guitar flourishes to Interstellar Overdrive and the noodly Pow R Toc H. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is really a benchmark album of the genre now known as psyche. Roger Waters may now dismiss it as juvenilia, but I still listen to it more often than is probably healthy.

The stereo version has been newly remastered for this edition, and sounds superb. A mono version of the album has been out before, but this is apparently the first time the authentic mono mix as on the original vinyl album has been remastered, and it clocks in some seventeen seconds longer than the new stereo re-master. In particular it seems an edit of Flaming (used as an American single which had The Gnome on the flipside) was used in error on some mono editions, though at 2.43 now it is barely a second longer than the 1997 mono CD version that I already had, but though I wonder now in what way the 1997 edition did differ from the original album and why, I certainly have no complaints with the 2007 re-mastering.

The bonus disc is probably the strongest bait to attract the Pink Floyd enthusiast. It is logical that it should contain the five tracks released on singles that year (the sixth, Scarecrow, was taken from the album), and it is good to have them in catalogue again, but many collectors will already have these on the 6-track mini-LP released in 1997 or from the Shine On 1992 box set. They collect in one place all the released material that feature Syd Barrett, apart from the three tracks on A Saucerful Of Secrets.

The real treats here are the final four tracks. The French Edit of Interstellar Overdrive is a substantially re-mixed mono version of Take Two (the one used on the album) of Interstellar Overdrive, unheard since it first turned up on the French EP of Arnold Layne in 1967, and the CD also includes Take Six, a previously unreleased take recorded three weeks later, which shows the extent of variation between performances of this largely improvised piece, and is great to have. There's a rare stereo mix of the extraordinary Apples And Oranges single, too, which is said to be previously unissued but might be the same as the one on the French vinyl LP The Best Of The Pink Floyd; and finally an unreleased early version of Matilda Mother, recorded at their first Abbey Road session. The song was inspired by Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales and this version has lyrics that were changed on the released version, possibly to avoid copyright problems. Obviously missing are the unreleased gems Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream, although as these were recorded for a potential single for release in 1968, long after Piper had been released, they could just as justifiably be included on an edition of A Saucerful Of Secrets.

The packaging is nice and glossy and has a facsimile of a booklet of Syd's art collage notebook as well as photos and album lyrics. Given that the primary market for a package such as this must be the avid collector, the booklet surprisingly lacks any technical details at all about the mixes, recording dates, sources and so forth.

This clearly is the definitive ultimate edition of Pink Floyd's debut album, until the next re-issue of it, and corrects the shortcomings of previous releases that most of us hadn't been aware of. Cynicism aside, this is an important sixties album for a number of reasons and deserves to be heard in both mono and stereo mixes, and the bonus disc and lavish packaging make it a considerable treat, especially for collectors.

Once again consumers are faced with the decision of whether to get the latest issue of an album they have bought many times over. Sometimes with the assumption that the previous purchase of said item was supposedly the "definitive" or "limited" edition. Pink Floyd's catalog has been re-issued and re-packaged so many times one is left with a feeling of being "ripped off". It's nice to everything in one place but come on, why can't the fans get what they have been asking for?

Admittedly the first CD version of "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" was not very good. Then it was re-mastered and then re-mastered again for the mono edition that came out a while back and now we are faced again with another re-master of both mono and stereo versions. By buying this "limited edition" you get another CD of the singles released by the band in 1967 as well as some out-takes along with a replica of Syd Barrett's 1965 book of his collage work which is encased in a cloth covered book.

My review is not about the album. There really is no need to go into how great it is. Others more eloquent than I have already said all there is to say. My review is about the product. Here are 2 of my pet peeves:

1. There is no track or studio annotation. We know that Abby Road kept meticulous records of all the recording sessions so you would think there would be something included with this "limited edition". There aren't even any liner notes just the lyrics.

2. Lack of really rare tracks. The singles have been released separately before. The other bonus tracks are nice to have but isn't there anything else in the vaults? Any first run-throughs? Anything from prior to signing with EMI?

I feel an opportunity has slipped through EMI's fingers. I would have like to have seen something along the lines of Frank Zappa's 4 CD edition of MOFO or the Pet Sound Sessions. A collection of all of the surviving session tapes instead of something that most people have already.

Well, I can dream can't I?

I'll end with this. If this is your first upgrade than get this, you will not be disappointed.

Update: The mono version is the same as that other mono version from a few years ago. I have played them back to back and they sound the same. Also, there has been talk that Syd Barrett was involved in the mix. There is really no evidence to back this up. According to producer Norman Smith, he mixed it and the band approved the final mono mix and he did the stereo mix later with an Abbey Road staff engineer. It's that mono mix that's on this set and the previous "limited edition" mono edition.

Update #2: After listening to this again I am even more angry about this release. This entire collection could have fit on 2 discs with room to spare. They could have filled an entire disc with 70min of unreleased material. I feel so violated.

This is less a review and more a personal account. This collection remains of limited value to a more headbanging Floyd fan who thinks the apex of their output remains "The Wall." It does not. While that 1979 work was imaginitively and magnificently packaged, as music it was a self-absorbent paean to rock excess - and an embarrassment to fans of Nick Mason and the late, great Richard Wright.

"The Wall" describes a moment in time but is not especially enduring in the way that "Piper" remains the blueprint and the Bible for Space Rock throughout the world. It deliciously takes on territory only accessed at the time by Sun Ra both thematically and in approach to performance - and establishing a chapter and verse music theory still in use by Space Rock musicians some forty years later. Absent only synthesizers and sequencers which were unavailable to the band in 1967, it's all there: Eastern influences conveyed through Wright's surefired right hand; the sliding guitar technique masterfully hatched by Barrett (and dubbed "Glissando Guitar" by Gong's Daevid Allen, who appropriately credits Barrett as the inventor of the technique); nuanced percussion that ranges from bells and vibes to gongs and kettle drums, played with incredible dynamism by Nick Mason; and Waters, leading the way both with his bass guitar played in the melodic range, and with the various sound effects he produced simply with his mouth.

As regards the various criticisms about the songs not presented: "King Bee" and "Lucy Leave Me" were Screaming Abacabs demos at best, and will never be officially released. Forget it. As for "Vegetable Man"... once again, forget it. Neither the remaining members of Pink Floyd, nor the estates of Wright and Barrett, nor EMI, will ever allow it. Chances are, if you wanted to hear it, you've already heard it. You know how incredible it is. You know it was remastered pretty admirably in the lawless gray area known as Italy. Accept matters for what they are.

The remarkable things about the 3-disc set include the presentation of an original artistic booklet by Barrett which is truly incredible and beautiful; the version of "Matilda Mother" with completely different lyrics; and one of the versions of "Interstellar Overdrive" which is tougher and grungier, more garage-y, than any live version or studio take I have ever heard. It's a revelation. The power bespeaks the energy of Barrett's Floyd, and lays to rest any notion that Space Rock has to be morose, or laid back, or wishy-washy. It doesn't. It never did. As per this bold example, Space Rock can invoke almost a street toughness and remain inspirational, spitirual, and visionary.

This record sounds almost totally different in mono . Being too young to have heard the mono LP , I grew up listening to the stereo version . Is it me or does Lucifer Sam sound faster in mono ? It sounds better that way . Listening to the stereo version now sounds a bit muddier than the mono . The whole packaging is superb and getting the singles as a bonus is nice although I already had most of them through the Shine On box set . Piper is still one of the best albums of it's era and it was long overdue for it's highly polished re-release ! a great addition to my floyd library .