Disco de Pink Floyd: “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”

1967's "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is the one that started it all for Pink Floyd, back in the early days when bassist Roger Waters, keyboardist Richard Wright & drummer Nick Mason were led by the genius, but doomed singer/guitarist Syd Barrett. Psychedelic rock doesn't get much more trippier than "Piper," a totally far-out collection of avant-garde space rock, songs about gnomes and scarecrows, off-the-wall production and sound effects, and superb performances by a tight British art-rock band that were destined to become rock legends. Although he made one last "cameo" appearance with the Floyd on their second album, "A Saucerful Of Secrets" with that album's closing number, "Jugband Blues," the lion's share of Syd Barrett's legacy with the band is all contained right here on "Piper," barring a few early singles. Writing all but one song, and, with a charismatic singing voice and incredible guitar-playing skills, Barrett was truly a musical genius, and his equally-talented bandmates match him song for song. Every track on the album is a highlight in it's own right, but certainly worth mentioning are such tracks as the opening space rock of "Astronomy Domine," the before-there-was-alternative alternative rock of "Lucifer Sam," the far-out instrumentals "Pow R Toc H" and "Interstellar Overdrive," the frenetic rock of "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" (written & sung by Waters, in his debut composition for the band), the charming tale of "The Gnome," and the classic, half children's song/half freak-out finale, "Bike," which starts out cheerily enough before giving way to some deliciously wacko noises and sound effects.Sadly, and tragically, shortly after the release of "Piper," Syd Barrett's experimentations with psychedelic drugs ultimately destroyed him, and he was finally ousted from the band. Roger Waters more-or-less took over as the group's leader, and Barrett's vacated slot was filled by guitarist David Gilmour. Barrett, despite his drug-addicted state, would record a pair of solo albums before dropping out of the music business altogether. Not well enough to look after himself, he quietly lived in the care of family members until his death in 2006. Pink Floyd, meanwhile, would go on to major superstardom and sell millions of albums, with such classics as "Dark Side Of The Moon," "Wish You Were Here," "Animals" and "The Wall." But "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" was the band's very first chapter, and one that would not have been possible without the great Syd Barrett. "Piper" is outstanding psychedelic rock, and a Pink Floyd classic. And thank you, Syd, wherever you are.

Wondering and dreaming, the words have different meanings, Yes, they did ... (Matilda Mother). This album is so full of charm, wit, creativity and artistry that it might as well be called "Syd At The Gates Of Dawn": "There was a king , Who Ruled the land, His majesty, was in command, With silver eyes, The scarlet eagle, Showered silver on the people ..." (Matilda Mother again).

He is the Pied Piper here, leading the way through lime and limpid green: "Floating down, the sound resounds, around the icy waters underground, Jupiter and Saturn Oberon Miranda and Titania Neptune Titan - Stars can frighten" (Astronomy Domine). And through spacey, but playful musings: "You're the left side, He's the right side, Oh no! Somewhere, Anywhere, Always by your side" (Lucifer Sam, about a cat, that could describe the shifting waves of Interstellar Overdrive, my favorite on here probably). The soundscape brought together here (forming a unique, far-out conceptual universe) is energetic and adventurous pandemonium!

Even the song by Waters on here, Take Up Thy Stethescope & Walk, is funny and WATERS down the boyish wonder and beauty gazing with a familiar dose of gloom: "gold is lead, choke on bread, underfed, Jesus bled ... Gruel ghoul greasy spoon, used spoon, dark doom" (he's just getting started, looking back. Don't get me wrong, I admire all of his later work, he took the band to great places, as did the other members).

Change return success! Thousands of journeys began with a single step. Thank you Syd and the band, this is a whimsical and trippy delight! I have always been fascinated by the quirky poetry and unusual melodies Syd's songs contain, and his guitar playing was fantastic.

"[Syd's] got a Bike, you can ride it if you like ... and a clan of gingerbread men, take a couple if you wish, they're on the dish" (Bike). "Look at the sky, Look at the river, isn't it good? Winding, Finding places to go ..." (The Gnome). "Streaming through the starlit skies ... Hey ho here we go, ever so high, Alone in the clouds all blue, lying on an eiderdown, yippee! You can't see me, but I can see you" (Flaming). Here is a visionary you WANT to follow! That cat's something I can't explain (Lucifer Sam). This is certainly one of the most influential (psychedelic) albums of all time. Enjoy!

"Across the stream with wooden shoes,

Bells to tell the King the news

A thousand misty riders

Climb up Higher, ONCE UPON A TIME"

PEACE! We love you and wish you well Syd ... may your wooden shoes carry you to better lands that you could always so easily see.

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.

In 1967, two albums changed the face of rock forever. Both psychedelic records, one of them of course was The Beatles', Sgt Pepper, and the other was Pink Floyd's debut, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Though they both were the highpoints of the psychedelic era, they differed as much as night and day as far as their content. A far more underground and avant-garde album "Piper" was also considerably more dark and bizarre than Sgt Pepper. More whimsical and ultimately more druggy, "Piper" rocked harder and was enticed more by classical and jazz influences. In fact it was one of the official starting points for the Progressive rock genre.

Then frontman Syd Barret, who as of July 7, 2006 is no longer with us, pioneered avant-garde techniques on the electric guitar which included massive distortion and reverb and other tricks such as sliding steel balls up and down the strings. Keyboardist Rick Wright was also a major factor in the line up; producing eerie keyboard licks and out of this world texures with his instrument. The songwriting was vastly different from latter day Pink Floyd. Most of the songs had a very noticeable British whimsical flavor to them. Many of the songs were pure nonsense stories about space travel, fairy tale creatures, as well as everyday things processed through the machine of an LSD trip. There's Progressive Pop/Rock such as "Astronomy Domine", psychedelic folk such as "The Gnome", and intrumental freak-out jams such as the infamous "Interstellar overdrive" which goes on for nine minutes with the band members making every possible noise with their instruments.

Syd Barret wrote or at least co-wrote almost every composition here. Bassist Roger Waters wrote one song but it's in the same league as the Barret songs. After the album was released Barret, through a combination of mental illness and heavy LSD use broke down and was forced to leave the band. He released two solo albums before withdrawing from the world altogether. Spending decades in recluse he eventually died of a diabetes illness in 2006, just a couple days before this review was written. After he had left the group, David Gilmour, a really good but more traditional guitarist, entered the line up. Many of Pink Floyd's later albums such as, Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here, explicitly reference mental illness. Many sources in fact explain that, Wish You Were Here and The Wall, were complete tributes To Barret.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, was a turning point in rock-n-roll just as much as Sgt. Pepper was. It allowed the classical and jazz influences as well as the extended lengh compositions of Progressive Rock to florish in the next decade. Though psychedelic rock died, its memories and, of course, its music did not. Albums like this proved once and for all that rock was an art form and not just juvenile noise.

I don't necessarily like writing long, lengthy reviews, so I'll try to keep the review medium length...

Don't buy this CD if you're expecting the Floyd sound and material from their seventies heyday. Buy this album if you want to listen to some excellent, trippy, spacey psychedelic music at its very best. For one thing, this isn't the classic lineup of Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, with Waters at the helm of such timeless albums as The Wall and Wish You Were Here. This is the ORIGINAL lineup of Syd Barrett, Waters, Wright, and Mason, with lead guitarist, songwriter, and singer Barrett at the controls, and it proves to be one of their best albums (I think it is actually THE best.)

The one major factor which makes this album so great is that the songs are simply amazing. I don't mean that in a real technical way (as in super fast guitar playing and Keith Moon style drumming,) but the fact that this CD really will blow your mind if listened to properly (the real effect comes only if you're stoned, but for a nice substitute, put it on the stereo, turn out the lights and kick back and close your eyes.)

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn combines a nice mix of longer, spacey songs (Interstellar Overdrive, Astronomy Domine, Pow R. Toc H., etc.) with short, extremely catchy pop songs (The Gnome, Lucifer Sam, Bike, Scarecrow, and pretty much the rest) for a pleasant, out of this world listening experience.

If you're new to Floyd, I recommend you pick this album up first, for it is much better than the seventies stuff (don't get me wrong, Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall are all EXCELLENT albums, and I own each one of them, but this still beats them.) If you've already got their material when they peaked, perhaps you should download a few MP3's before purchasing right away. If you like one song, you're pretty much guaranteed to like the rest.

To sum, pick up this psychedelic classic for a guaranteed out of your mind experience. You won't be disappointed that you paid $13.00 for it... in fact, you'll probably listen to it over and over again.

Most importantly, Syd IS Floyd!

Rock on, brothers and sisters!