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Pink Floyd: Piper at the Gates of Dawn

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: EMI Records
Released: 1967
Time:
 41:50
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Norman Smith
Rating: *******... (7/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.pinkfloyd.com
Appears with: Roger Waters, Richard Wright
Purchase date: 2001.06.15
Price in €: 16,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Astronomy Domine (Syd Barrett) - 4:12
[2] Lucifer Sam (Syd Barrett) - 3:07
[3] Matilda Mother (Syd Barrett) - 3:07
[4] Flaming (Syd Barrett) - 2:45
[5] Pow R. Toc H. (Syd Barrett/Nick Mason/Roger Waters/Richard Wright) - 4:26
[6] Take up Thy Stethoscope and Walk (Roger Waters) - 3:06
[7] Interstellar Overdrive (Syd Barrett/Nick Mason/Roger Waters/Richard Wright) - 9:41
[8] The Gnome (Syd Barrett) - 2:13
[9] Chapter 24 (Syd Barrett) - 3:41
[10] Scarecrow (Syd Barrett) - 2:10
[11] Bike (Syd Barrett) - 3:22

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


SYD BARRETT - Guitar, Vocals, Cover Design
ROGER WATERS - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
NICK MASON - Drums
RICHARD WRIGHT - Organ, Piano, Keyboards, Vocals

PETER BROWN - Engineer
VIC SINGH - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1967 LP Tower ST-5093
1987 CD Capitol C2-46384
1994 CS Capitol 46384
1995 CD EMI 7243 8 31261
1999 CD Capitol 59857



The title of Pink Floyd's debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barrett's favorite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD. Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences — "Astronomy Domine" is a poppier number in this vein, but tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" are some of the earliest forays into what has been tagged space rock. But even though Barrett's lyrics and melodies are mostly playful and humorous, the band's music doesn't always bear out those sentiments — in addition to Rick Wright's eerie organ work, dissonance, chromaticism, weird noises, and vocal sound effects are all employed at various instances, giving the impression of chaos and confusion lurking beneath the bright surface. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation — the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barrett's subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time.

Steve Huey - All Music Guide



While they took their name from blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council when they started out as an R&B combo in the mid-60s, Pink Floyd's leader, guitarist Syd Barrett, soon began piloting the band through unprecedented sonic excursions typified by the title of their 1967 debut album's most celebrated track--the outsized instrumental "Interstellar Overdrive." Equally adept at composing catchy-sounding, Gothic-themed pop songs such as "See Emily Play," "The Scarecrow" and "The Gnome," Barrett seemed destined for greatness--that is, until psychedelic drugs got the best of him, and he abandoned the band to bassist Roger Waters and new guitarist David Gilmour. The rest, as they say, is history.

Billy Altman - Amazon.com essential recording



Als sie Mitte der sechziger Jahre als Rhythm and Blues Band starteten, setzten sie ihren Namen aus den Vornamen der Blues-Musiker Pink Anderson und Floyd Council zusammen. Pink Floyd's führender Kopf, der Gitarrist Syd Barrett, begann schon bald, die Band durch völlig neue Klangexperimente zu führen. Der Titel des erfolgreichsten Stücks auf ihrem Debut-Album (1967 erschienen), das überdimensionale Instrumentalstück "Interstellar Overdrive", charakterisiert diese Phase am besten. Da er aber ebenso geschaffen war für das Komponieren von eingängigen Ohrwürmern mit Schauerthemen wie "See Emily play", "The Scarecrow" und "The Gnome" schien Barrett auf dem Weg zum Ruhm - das heißt bis Psycho-Drogen ihn von diesem Weg brachten und er die Band dem Bassisten Roger Waters und dem Gitarristen David Gilmour überließ. Der Rest ist - wie man so sagt - Geschichte.

Billy Altman - Amazon.de



Rock-and-roll history is littered with casualties, of course, but somehow Syd Barrett has always seemed a special case. As founding guitarist, writer, and lead vocalist for Pink Floyd, Barrett was not only one of the most gifted songwriters of the late '60s, he was also one of the most psychologically fragile. Blessed with a childlike, whimsical imagination that lay somewhere between J.R.R. Tolkien and Walt Disney, Barrett had no equal when it came to casting nursery rhyme-like melodies and meters in a rock music context. Sadly, by the early '70s Barrett had descended into madness - a casualty either of schizophrenia, or LSD, or both - but during his brief career he created a brilliant (albeit small) body of work. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is Barrett's masterpiece. Released in 1967, this debut album from Pink Floyd captured the essence of rock's psychedelic era in ways that even the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's couldn't match. "Astronomy Domine," the opening song, framed Technicolor imagery in a carefully structured sonic swirl that was by turns cacophonous and beautiful. Similarly, the instrumental opus, "Interstellar Overdrive," weaved seemingly random guitar, organ, and bass noodlings into a dazzling musical fabric that took on the flavor of a cosmic jam. Best of all, Barrett's shorter songs - most notably "Lucifer Sam," "The Gnome," and "Bike" - boasted melodies that sound as if they were channeled through a character out of Alice in Wonderland. Though Barrett went on to record two sporadically brilliant solo albums (his erratic behavior led to his expulsion from Floyd not long after Piper was released), by the early '70s he had abandoned music (or, more specifically, his muse had abandoned him) altogether. Reputed to be in poor physical health, Barrett currently lives in semi-seclusion and has no contact with his former bandmates. Nonetheless, as Pink Floyd so eloquently expressed in "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," its 1975 tribute-in-song to its former leader, Barrett was, for a brief time, rock's "shining, crazy diamond."

Russell Hall - May 2, 2000
Copyright © 1994-2001 CDnow Online, Inc. All rights reserved.



The Floyd's growing underground popularity led to a single, "Arnold Layne," released in March of 1967. It entered the British charts at #20, resulting in national media exposure for the band. Their followup single, "See Emily Play," stayed on the charts for 7 weeks, reaching #6. Pink Floyd's first LP, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, also remained on the charts for 7 weeks, and also reached #6.

Despite being over 24 years old, the Floyd's debut release still sounds as fresh as ever (in marked contrast to its famous contemporary "Sgt. Pepper"), and was Britain's enduring contribution to the Summer of Love. In early 1967 Pink Floyd went into EMI's Abbey Road studios with a stack of whimsical tunes about gnomes, scarecrows and bikes, psychedelic ditties that bore only a passing resemblance to the prostracted spacey jams they were then famous for. The result was an unique combination of English whimsy and avant-garde sounds, featuring studio versions of the Floyd's most supremely psychedelic songs, the underground anthems "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive". Two things in particular stand out: Rick Wright's strange ethereal organ sound and the sheer power and magic of Syd Barrett's songwriting - he wrote or co-wrote 10 of the 11 songs present - and guitar playing.

The song "Chapter 24" relates to I Ching (the book of changes), being called "Fu", meaning Change/success.

Nick Mason: "We were given Norman Smith by EMI, no arguments. So Joe Boyd, our original producer, got written out of the thing. Norman was more interested in making us sound like a classical rock band. It was a bit like the George Martin thing, a useful influence to have. But I think Joe would have given Syd his head, let him run in a freer way. We spent three months recording it, which was quite a long time in those days. Bands used to have to finish albums in a week, with session players brought in to play the difficult bits. But because The Beatles were taking their time recording Sgt Pepper in the studio next door, EMI thought this was the way people now made records. We were taken in to meet them once, while they were recording Lovely Rita. It was a bit like meeting the Royal family."

Former manager Peter Jenner: "Norman was being the perfect A&R man. He realized Syd could write great pop songs. If we'd put out what we were playing live, it wouldn't have sold fuck at all. The one song here that was like the live shows was Interstellar Overdrive. They played it twice, one version recorded straight on top of the other. They doubletracked the whole track. Why? Well it sounds pretty fucking weird doesn't it? That big sound and all those hammering drums."

The album's title comes from the the seventh chapter of Kenneth Graham's "The Wind in the Willows" book, where Ratty and Molly set of to search a lost animal, and have something akin to a religious experience when they encounter The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (Pan). This book was a favorite of Syd's.

The inkblob-like painting on the back cover was drawn by Syd Barrett, based on photographs of the band members standing behind each other.

The Japanese pressing of the album added "See Emily Play" at the end of Side 2.

The United States release was somewhat different than the United Kingdom one, featuring the following tracks: See Emily Play, Pow R. Toch, Take Up My Stethoscope And Walk, Lucifer Sam, Matilda Mother, The Scarecrow, The Gnome, Chapter 24 and Interstellar Overdrive.

There were some variations of the cover art. "Pink Floyd" was written either with paisley stripes, while others with rainbow stripes. Some italian pressings have a picture of the group with David Gilmour on the cover. And a 1983 low budget reissues include "Fame" (a division of the Harvest record label) written across one corner.

www.pinkfloydfan.net



It is amazing how powerful an influence Syd Barrett had. Here Roger Waters is completely foreshadowed, save for a couple of songs, in Pink Floyd's first album. Barrett is supposed to have come up with the name Pink Floyd (though it comes from an amalgam of the names of the blues singers Pink Anderson and Floyd Council). He also ends up composing most of the songs in this album and designing the back cover. My favourite tune off of this album is Interstellar Overdrive, though it is Astronomy Domine which will be played as the first song during their 1994 tour.

Ram Samudrala



'A Piper at the Gates of Dawn' was the first Pink Floyd album to hit the world right back in the sixties. The album is almost entirely written by Syd Barrett the original Lead Guitarist and vocalist, who ended up being consumed by the rock'n'roll lifestyle. This album is an out and out Psychedelic madness fest! This is 'the' example of the brilliance of Syd Barrett. When you consider the time it was made the sound created is really excellent, especially for a first album and whatnot. There is no concept as perhaps you come to expect of Pink Floyd, and in fact in many ways this isn't the Pink Floyd we know now. This is the LSD-induced Pink Floyd, this is how it all begun and eventually without Syd they progressed on to something else.

But any Pink Floyd fan needs this album to understand where they came from and because it's great music! Some of the songs are really quite catchy too… "I want to tell you a story, 'bout a little man if I can, A gnome named Grimble Gromble" etc! Also present is an Album version of the famous Floyd instrumental 'Interstellar Overdrive' which is bloody awesome! Even if it's to make you understand the later album 'Wish You Were Here' a bit better this album is a must have for Floydites. And none Floydites will love it too!

PaddersG
 

 L y r i c s


ASTRONOMY DOMINE

Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania.
Neptune, Titan, Stars can frighten.
Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania.
Neptune, Titan, Stars can frighten.

Blinding signs flap,
Flicker, flicker, flicker blam. Pow, pow.
Stairway scare Dan dare who's there?
Lime and limpid green, the sounds around
The icy waters under
Lime and limpid green, the sounds around
The icy waters underground.


LUCIFER SAM

Lucifer Sam, siam cat.
Always sitting by your side
Always by your side.
That cat's something I can't explain.

Ginger, ginger you're a witch.
You're the left side
He's the right side.
Oh, no!
That cat's something I can't explain.

Lucifer go to sea.
Be a hip cat, be a ship's cat.
Somewhere, anywhere.
That cat's something I can't explain.

At night prowling sifting sand.
Hiding around on the ground.
He'll be found when you're around.
That cat's something I can't explain.


MATILDA MOTHER

There was a king who ruled the land.
His majesty was in command.
With silver eyes the scarlet eagle
Showers silver on the people.
Oh Mother, tell me more.

Why'd'ya have to leave me there
Hanging in my infant air
Waiting?
You only have to read the lines
They're scribbly black and everything shines.

Across the stream with wooden shoes
With bells to tell the king the news
A thousand misty riders climb up
Higher once upon a time.

Wandering and dreaming
The words have different meaning.
Yes they did.

For all the time spent in that room
The doll's house, darkness, old perfume
And fairy sories held me high on
Clouds of sunlight floating by.
Oh Mother, tell me more
Tell me more.
Aaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaah


FLAMING

Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you.

Lazing in the foggy dew
Sitting on a unicorn.
No fair, you can't hear me
But I can you.

Watching buttercups cup the light
Sleeping on a dandelion.
Too much, I won't touch you
But then I might.

Screaming through the starlit sky
Travelling by telephone.
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 you.


POW R. TOC H

Instrumental


TAKE UP THY STETHESCOPE AND WALK

Doctor doctor!
I'm in bed
Achin' head
Gold is lead
Choke on bread
Underfed
Gold is lead
Jesus bled
Pain is red
Are goon
Grow go
Greasy spoon
You swoon
June bloom

Music seems to help the pain
Seems to cultivate the brain.
Doctor kindly tell your wife that
I'm alive - flowers thrive - realize - realize
Realize.


INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE

Instrumental


THE GNOME

I want to tell you a story
About a little man
If I can.
A gnome named Grimble Crumble.
And little gnomes stay in their homes.
Eating, sleeping, drinking their wine.

He wore a scarlet tunic,
A blue green hood,
It looked quite good.
He had a big adventure
Amidst the grass
Fresh air at last.
Wining, dining, biding his time.
And then one day - hooray!
Another way for gnomes to say
Oooooooooomray.

Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?
Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?
Winding, finding places to go.
And then one day - hooray!
Another way for gnomes to say
Oooooooooomray.
Ooooooooooooooomray.


CHAPTER 24

A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset.

The time is with the month of winter solstice
When the change is due to come.
Thunder in the other course of heaven.
Things cannot be destroyed once and for all.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.

A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.


THE SCARECROW

The black and green scarecrow as everyone knows
Stood with a bird on his hat and straw everywhere.
He didn't care.
He stood in a field where barley grows.

His head did no thinking
His arms didn't move except when the wind cut up
About his head and mice spun around on the ground
He stood in a field where barley grows.

The black and green scarecrow is sadder than me
But now he's resigned to his fate
'Cause life's not unkind - he doesn't mind.
He stood in a field where barley grows.


BIKE

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.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.

I've got a cloak. It's a bit of a joke.
There's a tear up the front. It's red and black.
I've had it for months.
If you think it could look good, then I guess it should.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.

I know a mouse, and he hasn't got a house.
I don't know why. I call him Gerald.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.

I've got a clan of gingerbread men.
Here a man, there a man, lots of gingerbread men.
Take a couple if you wish. They're on the dish.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.

I know a room full of musical tunes.
Some rhyme, some ching. Most of them are clockwork.
Let's go into the other room and make them work.

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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