1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #89. Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)

89. Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)

Label –Columbia
Producer – Norman Smith
Art Direction – Syd Barrett
Nationality – UK
Running Time – 41:52

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Astronomy Domine
2. Lucifer Sam
3. Matilda Mother
4. Flaming
5. Pow R Toc H
6. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk
7. Interstellar Overdrive
8. Gnome
9. Chapter 24
10. Scarecrow
11. Bike

I really like Pink Floyd. They are easily in the list of my top 10 favorite bands of all time. What a shame this – their debut album - is just not very good. Indeed – the Pink Floyd that I’m referring to would be the group AFTER Syd Barrett lost his mind and was replaced by David Gilmour. We can thank Syd for putting the band together if nothing else – but the Floyd would not make great music until he was long gone from the group. This record DOES capture the psychedelic mood of the 60’s pretty well, but it’s just to ‘out there’ as it were. The lp title was taken from Syd Barrett's favorite children's book, “The Wind in the Willows”, and Barrett’s lyrics are indeed childlike, but more accurately LSD influenced.
I have played this record a handful of times over the years since I got it as a teenager and thought perhaps a new current listen to the record and my changing music tastes may have altered my opinion of the record. But not really. "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" are really the only tracks that I really enjoyed – and I really believe that is due to later versions of the songs that I have listened to which makes they more familiar to me. As an interesting side note. the album was produced by Norman Smith, an EMI staff member who had previously engineered all of The Beatles recordings up to 1965's Rubber Soul.
I have always held the opinion that Syd Barrett has always been somewhat overrated. His story is no doubt a sad one, but his Floyd work as well as his solo released are pretty much un-listenable. Regardless of my opinion, the record has been called one of the most influential records ever made. It reached #6 on the UK charts. In the U.S. it reached #131 on the Billboard charts. In 1999 Rolling Stone Magazine called it - "the golden achievement of Syd Barrett". Q Magazine described the album as "indispensable", and included it in their best psychedelic albums of all time. It was also ranked 40th in Mojo magazines, The 50 Most Out There Albums of all Time. In 2000 Q magazine ranked it at number 55 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 347 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Regardless of all of that - I cannot however recommend it.


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You can purchase the CD here.

ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR MARCH 25
Elton John is 62;

ON THIS DATE
1966 Jeff Healey is born in Toronto, Ontario. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 41
1967 The Who perform their first concert in America in New York City
1968 The last original airing of the TV series "The Monkees", after 58 episodes
1986 Guns 'N' Roses signs to Geffen Records
2001 Bob Dylan wins an Oscar for "Things Have Changed" from the movie Wonder Boys
2005 A fire breaks out at Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's mansion in Buckinghamshire, England
2007 Elton John performs for the 60th time at Madison Square Garden on his 60th birthday
2008 Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi is arrested in Laguna Beach, California on suspicion of driving under the influence

CONCERT NEWS
Sunday, May 10 Saving Abel House Of Blues Lake Buena Vista
Thursday, July 16 THE OFFSPRING Hard Rock Cafe Orlando