Pink Floyd

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Where Pink Floyd peaked

Review Score:

(10/10)
Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in 1967, at a time when psychedelic music was in full bloom. It was also at the time when the music scene was becoming more adventurous with the debut albums of the Doors and Jimi Hendrix and the boundaries of music were being expanded by the Beatles and Jefferson Airplane. Although this album didn't sell in America initially, Pink Floyd's debut album has stood the test of time as not only one of the best rock albums ever released but also the crowning achievement of their original and now legendary leader Syd Barrett.

Although this album is best known for their prelude to the space rock genre "Astronomy Domine" and the playful nursery rhyme like track "Bike", the rest of the album is just as strong as well as creative. The album's first half contains the most adventurous material as the songs "Lucifer Sam", "Matilda Mother", and "Flaming" bounce between psychedelic keyboard lines from Rick Wright and heavier arrangements, usually in the same song. "Pow R. Toc H." and "Interstellar Overdrive" are fantastic instrumentals with the former featuring a piano solo from Wright and the latter being a 9-minute exercise in chaos which never gets boring. After these tracks, the album gets in a much folkier direction as excellent tunes like "The Gnome", "Chapter 24", and "Scarecrow" sound more like the material which Barrett would perform on his solo debut The Madcap Laughs albeit with more instrumentation. Sadly, this would be the last album where Barrett would pen most of the material as his life would soon enter a downward spiral which would lead him to leaving the music scene altogether. The band themselves would make several uneven albums after this before gaining their footing on Meddle. They would then go on to worldwide success with strong albums such as Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall. However, the band was never as creative or as exciting as they were here. If you like their more popular material, this album may turn you off at first. But it gets better with each listen and ultimately proves to be their best release.

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