Pink Floyd

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Syd Barrett Shines

Review Score:

(8/10)
In 1967, in Abbey Road studios, the Beatles were recording Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In the studio next to them, an underground psychedelic band was recording an album of their own, full of freaky jams and songs about space and fairy tales. The band was The Pink Floyd Sound, and the album was Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

The album opens with Astronomy Domine. We hear distorted walkie-talkie speak and beeping, before being blasted off into space with crashing cymbals and toms. Guitars drone and whine, and we hear evocative lyrics about leaving the earth. A few verses in and we're dropped into the void, silence followed by single, echo plastered guitar note. The music returns, a guitar solo, sound effects buzzing round everywhere. It's quite an experience. This song sets the tone for one of the best psychedelic albums you'll be able to get your hands on.

When it comes to writing songs that evoke childhood memory, no one writes better than Syd Barrett, original frontman of Pink Floyd. You can tell on every tune, a lot of thought has gone in. "Matilda Mother" is a song about bedtime stories, and like a bedtime story, it is presented in an epic fashion with soaring harmonies. Syd tells us quite a few stories of his own here. "Scarecrow" is a folky tune about a sad scarecrow. "Lucifer Sam" is a tense piece of psychedelic pop about black cats and witches. "Bike" is a jittery carnival sounding ramble about items a kid might own. Just like a proud child listing his favourite things, the words just come tumbling out of Syd. "Gnome" is adorable, everything about this song is cute, from the melody, Syd's lyrics, the percussion, the floating xylophone running through it, even the name of the gnome! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Soon after the release of this album, he lost his mind to acid and the alienation of fame. He'd still record a few more child-minded songs in his solo career, like Effervescing Elephant and Maisie, but nothing as focused as the songs here. Such a shame because he really seemed to know what he was doing here

...unlike Roger Waters.

The man who would become the next and best known singer for Pink Floyd only gets one song "Take up thy Stethoscope and Walk", and it's a bit all over the place. Roger sings stilted lyrics, that don't make much sense, in a fake American drawl. Somwhere in the middle, the song transforms into an uneasy jam, then reprising with a wobbly final verse. It makes you appreciate how much Roger developed with his songwriting later on. I mean, his singing is even a lot better on the next album, A Saucerful of Secrets. At least he has a go here.

There are two instrumentals on this album - "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Pow R Toc H". "Interstellar Overdrive", like the Beatles "Revolution #9" is one of those tracks in the history of music that is so whacked out you wonder how the band convinced the record label to put it on the album. At first it just sounds like a whole lot of drug addled noise at first, blaring guitar followed by blips, blops, spooky organ and all sorts of other sonic mayhem, but on repeated listens you start to notice it actually is more structured than some would have you believe. More like a messed up classical or jazz piece. Genius, really. "Pow R Toc H" is more conventional, though features a lot of silly and often quite creepy vocal sound effects from Syd and his band. Syd even has a go at a bit of human beatboxing -decades before any rapper tried it!

This is Pink Floyd's goofiest album. Where else can you hear sped up tape loops of a goose, or hear Roger Waters sing "Doi! Doi!" in a funny voice? The take on psychedelia you hear on Piper at the Gates of Dawn is more about having fun than anything else. You can almost picture the smiles on all their faces as they make every single noise they can think of putting to tape.

As Pink Floyd went on without Syd, they'd lose this sense of humour bit by bit and become grim and serious. Maybe it just goes to show how much happiness Syd brought into the band, and into the lives of it's members.

If you're into psychedelic or retro music, this album is worth a look. If you're a Pink Floyd fan, one who likes Dark Side of the Moon or the Wall, that's no guarantee you'll like this, as this is completely different to those albums. Syd writes differently, and has a different attitude to Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the two main songwriters of 1970s Floyd. Some Pink Floyd fans really detest Syd, perhaps because their isn't a cynical bone in his body. Syd Barrett's music isn't for everyone, just as 1970s Pink Floyd isn't for everyone. If you are looking to get into Syd though, this album is a good choice to get first, though if you like it, you're going to be heartbroken when you hear what happens to him on The Madcap Laughs, his first solo album.

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