Pink Floyd

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

not Pink Floyd

Review Score:

(4/10)
This album is not Pink Floyd. I know that the band which recorded it was called Pink Floyd at the time, but it is not the Pink Floyd that achieved rock and roll greatness. This album is so completely different from anything the band would accomplish after Syd Barrett's mental collapse, it might as well not even be a Pink Floyd album. Syd can be credited with getting the band started and writing an interesting psychedelic album, but his greatest accomplishment musically was being the inspiration for one of Floyd's greatest works, "Wish You Were Here".

Whether the album says Pink Floyd on the cover or not, it is not the greatest of psychedelia either. If it is psychedelic music you are looking for, try out The Rolling Stones "Their Satanic Majesties Request" or The Beatles "Maigical Mystery Tour". This album exists as an historical landmark of the beginning of Floyd and not much else. The only tracks really worth listening to here are Astronomy Domine (which is vastly greater on the Ummagumma live disc) and Interstellar Overdrive, an interesting instrumental exploration. The rest of the material is not without its merit, but I find it to be difficult to listen to. Maybe it will grow on me, but not as a Pink Floyd work, but a Syd Barrett work.

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