Pink Floyd

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Debut albums don't get a lot better

Review Score:

(10/10)
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967.) Pink Floyd's first album.

These days, we widely recognize Pink Floyd as classic rock legends, mostly because of the success of their 1973 album, Dark Side Of The moon. Because of this, most people tend to overlook the band's material that was released before that album. The band actually released their debut album in 1967! The band, who took its name from blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, at this point consisted of Syd Barrett on lead guitar and vocals, Roger Waters on bass guitar and vocals, Richard Wright on organ and piano, and Nick Mason on drums. How does the band's 1967 debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, measure up? Read on for my review.

The band starts the album off with Astronomy Domine. This song has gone on to become a fan favorite. As the title may have implied, this one is a premonition to their future successes. The intro to this song, with beeping noises and Barrett's guitar, is priceless. Track number two is Lucifer Sam. Here the band goes for the sound a number of other rock bands were going for in the sixties. This one bares little resemblance to the Pink Floyd that most people know and love, but it's still an excellent song. Next up, we have Matilda Mother. The vocals here are some of the best on the album. This is melodic rock at its very best. Flaming is next in the album's line up. This one sounds like a cross between the previous two tracks, in that it combines elements of melodic rock and sixties mainstream rock. This makes for a rather interesting listening experience. The album's fifth track is the (rather bizzarely titled) Pow R. Toc H. This track is strange (both in name and musical stylings), but it's still excellent. The drums sound better here than on any other track of the album. Number six is Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk (man, these guys had a thing for weird song titles!) In this track, the organ is the main instrument - and Richard Wright does his job very well. Combine his organ-playing excellence with Syd Barrett's guitar playing and you get another excellent track. Interstellar Overdrive is an instrumental, and one of the tracks on the album that tends to get the most praise. In the nine minute plus instrumental, the band explores a plethora of styles, and each member of the band really gets a chance to shine. Don't overlook this gem. The Gnome and Scarecrow are some of the more pop-sounding tracks on the album, but that doesn't mean they're bad ones. They've got catchy tunes and lyrics, with the overall style of the former track being similar to that used by Herman's Hermits. And then we have Chapter 24. This is another slower and more melodic tune, as only these guys could do. The "chanting" lyric style makes for a very memorable tune. Bike finishes the album off. This is another very pop-sounding track. Once again, the band has managed to create a song with a catchy tune and lyrics. It sounds NOTHING like the Pink Floyd most people know and love, but it's still excellent. All in all, this is one hell of an album.

I should probably point out that there were a few tracks the band recorded in this era and released as singles, but these tracks never made it on to any album. Among these was the fairly popular See Emily Play. I was hoping when they reissued this album they would include some of these songs as bonus tracks, but sadly, they didn't. Oh well, I'm not taking away any stars - the album itself is too good.

Overall, Pink Floyd's debut album is a very good one, although it is very different from their "cosmic" seventies rock that most fans have come to know them for. If you like Pink Floyd, I recommend buying all of their albums rather than a hits compilation (I know I say this I lot, but I can't stress it enough!) This album may take a little longer to grow on you than, say, Dark Side Of The Moon, but eventually you'll grow to love it. Once again, this is highly recommended to all Pink Floyd fans.

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