Pink Floyd

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Pink Floyd on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign

Review Score:

(10/10)
This album is drastically different from all of the other Pink Floyd albums, and with good reason: Syd Barrett, the band's first guitarist (who was replaced with David Gilmour in 1968, which was five years before "Dark Side of the Moon") composed most of the songs on this album. Barrett's subject matter is more fantasy-related, with songs about gnomes, scarecrows, and other miscellaneous fantasy-related things. And the one track that Roger Waters did compose sounds nothing at all like his later, famous compositions. But just because it is completely different from what the Floyd are most famous for does not keep this from being a good album. This is one of the two must-have psychadelic albums from the late 60s (the other being "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", of course--interestingly enough, both of these albums were recorded at the same time in Abbey Road studios). I am more of a fan of Waters-era Floyd, but I think you can still love this album even if you do prefer the later stuff.

Some of the tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Pow R. Toc H." (with miscellaneous vocal effects from Syd Barrett, and spine-tingling cackling screams from Roger Waters, who might just be the finest screamer out there [if you disagree, I suggest you also listen to his screaming on "Careful With that Axe, Eugene" which is on "Ummagumma"--no one else can scream quite like he can]) are really heavy, way out there psychadelia, while others like "Matilda Mother" and "The Gnome" are lighter psychadelia more in the vein of "Sgt. Pepper". "Astronomy Domine" and the quirky "Bike" strike the perfect balance between the two extremes. And if you're looking for intellectual stuff, check out the passages from the I-Ching in "Chapter 24".

Flirtations with fantasy and Eastern religion make this one of the defining albums of the late 60s. If the fact that this isn't a concept album disturbs those of you who are fans of the later era Floyd, let me close with this one remark--sometimes we've got to have a lighter-hearted break if we don't want to burn our brains out, so have some fun and give this album a try--it's truely one of the underdogs from their catalogue worth checking out, no matter what your preferences may be.

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