Thoughts on "The Piper at the gates of dawn"

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Ummagumma's the only serious contenda tho, apart from the two early comps (Masters Of Rock's got "Candy And A Current Bun" AND "Apples And Oranges" !). Saucer has "Remember A Day", "See Saw" & "Jugband Blues".

― Paul (scifisoul), Friday, 10 October 2003 01:21 (twenty years ago) link

It's also the only one I like.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 10 October 2003 03:22 (twenty years ago) link

Another cross next to the "Best album Pink Floyd ever made" box from me.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 10 October 2003 07:23 (twenty years ago) link

It's the only permissible PF LP, apart from the one with the early singles (not LP proper), according to orthodocy, cos it's the only one with Syd on it. And Syd is brilliant, you see, because he lost it to drugs. That's a sign of artistic integrity, btw. My homiez back in Cambridge will not agree. It's the Sixties 'OK Computer'.

― Enrique (Enrique), Friday, 10 October 2003 07:33 (twenty years ago) link

I think that twee is a negative word. Yet I love "Piper". I don't find it twee at all. Yes, it's very childlike, but childlike in a sense of madness and wonder with all the proper terrors and fears of real childhood. (Rather than that fluffy, safe, retrogressive avoidance-of-adulthood kittenworld of twee.)

― kate (kate), Friday, 10 October 2003 07:35 (twenty years ago) link

The best thing about this album is when the jamming stops on Interstellar Overdrive and they return to the main riff, but stereo-panned like kerrazy.

― Damian (Damian), Friday, 10 October 2003 07:50 (twenty years ago) link

The stereo-panning on IO broke my teenage brane. I never got it back, neither.

― kate (kate), Friday, 10 October 2003 08:04 (twenty years ago) link

"You're the left side, he's the right side. Oh, no!"

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Friday, 10 October 2003 08:38 (twenty years ago) link

It's the Sixties 'OK Computer'.

Oh jeeze louise, it's WAY better than that.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 October 2003 15:06 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not really talking quality here, it's more the OxBridge connection, posh kids doing rock type thing, and also audience profile of more < cough> refined listeners. That said, it is twee as fuck and you need a strong stomach to get through the mystical spaceman bollocks, but at least it isn't 'Dark Side of the Moon' (which is the 70s OK Computer).

― Enrique (Enrique), Friday, 10 October 2003 15:51 (twenty years ago) link

TS: Piper at the Gates of Dawn -vs- 25 O'Clock. (or real -vs- fake)

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 10 October 2003 15:57 (twenty years ago) link

This album & Meddle were the deciding factors in my friend conceding his Radiohead-as-today's-Floyd argument to my Ween-as-today's-Floyd argument, in that Ween, unlike Radiohead, have made songs that, while maintaining that underlying unsettlingness, manage to make songs that cause the listener to smile. Their shared consistently-becoming-less-whimsical-with-each-album-put-out aspect may have also played a role in his concession.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 10 October 2003 16:05 (twenty years ago) link

my favorite album of the '60s, easily. when i was 16 i used to go around annoying the hell out of my friends by singing verses of "bike" at them. spectacular moment: the abrupt transition from the 11-minute mindfuck of "interstellar overdrive" to..."the gnome."

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 10 October 2003 18:11 (twenty years ago) link

I love the absurd "b'doy-doys"s in "Pow R Toc H".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 October 2003 18:20 (twenty years ago) link

Also, man, just grab a gander at those amazing tunics and psychedelic jackets on the album cover. STYLIN'!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 October 2003 18:21 (twenty years ago) link

If anything they were at least one of the best dressed bands of their era.

I've just realized that, although I own 8(!?!) Floyd albums (on vinyl!), the only ones I ever listen to are: Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Meddle, Ummagumma.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 10 October 2003 18:26 (twenty years ago) link

I haven't played Ummagumma in about a decade. I should really dig that out.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 October 2003 18:27 (twenty years ago) link

wouldn't totally dismiss the later stuff (even though it sounds like I was): "On The Run" is proto-techno, "Echoes" and "Great Gig In The Sky" were both played in New York (etc) danceclubs. "Us And Them" sounded fantastic in Dogtown & Z-Boys. it's just there's less spark after Barrett left - the music mostly sounds winded, jaded, oppressed. then again, maybe that's what it's good at...

― Paul (scifisoul), Friday, 10 October 2003 19:24 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.continuumbooks.com/book_details.cgi?bid=12163&aid=&ssid=8QV41VTOKAEMM88O6QIACW&name=

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 10 October 2003 21:18 (twenty years ago) link

five months pass...

Hadn't listened to Piper for years when one day I was reading Wind in the Willows to one of my kids. Got to chapter 7 ("Piper at the Gates of Dawn"), and noticed I was reading an account of that heartbreaking experience you have when you're coming back from a mystical trip and you realize you're not going to be able to remember most of what you've seen and learned. Made me cry.

Wondered if the Floyd title was coincidence and of course found out that it wasn't. Another similar chapter can be found towards the end of C.S. Lewis's Perelandra. I'd like to see someone put together a collection of those snippets of transcendence that show up in mainstream literature. It'd be a fun read.

Is Syd still alive?

― dreamer, Thursday, 18 March 2004 17:39 (twenty years ago) link

Yes

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 18 March 2004 17:54 (twenty years ago) link

This album sounded great when I first got into it. Now it sounds
like crap to me. I'd rather listen to Syd's solo albums, the
Soft Boys or Robyn Hitchcock any day.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:02 (twenty years ago) link

you r crazy squirrely it's beautiful.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:05 (twenty years ago) link

unimpeachably classic. why is this even being debated?

check out the new Phosphene CD (Projection) on Secret Eye. not only does John Cavanagh pay tribute to the Piper sound (he's entitled; he literally wrote the book on PatGoD), but the artwork is also Piper photographer Vic Singh's only other album cover.

― echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:13 (twenty years ago) link

Best psychedelic record ever made.

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:18 (twenty years ago) link

Best album of the 1960s and therefore one of the greatest of all time.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:19 (twenty years ago) link

Dan Treacy knows where Syd Barrett lives.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:21 (twenty years ago) link

Wish it had "Emily" or "Arnold" in place of "Scarecrow".

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:30 (twenty years ago) link

SCARECROW IS THE BEST SONG!

and the film that went with it is beautiful.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 18 March 2004 19:56 (twenty years ago) link

two years pass...

Best psychedelic record ever made.
-- Broheems (electrifyingmoj...), March 18th, 2004 1:18 PM. (diamond)

I agree!

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Saturday, 15 July 2006 06:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Easter Everywhere is such a close 2nd, but yeah

"Chapter 24" ... i need to melt into the floor

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Saturday, 15 July 2006 06:10 (seventeen years ago) link

The last four songs are my favorite.

"Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?"

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Saturday, 15 July 2006 06:22 (seventeen years ago) link

I actually scrawled one of the lines of "Bike" onto one of the bus stops up at Rutgers (Grease Trucks, what what??) but I unfortunately wrote "I've got a mouse" instead of "I know a mouse".

But it's still a great song, even if I don't know why I call him Gerald.

― less-than three's Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Saturday, 15 July 2006 06:24 (seventeen years ago) link

He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse!

Syd was so fucking rad.

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Saturday, 15 July 2006 06:26 (seventeen years ago) link

the thing I love about "Scarecrow" (btw, they used "Scarecrow" as bumper music on Tuesday on NPRs 'Marketplace' [without specifically acking syd or anything]) is the way the acoustic guitar comes in at the end for like the final 20 seconds... sounds so warm!! I want to go on and on :(

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Saturday, 15 July 2006 06:45 (seventeen years ago) link

from memory, isn't it a bit patchy? There are the amazing space rockers, there are the enjoyable whimsy tracks, and then there are all the boring other ones. Although maybe "The boring other ones" are only two tracks.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Saturday, 15 July 2006 11:33 (seventeen years ago) link

And Waters wrote one of those. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 July 2006 12:42 (seventeen years ago) link

the only one i can think of that i don't really like is that "stethoscope" song. the rest is perfect, or close enough for me.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 15 July 2006 20:03 (seventeen years ago) link

"Stethoscope" is a very decent psych track. What would be the other boring one, "Pow R Toch H?" That is great.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 15 July 2006 20:16 (seventeen years ago) link

"Stethoscope" is awesome! It's damn fun to play the drums along to. It's also notable for being, without question, the hardest-rocking song the Floyd ever did (dig the way the tempo speeds up right after "But now!").

And plus, no "Stethoscope" also means no "Pilot Can At the Queer of God"!!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Sunday, 16 July 2006 01:53 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music/rogerwaters66.jpg
"Stop hating on me DV, Ned and J.D."

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Sunday, 16 July 2006 02:11 (seventeen years ago) link

The butchering of British albums for US release in the '60s never ceases to amaze me. Look what they did to poor "Piper" back in the day:

1. "See Emily Play" – 2:53
2. "Pow R. Toc H." (Barrett/Waters/Wright/Mason) – 4:26
3. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" (Waters) – 3:05
4. "Lucifer Sam" – 3:07
5. "Matilda Mother" – 3:08
6. "The Scarecrow" – 2:11
7. "The Gnome" – 2:13
8. "Chapter 24" – 3:42
9. "Interstellar Overdrive" (Barrett/Waters/Wright/Mason) – 9:41

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Sunday, 16 July 2006 18:11 (seventeen years ago) link

"Yeeess, we're adding a 3 minute single to this long playing record, so of course we must make room for it by deleting 11 minutes worth of material...hmm...let's see, kids don't care about Astronomy, get rid of that one...Flaming, hmm sounds rather dangerous...ah this one, Bike doesn't sound very interesting..."

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Sunday, 16 July 2006 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

That is barmy, "Pow R. Toc H." at track 2, not to mention the oddity of "Interstellar Overdrive" ending just like that. "Flaming" was released as a single, though.

It was already high time that the mono version of Piper was back in print.

― LC (Damian), Sunday, 16 July 2006 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

The American release on Tower wasn't even called The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, was it? Same cover, but I think it was just a self-titled album.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 16 July 2006 18:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, but the front cover always just said "Pink Floyd" anyway, right? It's possible that they were so clueless (as the tracklisting suggests) as to not know to add the title to the back cover and the label.

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Sunday, 16 July 2006 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Or decided to get rid of it!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 16 July 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link

"Yesss, and this title, I heard it was from some children's book, a bit juvenile..."

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Sunday, 16 July 2006 18:57 (seventeen years ago) link

that reminds me of what was like, the key moment of my record nerd life. My parents used to drive me to 8th st in manhattan and would wait outside while I went to the record stores. Venus Records (before it moved to St. Marks) was amazing. I remember they had like 15 copies of Piper at the Gates of Dawn and for the life of me I couldn't understand why See Emily Play was on some of them, and why the artwork on the back looked slightly different.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 16 July 2006 19:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Hmm, the only pics I can find of that Tower version online still say "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" on the back cover...
http://i21.ebayimg.com/01/i/07/a3/9b/dd_1.JPG
Supposedly it just says Pink Floyd on the actual label, though.

― Marmot 4-Tay: what those guyz make music 4. (marmotwolof), Sunday, 16 July 2006 19:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Skipping 37 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

that's from Zooborns- the only website worth going to on a daily basis.

― Lazarus Niles-Burnham (res), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 01:09 (thirteen years ago) link

power tokage

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 04:18 (thirteen years ago) link

btw: is that the best refrain in any rock song?
also I hope I used the word "refrain" correctly

― Stop Non-Erotic Cabaret (Abbbottt), Monday, December 13, 2010 7:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

yes and maybe

― The Totally Blow (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 05:42 (thirteen years ago) link

What about "you're the kind of girl who fits in with my world, i'll give you anything, everything if you want things"? That's pretty hard to top too.

― Lazarus Niles-Burnham (res), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 05:54 (thirteen years ago) link

it always pisses me off that that track on the 1st black angels is called "sniper at the gates of heaven", cuz you know what they meant, and they should have just gone ahead and said it

― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 05:56 (thirteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858542413/

Pow R. Toc H. Lyrics

Whoo, Whoo!
Doy Doy!

― lol waggoner (am0n), Saturday, 29 October 2011 18:24 (twelve years ago) link

Still my favorite Pink Floyd, and one of the best British psych records of all time. Definitely in the top 3. I really like that there was a time in pop history where someone could get on TV singing "Apples and Oranges". I know that's not on the album, but all those singles are just as incredible.

Where's that interview? I want to hear it!

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 29 October 2011 19:05 (twelve years ago) link

I love Chapter 24 so much. Change return success.
Best song inspired by the I Ching ever?

― Trip Maker, Saturday, 29 October 2011 21:29 (twelve years ago) link

Whoo, Whoo!
Doy Doy!

Bollocks knows it's...

Doi doing!

― Tom D., Thursday, 14 June 2007 08:55 (4 years ago) Bookmark

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Monday, 31 October 2011 10:31 (twelve years ago) link

... supposed to say 'Bollocks, everyone knows it's...' but that'll do

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Monday, 31 October 2011 10:31 (twelve years ago) link

Bollocks knows best.

― Mark G, Monday, 31 October 2011 10:37 (twelve years ago) link

I found a DVD online of a 'mime-fest' they did just after Syd was left, for Belgium(?) TV.

They shared the 'I'll do Syd' vocal 'performances' between them..

Actually, rediscovered "Paintbox" as a thing of beauty.

Just recently, got a very cheap "By the Way" box set (actually a not-boot copy, hray!), so I'll (probably very slowly) be going through this until I lose the will to live (which will probably be around 'Meddle' or somesuch)

― Mark G, Monday, 31 October 2011 10:40 (twelve years ago) link

To me, there seemed to be three early phases:

1) The Syd "Happy" years (2 singles, first album)

2) The Dark "Syd" years (3 tracks off Saucer, singles, some unreleased tracks)

3) The "Rick writes" years (a b-side, some tracks off Saucer, some singles)

The rest I don't know.

― Mark G, Monday, 31 October 2011 10:42 (twelve years ago) link

five months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yBvhIC8d5U

― lebron traveled (am0n), Thursday, 19 April 2012 18:42 (twelve years ago) link

The butchering of British albums for US release in the '60s never ceases to amaze me. Look what they did to poor "Piper" back in the day:

A pity they removed "Bike", but having "Interstellar Overdrive" at the end seems like a good idea. Easier to skip it then ;)

― The GeirBot (Geir Hongro), Friday, 20 April 2012 09:16 (twelve years ago) link

why i oughta *shakes fist*

― aboulia banks (Noodle Vague), Friday, 20 April 2012 09:51 (twelve years ago) link

Doi doing!

― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Friday, 20 April 2012 12:19 (twelve years ago) link

Kinda sad that the rest of Pink Floyd's career relied so heavily on exploiting Syd.

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 20 April 2012 13:33 (twelve years ago) link

eleven years pass...

Classic!

― The Original Human Beat Surrender (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 2 June 2023 01:46 (eleven months ago) link

Doy doy!

― budo jeru, Friday, 2 June 2023 02:24 (eleven months ago) link

i don’t know what psychedelia even is. the sound of this album is like antique etched glassware, it’s so stiff and so fragile it would shatter like peanut brittle if you breathed on it funny.
Bike is the best Pink Floyd song. i’m also pretty sure Syd Barrett is the best lyricist of all time. the thing about all the “crazy Syd” mythos that especially annoys me is he wrote about his schizophrenia-like condition soooo well, it’s all right there in plain sight, there’s no need for other people to tell that story for him. the Scarecrow is i guess the beginning of that. not sure if this is Syd’s best album, or PF’s but i’ve owned 3 copies and listened to it more times than any other album by anyone

― No, 𝘐'𝘮 Breathless! (Deflatormouse), Friday, 2 June 2023 06:07 (eleven months ago) link

Bike sounds exactly the same backwards btw

― No, 𝘐'𝘮 Breathless! (Deflatormouse), Friday, 2 June 2023 06:10 (eleven months ago) link

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