Product Description

Pink Floyd's second album is a hesitant transition from thebaroque acid whimsy of PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN into the futuristic space rock the group would refine through DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. Recorded as Syd Barrett was messily leaving the band (Barrett contributes one track, the cacophonous "Jugband Blues", though rumours persist that he plays on at least a couple of others), the album finds the remaining members, including new guitarist Dave Gilmour, exploring their newroles in public.
Keyboardist Richard Wright contributes two lovely, pastoral tracks, "Remember a Day" and "See Saw",that echo Barrett's familiar childlike whimsy, while bassist Roger Waters's contributions, along with the band-composed12-minute title track, map out the pulsating throb and lengthy instrumental sections that would soon become Floyd's sonic trademark. Another key track is the satiric "Corporal Clegg", Waters' first exploration of antiwar themes.

Track Listing

1. Let There Be More Light
2. Remember A Day
3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
4. Corporal Clegg
5. Saucerful Of Secrets
6. See Saw
7. Jugband Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1147 in Music
• Released on: 1994-07-25
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Transitional album with highs and lows
Without Syd Barrett, it's clear Pink Floyd were struggling to find a new direction. They lacked his brilliant songs, though Rick Wright's Remember a day (on which Syd played) is a fair pastiche, and while Dave Gilmour was a fine guitarist even at the time, he lacked Syd's manic edge.

The result is very much a mixed bag. The attempts to carry on in Syd's style, with such songs as Corporal Clegg and See Saw are, at best, nothing special, while the search for a fresh direction with the title track results in a rather long and padded out piece that's either a brave experiment or the sign of a lack of material, depending on your point of view. Better is Set the controls for the heart of the sun, on which you can hear the Floyd they grew to be. The track that usually makes this an essential buy for Floyd fans, though, is Jugband Blues, Syd's parting shot. It's a moving song in the context of the circumstances of Syd's departure, but the Salvation Army segment simply intrudes, and while Syd's guitar suggests this could have been the basis of an improvised piece and the ending is suitably haunting, this is not really in the same class as the songs on Piper.

There's enough on here to make it an enjoyable album, but it's very much a band in transition; while there are traces of the band that made Piper, the Floyd sound of the 1970s is still a long way away.

Between Whimsy and Weary
Once Syd left the group in early 1968, and David Gilmour joined, the subsequent three records - including this one - are the sound of a band looking for a new direction. "Saucerful Of Secrets" is the only record to feature the five-piece Floyd lineup (albeit briefly), and is a confused artistic mess as Syd audibly untangles and falls to pieces on `Jugband Blues', whilst Roger starts to assume control with the driving (and oft-sampled) `Let There Be Light'. It has some great moments and is an intruiging look at a group in transition.

super
In a way this is Roger Waters et al trying to be syd barrett, "corporal clegg" superficially with its themes of englishness fulfills this role, but bubbling just below the surface is roger waters bile, and "set the controls" sets the template for the meanderings of pink floyd for the rest of the 60's, cool curio of a album that will appeal to fans of syd as well as fans of the later floyd because this is the album were they began to find their own identity sans syd.