Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Astronomy Domine
2. Lucifer Sam
3. Matilda Mother
4. Flaming
5. Pow R Toc H
6. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk
7. Interstellar Overdrive
8. Gnome
9. Chapter 24
10. Scarecrow
11. Bike

Disc 2:

1. Astronomy Domine (1)
2. Lucifer Sam
3. Matilda Mother
4. Flaming
5. Pow R Toc H
6. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk (1)
7. Interstellar Overdrive
8. Gnome
9. Chapter 24
10. Scarecrow
11. Bike

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2446 in Music
• Released on: 2007-09-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .6 pounds

CD Description
'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn', the debut album from Pink Floyd, epitomises the genre of psychedelic rock. Guitar and organ experimentation is taken to extremes on tracks like 'Interstellar Overdrive', while Syd Barrett's whimsical and oftenhumorous lyrics have an undertone of darkness, aided by theuse of eerie vocal and instrumental effects. Originally recorded in 1967, it was Barrett's only full album with Pink Floyd, and this 40th anniversary double-CD re-issue contains stereo and mono mixes of the release.

Customer Reviews

Pink Floyd first album presented in mono and stereo versions

To "mark the celebration of the band's fortieth anniversary", EMI has deemed wise to release two different sets featuring early Pink Floyd material.

The first set includes two CD's whilst the other, slightly more costly set includes three CD's.

This album is the 2-CD set featuring newly remastered versions of Pink Floyd's first album in both stereo and mono versions. It highlights whatever differences there are between the stereo and mono mixes (such differences were a common occurrence at the time.)

It seems logical to me that this album will be of interest mainly to the dedicated rather than to the casual Pink Floyd fan. The latter will probably be happy with the available single CD in stereo.

Should you belong to the former category, buying the 3-CD box set seems to me to make much more sense. The first two CD's enclosed in the latter are identical to the ones included on the 2-CD set. The third CD from the box set includes seven tracks recorded by the Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. These were originally released as single A- and B-sides. All the originally released studio EMI recordings of Pink Floyd featuring Syd Barrett are assembled in one neat place. Moreover, two rarities are included: a French edit of "Interstellar Overdrive" and a previously unreleased stereo version of "Apples and Oranges."

The packaging of the 3-CD box is also much better. This box costs £ 3.00 (or about 23%) more than the 2-CD set.

Overall, I find that the 3-CD box set is the better buy by far. I have reviewed it elsewhere on this site.

Save up and buy the extended version
Pink Floyd's first album - the only one with the mercurial Syd Barrett - is a true classic of the psychedelic era. Witty inventive songs played with the enthusiasm of a band at the start of their adventure. Thereafter, for my taste at least, they ambled off into extended prog-rock noodling and were dominated by Roger Waters' rather gloomy personality. If you want this album it's worth saving up for the three disc set which comes with a collection of singles and alternate versions which are really worth having. A delight whichever version you choose.

A Psych Classic, but I do have reservations about this release
Another anniversary of another classic album and once again, a record company decides that it is yet another opportunity to fleece the public. Before I go any further, I should say that this is a great album and an excellent introduction to British psychedelic music. It is also one of the jewels in the crown in the Floyd back catalogue and the only one to feature original guitar player Syd Barrett (who would be ousted from the band he had helped to create due to his ever increasingly unreliable behaviour). It is most probably the only album to feature songs about Gnomes, cats, bikes, outer space or scarecrows. The majority of the songs were credited to Barrett alone and all of these are highlights. It is on the songs which Barret co-writes or had nothing to do with where the album falls down. The two psychedelic instrumental jams (which made up quite a large portion of the Floyd's live set at this time) have not stood the test of time that well and the one credited to Roger Waters is terrible.

Why anyone would want to buy this set (when there is a three disc version released at roughly the same time) is beyond me. The causal buyer would no buy this album because it sounds nothing like 'Dark Side of the Moon' or any of the later, more famous works. Only dedicated Floyd fans, along with those who are dedicated to collecting anything that had Syd Barrett on it would fork out for this and they are no doubt completests. Where are the radio sessions and unreleased tracks (I mention these in more detail in the 3cd set review)?

One of these days, the remaining members of Floyd might wake up to the fact that their fans deserve to be treated with a little bit more respect and released the songs that the obsessive fans already own on bootlegs.