Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12980 in Music
• Released on: 1994-10-01
• Number of discs: 1

From Amazon.com
While they took their name from blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council when they started out as an R&B combo in the mid-60s, Pink Floyd's leader, guitarist Syd Barrett, soon began piloting the band through unprecedented sonic excursions typified by the title of their 1967 debut album's most celebrated track--the outsized instrumental "Interstellar Overdrive." Equally adept at composing catchy-sounding, Gothic-themed pop songs such as "See Emily Play," "The Scarecrow" and "The Gnome," Barrett seemed destined for greatness--that is, until psychedelic drugs got the best of him, and he abandoned the band to bassist Roger Waters and new guitarist David Gilmour. The rest, as they say, is history. --Billy Altman

CD Description
Pink Floyd's debut was its only recording based on the vision of founding singer/guitarist Syd Barrett, an art student whose world revolved around music, mysticism, and liberal doses of hallucinogens. The band's moniker was taken from the first names of Georgia bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council (an album of theirs was a favourite of Barrett's), and the album's title came from a chapter of Kenneth Grahame's children's classic, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS (also a staple of Barrett's library).
Recorded at Abbey Road at the same time The Beatles were cutting SGT. PEPPER, PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN is an avant-garde pastiche of trippy improvisation and snappy pop snippets--a blurring of musical borders that went far beyond what the Fab Four were doing a couple of rooms away. (Producer Norman Smith had been The Beatles' chief engineer for much of the early '60s.) Instrumental space-jamslike "Pow R. Toc H". and "Interstellar Overdrive" smashed the conventionality of the pop mainstream by opening up traditional song structures, as bits of Rick Wright's reverb-soaked Farfisa organ and Barrett's scratchy guitar float in and out of the mix. The other side of Barrett's musical expression was an ability to write shorter "pop" songs that were similar to traditional fare only in length--acid-fueled observations of a Siamese cat on "Lucifer Sam", and child-like tales on "The Gnome" and "Bike".

Customer Reviews

UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST PSYCHEDELIC ALBUM EVER MADE
Space pixie Syd Barrett's crowning achievement was ultimately his first and last album recorded under the banner of Pink Floyd, when he was the driving force. Inspired by the harmonies and guitars of the Byrds' "Fifth Dimension" album of 1966, Syd penned the classic space rock opus Interstellar Overdrive and the album's opener Astronomy Domine. Building on the success of the early singles Arnold Layne and See Emily Play, Syd's songwriting talent came to the fore, and although typifying the whimsical edge of British psychedelia of the mid 1960's, his songs always had something extra that prevented them from degenerating into cheesy pop like many others did. Quite simply Piper was the best album of the era, with the driving, sinister Lucifer Sam and simply transcendant Mathilda Mother among the album's strongest cuts, also featuring the complete nonesense Bike song and the I-Ching inspired Chapter 24 among others. All areas of psychedelia were explored and to my mind never bettered by anyone. I used to love Sgt Pepper, but Piper blows it away making it sound overdone and pompous as if the Beatles were cashing in rather than innovating. Many people at the time of the album's release complained that Piper did not actively reflect the band's live music shows, which were apparently even more deranged. Little matter now. Over 30 years later Piper still sends shivers up my spine and makes me grin deliriously. Nothing will ever come close to this record, and I mean nothing. I've been an ardent fan of psychedelia in all it's forms for the past twenty years so I feel reasonably qualified to say this. As an afterthought, I would recommend this album to anyone, even if they are not fans of the era or style of music; this cd just might change your mind.

It all started here..
Here's the album that put Pink Floyd firmly on the map during the psychedelic haze of the late 60's. Their first album after some three years of finding their sound at shows in the Roundhouse and UFO this clearly shows the almost towering genious of founder member Syd Barrett. From the haunting bars of 'Astronomy Domine', through the fairytale lyrics of 'Matilda Mother', to the crashing chords of 'Interstella Overdrive' and the wimsical humour of 'Bike', this is an album that has never been bettered. One is only left to wonder what would have happened if Syd hadn't gone off the rails and Roger Waters hadn't taken over.

A MUST BUY ALBUM.

What are you all talking about?
If you like British psychedelia, and you like the 60's, you'll love this.
If you don't it won't sway you, that simple.
This is an awesome album, and the beginning of a career for one hell of a band. This is the album they built on.
Some of the stuff is more poppy, some is slightly mad (see 'Bike'), some is more experimental.
Just ignore the bad reviews, they were probably written by Phil Collins fans.
This is the beginning of something big, and a pioneering album for its time.
Far better than Pink Floyd now anyway.