The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

I am in the minority when I say that I saw barely anything worth admiring in Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I found the concept to be uninspiring, the vocals and instrumentals lacking and most songs flat out boring to listen to. After listening to Pink Floyd’s debut, I find it substantially more boring and annoying. The downplayed instrumentally focused parts on Astronomy Doctrine, the sharp whisper on Matilda Mother, the animal sounds on Pow R., the sharp pronunciation of s’s and t’s on The Gnome, a sharp buzz in my left ear cup during the middle and end of Chapter 24, the awful… awful second part of Bike containing distorted bells and a laughing gnome? (I really cannot believe this is enjoyable to some) and the overall lack of harmonious melodies makes this a torturous listening experience. At times, I was checking my headphones whether they were plugged in correctly, because I found the experience to be that atrocious. The only barely redeemable song on the record is Lucifer Sam, as I sort-of like the sinister groove and bass. All in all, this album is an example for me on how to go in the wrong direction at every turn when trying to create a psychedelic and experimental piece of rock music. A 1/5 is fitting.

This is actually the best advert against taking psychedelics I've ever heard.

One of the best Psychadelic albums I've ever listened to. Sure, later Pink Floyd releases would sound barely anything like this, but that's what makes this so good. What we have here is the perfect blend of whimsical nonsense and tripped out experimentation from the genius mind of Syd Barret. This is an album that only the Syd led era of Pink Floyd could produce, and for what it is I adore it dearly. Favorites: Astronomy Domine, Lucifer Sam, Interstellar Overdrive, Bike

Day 13 of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and today I’ve got the debut album of one of the best selling bands of all time, Pink Floyd. Now, as a kid I always looked at Pink Floyd as being a drug band. Not a lot of kids my age were dropping acid or magic mushrooms when I was coming up, at least not in my areas, so I couldn’t really relate to this band. As I grew older I learned to appreciate their music a bit more when a couple of my cousins, who were really into The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and other similar psychedelic music, turned me on to more of their music. In one way it creeped me out a bit (“Hello… Is there anybody in there?”) but it was so different from what I was used to that it was more welcomed than it was when I was a kid. I’m glad that the first Pink Floyd album I’ve received is their first one. I can really start to dig deeper into this band from the beginning. I got really into The Beatles when I was in my twenties and The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn reminds me of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. It feels very experimental and bound my nobody’s restraints but their own, and even then they seemed to have none. The Beatles, even on Sgt. Peppers, tended to keep their compositions reigned in a little tighter around the choruses, verses and melodies, only allowing the instrumentation and solo’s to go so far. Pink Floyd doesn’t give a shit about a strict song structure, their compositions can get pretty extended on most songs. If I’m being completely honest, which I intend to do on every album, it gets a bit boring for me.. Sure, If I was tripping balls I could see how id get completely lost in the stories that the instruments are playing. No disrespect to Pink Floyd is intended in any way. Its great music and they are pioneers. I’m attracted to choruses, verses and melodies. I didn’t know any songs from this record. The stand outs for me were Lucifer Sam, The Gnome and The Scarecrow. Pink Floyd helped change the game in the 60’s and 70’s for sure. Im particularly looking forward to albums of theirs that I’m more familiar with like The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon. If you’ve never watched The Wizard Of Oz synced up to Dark Side Of The Moon, it’s a real trip (even if you aren’t on acid). I will leave that topic for when I get to that album though. While I’m not likely to add any songs from this album to any of my playlists any time soon, I am grateful I got to experience it. Please share your thoughts, opinions and memories below!! ✌️

I like psychedelia. I think weird and unorthodox music like psych/prog rock is vastly more interesting than anything that's been on the pop charts for ages. I like nontraditional song structures, with strange chord progressions and time signatures. I really enjoy the 1967-1975ish era when rock musicians were really pushing the boundaries of music, creating cohesive mind-expanding albums instead of cheap radio pop singles. Modern popular music bores me to DEATH; it loses my interest quickly. Maybe that's an ADHD thing, who knows. Even though this album is aged it still comes off as much more inventive than anything I knew growing up in the 21st century. I find it fascinating that music like this ever sold, back in the day. It's the opposite of radio-friendly. I will say that this album is not a great intro to Pink Floyd, imo. Their 70s output is definitely the reason they are beloved far and wide. So I hope this album isn't the FIRST Pink Floyd album anyone hears, otherwise they may get frightened by its quirkiness and immediately dismiss the whole band.

I've always avowed a dislike of Pink Floyd. I love old-school punk, and I've followed the punk orthodoxy that Pink Floyd were the apotheosis of the conceited, flatulent bores that populated prog rock. My attitude since my student days has mellowed slightly, but only slightly. Nowadays I'm not going to act outraged if someone puts Money on the jukebox (though I still think it's cack). But the punk orthodoxy on Pink Floyd carried a qualifier: the enmity towards Pink Floyd should be directed towards the Roger Waters era. It's easy to comprehend why. Roger Waters is clearly one of the most pompous, humourless figures in all of rock. If you said "Knock knock" to Roger Waters, he would glare at you silently for a full minute, his snarl becoming more and more severe as the seconds passed, and then scream in your face that your "Knock knock" statement made you directly responsible for the death of a Palestinian child. But the punks tended to excuse Syd Barrett from the opprobrium. Syd's whimsy and tragic breakdown granted him a pass, to the extent that the Damned asked Syd to produce their second album Music for Pleasure; he couldn't be contacted what with being a recluse, so the Damned asked Pink Floyd's drummer Nick Mason instead (even Pink Floyd's drummer was whiny and melodramatic. The drummer. Chew on that for a while.). The ill-starred album bombed critically and commercially. This was to be expected. Previously, I reviewed Syd Barrett's first solo album, The Madcap Laughs. I gave it one star. It degenerated into studio outtakes by side B, making the whole album seem an ugly exploitation of an unwell man. So logically, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn must represent the full-bloomed talents of Syd. But on listening, I'm obliged to conclude that it doesn't really work. This is not to say PATGOD is bad, per se. Some of the tracks have that pleasing, trippy, rocking playfulness of reputation. But large parts have that most fatal of curses: dullness. The experimentalism of the album just comes across as exercises in cleverness rather than inquisitiveness, of Pink Floyd filling out an IQ test with cribbed answers. More personally, the childlike insinuations to fairy tales and Edward Lear don't appeal to me. The worst trend of our age is the dislodging of serious literature by Harry Potter fans too blinkered to bother with intricate prose, and I am similarly wary over late-60s groups trying to evoke a mythical arcadia where we dance around the meadows as a goat-hoofed pixie plays his flute to summon the fairies and render us all perpetually 12. So, PATGOD manages to be both far too ponderous and far too slight. I can just about recognise why others genuflect towards this, but I still see no reason to revise my antipathy for Pink Floyd. Also, I really don't know what to deduce about the legacy of Syd Barrett. Would his other solo album finally give me my chips? Maybe one day soon I'll listen to it, but not today. As for PATGOD, 2 stars seems a molecule too harsh, but it's one of the most generous threes I've given so far.

this is one of the 1001 albums i must listen to before i die? fuck me ragged. this is a total piece of overblown shit, self indulgence at it's finest. why does this band have so many fans? it's absolute dogshit. half of them aren't even songs they're just rambling jam sessions. 'the gnome' is like someone asked the kinks to pretend to be late-beatles and 'don't try very hard'. fuck off pink floyd! FUCK OFF

Classic. Love Syd.

Vous qui lisez régulièrement la presse savez que j'ai écouté cet album en début de semaine dans le bus 5011. Je vais vous résumer cet épisode le plus succinctement possible. Il est 14h02 lorsque je monte dans le véhicule précité. J'attrape ma carte d'abonnement et la tends au chauffeur qui m'interpelle alors : "robcrémaillère ?!" Il m'avait reconnu. J'enfile alors ma capuche et mes écouteurs, lance l'album des Pink Floyd, et me dirige vers le fond lorsque j'entends le volume de la radio augmenter brutalement. Je me retourne alors et aperçois dans le rétroviseur central le regard du chauffeur me fixant de ses yeux guimauve. Celui-ci se saisit de ce même rétroviseur et l'abaisse lentement jusqu'à ce qu'y soit reflétée sa bouche. "Qu'est-ce que c'est que cette histoire ?" me dis-je. Je parviens soudain à lire sur ses lèvres le mot suivant : "Portishead". Il s'agissait d'un guet-apens. J'appuie alors de toutes mes forces sur le bouton d'ouverture de la porte arrière, enchaîne une série de coups de pied contre celle-ci mais rien n'y fait, elle est bloquée. Le volume sonore continue d'augmenter alors que les autres passagers restent totalement passifs. Sous mon oreille droite commence à couler un fin filet de sang. Après quelques minutes interminables, le bus s'arrête. La porte arrière ne s'ouvre toujours pas à l'inverse de celle avant, par laquelle un individu masqué monte soudain, un ordinateur à la main. Il se poste au milieu de l'allée et ne manque pas d'ouvrir ce dernier devant mon regard incrédule. Sur son écran, un visage apparaît : celui de mon rival et compagnon d'écoute elgutierrez. Il était donc derrière cette mascarade...

I need to listen to this again. With drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.

I've also been into Pink Floyd's more popular releases, so it was very interesting to see where those evolved from. I also didn't know this was the only album with Barrett. He was always a name I heard and just associated with the band. Loved the freaky vibes with beautiful harmonies over them throughout this album. "Flaming" and "Pow R. Toc H." are dripping in LSD. Completely nonsensical. Really loved Astronomy Domine. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope..." is a jam! "Interstellar Overdrive," feels like a very accurate bad acid trip representation. Jamming having a good time, then you fall down a deep dark rabbit hole, and then burst back above the surface feeling...decent. I think the press was fair in saying they made music for LSD users. That's only half the album though, and I'd say I enjoyed the goofy romps like "Gnome" and "Bike," even more. They were always a versatile band on the forefront of experimentation.

3.7 + Not their most accomplished record but certainly distinguished for the time in its sound experimentation and studio mastery. For 1967, they were already well ahead of the pack in exploring psychedelia. “Interestellar Overdrive” drags the middle of the record for me. The second half has some whacky, Syd Barret-y songs with his signature slapdash vocals.

7/10 - Better then I thought it would be. Sydd could write some songs.

Wow. I’ve heard this before, just as any Pink Floyd fan will have…but just wow. It’s truly abysmal. I might have a controversial take here, but thank god Syd buggered off. Really hard to listen to, most tracks are skippable and the gibberish is just too much.

Great debut album. Of course, Pink Floyd changed dramatically after Syd was no longer a part of the band, but this album still stands as a landmark in psychedelic rock. 4 stars.

Okay - so I have done a deep dive of the Syd era Floyd, and I have listened multiple - AND I MEAN multiple times, and as much as I appreciate what Syd did to bring Richard, Nick, & Roger together, I'm about to type some things that might be sacrilege... There is no doubt that Syd was absolutely brilliant - no doubt whatsoever... However, significant LSD use, combined with schizophrenia is just a bad - bad equation for anyone... Happy that the band took care of him in his later years, and Floyd is pretty fortunate that David Gilmour just happened to be there as a good friend to "fill in" - simply an amazing story... "Piper's" is nothing but psychedelic experimentation - which was pretty good for 1967 - but there is absolutely nothing here more than that... I would have loved to plug in, back in 1967, and play some shit and say - "...Wow - check that out...", but that's not me... I appreciate that that Gilmour and the band played "Astronomy Domine" on the live "Pulse " album - and Gilmour played it on a couple of his live solo albums (i.e. with Richard & Nick by the way...), but the best track on this album is "Interstellar Overdrive" - HANDS DOWN!!! All that said - this album is LIGHT YEARS BEHIND the Pink Floyd that would we all know and love - though there is no doubt that Syd's influence on the band will never be forgotten - as he inspired their best work in "The Dark Side Of The Moon" & "Wish You Were Here"... Channeling my friends - channeling... Though I for some strange reason, I DO have MAD love for "Bike" which closes the album - so there's that... : )

Why must this website subject me to such torture

One of my favorite albums ever, does that make me sick

Excelente, mesmo não sendo o melhor deles

Another very busy day. Love much of this esp. Lucifer Sam and Bike (from a melodic point of view) and Astronomy/Overdrive (from a tripped out one). The best psychedelic Floyd I reckon

Cacophonous and meandering, experimental like a bunch of kids just vibing on pianos. Enjoyed the weird riffs.

One drugs, please.

This record’s sonic components, apart from the era-typical spooky-ghost singing, tickle my happy place, but the songs themselves usually annoy me. Lucifer Sam starts with mighty, deep twangy guitar before deciding it wants to be a song about heck knows what, just I don’t like it. Interstellar Overdrive is an exception, because it starts with a decent riff before the band just opens throttle, and there’a no drivel, no la la la. Barrett could smash that guitar good! Don’t like his songs though! The flippant review is: go to Skip Spence’s “Oar”.

This album is interesting to me primarily because you can hear the beginning of the sound of Pink Floyd massive later on in their career, but they had a long way to go at this point. Not enjoyable, but not particularly enthralling or exciting. …

Sehr experimentell, Doors-Freejazz-Gitartenpop

Got 9 songs in and DNF’d. Boring and arbitrarily chaotic

It really doesnt matter if this was their debut album or not, because this album typifies exactly why I never have, and never will like Pink Floyd. The randomness of instruments which sound as if they're playing different songs all at the same time... is just bonkers and I struggled to listen to this. Take Thy Stethoscope and stick it where the sun don't shine. Not for me... ever!!!!

Sounded like a class of primary school were given an assortment of instruments, told to play for 40 minutes, and someone recorded it.

I listened to this while running and thought some of the ludicrous lyrics would distract me. I nearly stopped in frustration at all the instrumental nonsense. How the hell is this touted as a classic?

En muchos minutos solo son ruido.

Always a classic and one of the most revolutionary albums out there

Interstellar Overdrive is such an underrated Pink Floyd song, no one ever talks about it. Favourite Songs: Astronomy Domine, Lucifer Sam, Pow R. Toc H., Interstellar Overdrive, The Gnome. Least Favourite Songs: Chapter 24.

the best album ever made. broke my lil 16 year old brain the first time i heard it and its only gotten better from there. SYD FOREVER

Half the band members on the album cover looks like they’re floating on another planet🐸 I liked this album more than I’m willing to admit

Hahaha what a silly album. Sorry you went crazy Sid, at least you got an album on this list before that happened. Enjoyed the psychedelia more than I did years ago when I first found this album

Brilliant album. Syd at his best, lyrically and musically. A completely different band than what they became when Gilmour replaced him but so much more interesting. Really, who else could have written Interstellar Overdrive?

Love the whimsy on this album. The band lost that aspect after Syd left but I don’t think they would have ever hit the worldwide popularity that they did with him. This album is a great example of psychedelic-space rock and led the way for later acts like Hawkwind. So even though it doesn’t sound like their later albums it was highly influential and they were one of the hottest acts of the time in England. Classic.

Love Pink Floyd and they are one of my favorites of all time but this album is one of their worst. Still 5 stars and better than most other music though.

An otherworldly debut radiating fantastical whimsy like a cosmic storybook, standing as an eternal pillar of psychedelia that dances merrily through dreamscapes no subsequent explorer has quite managed to rediscover.

Pink Floyd (Debut Album) 1967 Psychedelic Rock, acid pop, experimental rock, space rock Sometimes I don't know which version of the album to listen to. This one has a UK release, US release and the 40th Anniversary edition (which includes the songs on both UK and US releases.... So I pretty much went with the 40th Anniversary edition so I can get it all in. Either way, the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd is SO different than the Pink Floyd I grew up listening to. I really didn't like this album the first several time I listened to it. BUT, as I kept listening to it because of it's inclusion on this list, I really grew to love it. It is hard to consider it Pink Floyd - because it is so completely different. Yes, I think it is great now. Rating: 4.5 Tracks: Astronomy Domine Lucifer Sam Matilda Mother Flaming Pow R. Toc H Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk Interstellar Overdrive The Gnome Chapter 24 The Scarecrow Bike See Emily Play (US version) Arnold Layne (40th Anniversary) Candy and A Currant Bun (40th Anniversary) Apples and Oranges (40th Anniversary) Paintbox (40th Anniversary)

Η μουσική των Pink Floyd είναι η Μουσική.

Masterpiece, in my top 20

I have this one on vinyl, so I was very excited when I saw it pop up as album of the day. While I do think the first side is better than the second, I really love this album as a whole. Syd Barrett puts a lot of twists and turns in the music and lyrics that I just love. It's too bad he wasn't able to build off this one.

This is one of the great Pink Floyd albums and was a key player in the English psych scene. With band leader Syd Barrett at the helm, it's a mixture of psychedelic whimsy, imaginative lyrics, and the beginnings of the 'space rock' jams that Pink Floyd were famous for. Sadly Barrett's mental health meant a line-up change for the follow-up album and the band carried on their experimental ways until the next great album The Dark Side of the Moon. But really this is possibly my favourite Pink Floyd album. I have it on cheap vinyl (in stereo) and on CD in the original mono.

One of the records I would take to a lonely island. I have listened to it at least 1000 times. I love it!

Masterpiece! Love the psychedelic Floyd!

Pink Floyd is easily one of my top 5 favourite acts of all time, but I couldn't get into them (or mostly DSOTM) for the longest time until I stumbled upon this album. I didn't have high expectation considering my impression at the time, but Piper blew my mind and got me hooked into Pink Floyd forever. So I was overjoyed to finally get a Pink Floyd album, especially their first one at that. Solely based on the sound of this album, this should only be a 4. But considering how this album essentially got me into Pink Floyd, and how this album kickstarted Pink Floyd's career as well as Syd Barrett's continuous influence on the band even years after his departure, I couldn't give this album anything but a 5. The tragedy of Pink Floyd is that there is no Pink Floyd without Syd Barrett. With Syd Barrett, they would be a good band, but never one of the greatest bands of all time. So the only way is to have Syd Barrett for a while, then let him go.

Mljac. Old skul psych, interstellar overdrive mi je najbolja pjesma iako ima tu dosta gemova po mom ukusu Ne znam koliko puta sam ovaj album preslušao, a sigurno ću ga još vrtiti

I wanna be honest about me and the early years of Pink Floyd. 'Coz, look, I have nothing but respect for Syd Barrett. Being aware of his story and the impact even his absence would have on the band, it's impossible not to. I mean, he inspired over half minutes of my favorite Pink Floyd album, WISH YOU WERE HERE. With how much the band clearly respected him, why wouldn't I? Not to mention, this is the only Pink Floyd album he'd have direct influence on. On the following album he'd only have two songs, and after that, well... You'd only have a harder time tryna **not** talk about Syd Barrett if you were reviewing his solo album THE MADCAP LAUGHS. So, coming into this album, I felt like talking about Syd was unavoidable, and not something I wanted to take lightly. That's part of why I've honestly had a bit of trouble tryna write this review; it's making sure I've been taking him as seriously as I feel he should be taken. But here's the other part of that trouble, and honestly kind of a bigger one. When it comes to me and Pink Floyd, as much as they're one of my favorite bands, I hardly pay much mind to their early years. When it comes to stuff before THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, there's MEDDLE and sometimes ATOM HEART MOTHER and that's about it. Beyond that, I usually experience this era of Pink Floyd through whatever ends up on compilation albums — and that's typically just "See Emily Play". As a result, I don't really have much of a connection to this album; not in the same way I do with something like WISH YOU WERE HERE. Frankly, I don't tend to think about this album too much outside of it being "their only true psychedelic rock record." It's just not where my tastes lie. Which isn't to say I don't like this album — and I'll get to **finally** talking about the dang music on this thing in a second — but, y'know, you understand why I've been struggling with this review, right? I'm the kinda person who wants to essay it up about albums and discuss the context surrounding them. I wanna discuss Syd with the importance I feel he deserves, 'coz Syd is the single most important context here. I mean, we wouldn't even have Pink Floyd if it wasn't for him. It's just hard to talk about him the way I'd want to when I don't really have much attachment to the big album he was involved in. So, yeah. That's what I had to reconcile with before I even thought I could talk about the music. Essentially, all of that was my preemptive apology for not being able to do the good job I wanted to do. (And in fact, lemme apologize in advance for my MADCAP LAUGHS review. If **this** was a hard one, then hoo boy...) But, some 500 words in, let's finally get down to what we're actually here for: the music. Taken in 2024, how does it hold up? Well, you're never gonna be able to mistake it for another decade, that's for sure. This is 60's psychedelic rock through and through, from the soundscapes down to that sweet 60's panning — hell yeah, drums entirely in my left ear! Although, hey, this **is** 1967, so it's not as bad as it could be on other, earlier records. Besides, they do some neat stuff with the panning over on "Interstellar Overdrive". And in regards to 60's psych rock, hey, this is maybe — no, probably — no, actually some of the best and most unique I've ever heard. Of every psych album this Randomizer has had me hear, and it's had me hear a **lot**, I can't think of another that sounds like this. Maybe in the future there'll be something (there **are** a **lot** left), but I know I'll compare them first to this. I also just can't think of psych albums with topics like these. Songs about scarecrows and gnomes, next to one that just directly reads from the I CHING... And then there's whatever "Bike" is about. It's a ride in any case, with how it randomly shifts tempos every verse. This feels like one of those albums where if you wanted to give it a deep reading in light of what happened, you maybe could. None of this is "Jugband Blues" to my ears, though; this album is just legitimately that innocent. I even feel like I could go so far as to call its innocence childlike. Those are just the vibes I get from this thing. And, really, I do appreciate that this album can get really "underground weird" in spots. Of course you got the poppier stuff (and the original American release just straight-up included "See Emily Play"), but then you have what I'm pretty sure is the album's centerpiece, "Interstellar Overdrive". Now this is a song that's not concerned at all with appealing to the masses. All it wants to be, and what it successeeds handily in being, is a complete and total freak-out. It's one of those songs you'd swear you'd hafta be on LSD to enjoy, but take it from someone who would never take substances: it's still damn good when you're sober. In fact, I tell you, when I was younger I probably would've disliked this song for being as long and strange as it is, but these days, I really dig it. Seriously, I just love that part where it's made to sound like the band is rapidly spinning around you; it's great. I'm not even sure if I have any complaints about this album. At most, there's just the fact that, like I said, psych rock just typically isn't my taste. I could go long into why that is, but just to say, I know I'd listen to "Time", "Wish You Were Here" or "Comfortably Numb". And of course, that's not even the fault of this album. So... Yeah, I think I've talked myself into a 5 here. It's never what I'd spring to first — and, honestly, I wouldn't recommend anyone who wants to get into Pink Floyd should start here — but it's hard to deny it as a masterpiece of psych rock. Syd Barrett really did know to make this stuff, and I can only imagine what Pink Floyd could've sounded like if he'd been able to have more direct influence over the rest of their discography. Of course, the cruel truth is that if Syd had managed to stick around, we wouldn't have gotten some of the band's greatest works: DARK SIDE, ANIMALS, THE WALL... We wouldn't have even gotten WISH YOU WERE HERE. Or at least, we might not have gotten them in the way we got them in this timeline. We can only speculate. But me, I'd rather just appreciate what Syd managed to give us. In the grand scheme of Floyd's career, it wasn't much... But dang, they just wouldn't be the same without it. Bless you, Syd. And I hope I can talk about you good again whenever THE MADCAP LAUGHS comes around. I mean, jeez, with what happened around that one — again, if I thought talking about **this one** was hard... Goodness.

It's very much a shame what happened to Syd, considering how influential this band became in the 70's, but this album is certainly a good first step for the band. 4.5 bumped up to 5.

Deep.

One hell of a debut album, that truly shows what a real talent Syd Barret was, before the chemicals completely took over his brain. This has to be one of the most influential albums for any band that just let their minds be free and let the music flow. While this was made during the height of psychedelia, this is just so much more than a psychedelic album.

Stunning slice of psychedelia

Rising of Psychodelic Rock

I love this record, it's so out there. I got the privilege of seeing Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets and it was so much fun hearing these tunes live. There are quite a few singles from this time frame that didn't make it on the record... particularly "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play"... bonus points if you hunt down "Vegetable Man". I really enjoy the Syd Barrett era Floyd. "Astronomy Domine" is so awesome that the modern Floyd was using it routinely in concert during the "Division Bell" tour, same with "Interstellar Overdrive".

Was obsessed with this band as a kid, but this album was IMPOSSIBLE to find then, so I've never heard it before now. This is outrageously good, like a psychedelic and experimental version of the Kinks. Vastly different from the later, more well known output from Floyd. Makes me realize why so many people hold Syd Barrett in such high regard. This is a great album!

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut album by Pink Floyd, originally released in 1967. This isn't your average stoner rock Pink Floyd. This is hard hitting, experimental, acid-drenched Pink Floyd. Those who are familiar with their 70s output may be surprised at the sound of this, because it is just so different. In truth, Pink Floyd was a completely different band at this time. Syd Barrett was the bandleader and had this very interesting brand of psychedelia that included whimsical themes and heavy studio experimentation. This isn't your average 1967 summer-of-love hippie rock. This is a lot darker in my opinion. The experimentation is pretty ahead of its time, even delving into noise rock in some spots. It may not be as extravagant as something like "Dark Side of the Moon" would be, and it's definitely very weird, but it's so damn cool.

“The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” is one of those timeless albums that never ceases to amaze. No matter how often I listen, it blows my mind with its ahead of its time experimentation and studio techniques. The band overdubbed multiple layers of vocals, instruments, and sound effects to give the album rich texture. They used tape manipulation and backward recordings to create unique sounds and textures, along with echo and reverb effects. The music ranges from childlike, playful melodies to raw, gritty distorted guitar riffs that capture the essence of proto-punk. So many groundbreaking albums emerged from the 60s psychedelic movement, but “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” stands out as one of the best, forever topping my list of psychedelic classics.

A fun thought exercise is to imagine a universe in which Syd Barrett took just a little bit less LSD, didn't fully lose his mind, and stayed with Pink Floyd throughout the band's career. Would we still have Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, etc.? Certainly not like they exist in this universe, but would there be a version of these masterpieces with Syd involved? Would David Gilmour have even joined the band? Who knows, but I'm glad we have this record so that we don't have to imagine a Syd-led Pink Floyd. There isn't a lot here to compare to the aforementioned records, and other than the trippy space-rock of Interstellar Overdrive and Astronomy Domine there's little resemblance at all to 70's Floyd. The star here is Barrett, a weird charismatic dude that enjoyed drugs a little too much. His story is a sad one, but The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was largely his masterpiece. While Pink Floyd would have much better individual songs and better overall albums in the next decade, this is their first masterpiece I think and an excellent album to listen to today. It reminds me most of the Zombie's Odessey and Oracle, which came out a year later and is another masterpiece of the late 60's psychedelic era. I'd rank it somewhere around the 5th or 6th best Pink Floyd album, but it's as important to their legacy as any outside of Dark Side of the Moon.

Epic album. No matter what your opinion of the music, it demands your attention throughout.

I could go on about this - and the obvious but tragically lost genius of Syd Barrett - but that story has already been done to death many times. This isn't a Pink Floyd Album. It is a great album.

Incredible album. The craziest ever?

My relationship with Pink Floyd's *oeuvre* is the one many people from different generations experienced. Discovered them through their classic seventies prog albums in my early teens (Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall...), rejected them later as a young adult when I got into punk-rock, before reconciling with them between being 30 and 40 years old... And somewhere during this timeline, I also explored their psychedelic beginnings during the sixties, of course. Syd Barrett was a mad genius, and this debut is the magnum opus of this early phase of the British band's career. Even if the group had split after Barrett went full coo-coo, and its remaining members had not kept on under the Pink Floyd moniker (adding Dave Gilmour to their ranks), you can bet your boots *The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn* would still be a cult classic today--ignored for a time, and then avidly praised later on. With the exception of one-off single "See Emily Play" (an *extraordinary* song), *The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn* gathers all the key compositions Syd wrote for the band, tittering between epic psych-rock regalia (opener "Astronomy Dominé"), a brooding song supported by ominous guitar tones--suddenly lighting up for the chorus--in which Syd hallucinates his cute cat is actually Satan in disguise ("Lucifer Sam"), and a bunch of seemingly whimsical yet also disturbingly LSD-soaked tunes that would fit a psychedelic reading of Lewis Carroll's stories ("Flaming", "The Gnome", "Chapter 24", "Bike"). "Mathilda Mother" is also an unsung off-kilter gem of a ballad--which, oddly enough, kinda foretells the moments in "The Wall* where the topic of childhood trauma would be explored, twelve years down the line, by a band still reeling from the incomprehension Syd's early tenure as their unlikely "leader" had left them with... Finally, *The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn* harbors one of the craziest instrumentals ever performed in the psychedelic umbrella genre, the epic and partly dissonant "Interstellar Overdrive", whose sonic scope must have appeared as unbelievably daunting in 1967. The only real dud here is the Roger Waters-penned "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk", where Waters tries to ape Barrett's style without ever reaching a tiny fraction of the man's surreal poetry. Roger would do a far better work of it with "Let There Be Light" and "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" in the follow-up (and admittedly more uneven) LP *A Saucerful Of Secrets*, where Barrett's eerie and mysterious presence ended up fading into full oblivion. Richard Wright would be pretty good at it as well, through "Remember A Day" and "See-Saw". But I guess all of this is a story for another time, kiddies.... Number of albums left to review: 85 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 393 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 229 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 294

One of the most important albums I know. I first heard it with my friend, G Mouse carpooling to high school in 1993. It takes an extreme departure initially with Lucifer Sam which is an outrageously good song capturing the zeitgeist of 1967 and then walking you right into the other end of the looking glass. By the time we get to Flaming, we realize we may be peaking with the completely irrational pacing and of course the fuckin bonkers lyrics. OMG who am I? Pow R. Toc H. leaves us still deep deep in the thick of it but chooses to mindfuck us somewhat more gently until dissolving completely into mad chaos at the end. Once Interstellar Overdrive hits, we realize that when we thought we were peaking a couple tracks in, that was just a ledge on the cliff we are climbing into complete and total mind melt. The Gnome brings us back a bit-- in a way to normalize this bizarre world we now inhabit with a sweet little song about a fuckin gnome. And finally, all gas and not a brake in sight, we close on Bike. This is quite possibly the best song that ever came out of the Pink Floyd catalogue and I don't think it's even close to being as lauded as it should be. Listen closely to the lyrics which are a celebration that not only have we recklessly abandoned all sense of normalcy and fully embraced a massive hallucinatory universe, we've also decided a.) we're staying here and b.) we love it here and c.) dude, those ducks. They're ducks right?

Really liked this album , solely because it's the one that actually feels most like it puts the 'psychedelic' in 'psychedelic rock'. Later pink floyd albums make for a more cohesive and atmospheric listen, but this one isn't hidings its influences at all.

This sounds like an 8 year old on acid with a recorder. Masterpiece.

I would also lose my mind if I made this album.

This album changed my life and is everything to me. Fantasy themed catchy psychedelic rock with so much creativity found within the arrangements and the weird chromatic vocals by Syd Barrett. It's just astonishing that someone came up with this in the 60s. This album is everything I love in music and litterature, really.

5/5. I tried going into this one with a critical mind because I had listened to it more than 30 times probably. I know psychedelic music can age poorly. Despite some production issues it is so unique in its worldbuilding, it truly feels like I am inside someone else's dream, or nightmare depending on the song. The music itself holds up as well: weird, scary, silly, heavy and light. And despite the inaccessibility, it is surprisingly catchy. Definitely a must listen before I die. Best Song: Astronomy Domine, Bike, Interstellar Overdrive, Lucifer Sam

Kaleidoscopic, man!!!!!!!!

Psychedelic pink perfection.

I prefer the later works of Pink Floyd, but this album is still a standout for me, one of the first albums I ever owned, and released in my birth year. For a period I didn't love this album, finding it too bizarre and put off by the childlike lyrics/ vocals/ strange noises. However, over the years I found that some of the tracks that I thought I hadn't liked had actually taken up residence in my head and had more depth than I had first appreciated. There's actually a lot going on here, not just a jam by some garage band, but some interesting arrangements and a level of musicality missing from similar late 60s psychedelia. Some parts are maybe a little over-indulgent, like the heavy-handed stereo effects, but it's still a lovely piece of music and well deserving of 5 stars. Incidentally, Arthur Brown does a brilliant cover of Lucifer Sam.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is a phenomenal debut album from by far my favorite band. Syd Barret's writing, although cartoonish at times, is really beautiful on songs like Interstellar Overdrive.

One of my favourite albums, maybe my favourite album. A lot of nostalgia and history here for me, but I think I would always have liked its whimsy and fantasy, evocative lyrics and meandering, trippy sound. Deeply English and rooted in the culture of the time, but also I've not heard anything else quite like it, apart from some Saucerful of Secrets, but already that was leaning away from their origins.

10 10

Let's be real: there's very little of the band that would become Pink Floyd present on Piper - only Nick Mason punishing his drum kit and the occasional harmonies from Rick Wright. Roger Waters hadn't even written his first song about his daddy dying (but would do so the following year with the GOAT kazoo track 'Corporal Clegg'). But Piper remains a monolith in British psychedelic with one of the most outrageous uses of stereo mixing, panning, echo and reverb. At times it truly makes you question if something is wrong with your sound system - case in point: the ending of 'Interstellar Overdrive'. The album is packed with memorable moments from my all-time favorite psychedelic track 'Matilda Mother' to Syd Barrett's ASMR pronunciation and rolling of his "R's" on 'The Gnome'. Along with Sgt. Pepper, recorded at the same time in the same studio, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn stands as the greatest album of 1967. Coincidentally, the two albums end on almost exactly the same note - a cacophonic tape loop of noise reminding everyone not to take things too seriously.

I can't listen to this anymore but i used to love it. For that reason....5*s. Also, Bike.

I like Pink Floyd! It is one of my favorite groups. As for this album, Syd Barrett is seemed out of this world but gifted and genius. Album is a masterpiece! I am very glad to listen it again. Thanks.

Quintessential psychedelic album. This is the one that teleported people through all the sounddd mannnnn

Glorious and groovy. 5 stars.

Perfect

I’ll always love this demented clown show of a record.

Personal favorite. Dynamic impact on music and my psyche.

I used to love Pink Floyd a lot, I have to at least contribute this album partially to that. An excellent psychedelic experience to say the least. Syd Barret’s influence and simplistic writing style is very apparent here. It’s both interesting and intriguing. The psychedelic songs are playful, sometimes ominous, and intriguing. There’s not a song here I’d consider bad, all these songs are a good time. Excellent debut album!

Pink Floyd makes sense now.

Acid

Psicodelic, strange... Good album

LP

Love it

Wasn’t sure I liked this but then gnome

I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like It's got a basket, a bell that rings And things to make it look good I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world I'll give you anything, everything if you want things I've got a cloak it's a bit of a joke There's a tear up the front It's red and black, I've had it for months If you think it could look good, then I guess it should Syd Barrett Pink Floyd is the best Pink Floyd. 5/5

love it

When this album hits, it hits really hard and even with the psychedelic music that came after, which this album either inspired or predicted, all of that pales in comparison. The juxtaposition of Barrett’s fairytale lyrics with dark and often chaotic jams still sounds really vibrant and creative to my ears now.

cool

A one-off with a long lifespan and a tantalizing glimpse into what was and what could have been, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn may very well be Pink Floyd's most uniquely singular album in that the creative flourishes of Syd Barrett, the band's tragically imbalanced front man, are on full display. The psychedelic age was given a good dose of darkness that ranged from goofy and lighthearted to ominous and foreboding, for there was little knowing (knowing what we do now) of what was to come not only for Syd but for the band in general. Overall, a bittersweet sign of things to come.

This album is unsettling, experimental, and psychadelic in the truest sense. Inspired largely from Syd Barrett's foray into LSD use, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,' Pink Floyd's debut album, is a meandering album that carefully builds both musically and lyrically. The seeds of their later work are present, but this album is uniquely the vision of Syd Barrett before he retreated from the public eye.

Pink Floyd just does weird and unexpected so well - and I love it. I’ve always found prog rock and psychedelic music interesting, so an album like this hits the mark for me. I’d never heard Pink Floyd’s debut album before and I’m not sure I would have if it weren’t for this project!! This album brought me some joy this morning for sure - I enjoyed its unique sound and experimentation. Plus it was cool to hear how such an iconic and influential band started out.

"Pipers at the Gates of Dawn" is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd. It was the only album under the leadership of guitarist and lead vocalist Syd Barrett who wrote eight of the 11 songs. Pyschedelic rock, acid pop, experimental rock and space rock. An apt description is "blended long-form improvisational pieces with Barrett's short songs and whimsical take on pyschedelia. Recordered at London's Abbey Road Studio, the music used reverb, echo and automatic double tracking. Other band members included Roger Waters ( bass, vocals), Richard Wright (piano, organ) and Nick Mason (drums). It was met with critical acclaim and commercially hit #6 on the UK charts. "Astronomy Domine" begins with Peter Jenner reading out names of stars and planets. A pounding bass, bass drums, echo vocals, a strumming pyschedelic guitar and eerie keyboards. A space-themed song and quite a start. A James Bond-esque guitar starts "Lucifer Sam." It's a song about Syd's cat and we get an organ jam. The album's lone single "Flaming" uses all sorts of various noises: whistles, a motor running, running feet and bells. There's a lot of various weird noises throughout this album and why wouldn't there be; it's 1967. An organ leads the way as Syd describes a childlike game with fantasy imagery. Side two opens with the instrumental "Interstellar Overdrive." Drving guitar, bass and drums. The song then goes into a improvisational phase for at least seven minutes. Remember the various weird noises comment. They effectively accomplish getting across the space theme. A great headphone song with stereo echoes at the end. Sometimes, it's good to be put into a pyschedelic haze. The latter half of this side really takes us back to 60's sounding pop songs. In "Chapter 24," Syd was inspired by the ancient Chinese tome "I Ching." Minimalist music with just an organ and this reminded me of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Syd compares himself to a scarecrow resigned to his fate in "Scarecrow." The album closer "Bike" is more bouncey. Syd meets a girl who fits in his world showing her his bike, clock, a mouse and a gingerbread man. Lest you forget what you've been listening to, we get to hear all the noises of what's in his world for the last two minutes. I really have no interest in visiting Syd's world again for some time. Yeah, this is one heck of a pyschedelic ride. I forgot how much of this album is instrumental. It balances itself out with short fantasy-based pop songs. Given their music in the 70's, it's hard to say this is the same band. Then again without Syd, maybe it's not. Anyway, this ranks high on my Pink Floyd album list and is a must listen to if just for a visit to pyschedelia.

Weniger bekanntes Album meiner Lieblingsband. Für die damalige Zeit leistet dieses Album und the ''Early Pink Floyd'' einen wesentlichen Schritt für die Rockkultur, die wir heute kennen. Auch deswegen, weil Pink Floyd, oder ''The Pink Floyd'', wie es aus früheren Zeiten noch bekannt ist, sich immer getraut hat neue Wege zu gehen. Das Album kann nicht jedermann musikalisch genießen, da es aus einer ganz anderen Zeit noch stammt, doch aufgrund der Tatsache dass dieses Album der Grundstein für jegliche Musikentwicklung dieser Band war, muss man sich damit auseinandersetzen. Ich habe das Album und dessen Flair im Allgemeinen sehr genossen, auch wenn ich mich auf das Genie oder doch eher Wahnsinns des jungen Syd Barrets konzentrierte. Er war wesentlich daran beteiligt dieses wichtige Album, sowohl musikalisch als auch lyrisch zu gestalten. Habe keine favorisierten Songs, mir gefiel es ins Londoner Underground der 60er Jahre einzutauchen! 4.5

pink floyd is the best thing ever! It‘s the band I listen to the most! At least 3000mins a year. I cannot decide which album is the best or which song. Got me through good times and bad times. the songs keep me always accompanied! Just need to drop one name: SYD BARRETT .