Reviews (page 5 of 9)
Pretty cool record, possibly even quite ahead of its time for 1967. Some classic mad hard panning on here too; always fun. Didn't set me alight though. Gets a bit weird in places. Favourite tracks: Lucifer Same, Flaming.
It’s too artsy for me, except for 3 just silly songs that don’t fit at all. Maybe just too many drugs were happening
Pre-Gilmour Floyd. Mesmerising stuff. Syd Barrett’s psychedelic ge jus on full display. The first four tracks are fantastic, drenched in LSD and full speed ahead. I love this album!
Ugh, no thank you
I can see why this is not rated as highly as the rest of Pink Floyd's albums
I'm more of a Pink Floyd fan beginning with Meddle and listened to the European version of the album that didn't have Arnold Layne or See Emily Play on it. I know those two songs already and the US version could feel totally different from this one, as they are not similar albums. I thought Pink Floyd was going to bust into the Batman theme song on Lucifer Sam, as the guitar part felt similar. I am not a huge fan of psychedelia overall, though Pink Floyd's version of psychedelia is more interesting to me than other bands of this time period. I found Interstellar Overdrive to be the type of meandering noise that I mostly associate with bad psychedelia. It was pretty cool how the sound went from one headphone to the other on the song though. It feels a bit like the band was a bit confused as to whether they were going to do 3 minute songs or more prog-psych songs. I mean, Syd Barrett was close to losing his mind at this point, so maybe any sort of output should be celebrated. I am trying hard not to grade this album based on Pink Floyd's other work and whether I would ever put this one on over several other Pink Floyd albums. The songs I enjoyed were: Astronomy Domine Lucifer Sam Chapter 24 Scarecrow Bike
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut album from Pink Floyd. This first album was mostly composed by Syd Barrett, who left the band just prior to the album's release because of his deteriorating mental health and accelerating drug use. Barrett's psychedelic pop set the tone for the album; his quirky, silly songwriting became part of 60s psychedelia. Instrumental tracks on the album show clear hints of the direction Roger Waters would take the band after Barrett's departure.
Fun and silly psychedelic rock.
I think this is great, psychedelic and melodic. 4 for me!
I was just about giving this album the benefit of the doubt up until Grimble Gromble the Gnome. It’s a low score, but there will be several other Pink Floyd albums on this list to get a 5 ⭐ from me
Fun, experimental. Fresh. Great production throughout.
It’s an interesting record in that it’s got bundles of personality and a band who are clearly keen on creating a new path. The moment where they harness this towards more complete sounding songs for me work a bit better than the sound collage elements, but it’s all good. I love the grinding chords on Interstellar Overdrive. This is clearly not the space the band stay in post-Syd but you can continue to hear little touches of what’s going on in the debut throughout their discography
Have had some of my favourite listening experiences over the years to this record, I love it.
Pink Floyd before they found their sound. For late 60's it sounds pretty advanced I guess with all the experimentation going on.
Definitely a different band here than what produced "Dark Side of the Moon" Was still decent though. Might revisit
Twas ok, not what I would expect from the "real" hits of Pink Floyd.
I love this early Syd Barrett era of Pink Floyd. I think this album specifically formed a very early part of my musical education when I was a teenager. It’s trippy and whimsical and shows signs of their later genius. I’ve realised I need to investigate the albums between this and Meddle more (Meddle to Animals being the best stuff). Anyway this would get five stars just for “Gnome” and “Bike” alone, but overall I think it’s a very classic and important album as Flloyd’s debut and the early trippy stuff is fun.
Psychedelic nonsense of the best kind…
when i got into pink floyd (vey recently) I listened through all of the early albums once each cause I was really just trying to get to the 70s albums. I liked the early records well enough but i was a man on a mission. I am realizing that my tunnel vision caused me to be a fool, this is so much better then i remember it being. and DG sampled multiple tracks on this so obviously i'm gonna say it's cool regardless The Gnome is about my lil boy bo
Best Song: Bike. This song has a kind of appealing inanity to it. Worst Song: Pow R. Toc. H. That intro was just annoying. Overall: I certainly I understand that this album, among Pink Floyd's other albums, were extremely influential in how rock (progressive and otherwise) developed in the time since... But that doesn't make this all that fun or revelatory to listen to in 2025. A lot of it is cacophonous or discordant, meandering around in a dozen different directions, without any seemingly great reason for being so.
A freaky classic - Lucifer Sam and Interstellar Overdrive still rock. And Gerald the Mouse ... nuff said
it's very weird, kind of sloppy in some places -- but also very good.
I like Pink Floyd but this, not so much.
This was much better than I thought. Loved it waay better than The Wall. Maybe Animals and DSOTM are better, because they are more Pink Floyd, but this is still good. It also sounds insanely good for 67 woow.
I would count myself as a Pink Floyd fan but this isn't the version of PF I want to listen to. Rambling psychedelic jams with unicorns is not floating my boat. I know the future version is a lot better.
trip (pun intended) down memory lane, en andere panoramische vergezichten... psychedelisch, spacy, kinderlijk... alles in 1 4.5 sterren
Interesting to hear the origins, before it became even more eclectic.
Did not like this at all. I'm surprised because Pink Floyd is pretty popular.
I'm a bigger fan of the later Pink Floyd stuff, but it's cool to see where they started and how they evolved. It's also interesting to hear Syd Barrett. This is very different from everything that came after, but it's fine.
Disjointed in an unpleasant way. Pass.
how is this not a parody of itself? "I want to tell you a story 'Bout a little man, If I can A gnome named Grimble Grumble And little gnomes stay in their homes Eating, sleeping Drinking their wine" fuck you 5/10
El Pink Floyd bajo la dirección de Syd Barrett es bastante menos conocido que el de la era Roger Waters, y (al menos hasta hoy) me incluyo entre aquellos que suelen ignorar este álbum para centrarse en los grandes clásicos que vendrían más adelante. Es cierto que a día de hoy este estilo de música no dice nada nuevo, pero eso es de esperar. Sin embargo, al haberlo escuchado con detenimiento me ha sorprendido muy gratamente. Un álbum no solo pionero del rock psicodélico (e incluso proto-prog a ratos), sino que sigue siendo interesante y toda una experiencia digna de ser disfrutada con atención. La producción es magnífica, con unas dinámicas muy cuidadas y un uso del estéreo súper creativo e influyente. Musicalmente, es menos melódico y más experimental que otros álbumes de su época, entre los que me atrevería a incluir a Revolver. Merece al menos tres estrellas por su calidad musical, y una más por su relevancia. Un álbum extraño a la vez que genial.
Liked it. Liked that the label tried to distance them from LSD. Favourite song was Bike. Wouldn’t make it into my regular listening.
Can definitely hear the LSD influence. Was recorded in the same studio as Sgt pepper, at the same time which is interesting because the two albums are very far apart. The only pink Floyd album to prominently feature Syd Barret. My favourite anecdote being the fact he wrote a song called 'have you got it yet' which he then taught the band. The band couldn't seem to get the hang of it and eventually realised it was because he was subtly changing the arrangement each time, then laugh as he asked 'have you got it yet'. The title is a reference to the wind in the willows. Funky good vibes.
Pink Floyd's debut is a masterpiece of psychedelia and the product of Syd Barrett's genius creative mind - the only full album he recorded with the band before he stopped working with them because of his mental issues. 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' was recorded at EMI studios at Abbey Road, at the same time as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, in early 1967. It's a perfect mix of Barrett's short, poppy whimsical psychedelic songs and intrumental improvisations. This completely unique sounding psychedelic gem was one of my favourite albums in my teenage years and it still remains one of my favourite albums ever.
Just boring, not it, some songs bad and some ok.
Really weird album but kind of an interesting listen ig.
Really? With all the great Pink Floyd albums you pick this one.
Great music. Definitely felt dated to the 60s, but not in a bad way. Not as good as other projects I've heard from them.
What a fuckin weird album. The Gnome sounds like a Nigel and Marmalade episode. All in all, it's an okay album.
Trippy!
I love Pink Floyd so I was excited to hear their debut album, but I didn't enjoy this very much. I think it took them some time to perfect their style.
Not at all my thing. I guess I don't love where Pink Floyd started, or really where they ended up, but some of the stops along the way were pretty good.
Always loved pink floyd, hasn't listened to this album more than once before
I am thankful this was not Pink Floyd's final form because this is pretty shitty.
3rd time through. First, I hate the hard right/left mix. However, it seems after the 3rd listen I am starting to get it! The child like innocence of songs like The Gnome, Matilda Mother and Chapter 24 have now revealed their charms and the rhythmic drive of Interstellar Overdrive and Lucifer Sam shows their rocking side and demonstrates the talents of the rhythm section better than on any subsequent Pink Floyd album. A very listenable album that I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did. 4 stars
A genius constantly changing album
Was this album included because it was an early example of psychedelic rock or because rock critics can’t help but overrate Pink Floyd? Songs about evil cats, buttercups, and unicorns.
Не такой хороший как другие их альбомы, но в целом это классика
Some interesting parts. Overall, not a massive fan though. Though, I respect the creativity
Maybe too dated. Sounded kind of artsy fartsy teenagery
Much has been said about the genius of Syd Barrett. And this shows some of it. Unfortunately, See Emily Play and Arnold Layne aren't on this, although Bike and Astronomy Domine are. Still... This is very much a band still trying to find its style and footing. It's historically important because it's the debut of one of the most influential and impactful bands ever. And because it's the only full band album with Syd Barrett. But as an album, it's very eclectic and erratic.
Really cool. Super experimental but cohesive. Makes this album feel like a experience. A hint of medieval revival 3/5
++: Lucifer Sam, Matilda Mother, Pow R. Toc H., Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk, Interstellar Overdrive, Bike +: Astronomy Dominé, The Gnome, The Scarecrow +-: Flaming, Chapter 24 6,9/10
They accomplished that rarest of artistic feats - they took the musical conventions of the day and created something wholly original, with no hint of commercial cynicism; just this genuine artistic expression from some very unique and interesting blokes. That they did it in their first attempt is extraordinary. Interstellar Overdrive is just so over the top, WTF, magnificent. The really surprising thing about this album, for me, to this day, is how many ear worms there are hidden in its very-non-poppy songs. The riff to Lucifer Sam is about the stickiest hook ever, and weeks later I'll suddenly hear, in the back of my head, "I want to tell you a story, 'bout a little man ..."
127/1089 - Good start of the album. Pow R. Toc H. is cool bird imitations followed by the most dull piano solo. Overall pretty good but the guitarist is kinda sloppy.
Excellent psych rock album! 4/5
Yep, I can see why I've never heard of this album by Pink Floyd.
It's not uninteresting, and I'm sure there are lots of people who think that's what Pink Floyd should have been throughout their entire career. But this music is too claustrophobic to be really popular. They took what worked and what they've learned here and went outward with their sound.
I listened before earlier in my years cause I was curious what was the Pink Floyd I love roots. This album is only good because you are so very grateful of what they went on to become.
This was pretty horrid if I’m honest
its weird but I guess that was tk be expected
I like pink Floyd. But like most people only the stuff after meddle. This is a bit too far out for me. Random whimsical lyrics. There are hints at what the band can become. With the longer prog songs. Fun to listen to once, but not for repeat
Yeesh I much prefer what Pink Floyd ended up becoming in their later work. If there's anything this list taught me it's that I strongly dislike pysch rock; mostly because it all sounds exactly the same and there were so many people doing it. I will say this was especially disappointing... good god. 2/10
Ik kan hier weinig bij op- of aanmerken. Ik zet dit aan, doe ondertussen m'n werk, ik kom in een soort gat in de ruimtetijd terecht en voor ik het weet is het voorbij en heb ik niet heel veel van onthouden. Het soms wat experimentele gesoleer en gedoe geeft ook weinig houvast om mentale notities aan op te hangen. Er is op het grootste gedeelte van het album geen vaste structuur met coupletten, refreinen en bruggetjes waarbij je achteraf kunt zeggen van: Dat nummer had een geinig refreintje dat nog steeds in m'n hoofd zit. Het is allemaal meteen weg als je het maar één keer luistert. Met uitzondering van het Beatlesque 'The Gnome' of 'Scarecrow' misschien. De band loopt af en toe ook maar wat te kutten lijkt het. Het is wel prettig gekut, gelukkig. Een oerdegelijk psychedelisch album waarop de innerlijke snob wel even lichtjes aan slaat. Een dikke 4.
Nowhere near as good as 70s Pink Floyd, but a lot better than Syd Barrett's solo albums.
Interesting to listen to and is different to anything else I have heard from this early. Won't stick it on regularly but may build more of an appreciation with some repeats.
This album is a unique one. Floyd went on to become a world changing band but the lineup shift between this and their career was material. There is a lot of talent and creativity here but it's far less focused than they got with Gilmour and as they grew as a band. Still very interesting to listen to and a big album for the time.
Amazing intro. Dynamic sound, great stereo mixing. Pow R. Toc H. Took me on a pleasant sonic adventure. Same goes for Interstellar Overdrive. Warm. I enjoy thie Whimsy of The Gnome. Fun album over all and interesting to hear compared to Darkside of the Moon and The Wall. The ground work is all here tho. This is a cohesive album worth listening to all the way through as a single entity. Top tier production.
the songs seem like they're malformed, like maybe I'd like them better if I was on LSD. Other than Animals and a couple songs of Wish You Were Here there isn't any era of Pink Floyd that I enjoy. I had hopes that the Syd-Barret album would be different (I think his solo album is pretty OK), but this is tedious as all get out.
I'm a huge pink floyd fan, but this album lacks what IMO makes PF great: meaningful lyrics
where is roger........
Great
Not my favorite Floyd but still a great listen.
Self indulgent, not particularly good, or interesting. Stuck this on during a slow tempo 7k run which actually did me very well. To my surprise I started really enjoying the final songs and then I realised Spotify had gone onto artist radio.
Psychedelic und experimental Rock, which was a torturous listening experience. At times, I was checking my surroundings for Bad sounds because I found the experience to be that atrocious.
Wasn’t really rocking with this album, just felt like generic Beatles and not enough like Pink Floyd
point8.
Day488 - i like the thought of liking this album. if this lead to what they would do then it’s worth it
Ég verð að segja að ég bjóst við einhverju meira frá Pink Floyd. Þessi plata rann í gegn án þess að skilja mikið eftir. Ég hef það ekki í mér að gefa henni meira en meðalstig
Mostly weird and not up to their future stuff.
Class of ‘67 - Voted “Mostly Likely to Grow Up and Make ‘Dark Side of the Moon.’” Or maybe not! This is an interesting specimen from the Summer of Love, released on the heels of Sgt Pepper and surrounded by so many giant releases from that year. It has a familiar psychedelic sound but also its own brand of whimsy. Plenty to enjoy, if not always thoroughly captivating for me
Even with their first album, you probably need a recreational drug to make sense of it all. At this point in their career, even OTC Benadryl might do the trick. All the signs and sounds of greatness are there. Yet, even without putting it all together, the album is strong. I would love to have tracked their progress linearly. They clearly have broken ground for a new wall!
classic space prog
Gnome'd
Fint. Behøver ikke at genlytte. Men kunne godt lide det
rather psychedelic and different, good overall though
The psychedelics are strong with this one. 2/5
A slightly questionable introduction to one of the greatest bands of all time. It's generally not considered part of their "big four", normally replaced with Meddle or Animals from the next decade. But there's a lot of nifty stuff here. Astronomy Domine is a perfect snapshot of the Summer of Love, combining elements of deadpan psychedelia with space-race-era admiration of the great abyss. The recording of Piper started at roughly the same time as the debut of beloved TV show Star Trek and the influence is clear. Not just in the opening track, but in the ethereal, wandering Matilda Mother, the SFX-heavy Pow R. Toc. H... and, of course, the electro-charged jam session that is Interstellar Overdrive. Is it one of Pink Floyd's better "prog" tracks? Maybe not, but it certainly holds its own as an instrumental with a darn infectious riff. The remaining tracks are perhaps more radio-friendly, though only in a way that reeks (in the best possible way) of the mid-late 60s. Even the production is half-baked and weirdly mixed in that loveable 60s way, where the vocals are blasted up far too loud and the drum crashes frequently max out the volume. It's most obvious on Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk ("doctah doctah!") and The Gnome ("look at the sky, look at the river, isn't it goooooooddddd"), which are both notable for their inexplicable use of whispering in the lead vocal. Flaming is an odd choice of single, especially when the surf-rocker Lucifer Sam's sitting right there. That track's something I can't explain. Bike is also notable for its extremely odd decision to play the vocal twice, once in each ear, with a half-beat delay between them. It's disorienting, which is of course the point. A great closer. 4/5 Key tracks: Astronomy Domine, Lucifer Sam, Bike
got a awesome band's debut album yesterday, and today its the debut album of another awesome band. when i read all the reviews, what formed in my mind is as follows: the wall is better than this. the dark side of the moon is also better than this. wish you are here is also better than this. animals is also better than this. but this is decent... so possibly a 3 since its a bit weak for a 4. 3/5
I’m officially sick of this band, thanks “1001 Albums…” authors!
last month someone offered me PCP (i think) at a rave. it was dogshit music from breakbeat artists who went dubstep and never looked back, and this dude was begging me for a light and offering to share something that looked like but did not smell of marijuana. the next day i saw someone on the street, taking "donations" for "free" distributions of psilocybin. every day i walk past the back cover of Westword and see a smorgasbord of deals for weed, kratom, and spores. in Denver, i bet i am about three friends away from getting my hands on a sheet of lysergic stamps. arguably, it's never been easier to be an acid casualty than it is in the modern day. why don't we see as many in the creative world? for one, we have martyrs. Brian Wilson, Skip Spence, Roky Erikson, Peter Green, Syd Barrett, and the milieu of lost hippy folk balladeers populating Numero and Light in the Attic reissue comps serve as Icarus-like "flying too close to the psionic sun" cautionary tales. you hear romantic notions of losing yourself in the embrace of God(s) to warn you away from the trippy stuff. stick to the "wrong kind of drugs" a la Lemmy -- booze, heroin, and coke. also, it's bullshit. almost all the people mentioned probably had prior mental health issues (even minor ones like anxiety and stress), and as it turns out, taking psychoactive drugs while everything's not quite right upstairs isn't exactly a recipe for a well-functioning psyche. it isn't the drug that destroys the user with psychedelics, it's the user's mind being unable to handle lysergic fuckery in between their synapses. so, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn -- is it a trip into a fracturing psyche? not really. for every creepy psychedelic detour in brute force stereo, there's a poppy, playful little rock bit that shows Syd Barrett wanted to be a musician first, not a cautionary tale. "Interstellar Overdrive" is mostly a experimental jam, but also part hard driving rock song with the heaviest riff you could write in 1967. it's also then followed by a lil toytown song about a gnome. there's a tinge of darkness, but it's still quite fun and childish at times. it's a cloudy and warm day. i think, really, the acid casualty is equal parts myth and over classification. maybe we should see these people as artists before we see them as myths to tell each other in fearful tones.
Pink Floyd's "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" consists of a series songs full of disjointed chords that transcend the boundaries of traditional psychedelic music, delving deeply into the eccentric psyche of Syd Barrett. The album's most compelling aspect is its foreshadowing of future works, showcasing innovative sampling techniques, a rich variety of sounds and chords, and an expansion of production standards, and also including a jazz-blues piano interlude reminiscent of the use of "The Great Gig in the Sky" on "Dark Side of the Moon." "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is not a great, or even good, album - it is highly experimental, raw, rough, and whacky, likely appealing to a niche audience. However, I recommend listening to "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" at least once, if only to understand the origins of Pink Floyd and gain insight into their musical evolution.
Always a classic and one of the most revolutionary albums out there
All I could think about was the psychedelic era scenes in This is Spinal Tap.
Lemppari: Matilda Mother Vähiten lemppari: Pow R. Toc H.
I'm sure it was innovative for 1967 but it mostly just seems noodly and ridiculous now.
After 3 listens all the way through: not really my jam. It has some cool sound bytes spread throughout that are funky and might fit well in an indie flick. However, the concept hasn't really landed on me in a meaningful enough way to have appreciation for the work. Maybe it's just supposed to be super drugged up and jagged-edged and perhaps I'm just missing the point (wouldn't be the first time). For now, it's a 'no' from me.
Not good not bad
Interessante, ma non eccezionale.
3.5 stars. Early Pink Floyd debut album. "Interstellar Overdrive" a harbinger for their prog rock future. Standout is "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk".
A profoundly creative album, packed full of soundscapes that would have been unrealizable just a couple years prior to its release. Of course, much of it is self-indulgent stoner BS, but if you have at least as much of a stomach for it as I do then you’ll probably like this. Best song: Astronomy Domine
it's just not very good is it? In this project I've learned without a doubt that Pink Floyd got better after Syd was gone. Discordant, droning, and with some pretty bad vocals at times. Unfortunate for such a well loved band
This is an interesting one for me. This absolutely blew my mind when I first listened to it in high school. I’m not sure it’s as good as I initially thought. This feels like I should be listening to the stereo mix with instances like the panning at the end of Interstellar Overdrive. However, sometimes it’s so choppy with how it cuts out of one ear that it takes me out of the experience. Mono it is then chief. The goofy Britishness works in this album’s favor especially on songs like The Gnome where it comes across as slightly unnerving. Favorites were Lucifer Sam, Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk, Interstellar Overdrive, and Bike.
We’re talking 1967 here and a while before the development of modern day digital devices and no synthesisers. When seen in that context it is a great album, albeit with a few aberrations along the way.
I was a huge Pink Floyd fan in High School, but that being said, I never really cared for anything before Atom Heart Mother. My biggest problem with this album is that it just sounds too British in the worst way possible. A lot of this album just sounds cheesy and super dated. However, Astronomy Domine is one of their best early works and the Lucifer Sam riff is fun. I appreciate that this album was experimental and what it did for the genre, but man songs like Matilda Mother and Flaming just sound so lame. It is just something about the way Syd sings and the melodies he chooses that I can't stand. I think if this was an instrumental album It could be a high 4, but those vocal parts just throw me off. Mid 3.
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.
No thank you, not for me at all
I asked my dad how this became one of the biggest bands in the world and he said “we were smoking a lot of weed” the weed was like 90% dirt that doesn’t explain anything. This was dreadful. A bottom ten experience here in the 500s
i was really enjoying the first half, but by the time i got to "Bike" i was ready to eat this album for fuel (derogatory)
None of the things about Pink Floyd I like and many things about hallucinogen-era Beatles that I dislike
Nice use of stereo sound some good ones and some strange ones.
They sounded wayyy too British here. So had to knock down a few stars. They were just heating up with this album before the good stuff came out
Old Floyd sound sike any other british band those years, which is not what i like too much
Kind of a deep dive into Pink Floyd. Not one of my favorites.
This was Pink Floyd’s first album, released at the height of the psychedelic era (1967). The music certainly fits the era, and the beginnings of other Pink Floyd concepts are evident here, like long tracks, use of weird noises and sounds, and echoes and reverb. It’s pretty creative for 1967, so I give it four stars.
From the first hundred days of this project I learned that I like "space rock", but this first Pink Floyd album, though purportedly space rock, is pretty heavy on the rock and only medium on the space. Really it's more "eerie British children's programme rock", if anything. Relatedly, I like the song about a gnome and the song about a scarecrow. And 'Bike'. What I really like is the Syd Barrett song 'Dark Globe' (not on this album), and that has a very different vibe, but maybe I just think so because I heard it much earlier.
This album occasionally had music on it
Turn down the suck! In all honesty, this makes their later records even more amazing. How did they get from here to Dark Side of the Moon? Kudos
Not into this. Too chaotic at times.
Strange. Very chaotic
Didn’t do a lot for me but Interstellar Overdrive was pretty sick, and my experience picked up after that point tbh!
Some really solid songs here!
i am not a floyd guy. i am open to it. i know nothing about them. but this was their first album and its pretty cool and weird. maybe i will like more of their albums
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
Eh eh eh Syd Barrett really liked drugs back then, what a weird time ahah it was pretty novel back then though
Unexpectedly unimpressive
Huh
Weird for workout music though
Ah, yes... So many memories of this album, so much to say... What an amazing debut album and what a bizarre career arc this band had (and continues to have!) I don't remember Pow R. Toc H. being this long, but it's possible I wasn't sober the last time I listened to it all the way through, lol. (Also, I could have sworn that Pow R. Toc H. was the song with "Tock! Tock! Tock!" over and over in it but that's actually the next track.) As much as I love this album and it brings back so many memories, I have to give it just 4 stars. I just don't find it as good as their best stuff.
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
I was very excited to see this one because the last time I listened to it was in HS and at the time I remember thinking it was trash, and maybe my evolved mind was now ready to appreciate it. Nope. Still bad. Hints of what was to come from PF, but nothing of value here. Seeing this live, in 1967 on acid would be great experience I'm sure, but it does not translate for a sober Dad while at work. Adding a point for innovation/originality.
I kinda liked this. I'm not really a big fan of pink floyd in general because of their somber self-seriousness, but this was more of a whimsical, fun version of them. No really great or memorable songs, but entertaining on the whole. Sort of like the Doors mixed with the Beatles, mixed in with a lot of cheap psychedelia which hasn't aged well. But I do have a certain appreciation for when musicians are clearly fucking around and having a good time together - when it comes down to it, that's really the whole point.
Sonically, im not all that interested in Piper at the gates of dawn, but I think its a really fun dive when exploring all of Pink Floyd. This is really a different band than what group exploded in popularity afterwards. Their path from genuine psychedelic 60s rock to the string of concept albums that they would put out until the 90s is mind blowing. Fun listen and my second time through this. I don’t think I would pick it up again unless to show someone how different they were 😂
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?
Not bad, but weird. The first half was much more accessible. Too much of that sing songy British thing I hate.
I would never have guessed this was Pink Floyd. Very psychedelic. Feels and sounds very "swinging '60s" to me. I prefer what they evolved into.
I would not have been able to tell you want band this was if I didn’t already know. Wow. What a difference swapping out Syd Barret for David Gilmour made. This almost felt more like a sound collage than an album but it was cool to listen to.
In a nutshell: (Krusty the Klown voice) "What was I on?" Syd must have been dropping some strong acid while Pink Floyd was recording this album. This debut presents their instrumental prowess, refined in albums to come. In saying that, I shouldn't give the band a free pass because "this is where it all started". It's surreal. Overall: 4/10
There’s no denying that The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is one of the most important and influential psychedelic rock albums ever made. It captures a moment when Pink Floyd, led by the wildly imaginative Syd Barrett, were fully committed to exploring the outer edges of pop and sound itself. Tracks like Lucifer Sam, Astronomy Domine, and Interstellar Overdrive aren’t just songs—they’re experiences, filled with swirling textures, playful surrealism, and a true sense of musical freedom. The album feels like stepping into a technicolor dream, and it helped lay the foundation for the entire genre of spacey, exploratory rock that followed. That said, as much as I admire what this album achieved, I can’t help but prefer the more expansive, polished Floyd that came later—Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, and beyond. Piper is brilliant and groundbreaking, but also a little uneven in places, with a few tracks that feel more like odd little detours than timeless classics. Still, its legacy is undeniable, and the energy and creativity here are infectious. It’s not my favourite Pink Floyd, but it’s an essential piece of their story—and of psychedelic music as a whole.
This is much more straight 60s psychedelica than what Pink Floyd would become. I like it much less. Lucifer Sam sounds like the theme song for a British TV show of the era. This is like bad, corny Beatles psychedelic rock. Pow R. Toc H.'s chattering is annoying. This reminds me of something I can't place. The switching audio channels is giving me a headache, like when the front windows in a car are rolled up but the rear windows are rolled down. This is like if Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sucked. Give me 70s Floyd any day over this. And to end....some found sound. Just like the Beatles, what a terrible rip off. I just realized some of this album sounds like Robert Wyatt....no thanks.
Experimental and unrefined. But for the time I imagine influential.
i consider myself a fan of pink floyd, although i am not that familiar with their work with syd barrett. and let me tell you, it was interesting but weird. very weird. not to say that i didn’t like it, but it was different.
Weird.
Not their best, but some solid deep cuts reside here.
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.
I feel like I got a contact high just listening to this album. I just did not get into this album. It was disjointed and confusing. One minute we were in a James Bond movie (Lucifer Sam). Then I was traveling across a mythical medieval land (Matilda Mother) followed by being chased by howling monkeys (Power R. Roc. H). Then we traveled to Outer space (Interstellar Overdrive) followed by standing in a field either being a scarecrow or watching a scarecrow (I feel like it was a metaphor but because of the LSD trip, it might have just been about the scarecrow). There were bits I liked, Interstellar Overdrive had a good bass line, and Stethoscope was a good 70s rock song. But the overall disjointedness of it was somewhat jarring and not one I would put in the rotation.
Who are you and what have you done with the REAL Pink Floyd?!!! I'm not a big Syd Barrett fan, specifically his singing and his melodies. I like alot of his guitar playing on this album. What I love most about Pink Floyd is the amazing synergy they have with the instruments. And it's cool to hear that starting to form in different moments of the songs. But the synergy hasn't really worked it's way into some great song writing yet. I appreciate the nod to high fantasy but that Gnome song is annoying. Sounds like some shit your fucked up friend would be singing in the back seat and it would be slightly entertaining but mostly annoying. Bike is the best song on this album. For 1 minute and 50 seconds it's probably my favorite Syd Barrett song. Then the band just suddenly leaves and there is nothing but chimey echo noise and garbage can lids rubbing together for a minute of my life that I will never get back. Wait... is that the honking of a rubber duck?
Listening to Piper at the Gates of Dawn confirms that I definitely prefer Pink Floyd from 1971’s Meddle onward. What is highly respectable about this album and Syd Barrett is that they went all in on the Psychedelic sound. It’s weird even by psych standards. Many drugs were consumed to get to this. I’d argue that Pink Floyd went from being a band for your acid/mushroom trip on Piper to being a weed band once the 70’s hit. This album takes multiple listens to sink in fully and eventually appreciate without the drugs.
Despite being a big Pink Floyd fan, I've never listened to this album before, so I was excited to experience where it all began. It's pretty cuckoo, but I don't mind that. I've been to cuckoo places too. In general, the songs will start off with a cool beat or sound, and then change direction to a place that doesn't hook me, leaving me a little disappointed. But it's still creative and intriguing and a fun listen.
A load of stupid hippy junk
Pretty good for a debut
Oh yeah, some drugs were consumed in the making of this record. 6/10
I didn’t even know this album existed, which makes me feel like a horrible music fan haha. Especially since it’s the only album led by Syd Barrett!! Unfortunately it’s TOO psychedelic for me. The strange noises are no good when played loudly, and the screeches kill the eardrums. Some songs were quite nice with the pink Floyd sound we all know, and the progression of each song was credible. Unfortunately not an album I would listen to regularly though. Listen again: probably not Purchase for my collection: no Favourite Song:
Definitely hear the beginnings of the Pink Floyd sound
Not their best, though I do love these guys.
All right. Not my favorite Floyd for sure
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.
A mad album. Original Psychedelic
Album 712 of 1001 Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967) Rating : 4 / 5 Good listen but certainly not the Pink Floyd we have all come to know and love. If not for the mental health issues of Syd Barrett, I don't know that they would have ever become the Pink Floyd we know. Maybe an odd stroke of luck.
I'm so tired of the 60s, folks. I'm just so done.
Tried to like it, too experimental with little pay off. 3/5
Lord knows how many drugs were consumed in making this. Had its moments and could see them reaching for latter stuff but bit too left field to score higher
Syd Barrett era Floyd was super weird. Their sound developed so much as time went on. This album is super strange and experimental. Not really for me, but important in the grand scheme of things. Favorite songs: Bike, The Gnome, Lucifer Sam Least favorite songs: Pow R. Toc. H, Interstellar Overdrive 2/5
De instrumentale numre er de eneste, jeg virkelig synes er noget værd på det her album. De er til gengæld rigtig gode
Det slår mig altid når jeg hører den her plade hvor lidt det minder mig om det jeg forbinder med Pink Floyd. Der er nogen gigantiske bangers på, men også en del fjollet filler
Pretty trippy. By far the weakest Pink Floyd album I've ever heard.
Very boring. Not sure I needed to hear this at all.
One thing that always astonishes me about this debut is how upon initial listen, it sounds completely alien from the band's later releases, but the more you sit with it, the more you realize how many similarities they are. Barrett's contributions to the band's success are on full display here, even if you don't care for the left-field approach to the songwriting. And thank goodness Gilmour came in to steer the ship; I don't mean to undervalue him at all. I just love this debut so much because it does everything a good psych record does, and in some instances, it's doing them for the first time ever. This is a psychedelic album that removes itself almost entirely from the Blues roots the genre was born from, and in so doing, manages to push the genre forward in endless ways. That said, not all experimentation is good experimentation, and this album is no exception. Some tracks here meander for far too long without offering anything new. However, it's hard to knock off points because regardless of the sonic enjoyment that comes from the "trippier" songs here, their footprint on music history is massive.
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.
I'm just not into the Barrett years. I fucking tried, OK!?
Jazzy Pink Floyd. I liked it quite a bit.
Dull. Very dull.
Not for me
I’ve always found this to be an extremely frustrating listen. I’m not sure I can think of another album that dips in such a severe way. It starts off amazingly. ‘Astronomy Domine’ is one of my favourite songs of the 60’s, and from there you get a run of some really really great and endlessly creative garage psych. There’s then a load of freak-outs, which whilst are all individually good are a bit much to have one after the other. Post this the whole thing falls apart, as you’re met with a load of Syd Barrett’s more whimsical and fairy tale like songs, which generally do absolutely nothing for me. In the midst of that ‘Chapter 24’ seems to go on forever for no real end, making the whole thing end on a confused whimper that has none of the things going for it that appealed to me in the front half. It’s hard with Barrett era Floyd, as it’s essentially a different (and in some regards better) band than the one they’d become later. Between ‘Astronomy Domine’, ‘Lucifer Sam’ and songs not on this album like ‘See Emily Play’ you have all the hallmarks of something I should whole heartedly love, and yet ‘Piper at the Gate of Dawn’ always leaves me cold. It’s a bit too all over the place and of it’s the time. Not that many bands of the era nailed their debut album though, so maybe this was just the prelude to something better had things turned out a bit differently. Oh well, still miles better than ‘The Wall.’
2.5
Not what they will become but you can hear the Syd Barrett influence.
4/10 After really enjoying the wall, this was a huge disappointment. Not good. Surprisingly basic psychedelic rock that was wildly self-indulgent. Lyrically it was childish. Songs like Bike show it was on purpose and they knew what they were doing. Found myself rolling my eyes in some of the extended psychy instrumental sections. Well put together and the keyboard stood out as glueing it all together. Best: Bike
I did not care for this album. It was a difficult listen for me. Too off the wall and weird. Their sound effects were cringey. The use of nursery rhyme-sounding lyrics that devolve into psychedelic cacophony was off-putting. This one was not for me.
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.
History!
Het is geen Wall, maar ook zeker niet slecht. Wel heel rauw. Pink Floyd zonder Gilmour zegmaar
Very psychedelic, not very fun when not on psychedelics. It's pretty free form, but not in a way that shows off any particular talent other than crafting a dreamscape. The music is cliche and subpar and listless. Definitely like their later stuff far more. Not even sure which of these songs I would add to my playlist, none of them really work as "songs".
Masterpiece, in my top 20
one of their best of the first-era
The Gnome: easy 5 outta 5. Everything else on this album? Ehhhh
Ok album. For the time it was original but now quite dated.
Famously recorded in the next door studio to where The Beatles were recording Sgt Pepper, this feels like Pink Floyd before they became the prog behemoth that they became known for. It's good, at times very good psychedelic pop, with a few hints of the grandeur that they'd find in the 70s. It's not always very coherent I think, partly deliberately probably. Still, it ends with Bike, a song that is both extremely stupid on the surface level (I've got a mouse and he doesn't have a house I don't know why I call him Gerald) and has some absolutely mesmerising psychedelic instrumentation across it. I enjoyed listening to this for the first time in a long time, even if it will be a while before I feel the need to do so again.
I love Pink Floyd but Their early stuff isn‘t my Cup of Tea. While some tunes Sound Melodic and interresting, others make me Wonder If they Are serious or Not.
Astronomy Domine - we get it; you're experimental! Lucifer Sam - I mean it's alright? Matilda Mother - love the key changes. Flaming - pretty dull but I love to see 'yippee' featured gleefully in a song. Pow R. Toc H. - we get it; you're still experimental! Take Up They Stethoscope and Walk - sounds more like a jam session than a song but great name. I like the dissonant harmonies at the end and the abrupt stop. Interstellar Overdrive - are people really listening to this on the regular? Or is it a one and done "such talent! On to something tuneful" type sitch? The Gnome - ok now THIS is music (but in seriousness what a delight). Chapter 24 - forgettable. The Scarecrow - same. Bike - saaaaaammmmeeee.
A couple of good tracks on here but far from their best album
Thoughts before listening: Early Pink Floyd when Syd Barrett was still in the band. More psychedelic than the prog rock epics they'd go on to release. Review: Well it's safe to say that I prefer the prog years. Like a lot of the 60s psychedelic bands these songs are more interesting than good. Little pop rock ditties with weird lyrics mixed in with a bunch of weird noises. "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" are the best of the bunch here which makes sense cause those are the only tracks I recognized coming in. Both are also spacey jams as opposed to the rest of the album's whimsical tracks. Floyd would go on to release much better music, but I'm glad to have listened to their roots...even if I don't particularly love that sound. 3-stars
Wasn't my favorite. Kinda bored me, more improvisation than I like.
Just because Pink Floyd made some great music, doesn't mean that ALL the music they made is great
late 60s Floyd is not my personal favorite Floyd. Interstellar Overdrive is just 60's noodling and I am not into it.
I'll just say, not a fan of this one. I also was very confused at first, because my spotify apparently glitched out and it was playing everything in super slow motion and at a lower pitch, so at first I thought it was just a terrible album, but really it was normal, but I just don't really love it.
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 album confirmed that I can't stand Syd Barrett's "music". While there were some ok tracks in the beginning, the second half was utterly horrible. A lot of tracks towards the end felt aimless and lacked any structure. As someone who enjoys Pink Floyd's well-known works, I am disappointed to rate it this low. I even listened to this album twice in case there was anything remotely positive. Unfortunately, there wasn't.
I put this on and my wife left the room mumbling something about musical masturbation. I on the other hand sat and enjoyed the whole thing. Much more akin to jam band than the later Floyd's conceptual and then pop structured stuff. More youthful and a bit more edgy. I heard a lot I liked, but still can't get higher than a 3, though. My wife was not entirely wrong.
Some unique sounds and melodies separate this from the usual psychedelic crap that’s found on a lot of these 60s albums.
Pura psicodelia. Mejorarán mucho.
I'm not listening to Pink Floyd. I'm here to listen to cool albums I wouldn't find out otherwise. Everyone knows about Pink Floyd; it's not worth the minutes spent spinning.
Some of these lyrics can get a bit pretentiously confusing, see “Chapter 24”, in trying to make things psychedelic or sophisticated. I can’t tell what their goal was for some of it, but it’s pretty fun the whole way through. I’ve always liked “Bike” even though it’s pretty silly. I guess they’re all fairly silly songs. First half is stronger than the second, especially those first three songs. Not a huge phan of “Interstellar Overdrive”. The experimentation on here is really well done for the most part. They do a good job of being weird without being unlistenable. In this area, they, in my opinion, got worse before they got better. Strong debut, though. I like it. 4/5
I might have enjoyed this more if I'd been stoned. Or tripping. But I’ve never been stoned, unless you count the time I took Percodan on an empty stomach. And I think it goes without saying that I have never — what’s the term? — dropped acid. And so all I can say is “what the fuck?”
2.5
Listening to this for the second time I like it more than the first. But its still just not as good to me as their 70s work. The atmosphere is amazing, but the music not as special to me. Still, this would be a lot of artists best album.
Honestly, I'm embarrassed for them.
Uneven, but that's what you'd expect from an uneven mind like Old Syd's. Some true classics on here and some that could simply wander off into the haze. But it's got Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Overdrive. The rest is gravy.
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.
This was a struggle to get through 1.5
As someone who never really heard anything from the Rolling Stones, I can safely say I did not expect a band that is simply doing their best Beatles impressions. I didn't enjoy it, but I also didn't expect it.
Roger Waters actually played bass and tambourine on 2 Houmous & Chutney records. The only times I ever let anyone other than myself play the tambourine in the band. Regret it to be honest. He was awful. 2.1
Super trippy. Lots of swirling sounds, weird voices, and melodies that feel like they’re floating. It’s loose, unpredictable, and totally its own thing. If The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper had a weirder cousin, this would be it.
Very different from the pink floyd most people know. Still very good though
Not the best Pink Floyd for sure. 2.81
Not my Favorite
Very unremarkable
Hints at good things to come, but misses the mark.
Had to listen to it twice! So cool... Very proto... Sprawling, wandering, and engaging. Classically influential riffs. Ty Segall definitely picked up where this left off. As did mothers of invention. Very cool would play well at an art school party.
One of the records I would take to a lonely island. I have listened to it at least 1000 times. I love it!
I, uh, hmm. I didn’t like it.
Son los inicios con Syd Barrett, nunca me pareció muy bueno. Aunque tiene 'la semilla' y cosas rescatables.
First time listening to this. Like an acid trip set to music...in a good way. I liked this - the distinctly British lyrics, the weird organ sounds. Not my favorite Floyd album, but a solid 4/5.
Solid psychedelic rock
The early stages of greatness. Its crazy what they where destined to be and make. Its more an interesting listen than entertaining to me. It has so many flaws and early influences which will be found later on. I liked it and it had a good length. I don't feel that it is a album i would casually listen to but it has its moments. (3.0/5.0)
Detta är ett historiskt debutalbum, ett av de album som var avstamp för den progressiva rockens bana tillsammans med typ Sgt Peppers och Freak out! Detta är långt ifrån mitt favoritalbum med PF men det håller fortfarande. Jag är inget stort fan av hur mycket de leker med panorering i mixen, det går lite över styr här. Det finns några lite svagare spår men för det mesta uppehålls mitt intresse. Blir nog en 3/5, det är bra men inte jättebra eller fantastiskt.
Det är ett historiskt debutalbum. Men rent soundmässigt är jag inte riktigt överens med denna. Bra bit från mitt föredragna Pink Floyd album.
Interesting early Pink. Less complicated than the later stuff
Not as great as their later albums imo, but still pretty good, especially considering it's a debut
Masterpiece! Love the psychedelic Floyd!
All time favorite band, but not a big fan of psychedelic Pink Floyd
wanky
Interstellar Overdrive is a killer track but that stereo channel switching can fuck right off.
Very much of its time. You can feel the late 60s and early 70s in every bar. That said there's some great tracks here, they're just not as timeless as their later works. Definitely worth a relisten or two. But for now, just a 3.
Absolutely terrible. Just plain odd. I’m sure that anybody using the same drugs as the band might be on the same wavelength and appreciate it. I can’t help wondering if they hadn’t have gone on to record their better work later on, would anybody care enough about this to make the list? I’m sure it was groundbreaking at the time but that doesn’t stop it from being a steaming pile of 💩
Instrumentally this is so good, absolutely groundbreaking psychedelic stuff. Lyrically it is a bit iffy, but what do expect from ideas drawn from a shed load of drugs? Its not an album I intentionally listen to a lot nowadays, or even when I was younger for that matter, but it is still a pleasure to listen to when the opportunity arises. The standout tracks are 'Astronomy Domine' and 'Interstellar Overdrive'. It is let down by 'The Gnome', I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.
early acid/psychedelic rock. nice to hear what started it all
Just because a band is influential doesn't mean you need to put everything they've ever created on this list. Anyway, album is fine
It feels sacrilegious to vote this so low, given its cultural significance and how much I love later Pink Floyd, but I just don't really rate their earlier stuff - I find the psychedelic melodies a bit grating! Spirit of Woodstock, please forgive me etc
Trippy but not really my speed. I like some Pink Floyd from other albums.
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.
Had no idea Pink Floyd made hippie noise rock. Not a fan. Like Sgt Peppers without the songs.
This should not be on the list. It is nowhere near Pink Floyd's best. As a fan, I'm comfortable saying that it is of historical (almost archeological) interest only.
Very rarely do I think it is imperative to listen to the first album of an artists discography to see how far they've come - Pink Floyd is certainly one of these cases. A totally unique sound from the Beatles clones of the time (and much of the other crap on this list). They truly excelled with their instrumentals and the depth of production on this album. The vocals are nonsensical and often childish which much can be attributed to Syd Barrett. Comparing this to how he directly influenced multiple of the bands biggest records as a theme (DSOTM, WYWH, TW) is mind boggling. Not even close to the best album in the bands career, but a necessary piece of psychedelia history. 3.6/5 -> 4/5
Brilliant. Not at all what they became after Sid's fall, but this is a great album.
Love Pink Floyd but not my favorite
Pink Floyd early is just some psychedelic bluh
Er was een periode waar ik dit 5 sterren had gegeven, maar toen was ik 17 ofzo en zat ik soms in hogere oorden. Nu ben ik 25 en zit ik vooral aan mijn bureau op kantoor, relatief dicht bij de grond dus. Op zich geen slecht album, maar sommige dingen klinken nu wel echt heel experimenteel. Pas op, er staan wel een aantal goede nummers op, zoals Lucifer Sam, Astronomy Domine en Matilda Mother, maar Pink Floyd heeft veel betere albums gemaakt. 3.1
Felt kind of experimental, more annoying than anything
A very generous score. Would not listen to this again.
There comes a pont where I feel I just want to hear a song. And I love pink Floyd!
I absolutely hated this
So so trippy. A lot of brilliance in this one.
Iako imam nekad love & hate odnos prema njima, ovaj album mi sjeda iznenađujuće dobro, više mi je nekako fluent i melodičniji nego neki drugi. 4/5, 8.5/10
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
6.5/10 Vec duze vrijeme mi psihodelija nije neki weapon of choice, ali ovaj album mi hajde prolazi, valjda zbog svog kultnog statusa, ali prvenstveno zato sto su Floydi. Pow R. Toc H. mi je favorit, a ostale si realno ne bi pustao doma, a ni izabrao za tripanje. Ok mi ga je bilo cuti u komadu nakon 10+ godina ali to je sve.
kiva tääki
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.
I… um… I dunno, a 3? This is Pink Floyd’s studio debut – I gave a lot of love to The Wall, and it’s a brilliant album deserving of its acclaim. I figured this wouldn’t be like The Wall, simply because that’s a gargantuan album, and this is only a 41 minute debut. I was fully expecting some good, solid rock, and that’s what I got through the first 5 tracks. Side 1 of this album is a really strong basis for the melodies and soundscapes they’d choose to explore in the future, without Syd Barrett in the group. Side 2 of this album is a journey that I don’t think I can fully put into words. I don’t know if it’s my brain being slightly tired, or my expectations being sent into a different dimension, but once the brakes go off the rails and Syd Barrett’s LSD-inspired brain takes over this album during “Interstellar Overdrive”, it is… certainly a fucking experience. I can’t tell what the prerogative of the album became over the course of its final 20 or so minutes, but from the ‘18 different Classic Doctor Who episodes playing at the same time’ experience of the final 5 minutes of “Interstellar Overdrive”, to the strange strange epiphanies of Grimble Grumble on “The Gnome”, the invasion of Syd’s meditation space during “Chapter 24”, the awkwardly morbid fate of “The Scarecrow”, and the complete breakdown of a nice happy bicycle-based love story in “Bike” (which ends in what I can only describe as ‘the first time seeing Sid’s toys from Toy Story, but in audio form’ (i.e., mildly terrifying). I truly do not know what to make of the back half of the album. It pretty much erased my memory of the first 5 tracks, all of which are really good, but… sometimes it’s about how you finish, and this album finishes in such a way that I feel like *I’ve* somehow done LSD for the first time. If the intention was that sort of feeling, then they nailed it, to a degree perhaps only matched by “Locust Abortion Technician”. It’s just not at all what I was expecting from a Pink Floyd album – it doesn’t make it bad at all, but it’s just so far removed from my expectations that I’m not sure WHAT to rate it. I guess I’m at a 3, if only because I don’t really feel like I enjoyed the second half of the album as much as I was an unwilling participant on Syd’s version of the Willy Wonka boat ride. Perhaps it’ll click for me another day, but I do admire this album for being… whatever the hell it is. An enigma, perhaps, but for my current mindset, a 3. It could totally go up, though.
Oh, ya weirdos—I really, really love Animals! This, less so.
Man. This is the first time I've listened to Pink Floyd, (or at least an album of theirs), so this was pretty eye opening for me. I'm very conflicted on what I should rate this. I would give it about a 3.5 so I'll think about it more later. I know this is their debut album so I would not be surprised if I like the next album I get more than this! Great stuff.
17/12/24 I get what Pink Floyd have done, I just think this is a really poor, boring album.
Psychedelic, slow early floyd
Astronomy Domine 3.4 Lucifer Sam 3.3 Matilda Mother 3.2 Flaming 3 Pow R. Toc H 3.3 Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk 3.1 Interstellar Overdrive 3.4 The Gnome 3.1 Chapter 24 3 The Scarecrow 2.8 Bike 3 Score: 3.145454545
I really liked it even though it is very dated. Psychedelic music doesn’t really stand test of time.
It was a bit all over the place, some was good, some wasn't.
Idk, I went into this one expecting to like it, but I kinda just found it more pretentious and annoying than anything? 2.5/5
This was a spacey trip, some really cool stuff here. It’s obvious they took themselves less seriously in the early going and that’s evidently Syd Barrett’s influence. I really do enjoy the weirdness they brought to the table on this release. POW R. Toc H was really interesting, Interstellar Overdrive was a fantastic psychedelic journey, Bike was pretty fun and made me realize just how much of Montreal was influenced by 60’s psych. It’s weird stuff and I really enjoyed it. 4 stars
grating most of the time, surprised its this bad
One of my favorite albums ever, does that make me sick
Deep.
Didn't know pink Floyd sounded like this at one point, maybe they a small amount of praise for evolving their sound through the years. This particular album sounds like the Beatles if you took out all the actual good songs. Sort of semi-classical folk music with toxic levels of whimsy, all gnomes and mice and rhyming silly words cause we're all so spaced out and groovy. Chuck in a few minutes of random noises likely under the guise of being experimental and it's got to be a 1.
So there's a three-track magical section, Lucifer Sam, Matilda Mother, and Flaming. The rest are either long and a bit boring, or long and interesting but I wouldn't listen again. After being subjected to the Pink Floyd power hour every Friday at the AJ, I grew to dislike Pink Floyd, but I think they were unfairly maligned by association with a bald lad in a biker jacket that regularly beat everyone at pool.
Never heard this album before. Very British sounding... Dare a say a bit kinksy (Jamie will be furious). Got the early shoots of what they were to become, but it's also much more bluesy and folky sounding. More generic. I did enjoy it though. Highlights: Astronomy domine Lucifer Sam Interstellar overdrive I'm going with 4 but maybe closer to 3.5
i like them and all but especially the second part of the album is a bit dull and sounds like a monthy-python ethno-hippie doodle-doo improv live record...
I never really understood psychedelic music I guess because I wasn’t off my head but this just doesn’t do much for me
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.
So foundational. Floyd gets (deserved) abundant credit in the prog/art rock world, but this is a hugely important moment in the world of fuzzy and avant psychedelic.
It was Ok. I prefer some other album of theirs
For decades I’ve tried to understand the appeal of Pink Floyd, and still just don’t get it. I find their music to be middling at best, and boring at worst. This album kind of was jumping between those two spots the whole time. I was just happy it finally ended.
The sixties are odd to listen to. There’s some banging stuff, like Sam Cooke, Otis Reading, CCR, and Fairport Convention. And then there’s some absolute tripe like this. I appreciate that it’s historically significant. I quite enjoyed Astronomy Doctrine, which felt a bit like a Sea Power number. But the rest was meh at best and awful at worst - that’s really not whimsy for me. And, of course, we’re just discovering stereo recording so let’s play with it and produce something clever. Which sounds so dated. I toyed with a 2 for a bit, but I never want to hear this again.
Would rank higher if Roger Waters wasn’t a Nazi
so wildly creative but the craziness is kind of scary it’s like being high in the middle of the day and wondering if everybody knows
Stunning slice of psychedelia
The best thing about this album is that the Acid Head who founded and lead the band left and got professional help and we got Dark Side of the Moon. This sounds very much like a band experimenting and floundering around, trying to find its feet.
This is like a superhero's origin story if their origin story was 'I took a lot of drugs before I learned how to make great music'. I mean, it's not dreadful, but it's not the Pink Floyd that found fame.
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".
Psychedelic rock/pop that's just ok. Liked Songs Added: Astronomy Domine
Not at all what I was expecting from Pink Floyd's debut. I knew that the Syd Barrett era was different, but I was really not prepared. It's absolutely whimsical. Yet, as someone who enjoys psychedelia, it just didn't do it for me. It's charming, but a bit of a slog. I picture the jammier of the tracks in particular being quite revolutionary at the time, but I feel that they've aged. Fav tracks: Flaming, Pow R. Toc H., Chapter 24
Got 9 songs in and DNF’d. Boring and arbitrarily chaotic
A lot of people love Pink Floyd. With a couple of exceptions, I don't get it. And I didn't get this either, odd spaced-out lyrics and... unconventional chord progressions. I lost interest after about the third or fourth track.
I'm probably too boring for this. I like some Syd but not this one.
I actually don't hate some Pink Floyd? Reminds me of Spinal Tap.
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!
huh... not what I was expecting. I thought this album was trying way too hard to be psychedelic and different from everything else. I mean, it's better than a lot of the brit-pop of the era but I had to listen to Dark Side of the Moon after this to be sure that Pink Floyd weren't wildly overrated. They're not, they just had a slow start. 2.5 rounding up.
Kind of interesting. That said, it is the typical babbling late '60s psycedelia, with self-indulgent prog rock sections. Some good bits of music though.