The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

It's Music Monday and today I am honoring Syd Barrett on his birthday. Let's dive into Pink Floyd's first album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" from 1967.

It is the only Pink Floyd album made under the leadership of founding member Syd Barrett

Barrett wrote all but three songs on the album, with additional composition by members Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright.

Barrett's use of LSD

Half-way through recording, Barrett's use of LSD accompanied by his increasingly debilitated mental state, lead to his eventual departure from the group the following year.

Furthermore, Pink Floyd picked up a tabloid reputation for making music for LSD users. The popular broadsheet News of the World printed a story nine days before the album's recording sessions began, saying that "The Pink Floyd group specialize in 'psychedelic music', which is designed to illustrate LSD experiences."

Nick Mason recalled in his 2005 autobiography the sessions were relatively trouble-free. However, producer Norman Smith disagreed, claiming that Barrett was unresponsive to his suggestions and constructive criticism.

The title

The album's title was derived from referencing the god Pan in chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's novel "The Wind in the Willows", a favourite of Barrett's.

Future set lists

Two of "Piper's" songs, 'Astronomy Dominé' and 'Interstellar Overdrive', became long-term mainstays of the band's live setlist, while other songs were performed live only a handful of times.

The album has been hailed as a pivotal psychedelic music recording

The album made prominent use of recording effects such as reverb and echo, employing tools such as EMT plate reverberation, automatic double tracking (ADT), and Abbey Road Studios' tiled echo chamber built in 1931.

Abbey Road Studios and the Beatles

Pink Floyd recorded the album at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London and their recording room was next to the Beatles' recording room where the Beatles were recording "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

Barrett was placed in a vocal isolation booth to sing his parts because of the quietness of his singing.

'Percy the Rat Catcher'

This tune received overdubs across five studio sessions before finally being mixed. 'Percy the Rat Catcher' would later be given the name we know now as 'Lucifer Sam'.

A concept album?

Writer and music professor James E. Perone stated that "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" became known as a concept album in later years, because listeners wanted to play it all the way through rather than pick out a favourite song.

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets

Drummer Nick Mason wanted to bring Pink Floyd's earlier material to a wider audience, paying homage to the Syd Barrett years with his Saucerful of Secrets band, (formed in 2018). The band features session musician and bassist Guy Pratt, and Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp.

I actually went to see them in Santa Barbara almost three years ago:

(Photos by moi!)