Pink Floyd: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Limited Edition Boxset

Elly Roberts reviews

Pink Floyd: Piper At The Gates Of DawnDistributed by
EMI

• October 2007
• Rating: 10/10+

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To celebrate 40 years of Pink Floyd,take a ‘trip’ back to the halcyon daysof psychedelia with this deluxe 3-CD set which contains both mono and stereoversions, plus recently unearthed versions of Interstella Overdive andMatilda Mother and their first two (non album) singles Arnold Layneand See Emily Play.

‘Piper’ was the forerunner of what would eventually become Progressive Rock.It was recorded in studio 3 at Abbey Road, where coincidentally, next door,The Beatles were also recording another groundbreaking album St.Peppers.Both came out during the memorable Summer of Love in 1967, which speaks volumes.

Floyd were tripping the sound fantastic with this sonic monster, which inmost part, was profoundly experimental, but it brought much attention fromreviewers, who I believe were very generous in their comments.

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At the time it must have been a bit hard to swallow. I clearly remember a TVclip showing them playing an ‘Underground’ gig somewhere in London. And that’sexactly what Floyd were at the time – Underground – off the mainstay pop diet.Originally released on August 5 1967, this hippy soundtrack with it’s titletaken from Syd Barrett’s favourite children’s book Wind In The Wllows,it broke free from the norm, as it combined both instrumental freakouts withwhimsical catchy pop.

There’s no doubt that Piper was Barrett’s baby as he prepared to unleish hisimaginitive musical cannon on a totally unsuspecting nation.

Barrett wrote the lyrics first, hoping they’d rhyme, then came the melody withvarying degrees in tempo, which gave rise to the label ‘weird’. Behind Syd’sfantasies, he was aided by Jazz buff Rick Wright who was familiar with theimprovisational techniques of the genre, so they perfectly complimented eachother.

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Sound effects were also a feature the band would indulge in post-Barrett, foundon even more expansive Meddle, and Dark Side Of The Moon. Settingthe controls firmly at the heart of psych, proceedings began with AstronomyDomine, a lunging stellar experience featuring some blistering solos byBarrett, bringing new guitar techniques to the fore.

A Batman-like riff opens Lucifer Sam as Waters’ rippling basslines andMason’s drum shuffling lay the foundations. Child-like Matila Mother isBarrett’s theme of childhood wonder: mum reading bedtime stories, whereas,Flaming is like something out of Love’s westcoast songbook, with sweet vocals aplenty.

Pow R. Toc H, an instrumental, has weird voices to start (the beginingof the end for Barrett breakdown maybe?), until Wright’s sublime jazz leaningsdrip all over Mason’s regular beats, then wanders, predictably into a more jamformat, until the beat is picked up again.

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If you’re looking for the ultimate Floyd psych experience, then Take Up TheStethoscope And Walk is the ultimate blast. At just under 10 minutes, anaptly titled Interstellar Overdrive turns out to be the freakiest songhere. Barrett runs riot, and breaks the rules well and truly: chaotic beats,guitar blips, thumping rhythms.

Tick-tocking The Gnome is a more stripped back affair with lashings ofacoustic guitar, a kind of quintessential folk-psyche tuneful ditty that mighthave graced a Kinks album, as is the keyboard-driven The Scarecrow. CloserBike, is the sort of song Lennon and McCartney would have done at thetime: grand, chorus heavy, melodic and full of fun.

Now, some bits sound overblown and dated, but as a timepiece, it says it all.

If anything, it set the template for bigger and greater Pink Floyd albums,though without Syd’s uniquness.

It reached number 6, staying 14 weeks on chart in the UK.

Weblink:pinkfloyd.co.uk

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The full list of tracks included are :

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

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