TL;DR version: Band met in college, went underground, did a bunch of acid, met some rich guys, managed to get into EMI and made an album.
Welcome to the Sigma 6 discography discussion! No, wait, hang on, that's not right. The Meggadeaths, the Abdabs and the Screaming Abdabs, Leonard's Lodgers, the Spectrum Five? No, still not right. Tea Set still sounds great here. Tea Set must be it. Surely. Up for a small history lesson?
Your big chunk of the history lesson is going to be behind a link because otherwise we're in for a huge OP.TL;DR version: People met in college, Drummer brought instruments, Acid was done, expermentation, met some rich guys, leading into..
1967, and the band known as Pink Floyd was starting to breach the mainstream walls. Whilst negotiations were going on with a number of companies, UFO, a venue Pink Floyd frequented quite a bit, club manager Joe Boyd and Pink Floyd's booking manager Bryan Morrison got the band some recording time. What came out of these sessions were Arnold Layne and it's b-side Candy and a Currant Bun. Three days before it's single release, Pink Floyd signed with EMI. These were the first releases by EMI on the Columbia label for the band, and it sparked a period of success before the first album. Brief talk about Arnold Layne, and it's kind of the hybrid between the Blues that Syd Barrett loved so much, and the off beat instrumentation that the band had. It's short, too.
Lyrically, it's about a transvestite (who, according to Roger Waters, is a real person), who stole clothes from a washing line and wore them. These lyrics lead to the song being banned by Radio stations, and some fiddling was needed with the numbers to make Arnold Layne a top 20 hit. Between Arnold Layne and the next single to be released, 'See Emily Play', Pink Floyd entered the studio to record..
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
This album has two tracklistings, a UK and US version. Let's start with the UK version..
No. Title Lead Vocals Length
1. "Astronomy Domine" Barrett and Richard Wright 4:12
2. "Lucifer Sam" Barrett 3:07
3. "Matilda Mother" Wright and Barrett 3:08
4. "Flaming" Barrett 2:46
5. "Pow R. Toc H."* Instrumental 4:26
6. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk"+ Waters 3:05
Side two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Interstellar Overdrive"# Instrumental 9:41
2. "The Gnome" Barrett 2:13
3. "Chapter 24" Barrett 3:42
4. "The Scarecrow" Barrett 2:11
5. "Bike" Barrett 3:21
* Written by Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason
+ Written by Roger Waters
# Written by Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason
And what's the difference in the US Version..?
Side one
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "See Emily Play" Barrett 2:53
2. "Pow R. Toc H."* Barrett and Waters 4:26
3. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk"+ Waters 3:05
4. "Lucifer Sam" Barrett 3:07
5. "Matilda Mother" Wright and Barrett 3:08
Side two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "The Scarecrow" Barrett 2:11
2. "The Gnome" Barrett 2:13
3. "Chapter 24" Barrett 3:42
4. "Interstellar Overdrive"# Instrumental 9:41
Before I discuss anything to do with recording or the US incredible lame (NO AD? MADNESS) tracklist, let's talk the cover for a moment. Up-and-coming society photographer Vic Singh was the man who got to photograph the band for the album cover. Singh knew a guy who knew George Harrison of the Beatles, who were recording at the same time as Pink Floyd. Singh asked Jenner and King to dress the band in the brightest clothes they could find. According to Singh, Once the band had been relaxed with several joints, he shot them with a prism lens that Harrison had given him. Quote from Singh about the cover: "It was unusual and different, and they were delighted with it, and Syd did his own little drawing on the back cover."
Recording wise, there's many stories to tell here. The band's deal with EMI was bad, really bad. A £5,000 advance over five years, low royalties, having to record in Abbey Road
[SO TERRIBLE] and no free studio time. However, EMI, because they were unsure of what band they had just signed, allowed Pink Floyd to have free reign in making their album as well as help developing it. This lead to producer Norman Smith and Balance Engineer Pete Brown helping to make
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Brown was Norman's mentor, but most importantly, Brown helped experiment in creating that rather unique echo/reverb heavy sound that Piper had, most of which came from a set of Elektro-Mess-Technik plate reverberators and Abbey Road Studio's Echo Chamber. Brown had made the microphone set up differed heavily from the other small time local band named The Beatles, who Norman Smith set up the mics for.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is made up of two types of tracks. The long instrumental improvs from Pink Floyd's live act and the shorter songs that Barrett had written, who's LSD intake skyrocketed part way through the recording session. Mason said that these sessions went smoothly, although Norman Smith disagreed. Despite playing some jazz improv with the band to get to know them better and make them feel more comfortable with him, Smith and Syd disagreed a fair bit. A lot of takes were required to record every song, except for
The Scarecrow, with it's one take only.
I enjoy this album, although it differs to a fair amount of other Pink Floyd, due to it's more psychedelic material, combined with the difference with Syd's creative controlness. I'm not sure why the US version omits two of my favourite tracks of the album, (Flaming and Astronomy Domine), but I suppose not everything can be perfect. As all of my experience comes from the UK version, I'll have to talk about that.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was the fifth Pink Floyd album I heard, and that was when I was, ooh, 13? (Hi 2007.) I was unsure what I was getting into, and I was even more unsure coming out of it. What did I like? What did I dislike? Did I consider it to be a great debut or an awkward one? I certainly enjoyed Astronomy Domine, Flaming and Interstellar Overdrive, especially Astronomy Domine's guitar sound. I found Pow R. Toc H. and The Scarecrow bad on my first listen to, and the rest.. I just didn't know. I gave it a second spin through to see if my opinions changed, and a third time, before leaving it for a year.
When I came back to it, a year older and bit more open to it, I found myself singing along to every song that I remembered, spotting things that made me appreciate Pow R. Toc H. more (I still don't like The Scarecrow). I must admit, though, Bike doesn't work for me as an ending for an album and I think the US release having it end on Interstellar Overdrive makes for a much interesting ending. But unlike a couple of albums coming up next, I go listen to this album with out much reason too.
I'm going to apologize for this long, pretty bad post, but we're starting!
Questions
1. Should I also do whatever Live EPs there might be?
2. Should we talk about the film soundtracks?
3. Should we also look at the individual members solo albums?
Topic: Pink Floyd Discography thread v. 'On An Island, end V1' (Read 33563 times)
