I'm on the train home, listening to this album as I type. Goodness, what a far-out, triply, psychedelic release it is. Totally compelling, forever interesting and truely exciting. Coupled with Arnold Lane and See Emily Play, the Floyd's '67 output may be the pick of that year. I like some of Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, etc, but Syd Barrett took a little too much of the magic when he departed. 'Sleeping On A Dandilion'????

Love it.

To be honest, probably my least favorite Floyd album. Really psychedelic albums are maybe a little too much of a snapshot of the time, a time I didn't live in so I have no nostalgia for it, and aren't timeless to me. I'm not really into Sgt. Pepper either for the same reason, but I do appreciate both of these albums and see the artistic merit of them. Hendrix was psychedelic as hell, but maybe because of his emphasis on guitar they seem to have aged very well. I used to enjoy these albums more when I was more into altered states, but that was mainly for the trippiness of them, and the tricks they played on my ears, and less to do with the songs themselves.

My favorite Pink Floyd vinyl album-experimental and psychedelic
Syd Barrrett all lyrics except; Pow R.Toc H. Barrett.Waters.Wright.Mason and
Interstellar Overdrive; Barrett.Waters.Wright.Mason.

Piper is an exceptional and very magical album. It was really far ahead of its time in the way that it featured such unusual rhythms, chord sequences, sounds and lyrics. To me Sgt Pepper and Revolver were still pretty much tin pan alley and a musical veering offf the beaten track.

But Piper was a different creature altogther that didn't owe anything to standard pop music but took on a whole new set of shapes and sounds to re-write the rule book. Syd Barrett was certainly a genius...for a while anyway.

And See Emily Play is one of the most incredible singles of all time.

Piper is my favourite PF album. Experimental and innovative but at the same time it has accessible and catchy tunes on it. I guess that is the secret of a great album. These days anything that was released in the 1965-69 period and features some phasing, backwards guitar, odd sound effects and drug references gets labelled as psychedelic. Truly psychedelic albums are not that common and probably well outside the mainstream and into the "experimental" or "difficult"genre.

of the mainstream my other fave "psychedelic" albums are

Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing At Baxters
Mothers - Freak Out and We're Only In It for The Money
Soft Machine
Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
Ya Ho Wha 13 with Father Yod

andy

And See Emily Play is one of the most incredible singles of all time.[/quote]

Here, here! I have the original Columbia 45. Sounds fantastic!

a magic to this album

Arnold Lane and See Emily Play are great tracks for sure, both tracks are on my vinyl album "Relics", one more Barret track on this albums is "Bike".
On the album " A Saucerful Of Secrets",is one more Barrett track ; "Jigband Blues". Saucerful is a spacy album with lengthy instrumental passages.

Quote
runaway
Arnold Lane and See Emily Play are great tracks for sure, both tracks are on my vinyl album "Relics", one more Barret track on this albums is "Bike".
On the album " A Saucerful Of Secrets",is one more Barrett track ; "Jigband Blues". Saucerful is a spacy album with lengthy instrumental passages.

I agree. If you like Piper, then you most likely will like Secrets. Roger Waters was beginning to write and take over from Barret who was fading. Rick Wright was also writing - check out Remember a Day. Pink Floyd was actually a 5 member group for a while during this time...

Quote
2000 LYFH

Quote
runaway
Arnold Lane and See Emily Play are great tracks for sure, both tracks are on my vinyl album "Relics", one more Barrett track on this albums is "Bike".
On the album " A Saucerful Of Secrets",is one more Barrett track ; "Jigband Blues". Saucerful is a spacy album with lengthy instrumental passages.

I agree. If you like Piper, then you most likely will like Secrets. Roger Waters was beginning to write and take over from Barret who was fading. Rick Wright was also writing - check out Remember a Day. Pink Floyd was actually a 5 member group for a while during this time...

Syd Barrett "Tragic and a great loss".

Part of the magic of this album can be credited to the 1908 children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, both in terms of lyrical inspiration and the album title itself [from chapter 7].



Also, the lyrics for the song Chapter 24 were taken almost verbatim from Hexagram 24 of the I Ching [The Book of Changes].

A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset.

The time is with the month of winter solstice
When the change is due to come.
Thunder in the other course of heaven.
Things cannot be destroyed once and for all.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.

A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.

Below is an interview done after his first solo album in 1970.

Q: Piper at the Gates of Dawn?

Syd: 'Wind in the Willows.' That was very difficult in some ways, getting used to the studios and everything. But it was fun, we freaked about a lot. I was working very hard then; there's still lots of stuff lying around from then, even some of the stuff on 'Madcap'.

Q: Some of your songs seem rather obscure, like Chapter 24 on Piper.

Syd: 'Chapter 24'...that was from the 'I Ching', there was someone around who was very into that, most of the words came straight off that. 'Lucifer Sam' was another one, it didn't means much to me at the time, but then three or four months later it cam to mean a lot.

Q: How important are lyrics to you?

Syd: Very important. I think it's good if a song has more than one meaning. Maybe that kind of song can reach far more people, that's nice. On the other hand, I like songs that are simple. I liked Arnold Layne because to me it was a very clear song.

Q: Some of your words don't come over too clearly, like on 'Octopus' there's 'little Minnie Conn coughs and clears his throat'. Have you though about printing the words on the sleeve next time?

Syd: Yeah that would be nice (laughing). That was 'little minute gong.'

Q: What about Octopus, that was my personal favourite.

Syd: I carried that about in my head for about six months before I actually wrote it so maybe that's why it came out so well. The idea was likethose number songs like 'Green Grow the Rushes Ho' where you have, say, twelve lines each related to the next and an overall theme. It's like a fool-proof combination of lyrics, really, and then the chorus comes in and changes the tempo but holds the whole thing together.

Q: There's a strong childhood feel to a lot of your songs with lots of fairy-tale and nursery rhyme elements. Have you ever thought of writing for kids?

Syd: Fairy-tales are nice...I think a lot of it has to do with living in Cambridge, with nature and everything, it's so clean, and I still drive back a lot. Maybe if I'd stayed at college, I would have become a teacher. Leaving school and suddenly being without that structure around you and nothing to relate to...maybe that's a part of it, too.

Q: There was a strong science-fiction thing in the early Floyd. Were you ever into that?

Syd: Not really, except 'Journey into Space' and 'Quatermass', which was when I was about fifteen, so that could be where it came from.

Q: Your lyrics could be described as surrealistic collages. Did your art training affect your writing?

Syd: Only the rate of work, learning to work hard. I do tend to take lines from other things, lines I like, and then write around them but I don't consciously relate to painting. It's just writing good songs that matters, really.

Q: Do you still paint?

Syd: Not much. The guy who lives next door to me paints, and he's doing it well, so I don't really feel the need.

Q: Do you want to do other things?

Syd: A lot of people want to make films and do photography and things, but I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing.

Q: Are you into other people's music?

Syd: I don't really buy many records, there's so much around that you don't know what to listen to. All I've got at home is Bo Diddley, some Stones and Beatles stuff and old jazz records. I like Family, they do some nice things.

Q: What about the Underground?

Syd: I haven't been to the Arts Lab or anything, so I don't really know what's happening. There are just so many people running around doing different thingsand no kind of unity. It doesn't really bother me.

Q: Do you read poetry?

Syd: I've got Penguins lying around at home. Shakespeare and Chaucer, you know? But I don't really read a lot. Maybe I should.

Q: Were you satisfied with Madcap Laughs?

Syd: Yes, I liked what came out, only it was released far too long after it was done. I wanted it to be a whole thing that people would listen to all the way through with everything related and balanced, the tempos and moods offsetting each other, and I hope that's what it sounds like, I've got it at home, but I don't listen to it much now.

Q: Madcap is rather gentle compated with your Floyd stuff. What about the new album?

Syd: There'll be all kinds of things. It just depends what I feel like doing at the time. The important thing is that it will be better than the last.

Q: In 'No Man's Land' on Madcap there's a long spoken part which is barely audible, like the 'faded' lyrics of Astronomy Domine. Was the intention to abstract the words into just background noise?

Syd: Originally the words were meant to be heard clearly, but we went and actually did it, that's how it came out, which wasn't really how I'd planned it.

Q: How's the guitar playing?

Syd: I always write with guitar. I've got this big room and I just go in and do the work. I like to do the words and music simultaneously, so when I go into the studio I've got the words on one side and my music on the other. I suppose I could do with some practice.

Q: What about the future? Are you looking forward to singing and playing again?

Syd: Yes, that would be nice. I used to enjoy it, it was a gas. But so's doing nothing. It's art school laziness, really, I've got this Wembley gig and then another thing in summer.

Q: What about forming a band?

Syd: I'll be getting something together for the Wembley thing and then just see what happens.

Q: And now?

A: I'm working on the album. There's four tracks in the can already, and it should be out about September. There are no set musicians, just people helping out, like on 'Madcap', which gives me far more freedom in what I want to do...I feel as if I've got lots of things, much better things to do still, that's why there isn't really a lot to say, I just want to get it all done.

Great post stonehearted. And very nice to read that interview.

This and Saucerful were on a two-fer I got back in high school, so I guess you could say I "cut my teeth" on them...

"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"

...classic!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-02-19 01:34 by shadooby.

Remember a day before today...

A 2006 limited edition 3-track single CD


With David Bowie, Royal Albert Hall, 2006.




With Richard Wright, Royal Albert Hall, 2006.




David Gilmour with a live acoustic treatment of Dark Globe, 2006.