Pink Floyd Music:

Editorial Review:
2007 marks the 40th Anniversary of Pink Floyd's first album Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and kicks off a long term Pink Floyd Catalog Campaign. In commemoration of the Anniversary, Capitol / EMI will release Piper as a deluxe 3 CD Limited Edition and a 2 CD stereo / mono version.

Description of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn:
At the time The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was originally released in 1967, it was one among many aurally ripped, acid-tripped albums including Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced, Cream's Disraeli Gears, Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing at Baxter's, and, of course, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which the Beatles were recording down the hall from Pink Floyd at Abbey Road. But as those albums have gracefully slipped into the mainstream of our music consciousness, Piper, along with The Velvet Underground and Nico, still sounds like it broke through from another dimension. Pink Floyd were employing musique concrete techniques, inventing glissando guitar, and exploring areas of trance with tunes like "Interstellar Overdrive," actually two takes of an extended rave-up laid on top of each other. Mixing sci-fi imagery with swinging London metaphors and pastoral fantasies (the title is lifted from The Wind in the Willows), Pink Floyd's music was even more dappled, swirled, and surreal than the light shows that accompanied their performances. Piper represented Syd Barrett's vision as the sole composer of all but three songs. He was yet to have his acid-induced meltdowns, and all things were possible and beautiful. Barrett mixed whimsy on "Bike" with cynicism on the wordless but ominous "Pow R. Toc H."; goofy innocence on "The Gnome" and mysticism on "Chapter 24." But there's no doubting the contributions of Richard Wright with his swirling, reverb-drenched organ fugues and jazz ellipses and Roger Waters's earth-rooted bass. Nick Mason's underrated drumming, time-shifting polyrhythms, and colorful flourishes pushed Barrett's elliptical pop even further over the edge, especially on the space-music opus "Astronomy Domine." The original album was recorded on only four tracks, making stereo effects and panning somewhat rudimentary and often annoying. But this expanded release includes a full mono mix of the album which provides a more coherent sound and, surprisingly, a bit more depth. Some of the songs are just wacky, some of the technology and tape edits rough-hewn, but The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is one of those albums that actually appears more radical in retrospect. --John Diliberto

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn Reviews:
Brilliantly performed and highly original, if somewhat inconsistent
2009-10-02 - Pink Floyd's debut THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN really does seem to capture the Zeitgeist of its 1967 release date. As Pink Floyd recorded the album only after a fairly long apprenticeship in London's UFO Club, the album includes complex, sometimes jam-like tracks such as "Astronomy Domine", "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" and "Interstellar Overdrive", the last one of the true synth rock efforts. On the other hand, PIPER features more straightforward pop tunes, whose psychadelic nature comes from Syd Barrett's bizarre lyrics which find delight in housecats ("Lucifer Sam"), gnomes, and bicycles. This mix of awe of the infinite and a childlike naivete will be familiar to anyone with completely spaced out acquaintances.

Yet that dichotomy in the album, between vast soundscapes and inconsequential ditties, is its weakness. It's no surprise that the album has been overlooked compared to, say, SGT. PEPPER of the same year, which are slightly less psychadelic but possess a great consistency. But that complaint only holds when considering the album as a whole. Track by track, this is all excellent music, performed with a proficiency and legerdemain one wouldn't normally expect in musicians this young. I like to dip into PIPER fairly often.

Various CD releases of this album exist. I'd encourage getting the mono version, as the application of stereo technology to the recording was primitive and it ultimately proves a distraction.

ONE OF THE FEW AUTHENTIC MONO MIXES
2009-06-07 - I really like mono. Some of the CD productions don't really sound authentic to me. Too many of them sound just flat and one dimensional. Some reviewers I think call this 'compressed' in a derogatory way, but compression is a good thing: it means balance between the loud and quiet parts. What they really mean is homogenous, I think, flat, one dimensional, etc. And yes, authenic mono should be more. It should be up front with a lot of kick and mixed differently. In the case of this Piper, it literally has completely different overdubs in parts. Some of the other really good ones are Stones Singles collection and Zombies Begin Here. The Zombies Singles sound questionable to me, but it may be the mastering and not the source. A Motown box called Hitsville claims to be mastered off the original 45 rpms, but have not heard. Tull's This Was in mono does not sound authentic to me. Sounds the same as the stereo mix, but in mono, you get nothing more. This mono Pipier is the real thing, as I have the original vinyl and the CD blows it out of the water, and not just coz it has no surface noise. I am just in awe they would even release this as the Floyd seems to want to play down the early stuff for some reason, Point Me, So Nice, Candy and Current, you know...

Wheres "Early morning Henry"
2009-05-13 - The album is superb. No way you can give that less than 5 stars at any given time

Why no early Floyd outtakes? Theres "only" an alternate Matilda Mother (ok, its pretty great!)

I understand Scream thy last scream & Vegetable man were kept off this reissue at the last minute (according to an interview with Mason in Oor magazine)

So consider this a bit of a lost opportunity. Nice to have the notebook with "Syd"s doodles and silliness, but would rather have had more altnerate takes! Surely theres more stuff that could've filled up the third disc! "John Latham"? "Early morning Henry" (no relation to Keith Moon's "Early Morning Cold Taxi" one hopes!)

And how about the mid 60s recordings of "Butterfly" and "Double O Bo". Okay, the latter is probably not so good, but surely there could've been room left for "Lucy Leave" which is a great track (by Barrett? Dunno! Don't have the acetate!)

I see this as a missed opportunity, but then Syd fans are used to that. We had to buy a best of (from an artist who put out 2 albums!) just to have the Bob Dylan Blues

Which really should've been on Opel the first time..

I still doubt that "Living Alone" from the Barrett sessions (1969) will ever see the light of day, or "Butterfly" (one of Syds earliest Syds songs!) but perhaps for the 50th anniversary of Piper!

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (40th Anniversary Edition)
2009-03-28 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (40th Anniversary Edition) being Pink Floyd's 1967 release and their debut album is a classic example of psychadelic rock and sounds as experimental as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys. The album did quite well in the UK album charts and peaked at #6. The booklet is typical 60's psychadelia and the lyrics are quite strange but easy to read. 4/5.

Overall, very good..
2009-02-21 - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, overall, is a very good CD.

It may not be the best Pink Floyd album, yet it is one of their most interesting.

I have listened to both the Mono and Stereo mixes and prefer the Stereo mix. It has a fuller sound. The songs are very experimental and may take a few listens to get accustomed to them.

Syd Barrett will be remembered for this recording. No one wrote quite like he did, he was unique.

Standout tracks include, Interstellar Overdrive, Chapter 24, The Scarecrow, Lucifer Sam and Astronomy Domine