Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (40th Anniversary) Review

Pink Floyd’s debut album may make minor fans of the band wonder how a band that created albums like “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Wish You Were Here” could come up with something like “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.” The album has almost no resemblance to what the later days of Floyd would sound like, but yet it overwhelmingly shows where they were going. This album is the brainchild of infamous rock legend Syd Barrett, the original front man of Pink Floyd and would go down as his only Floyd album where he held a major role. To shortly sum up “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, it is a masterpiece of the psychedelic era, and is rightfully looked upon as one of the most important albums of the genre.

In this album the listener is bombarded with spacey sounds backed with fanciful lyrics, and from start to finish it blends perfectly. The music is also quite eclectic and unique bringing in the obvious rock roots as well as some noticeable jazz influences. This debut album could also be seen as Richard Wright’s greatest work with his largest contribution of any Floyd album. Songs like “Astronomy Domine” and “Interstellar Overdrive” display exactly where this band was headed in the future with atmospheric sounds and bombastic ideas, and at the same time there are songs like “Flaming” and “Bike” which sounds like it could have been created by the Monkees if they were on acid. Basically every song on this album could be considered a stand out, each song easily has the ability of being that tune which replays in your head all day and not one song throughout the album is one that could make people wonder whether or not it should have made the cut.

Now, whether or not you should consider purchasing this 40^th Anniversary Edition is a bit of a different story from the quality of the music. The 2 Disc set is simply just a mono and stereo version of the album, and unless you are someone who wishes to listen to stereo one day and mono the next, the the 2 Disc set probably isn’t a great buy. The 3 Disc edition on the other hand has much more to offer ranging from early singles like “Arnold Layne”, “Seem Emily Play”, and “Apples and Oranges” to a variety of B-Sides, as well as an eight page reproduction of Syd’s notebook.

If you don’t yet own this album than it is definitely worth picking up, the surreal and atmospheric sounds make for a wonderful album. It is also worth owning just based on its importance in rock history and how influential it was to so many bands.

Sound: A
Lyrics: C
Originality: A+
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Overall: A
(Not an Average)