Does anyone know these Pink Floyd albums?

[ForeverAutumn]

I was just on AMG checking to see if they have any remasters listed and there are three early PF albums that I've never heard of...

1967 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1968 - A Saucerful of Secrets
1969 - More

It looks like A Saucerful of Secrets and More are available on CD (for a premium), but The Piper at the Gates of Dawn appears to be OOP.

Does anyone know these disks? Is there a good reason why I've never heard of them (like, they stink)?

[Dave_G]

All that real old Floyd stuff is WAAAY out there...

I don't dig it.

Dave

[Hyfi]

More is the soundtrack to a 60s heroin addict film. I have heard the cd once. You may need an altitude adjustment to appreciate some of this.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is their first album and many Floyd purists, (not me) consider it their best. It does have a couple of classic songs Interstellar Overdrive and Bike, and shows the other (Syd Barrett led) Floyd. Personally I think that to fully understand the classic period Pink Floyd you have to at least hear the Pink Floyd with Barrett as leader. My suggestion....get Relics; a singles and b-sides compilation of early Floyd material, that has some real gems.

[DarrenH]

Those three are very different from the PF you're probable used to. On a side note, have you heard any of the singles released during that time? Songs such as Arnold Layne or See Emily Play. Those would give you some insight on how these may sound although More is quite different from Piper and Saucer.

Piper was Syd Barrett's masterpiece. Many PF purists consider this to be the best. It's very psychadelic in a 1967 sort of way. It's an acquired taste, especially if your used to the later stuff.

Saucer is when Syd exits. In fact, he only wrote one song on the album. David Gilmour was the replacement. Different sounding than Piper but not that much imo.

More was a soundtrack for the film of the same title. It's actually not that bad but really, like Piper, is an acquired taste.

For me, PF doesn't get interesting until Atom Heart Mother which I think is a superb album.

Hope that helps.

Darren

[3-LockBox]

Well no, they don't stink. As a matter of fact, they're great psychadelic relics of the late '60s. As good or better than anything of the genre anyone else would put out in that time period. More happens to be a soundtrack (to the film More) and some of the tracks can be found on other albums. Pink Floyd Relics is a good album to have in your PF canon. I used this CD when I made my PF comp almost two years ago (wow...). Do you still have that comp?

[mad rhetorik]

I was just on AMG checking to see if they have any remasters listed and there are three early PF albums that I've never heard of...

1967 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1968 - A Saucerful of Secrets
1969 - More

It looks like A Saucerful of Secrets and More are available on CD (for a premium), but The Piper at the Gates of Dawn appears to be OOP.

Does anyone know these disks? Is there a good reason why I've never heard of them (like, they stink)?

I own Piper. It's actually the first Pink Floyd album I bought on CD (my dad owns DSOTM thru The Final Cut on vinyl). I think Syd-era Floyd is pretty interesting stuff, but definitely not for everyone, and it hasn't aged too well to some ears. Syd was a very good guitarist; he's also considered to be one of the first rock guitarists who pioneered the use of violin bow on a six-string (alongside Jimmy Page). His lyricism is er..well, extremely LSD-influenced and whimsical, and most Syd-penned songs stayed in the 3-4 minute range. However, the early band did jam out sometimes. The studio version of "Interstellar Overdrive" is 9 or so minutes long, and I've read that the band extended it to 20+ minutes live.

I'd say go ahead and check out Piper just to hear a glimpse of the origins of the band. Saucerful Of Secrets and More, on the other hand...meh. They're both okay, but not even close to being representative of early Floyd. The best early Floyd stuff (without Syd) can be found on Live At Pompeii and the live half of Ummagumma.

[Troy]

Some people say that the Barrett led Floyd was as groundbreaking and influential as the late period Beach boys was. I wouldn't go that far, but the best of that era is strangely skewed pop "Arnold Layne", "Bike "and "See Emily Play" (not on any albums from the era except Relics) and there are their first forays into spacerock as well like "Set the Controls", "Careful with the Axe" and "Astronomy Domine", but I think they managed to refine that sound for the better by the time Meddle or Obscured came out.

The "Live at Pompeii" DVD that just came out is a must for fans of the band from this era.

[Dusty Chalk]

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.

You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything everything if you want thing

Syd had a wonderfully elastic sense of meter. I've made fun of it before, here.