Trip to heave and ho!

Released on August 5, 1967 (about two months after the June 1 UK release of the Beatle's Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band) this excellent debut featured a heady mixture of experimental and avant-garde tendencies, psychedelia, and lengthy instrumental passages that placed Pink Floyd alongside instrumental bands active at the time such as the Soft Machine (debut album 1968).

This album, as many people know, featured the late Syd Barrett, who was the primary driver behind the Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Although quite different than the later material that made the band famous, I actually prefer the rawer, more experimental side of Pink Floyd and find it to be a very satisfying example of the proto-progressive rock style. Like Sgt. Peppers, this album was also extremely influential and along with Saucerful of Secrets (1968) provided the inspiration for a great deal of the German experimental rock scene (listen to Tangerine Dream's 1970 debut for proof). Of course, Piper at the Gates of Dawn also contributed to the events leading up to the emergence of English progressive rock too.

The lineup at this point included Syd Barrett (electric/acoustic guitars, vocals); Roger Waters (bass, vocals); Rick Wright (organ; vocals); and Nick Mason (drums). In addition to the standard rock instruments, Pink Floyd also treated the studio as an instrument and experimentation with sound effects, feedback, and other types of tape manipulation were very much a part of the soundscape. The playing is also much more adventurous.

In fact, I have to admit that Roger turns in some of his finest bass playing on this album. His style is very aggressive, features loads of octave jumps, and he generally uses the fretboard more than he would during the rest of Pink Floyd's career. Of course, the fact that he played a Rickenbacker certainly did not hurt either. Syd's guitar playing is also very intense and he generates all sorts of otherwordly sounds - many of which sound nothing like an electric guitar. Rick's organ work also provides another nice touch. The songs themselves are very interesting too and run the gamut from short (and bizarre) songs with frequently shifting time signatures, to lengthy and wild instrumental "freak outs".

The (approx.) 10 minute Interstellar Overdrive is a great example of this. The subject matter is also fairly interesting too, and the album lies somewhere in a brambly, dark dimension populated by scarecrows and gnomes etc. I would imagine that this album may have frightened a lot of folks when it came out - it is extremely intense and fairly "intellectual" in its approach.

As has been well documented in just about every book written on Pink Floyd (for example, see Nicholas Schaffners' Saucerful of Secrets (1991); Pink Floyd: In the Flesh by Glenn Povey and Ian Russell (1997)), Syd Barrett's drug problem shattered his already fragile emotional state and a series of increasingly bizarre actions led to his replacement by Dave Gilmour. It is worth noting that Syd was allowed to contribute the track Jugband Blues to the Saucerful of Secrets album, although it was to be his last recorded performance with Pink Floyd.

All in all, this is yet another amazing album to come out of the heady, psychedelic rock scene as it existed in 1967. For those prog rock fans that are interested, other exciting albums from 1967 that might prove enjoyable include Days of Future Passed (Moody Blues); After Bathing at Baxter's (Jefferson Airplane); and two from the Beatles including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the original release of Pink Floyd's first album 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn', a special edition was released via EMI Records on Tues 28th August in North America, and Monday September 3rd in Europe. The packaging, designed by Storm Thorgerson, resembles a cloth-covered book, and holds 3 CD discs, along with a 12-page reproduction Syd Barrett notebook. Discs 1 and 2 contain the full 'Piper' album, represented in both stereo and mono versions. Both have been newly remastered by James Guthrie. Disc 3 includes bonus tracks, including the following: all the Pink Floyd singles from 1967, ('Arnold Layne', 'See Emily Play', and 'Apples And Oranges'), plus the B sides 'Candy And A Current Bun' and 'Paintbox'. Other tracks are a version of 'Interstellar Overdrive' - Take 2 of the original recording sessions, previously only available on an EP in France - and the 1967 stereo version of 'Apples And Oranges'.

CD1

01. Astronomy Domine (Mono)

02. Lucifer Sam (Mono)

03. Matilda Mother (Mono)

04. Flaming (Mono)

05. Pow R Toc H (Mono)

06. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk (Mono)

07. Interstellar Overdrive (Mono)

08. The Gnome (Mono)

09. Chapter 24 (Mono)

10. The Scarecrow (Mono)

11. Bike (Mono)

CD2

01. Astronomy Domine (Stereo)

02. Lucifer Sam (Stereo)

03. Matilda Mother (Stereo)

04. Flaming (Stereo)

05. Pow R Toc H (Stereo)

06. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk (Stereo)

07. Interstellar Overdrive (Stereo)

08. The Gnome (Stereo)

09. Chapter 24 (Stereo)

10. The Scarecrow (Stereo)

11. Bike (Stereo)

bonus

01. Arnold Layne

02. Candy And A Currant Bun

03. See Emily Play

04. Apples And Oranges

05. Paintbox

06. Interstellar Overdrive (Take 2) (French Edit)

07. Apples And Oranges (Stereo Version)

08. Matilda Mother (Alternative Version)

09. Interstellar Overdrive (Take 6)

File one is CD one and part one of the bonus disc

File two is CD two and part two of the bonus disc

http://rapidshare.com/files/54836051/PF_40_1.rar.html

http://www.zshare.net/download/3584026fe9557c/