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| Album
Information |
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| Released:
August 5, 1967 |
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| Recorded:
February–July 1967 |
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| Genre:
Psychedelic rock, space
rock |
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| Length:
41:52 |
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| Label:
Columbia (EMI) (UK) |
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| Tower/Capitol
(U.S.) |
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| Producer:
Norman Smith |
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Album Art |
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Introduction
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is Pink Floyd's
debut album and the only one made under Syd Barrett's
leadership, although he made some contributions
to the follow-up, A Saucerful of Secrets. It has
been regarded as one of the most influential LPs
ever made, being a tremendous influence on the
psychedelic rock scene of the time, and much of
what followed. The album has whimsical lyrics
about space, scarecrows, gnomes, bicycles and
fairytales, along with psychedelic instrumental
passages. The album celebrated its 40th anniversary
on the 5th August 2007.
Background
In January 1967, prior to recording The Piper
at the Gates of Dawn, the band had produced at
Sound Techniques Studio in London a single entitled
Arnold Layne. The single was later released in
March of that year and reached #20 in the British
charts. Also in January the band had recorded
a 16-minute version of Interstellar Overdrive
and an improvised jam called Nick's Boogie, for
Peter Whitehead's documentary film Tonite Let's
All Make Love in London. (The latter track wasn't
released until 1991 on the CD reissue of the film's
soundtrack). The band's live show consisted mainly
of instrumental numbers and blues covers, however
they had started to introduce songs which were
written primarily by lead Guitarist and Lead Vocalist,
Syd Barrett. Many of these songs written by Barrett
appeared at the Games For May concert several
months before the release of the album.
Recording History
Recording of the album began on the 21 February
1967 in studio three of Abbey Road Studios at
the same time The Beatles were recording Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Pretty
Things were recording S.F. Sorrow. The album was
produced by Norman Smith, an EMI staff member
who had previously engineered all of The Beatles
recordings up to 1965's Rubber Soul. Smith would
go on to produce Pink Floyd's follow up album,
A Saucerful of Secrets. "Interstellar Overdrive"
and "Matilda Mother" were two of the
first tracks recorded, as the latter was viewed
as a potential single. "Interstellar Overdrive"s
kinetic and spacey production, came from the insistence
of the normally conservative Norman Smith, whose
work on the record is often criticised because
it is seen that he tried to make the album more
pop orientated. A second take of "Interstellar
Overdrive" was used for a French EP released
that July. In April, the band recorded both "Percy
the Rat Catcher" (this would later be called
"Lucifer Sam"), and a currently unreleased
track called "She Was a Millionaire".
At some point during the album's creation, Nick
Mason recalled that they were "ushered"
into studio 2 where The Beatles were recording
"Lovely Rita". Several conflicting views
surround how efficiently the recording of the
album actually went. In his book Inside Out: A
Personal History of Pink Floyd, Nick Mason recalled
that the sessions went smoothly and that the whole
process was extremely efficient. Norman Smith
however, condemned both the album's recording
and the band members musical abilities. Smith
would later state that the sessions were "sheer
hell". However, both "The Gnome"
and "The Scarecrow" were recorded in
one take. Indeed a large proportion of the album
is credited solely to Barrett, with tracks such
as "Bike" having been written in late
1966 before the album was even started. "Bike"
was originally entitled "The Bike Song",
and it was recorded on 21 May 1967. The last recording
session took place on 5 July 1967, with the track
"Pow R. Toc H." being one of last songs
added to the album.
Album cover and title
Vic Singh photographed and designed the album
cover, unlike subsequent Pink Floyd albums. The
album remains one of the few to actually feature
the band members on the front cover. The album's
title comes from the title of the seventh chapter
of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows,
where Water Rat and Mole, while searching for
a lost animal, have a spiritual experience. "This
is the place of my song-dream, the place the music
played to me," whispered the Rat, as if in
a trance. "Here, in this holy place, here
if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!".
The Piper referred to is the Greek god Pan. The
title was later referenced by Stevie Wonder in
the song "Power Flower" from the 1979
album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants
("Fire and air, earth water I prepare/I am
the piper at the gates of dawning").
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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