CD reviews: Pink Floyd – The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (box set) – 64

From: EMI/UK
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Music: 4/5
Sound: 5/5

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn – the title a line from The Wind In The Willows – was released on August 7, 1967, though recording had commenced back in January of that year. It’s generally held to be one of the key relics of the psychedelic era, and consistently gets top ratings in major rock magazine polls. Rolling Stone magazine voted it number 347 in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and Q magazine called it “indispensible”.

Though future Pink Floyd lead songwriter Roger Waters was already a group member and has sole songwriting credit on one song here, guitarist Dave Gilmour wasn’t drafted into the lineup until it was obvious that Syd Barrett’s erratic behaviour would soon require his exit. On his final tour with the group, Barrett tended to stand stock still and stare blank-eyed at the audience, barely playing a note.

After leaving Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett miraculously released two solo albums in 1970, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett. While both of them are brilliant, they’re also deeply disturbing insights into a man whose psyche has all but splintered. By the mid-’70s Barrett had become a recluse and disappeared from the scene. In 1975 Pink Floyd would record a tribute to Barrett, ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. Nick Mason recalls a surprise visit from Barrett during the recording of that song:

“It was during these sessions at Abbey Road that we had one unexpected visitor. I strolled into the control room from the studio, and noticed a large fat bloke with a shaven head, wearing a decrepit old tan mac. He was carrying a plastic shopping bag and had a fairly benign but vacant expression on his face. Eventually David [Gilmour] asked me if I knew who he was. Even then I couldn’t place him and had to be told. It was Syd. More than 20 years later I can still remember the rush of confusion.”

Then we come to the killer moment: “David asked Syd what he was up to. ‘Well’, said Syd, ‘I’ve got a colour telly, and a fridge. I’ve got some pork chops in the fridge but the chops keep going off, so I have to keep buying more.’

Syd Barrett died on July 7, 2006.

By Gary Steel