The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Studio album by Pink Floyd
Released	5 August 1967 (UK) October 1967 (US)
Recorded	February–July 1967, EMI Studios, London
Genre	Psychedelic rock, space rock
Length	41:52
Label	Columbia/EMI UK Tower/Capitol US
Producer	Norman Smith
Pink Floyd chronology
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
Singles from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
"See Emily Play" Released: 16 June 1967 "Flaming" Released: 5 August 1967

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, and the only one made under founding member Syd Barrett's leadership. The album contains whimsical lyrics about space, scarecrows, gnomes, bicycles and fairytales, along with psychedelic instrumental songs. The album was initially released in 1967 by Columbia/EMI in the United Kingdom and Tower/Capitol in the United States. Special limited editions were issued to mark its thirtieth and fortieth anniversaries in 1997 and 2007, respectively.

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 titled "Arnold Layne", which was later released in March, and reached number 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 Lets All Make Love in London.. (The latter track was released in 1991, on the CD reissue of the film's soundtrack). The band's live show consisted mainly of instrumental numbers and blues covers. However, it had started to introduce songs that were written primarily by guitarist and lead vocalist Syd Barrett.

Recording history

Recording of the album began on 21 February 1967 in studio three of EMI Studios, at the same time that The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 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. An early, unoverdubbed, shortened mix of the album's "Interstellar Overdrive" was used for a French EP release 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 the group was ushered into Studio Two, 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 later stated that the sessions were "sheer hell." 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 titled "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 the last songs added to the album.

Album cover and title

Vic Singh photographed and designed the album cover. The back cover features a silhouette drawing of the band done by Barrett himself.

The album's title comes from the title of Chapter Seven, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, where Rat and Mole, while searching for Portly, the lost son of Otter, are drawn to a place where the piper is playing on his reed flute. (The piper referred to is the Greek god Pan.)^[1]

Release history

The original UK LP (with a monaural mix) was released on 5 August 1967, and one month later it was released in stereophonic mix. It reached #6 on the UK charts.^[2]

The original US album appeared on the Tower Records division of Capitol Records in October 1967. This version (ST-5093, stereo; T-5093, mono) was officially titled simply Pink Floyd though the original album title did appear on the back cover as on the UK issue. The US album featured an abbreviated track listing and reached #131 on the Billboard charts. A UK single, "See Emily Play", was substituted for "Astronomy Dominé," "Flaming", and "Bike." The Tower Records vinyl issue also faded out "Interstellar Overdrive", and broke up the segue into "The Gnome", because the songs were re-sequenced. Later US issues on compact disc had the same title and track list as the UK version.

The Canadian LP (Capitol/EMI ST-6242) had the same title and track listing as the UK version.

In 1973, the album, along with A Saucerful of Secrets, was released as a double disc set on Capitol/EMI's Harvest Records label, titled A Nice Pair. (On the American version of that compilation, the original four-minute studio version of "Astronomy Dominé" was replaced with the eight-minute live version found on "Ummagumma"). The American edition of A Nice Pair also failed to properly restore the segue between "Interstellar Overdrive" and "The Gnome."

The stereo mix of the album was first released on Compact Disc in 1987, and re-released as a digitally re-mastered CD in 1994 and then in June 1995 in the US. In 1997 EMI released a re-mastered, limited-run mono mix version in a hefty digipak with 3-D box art for continental Europe and the world outside the United States. This mono CD included a slightly edited version of "Flaming." A six-track bonus CD, 1967: The First Three Singles, was given away alongside the 1997 30th-anniversary edition of the album.

• 1999 CD Capitol 59857
• 1987 CD Capitol C2-46384
• 1967 LP Tower ST-5093
• 1995 CD EMI 7243 8 31261 2 0
• 1994 CD Capitol 46384
• 2001 CD EMI 65731
• 1994 CD Capitol 1073

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Pitchfork Media	(9.4/10) [3]
Blender	[4]
Q	[5]
Allmusic	[6]

At the time of its release, the album was received positively. In subsequent years, the record has been recognised as one of the seminal psychedelic rock albums of the 1960s. In 1967, both Record Mirror and NME gave the album four stars out of five. Record Mirror commented that "the psychedelic image of the group really comes to life on this LP, which is a fine showcase for both their talent and the recording technique. Plenty of mindblowing sound." Cash Box called it a "striking collection of driving, up to date rock ventures." Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd's past producer Joe Boyd, both rated the album highly. Some, notably Pete Townshend, voiced the opinion of the underground fans, by suggesting that the album did not reflect the band's live performances. In recent years the album has gained even more recognition. In 1999 Rolling Stone Magazine gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5, calling it "the golden achievement of Syd Barrett". Q Magazine described the album as "indispensable," and included it in their best psychedelic albums of all time. It was also ranked fortieth in Mojo magazines, The 50 Most Out There Albums of all Time. In 2000 Q magazine placed The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at number 55 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 347 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[7] Digital Dream Door also ranked The Piper at the Gates of Dawn number 2 on the "100 Greatest Psychedelic Albums" list.^[8] The album was named as one of Classic Rock magazine's "50 Albums That Built Prog Rock".^[9]

Fortieth anniversary edition

A two-disc fortieth anniversary edition was released on 4 September 2007, and a three-disc set was released on 11 September 2007. The packaging, designed by Storm Thorgerson, resembles a cloth-covered book, along with a twelve page reproduction of a Syd Barrett notebook. Discs one and two contain the full 'Piper' album in the original mono mix (disc one), as well as the alternate stereo version (disc two). Both have been newly remastered by James Guthrie.

The third disc includes several Piper-era outtakes from the Abbey Road vaults, along with the band's first three mono singles. Unreleased material includes a shorter take of "Interstellar Overdrive" that was previously thought lost, the pre-overdubbed abridged mix of "Interstellar Overdrive" previously only available on an EP in France, an alternative mix of "Matilda Mother" as it appeared early in the sessions, and also the 1967 stereo mix of "Apples and Oranges," which features extra untrimmed material at the beginning and end.

Track listing

All songs written by Syd Barrett, except where noted.

British release

American release

3-CD fortieth Anniversary Edition

Live performances

Although there was never an official tour of the album, the band visited both Ireland and Scandinavia, and in November the band embarked on their first tour of America. It was an unsuccessful tour, mainly because of the mental breakdown of the band's frontman Syd Barrett.

For the American tour, many numbers such as "Flaming" and "The Gnome" were dropped, while others such as "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" remained, and were central to the band's setlist during this period, often performed as encores until around 1970. "Astronomy Domine" was later included on the live disc of Ummagumma, and adopted by the post-Waters Pink Floyd during the 1994 Division Bell tour, with a version included on the 1995 live album P*U*L*S*E. David Gilmour resurrected "Astronomy Domine" for his "On An Island" tour using guest vocalists such as David Bowie.

Tracks 8-11 on the UK album edition were played the least during live performances. The success of "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne", meant that the band were forced to perform some of their singles for a limited period in 1967, but they were eventually dropped after Barrett left the band. "Flaming" and "Pow R. Toc H." were also played regularly by the post-Barrett Pink Floyd in 1968. Some of the songs from Piper would be reworked and rearranged for The Man and the Journey live show in 1969 ("The Pink Jungle" was taken from "Pow R. Toc H." and part of "Interstellar Overdrive" was used for "The Labyrinths of Auximines").

From September 1967, the band played several new compositions. These included; "Reaction in G", which was a song created by the band in reaction to crowds asking for their hit singles, "See Emily Play" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". The latter track, written by Waters (and later included on A Saucerful of Secrets) became a mainstay of the band's setlist until around 1973, but was revived for live performances by Roger Waters solo tours since the 1980s.

Personnel

Pink Floyd

• Syd Barrett - vocals, guitar
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals
• Richard Wright – farfisa and hammond organs, piano, vocals
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion

Production

• Peter Bown – engineer
• Jon Crossland – repackage design (1994 CD edition)
• James Guthrie – remastering (2007 deluxe edition)
• Peter Jenner – intro vocalisations on "Astronomy Domine"
• Vic Singh – cover photography
• Doug Sax – remastering (1994 CD edition)
• Norman Smith – production
• Storm Thorgerson – repackage design (1994 CD edition)

Sales chart performance

Notes

References

• Cavanagh, John. (2003) The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Continuum International publishing.
• Manning, Toby. (2006) The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd, Rough guides Ltd, Italy.
• Mason, Nick. (2004) Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, Phoenix publishers, Great Britain.
• Povey, Glenn. (2007) echoes — the complete history of Pink Floyd, Mind Head publishing, Great Britain.

External links

• General information about the album - includes additional quotes, tour information, set lists and recording dates.
• VegetableFriends, a Syd Barrett/Robyn Hitchcock discussion group
• Fortieth Anniversary edition news @ pinkfloyd.co.uk

Pink Floyd Syd Barrett · David Gilmour · Nick Mason · Roger Waters · Richard Wright Studio albums The Piper at the Gates of Dawn · A Saucerful of Secrets · More · Ummagumma · Atom Heart Mother · Meddle · Obscured by Clouds  · The Dark Side of the Moon · Wish You Were Here · Animals · The Wall · The Final Cut · A Momentary Lapse of Reason · The Division Bell Soundtracks The Committee · Tonite Lets All Make Love in London · Soundtrack from the Film More · Zabriskie Point · Obscured by Clouds Live albums Ummagumma · Delicate Sound of Thunder · Pulse · Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81 Compilations The Best of the Pink Floyd / Masters of Rock · Relics · A Nice Pair · A Collection of Great Dance Songs · Works · Shine On · 1967: The First Three Singles · Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd · Oh, by the Way Films Live at Pompeii · The Wall · The Final Cut Video EP · Delicate Sound of Thunder · La Carrera Panamericana · Pulse · The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story · The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon · London '66–'67 Singles "Arnold Layne" · "See Emily Play" · "Flaming" · "Apples and Oranges" · "It Would Be So Nice" · "Let There Be More Light" · "Point Me at the Sky" · "The Nile Song" · "One of These Days" · "Free Four" · "Money" · "Us and Them" / "Time" · "Have a Cigar" · "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" · "Comfortably Numb" · "Run Like Hell" · "When the Tigers Broke Free" · "Not Now John" · "Learning to Fly" · "On the Turning Away" · "One Slip" · "Take It Back" · "High Hopes" · "Wish You Were Here" (live) Tours Pink Floyd European Tour 1968 · The Man and the Journey Tour · Atom Heart Mother World Tour · Meddle Tour · Dark Side of the Moon Tour · 1974 French Summer Tour · British Winter Tour 1974 · Wish You Were Here Tour · In the Flesh Tour · The Wall Tour · A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour · The Division Bell Tour Related articles Discography · Videography · Song List · Backing musicians · Bob Klose · Blackhill Enterprises · Steve O'Rourke · Ian Emes · Azimuth Co-ordinator · Pigs · Dark Side of the Rainbow · "The Man and the Journey" · Unreleased material · Music from The Body · Publius Enigma · 19367 Pink Floyd · Roy Harper Book · Category · Portal · WikiProject