Pink Floyd
A Saucerful Of Secrets

THE REVIEW

Yet another, perhaps unnecessary, review of a Pink Floyd album.

After PIPER, the 5 Floyds found themselves on the brink of the end of it all. Their latest singles didn't even come close to touching the UK charts. "Apples And Oranges," in my opinion Barrett's most genius track, didn't do well. And neither did It Would Be So Nice. We all know that Testamatta's condition led to the entrance of Gilmour as the "fifth" member. They did a few concerts (and only God knows how much a collector would pay to listen to one of the 5 concerts done by the 5 Floyds together). But then no one bothered to pick up Syd before a show. It was the end. Or the beginning.

Syd would go to watch Floyd's concerts from the audience, making his friend Gilmour uncomfortable. He waited hours at the EMI reception to be invited to the sessions of the new album. Incredibly, Richard Wright declared that if Syd recovered, he would leave the Floyds to form a new band with him. It's nice to imagine the "epic" variations that history would have had if just one of these things had come true. But it didn't. And perhaps it was for the best.

Syd was given many opportunities to "recover." He was helped, during the making of UMMAGUMMA, to produce two epochal albums. But it wasn't enough.

In all this chaos (including almost complete distrust from producer Peter Jenner), Pink Floyd released one of the most beautiful psychedelic albums in rock history. Second only to Piper. But even that could be debated at length. Piper is an album that shows innocence and genius. Saucerful is already a mature album.

Despite its lack of homogeneity.

After the incredible "Let There Be More Light," one of the most beautiful psychedelic songs ever, there's the first slump. "Remember a Day" suffers from the Barrettian slide-guitars, unsure over Wright's precise piano, over Mason's pre-Pompei timpani.

"Set the Controls" opens up a new universe for the Floyd. Barrett was still around when Waters started performing it live, with Syd on bass playing Waters' parts. On the record, the track opens up a new universe in contemporary music. It invented "space-rock" (a term I don't love). It defined the band until the birth of Dark Side. Countless live performances of this masterpiece. The only pre-70 track sung by Waters in the 2000 tours. "SET THE CONTROLS" stands to Waters as "ASTRONOMY DOMINE" stands to Syd.

Next is "CORPORAL CLEGG," an attempt to evoke the atmospheres of PIPER. Beautiful Gilmour's voice and the Hendrix-like guitar parts.

The track that gives the album its title is an evolution of "SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN." Not much to say. It's pointless to try and understand the boundary between progressive and psychedelia. It's pure avant-garde. In live at Pompei its ultimate expression.

"SEE SAW" is a melancholic song. Dreamlike. Considered the worst song in the entire catalog. Personally, I don't think so. Its exotic tones combined with the Moody Blues-style choruses in the background, in my opinion, make the track one of the absolute masterpieces of the acid season, now coming to an end.

I have been an absolute Barrettian. I bought everything of Barrett, even a correspondence with those who met him in person. This doesn't entitle me to say what is good about Syd or not. But I consider "Jugband Blues" the weak point of the album. A jumble of sounds and more or less random insights. The lyrics are extraordinary. A true "goodbye." One of the most painful songs ever composed. But musically out of theme with the majesty of the entire album.

The album sold well. Luckily for many.