Pink Floyd
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Surely, enough has already been said about this masterpiece; but also not.

It is true, streams of reviews have been written about the debut album of Barrett's band, but it is also true that too often we forget about pearls of this caliber, true generational symbols, essential and indispensable not so much for their historical importance, but for the beauty and musical innovation they accompany.

It's 1967, a golden age for rock music, and something is stirring in England, LSD is on the rise, the sounds and the very conception of music are being revolutionized, a new "era" is about to be born, so it is impossible for the new-genius Syd Barrett not to strike while the iron is hot, and so here we are: "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn."

Even the title itself is enigmatic and fascinating, the cover already shows that "something" that hints at what the work will be like: fragmentary, twisted, distorted, yet always coherent to itself; without compromising or following easy trends, the "prehistoric" Pink Floyd (those now unknown, from when within the band there was this other unknown and misunderstood genius, Syd Barrett indeed) create an album of pure music, pure poetry and sweet melodies from other worlds (those visited by the alienated alien Barrett).

The light danceable rock of Lucifer Sam, the exotic fairy tale Matilda Mother, the frantic pop of Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk, the folkloric ballads The Scarecrow and The Gnome, which with their amusing and surreal lyrics make listening to this work even more enjoyable, combined with the 9 minutes of majestic psychedelic and delirious madness of Interstellar Overdrive and the nonsense Bike which with its disturbing and (in my view) "philosophical" and significant ending closes the album (not to mention the masterful opening of Astronomy Domine) make this album one of the best rock records ever conceived by a human mind.

Entirely a masterpiece, perhaps THE Pink Floyd masterpiece, since it is difficult for an album like this to be and will be surpassed by other attempts to create (and mind the term "create") purer and more engaging psychedelia.

Frankly, there's nothing more to say; it was my intention to speak, even briefly, of such a work of art, because a work of art it is, despite all the pathetic detractors.