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This is not a review of the debut of the Floyd but an appendix to what Benson&Hedges wrote. An appendix that raises questions I would like to share with you. I hope I have not used this space inappropriately.
Barrett decided to record this album when he had already "stopped" being "Syd." Already after See Emily Play, things unfortunately degenerated. The album is unclassifiable in beauty and perfection. If I really have to find a flaw, perhaps I find it in Waters' track, saved by Barrett's guitar. Let's not forget Rick Wright's superhuman ability to invent melodies on Barrett's themes. In Matilda Mother, Rick is almost the absolute protagonist. At least as much as Syd. And this applies to the entire album. Rick Wright years later confessed he was ready to form a new band with Syd if only he had recovered (in 1968) when Blackhill ent. dissolved (the Floyds' agency). Personally, I will never stop asking myself these questions..
1- Why did Gilmour and Waters ensure that Madcap was so wonderfully sparse (they only had 3 days to finish the record.. I know.. but the track "If it's in you" could easily have been replaced with "Opel" or other valuable out-takes, giving Syd a less crazy and uncontrolled image).
2- Why in the subsequent "Barrett" did Rick Wright only limit himself to making accompaniments without expressing his genius in perfect harmony with Syd, further enhancing the album, perhaps "bringing it closer" to Piper.
3- and above all.. why in 1975 during the Wish you were here sessions when Syd said he was ready to do his part they told him "No, the guitars have already been done..". What would it have cost them to let him record? In your opinion... a recording of Barrett playing on Shine on you crazy diamond.. Wish you were here.. does it have a price? Even if at the time they would not have included it in the final mix, it would have been crucial for Syd. And in the "Immersion" version of Wish you were here, we would have really found a diamond.. and not that nonsense with violinist Grapelli.
And maybe Syd, driven by emotion, would have made the third album. All hypotheses, but with one single truth. Syd took the first step... but the day ended that with all the billions made with Dark side of the moon, they let him go home hitchhiking without even paying for a taxi. After all, it was Gilmour's wedding..
Personally, I adore every phase of the English band, but the Barrett chapter is something apart.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Astronomy Domine (04:12)
Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda
And Titania, Neptune, Titan.
Stars can frighten.
Blinding signs flap,
Flicker, flicker, flicker blam. Pow, pow.
Stairway scare Dan Dare who's there?
Lime and limpid green
The sounds surrounds the icy waters underground
Lime and limpid green
The sounds surrounds the icy waters underground.
02 Lucifer Sam (03:07)
Lucifer Sam, siam cat.
Always sitting by your side
Always by your side.
That cat's something I can't explain.
Jennifer Gentle, you're a witch.
You're the left side
He's the right side.
Oh, no!
That cat's something I can't explain.
Lucifer go to sea.
Be a hip cat
Be a ship's cat.
Somewhere, anywhere.
That cat's something I can't explain.
At night prowling sifting sand.
Hiding around on the ground.
He'll be found when you're around.
That cat's something I can't explain.
04 Flaming (02:46)
Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you.
Lazing in the foggy dew
Sitting on a unicorn.
No fair, you can't hear me
But I can you.
Watching buttercups cup the light
Sleeping on a dandelion.
Too much, I won't touch you
But then I might.
Screaming through the starlit sky
Traveling by telephone.
Hey ho, here we go
Ever so high.
Alone in the clouds all blue
Lying on an eiderdown.
Yippee! You can't see me
But I can you.
08 The Gnome (02:13)
I want to tell you a story
About a little man
If I can.
A gnome named Grimble Grumble.
And little gnomes stay in their homes.
Eating, sleeping, drinking their wine.
He wore a scarlet tunic,
A blue green hood,
It looked quite good.
He had a big adventure
Amidst the grass
Fresh air at last.
Wining, dining, biding his time.
And then one day - hooray!
Another way for gnomes to say
Oooooooooomray.
Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?
Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?
Winding, finding places to go.
And then one day - hooray!
Another way for gnomes to say
Oooooooooomray.
Ooooooooooooooomray.
09 Chapter 24 (03:42)
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset.
The time is with the month of winter solstice
When the change is due to come.
Thunder in the other course of heaven.
Things cannot be destroyed once and for all.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
A movement is accomplished in six stages
And the seventh brings return.
The seven is the number of the young light
It forms when darkness is increased by one.
Change returns success
Going and coming without error.
Action brings good fortune.
Sunset, sunrise.
10 The Scarecrow (02:11)
The black and green scarecrow as ev'ryone knows
Stood with a bird on his hat and straw everywhere
He didn't care...
He stood in a field where barley grows
His head did no thinking his arms didn't move
Except when the wind cut up rough
And mice ran around on the ground
He stood in a field where barley grows
The black and green scarecrow is sadder than me
But now he's resigned to his fate
'Cause life's not unkind
He doesn't mind
He stood in a field where barley grows
11 Bike (03:21)
I've got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It's got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things
I've got a cloak
It's a bit of a joke
There's a tear up the front
It's red and black
I've had it for months
If you think it could look good
Then I guess it should
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things
I know a mouse
And he hasn't got a house
I don't know why
I call him Gerald
He's getting rather old
But he's a good mouse
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things
I've got a clan of gingerbread men
Here a man
There a man
Lots of gingerbread men
Take a couple if you wish
They're on the dish
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world
I'll give you anything
Everything if you want things
I know a room full of musical tunes
Some rhyme
Some ching
Most of them are clockwork
Let's go into the other room and make them work
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Other reviews
By charles
From the very first record, you can tell what they would do in the future, which is create a sound all their own.
Excellent record, which deviates a bit from the typical Pink Floyd sound but is still a colossus in the history of music.
By zaireeka
Written at the tip of LSD.
One of those clocks, orphaned by the irreversible madness of Syd Barrett, was preserved by his old companions and made to chime once again at the start of Time.
By Moro1
Only Barrett can explain the masterpiece he composed and wrote, and he does it through the stories of a king told in a mother’s fairy tale.
He sang it almost 40 years ago and it is still the most beautiful of all.
By anthon
"From these first seconds, the listener is transported into an otherworldly dimension, a dimension that characterizes much of the album."
"Interstellar Overdrive represents the true innovation, in terms of harmonic-melodic physiognomy, of the album."
By AJAX
The early Pink Floyd managed to synthesize into a unique and inimitable vision the impulses from West Coast acid rock, ... and the love for genuinely English fairy-tale elements.
'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' captures both sides of the coin, marking a year when pop and the avant-garde went hand in hand.
