My Album Project: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd (1967, EMI Columbia)

WHY I NEVER GOT AROUND TO LISTENING TO THIS ARTIST/ALBUM

Many people I know have often indulged in hallucinogenics and/or barbiturates. I have not. It isn't really my thing. Not that I didn't experiment in mood alteration as a youth – the late 1980s are pretty much a blur – but I was more of a beer, whiskey and hashish kind of guy. It is significant to point out that the consumption of psychedelics and sedative pills is the preferable prescription for maximum enjoyment of Pink Floyd's music, at least they are from my point of view. This could explain why I never was much of a fan (in high school, I would often referred to them as Dink Floyd); I never understood the trip the music was trying to take me on.

That being said, I am very well acquainted with the 1970s-era Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975) and The Wall (1979) are standard fare for FM radio, basement keggers and outdoor bush parties anywhere from Mississauga to Malabon. I also seem to remember a summer evening in Montreal circa 1991 with Jennifer Brodawka, Claudia Valenzuela, my brother Andrew and me vegging out to side two of Meddle on a rooftop in Mile End. Animals (1977) is part of arguably the best comedic moments in television: the WKRP in Cincinnati episode “Turkey's Away”. Click here to watch the clip. So, whether I like it or not, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright have been influential in my musical development.

All the while, I always knew there was this sevant-like songwriter and guitarist named Syd Barrett in the band during their formative years in the late 1960s. But this was a period of Pink Floyd I never explored. As I mentioned in a previous entry regarding the 1960s-era Kinks records, the quirkiness of the psychedelic era was never something I dug.

WHAT I KNEW ABOUT THE ALBUM BEFORE THIS PROJECT

This record has been lauded as one of the best psychedelic albums ever written and recorded.

The opening track, "Astronomy Domine", was covered by Montreal metal band Viodvod on the their album Nothingface (1989). I couldn't get into that version either.

I remember seeing Jim Bravo and the Beethoven Frieze playing tracks from this album at a gig in the mid-1990s.

I always got the impression from guys like Gaven Dianda that the mystical Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd was lengthy and prolific. It turns out this is the only full-length album Barrett recorded with the band. Famously, Barrett left Pink Floyd in 1968 due to mental illness exacerbated by drug use.

AFTER A WEEK OF DIGESTING THIS ALBUM

For most of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, I could not get the mocumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984) out of my head. It seems most of the cliches that Spinal Tap – a fictional band that parodies the self- indulgent artistry of British hard rock musicians – depict in the movie came from Pink Floyd, and it was difficult for me to take the lyrics seriously. The subject matter of astronomy (Neptune, Titan/Stars can frighten); drug-induced delusions (Lazing in the foggy dew/Sitting on a unicorn/No fair, you can't hear me. But I can you); and fantasy worlds (A gnome named Grimble Grumble.../He wore a scarlet tunic) are satirized in the film.

The musicianship is top-notch, with some catchy riffs and melodies. The main riff from "Lucifer Sam" and middle section of "Matilda Mother" could be in a James Bond film. Conversely, while melodically engaging, “Flaming”, “The Scarecrow." and “Chapter 24” end before they can take you anywhere.

Sonically, one of my issues was producer Norman Smith's generous use of the effect of panning the sound from one side to another, done to almost nauseating levels on "Interstellar Overdrive". But again, this was probably done to induce those listeners who had taken pharmaceuticals into some sort of trip. As usual, I just don't get it.

Previous Entries