A Saucerful Of Secrets

Syd contributed one full song, and contributed at least something in the way of instrumentation to the two Rick Wright numbers here, and possibly one of the Roger Waters songs as well. To compensate for a rapidly unpredictable and unreliable Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd hired Dave Gilmour, who’d been in a number of professional groups around the same Cambridge area that Pink Floyd had sprung from. He was a friend of Syd’s actually, a good guitar player with a mimics instinct which was a huge help in overcoming the lack of Syd, especially during live performances at the time. Given Syd’s decline and eventual ejection from Pink Floyd, ‘Saucerful’ perhaps necessarily comes across as an album that doesn’t quite know which direction to take. Rick Wright contributes a couple of songs that are semi-syd, really. Roger Waters picks up and tries to carry on from the likes of ‘Astronomy Domine’ from ‘Piper’ and the title track is an experimental extended group composition along the lines of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ but for the complete lack of structure. There are countless stories surrounding Syd Barrett of course, but one story that Roger Waters told has always amused me. Syd was playing a new song for the group to learn, titled ‘Have You Got It Yet?’. The group were having difficulty working out the song, Syd kept changing it everytime he replayed the opening sequence, the group genuinely unaware that Syd was having a great laugh at their expense. That’s a light-hearted example, the real problem was Syd live, often just sitting in the middle of the stage playing nothing at all, other times playing a completely different melody to the rest of the group that bore no relation to the song they were meant to be performing. Following ‘A Saucerful Of Secrets’, Syd would play no further active part in Pink Floyd recordings or performances.

The Roger Waters song ‘Let There Be More Light’ opens this album, and whilst it’s absolutely not as thrilling or impressive as ‘Astronomy Domine’ for example, the repeating bass line does become hypnotic, the keyboards over the top of the songs introduction slightly free-form, and the vocals and lyrics suitably psychedelic. It’s a good song, and leads into another good song, the Rick Wright penned ‘Remember A Day’. The drum pattern here is fun and enjoyable, the vocals and lyrics, the entire song in fact reminding you of Barrett, although never scaling the same heights as the finest songs from ‘Piper’. I do love ‘Remember A Day’ though, love the feel of the song and the sound of the Piano and the effects. Roger writes another song around a simple bass riff, ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’, and so far, so good. A strong follow-up to ‘Piper’ if only they’d be able to maintain this quality throughout a ten track album, or so. But, ‘Corporal Clegg’ although containing some biting guitar has hideously cringe-inducing lyrics. Roger tries to ape the style of Syd here, with mixed results at best. The Kazoo sections are entertaining though. The title track is very free-form avant-garde, perhaps a response at one of the very few critiscms levelled at the ‘Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ record, that it didn’t accurately represent the live Pink Floyd experience. What can work well in a live setting though doesn’t always necessarily work as well on record, and this title track although displaying admiral attempts at sound manipulation and experimentation, is absolutely no kind of song or composition. The closing section of the track is the best part, the mellow Church Organ sound that comes through, with harmonies, is quite beautiful. ‘See-Saw’ contains the lyric “marigolds are very much in love” – another obvious Syd styled song from the pen of Rick Wright. Syd actually encouraged both Roger and Rick to write songs in the first place, and the songs of Rick Wright especially would have complimented Syd’s songs very well, with Roger contributing to the group compositions and adding a couple of spacey things like ‘Set The Controls To The Heart Of The Sun’. ‘See-Saw’ is a beautiful song, although let down by the vocals, or the mixing – quite hard to put a finger on, but these Rick Wright vocals are really not very strong, working much better when in harmony with the rest of the group.

The final song here was a Syd Barrett inspired piece of either genius of lunacy, depending on which way you look at it. The lyric is a masterful self-diagnosis by Syd into his own escalating mental illness and declining state of health. The music is courtesy of a Salvation Army band who were invited into the studio by Syd and told to play whatever they felt like. Syd plays acoustic guitar, strums and sings very simply, whilst brass instruments, effects and insanity swirl around this lonely and lost figure. The track fades outs to leave just Syd alone, with acoustic, and it’s beautiful, yet haunting and desolate. ‘Jugband Blues’ is the most striking track on the entire album. Two of the three Roger Waters compositions certainly have merit and are much improved from his efforts on ‘Piper’. The title track is more worthy and admirable than it is enjoyable and ‘Corporal Clegg’ just isn’t very good at all. So, ‘A Saucerful Of Secrets’? It remains a strangely fascinating listen, even with several flaws. It’s absolutely no kind of ‘Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’, but it was well enough received at the time to give Pink Floyd encouragement and something to build on, post Syd.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn

When people tell you that Syd Barrett was nuts, that’s not an understatement. He was the original leader of Pink Floyd, and he liked to do LSD. He was also intensely creative, writing most of these songs, and he was the primary force behind this group in their early years. Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright already displayed superb musicianship, but at this point they were merely the followers of this grand guru of mind-blowing psychedelic music. Unfortunately, Barrett’s sanity was hanging by a thread (something that any amateur psychologist would note reading his lyrics), and the band would be forced to kick him out shortly after the release of the album. Luckily for us all, however, he hung on long enough to record Piper at the Gates of Dawn, a premiere psychedelic album. If any album is going to ‘blow you away,’ it’s gonna be this one.

If you’ve ever wondered what it must be like traveling through outer space while tripped up on acid, you needn’t look further than “Interstellar Overdrive,” the nine-minute spaced-out jam session that the band reportedly made up on the spot. Doing acid is dangerous and I wouldn’t recommend it, but I would highly recommend listening to this song! It’s a stream-of-consciousness that takes you down a wild ride. It opens with a menacing and memorable riff that repeats a few times… But after that, we’re treated to a wild array of organ noodles, strangely textured guitars, beeping noises, dissonant chords, and complicated drum patterns. At times, you get the feeling that they were really not even concerned with what they were playing … just that it came out as weird and spaced-out as possible. And what can I say? This draws me in right from the very beginning, and it never loses my attention. Believe me, this is a feat difficult to achieve.

“Astronomy Domine” is also one of the great space-rock tracks, and this one has a vocal melody and really bizarre lyrics! The rhythm guitars and the drums play at a menacing pace while Barrett’s sleepy and tone-deaf lead vocals take us on a strange journey through the cosmos. Some of the instruments, notably that descending, high-pitched guitar that wails every once in awhile, is a little bit out-of-tune.

If you thought those two songs were weird, wait until you’ve heard the children’s songs which is when Barrett’s at his all-time creepiest. It’s like he’s trying to mess with our inner child.“Bike” is reminiscent of a carnival ride tune, and Barrett is the evil ringleader of our minds. He sings a catchy melody with crazy lyrics about a mouse, a gingerbread man, and whatever else he could think of… You’ll note that his lyrics usually don’t make much sense, but there’s typically a barely logical but followable thread that runs through them. Probably the sanest song in terms of linear lyrics is “The Gnome,” which is simply about a gnome that goes out exploring one day.

As far as “pop songs” go, the one that can’t be beat is “Lucifer Sam.” The melody is catchy as nobody’s business, and the instrumentals are both exciting and trippy. The drums and that descending rhythm guitar provide an excellent backbone while Nick Mason does some weird organ noodling in the background. I’m also quite fond of “Flaming,” with its strange catchy melody and the effective echo put to the vocals. Many of the comments I read about this album express tons of admiration for their technical achievements in the studio. I have to say I’m fairly ignorant about studio techniques and so I can’t comment on much. But I can say that part of the reason Piper at the Gates of Dawn is a masterpiece is due to the production. And I’m sure other bands of the time were taking notes.

Just to prove how insane Syd Barrett actually was, look “Take Thy Stethoscope and Walk.” I say that because it wasn’t a Barrett composition but rather Roger Waters, his very first one. He does his mightiest to imitate Barrett’s sheer nuttiness, but all he can manage is a three-note melody that rhymes random words together. Yeah, I can tell those are random! No such luck! Also lacking enjoyability is the dreary “Chapter 24” with lyrics taken right out of a Chinese proverbs book. Not that the lyrics really matter much, but the melody is dull and so is the instrumentation. Disappointing.

The album might have its low-spots, but who cares? This is a nutty, nutty, nutty album that pioneered the menacing space-rock vein of psychedelic music. Not only is it historically important, but it’ll take you on an acid trip through outer space. Short of paying NASA a million dollars and sneaking LSD with you onto the ship, this is the closest thing you’ll ever get to that.