’’FIRST IN SPACE’’ T-shirt is what Pink Floyd came out after releasing Pipers. Truly marking the occasion..and taking psychedelic rock ONE BIG STEP forward!
’’Screaming through the starlit sky
Traveling by telephone.
Hey ho, here we go
Ever so high.’’
These lines of ’’Flaming’’ ( a song in the album) would sum up your experience of listening to Pipers. And one man guiding you through this ’cosmological sojourn’ is Syd Barrett. This shy guy from Cambridge had just three interests - music, painting and religion ( yeah -- religion!), before Pink Floyd came to the scene.For this debut album, in the space of 6 months, he devoted himself to playing guitar, writing the music and lyrics, and singing them as well!
One small warning before I tell you more : The sound and the lyrics are not distantly related to what Pink Floyd did post Barrett. And I dont know of many Floyd fans either who have liked this album.
I have somehow always felt that unlike Barrett, Floyds have been much more commercial in their approach towards music. ( I know there will be many to argue here..and those are welcome! :)) Thats the reason you wouldnt find songs here which you give one easy listening and there..u like it! Be a little patient, and see where this what many say ’childlike’ (?) imagination of Barrett can take you!
In ’’Mother Matilda’’ you’ll find how this child doesnt seem to be satisfied his quota of bedtime stories and cries ’’Oh mother, tell me more’’. I dont know of any other rock song describing the desire for fairy tales.
’’Interstellar overdrive’’ and ’’Astronomy Divine’’ are the most talked about songs in the album. While ’’interstellar overdrive’’ is an instrumental piece, where you can close your eyes, tighten ur seat belts and let the music take you to outer space. Dont miss out on the ’’safe landing back’’ here. ’’Astronomy divine’’ is packed with lyrics to supplement the space rock. If you have always believed that you necessarily need some ’’extra’’ help to enjoy psychedelic stuff, try these!
My personal favourite is ’’Chapter 24’’. This has words from old Chinese book set to some beautiful music, and comes out as a mantra being chanted. Listen to the way he sings (oops, sorry..chants) ’’sunset...sunrise...sunssset...sunnnrise’’.
In case that interests you, there is more chanting in ’’Gnome’’ and it goes ’’oooomray’’
And the same music gets haunting in ratherly bizarrely titled ’’Pow R. Toc H’’. This is one song where all Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason share the credit.
Then there are songs showing glimpse of Barrett’s mental state -- ’’Bike’’, ’’Scarecrow’’ - which doesnt look much good even at this stage. ’’Lucifer Sam’’ is an ode to a cat, which I believe Syd was fond of!
I can go on and on.. about Syd, the album, the experiment in the music, and I can tell you its one of the best albums of Psychedelia. At the end of the day, you’d listen it to believe it! And my word is Dont miss it !!