The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

 

On this date, August 4, 1967, Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper At The Gates of Dawn, taking its title from chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, was released in the UK (not until October in North America on Tower Records, a Capitol Records subsidiary). The album was recorded at EMI Studios in London from February to May 1967 with producer Norman Smith. It is the only album where guitarist/songwriter Syd Barrett played a leadership role. The album has been hailed as a pivotal psychedelic rock album.

The album is made up of two different styles of songs: lengthy improvisations from the band's live performances (that would become the cornerstone of the band's sound) and shorter whimsical songs that Barrett had written, often with nonsensical lyrics. Barrett's ingesting of LSD increased during the recording of the album making him difficult at times to work with and frustrating producer Smith. "With Syd, I eventually realized I was wasting my time," recalled Smith. Barrett would end up writing eight of the album's songs and contributing to two instrumentals credited to the whole band, with Waters creating the sole remaining composition "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk".

The original UK LP was released on 4 August 1967 in both monaural and stereophonic mixes. While the US and UK track listings differed slightly, the American album including the band's recent single "See Emily Play" in place of "Astronomy Domine", "Flaming" and "Bike", the Canadian LP, on Capitol Records, had the same title and track listing as the UK version.

At the time of release, both Record Mirror and NME gave the album four stars out of five. Record Mirror commented that "the psychedelic image of the group really comes to life, record wise, on this LP which is a fine showcase for both their talent and the recording technique. Plenty of mind blowing sound, both blatant and subtle here, and the whole thing is extremely well performed." In July 2006, Billboard described The Piper at the Gates of Dawn as "one of the best psychedelic rock albums ever, driven by Barrett's oddball narratives and the band's skill with both long jams and perfect pop nuggets".