The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 50th Aniversary
(Interview above dates August 27th 2007 celebrating 10 years this month)
50 years ago on the 5th August 1967 Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It came out two years after the band formed and is the only full album recorded with Syd Barrett. It was not only an album that tapped into the psychedelia of their live performances of the time, it also had the experimental elements that would come to define their sound. Like the use of acousmatic audio—seemingly random or fragmented sounds—and musique concrète.The recording took place at Abbey Road studios. The album was produced by Beatles producer Norman Smith and was recorded at the same time, in the next studio, that the Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
In his memoir, Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, Nick Mason recalls that the recording of it seemed relaxed. He notes that they were finishing songs in just one or two days, recording in three hour blocks in the morning, afternoon and evening. Then they’d go off and do gigs.
In fact Mason notes how the album was very much influenced by the sound of their live shows at the time, which were taking place at legendary venues like the UFO Club and the Roundhouse. Mason saying they were “effectively recording our live set” while noting that “listening to Piper now gives a rough indication of the set list we’d been playing [at the clubs].”
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn went on to become a top 10 album in the UK on its release, climbing to No. 6. It has gone on to become a classic of 1960s psychedelia and a cherished LP from the band, especially due to Syd Barrett’s input. At the time the Record Mirror said, “the psychedelic image of the group really comes to life 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.”
Excerpts from an article posted by Rockarchive.com you can read the article in full by heading over to there website by clicking here