PINK FLOYD - PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN @ 55

 

Released on August 5th, 1967, Pink Floyd’s debut LP, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, is celebrating its 55th anniversary today. It’s the only album by the group which was fronted by co-founder, Syd Barrett, who disintegrated into an LSD fueled state of mental illness within a year of the album’s release, necessitating his departure from the band before they could complete their second album. However, Syd dominates the songwriting credits for this debut with his otherworldly & whimsical take on psychedelic pop taking up all but three of the albums songs.

Prior to their debut LP, the group had been playing together under various configurations and alternate names since about 1962, beginning like most British bands of the times from an American blues influenced foundation. By the time the mid 1960s were beginning to shift into the rear view mirror, the group had begun on a trajectory which included extended live improvisations and solos. Part of the reason for this evolution came from their lack of songs to perform and a desire not to repeat pieces during their sets. They realized that they could avoid repetition simply by extending the duration of the songs through solos and improvisation. As the psychedelic influence of LSD began to take hold, the groups sound began to be associated with the movement, even though by most accounts, it was only Barrett who was a true aficionado of the drug.

By 1967, the group had reached the status where they went professional by signing a record deal with EMI. They released a few singles earlier in the year before heading to EMI Studios in London’s Abbey Road between February and May to record the album. They made extensive use of the facilities more advanced production tools including EMT plate reverberation, automatic double tracking (ADT), and the studio’s vintage echo chamber. Next to The Beatles Sgt. Pepper, recorded at the same facility around the same time, the production of the album set the bar for cutting edge experimental engineering techniques for the times.

After signing to EMI and even before the album came out, the press were getting hyped up about the group. The sensationalism surrounding the psychedelic LSD movement resulted in numerous salacious tabloid stories from the likes of the News of the World paper and others. The label did their best to try to disassociate the group from this scene, but their reputation had been well established by then from their ongoing live residencies at London’s UFO Club. As the recording sessions for the album progressed, Barrett’s own indulgences began to escalate and impact his ability to function in the studio and within the group.

Upon its release, the album quickly garnered critical raves and, with the help of relatively successful singles paving the way, was a hit for the band, establishing them as prime movers of the London psychedelic scene, often lauded as its most sophisticated and articulate exponents. While some felt the LP hemmed in the more extreme experimentation of their live shows, the restraint in the studio ultimately helped to make the album more accessible to a larger audience and more marketable for the label. Subsequent to its release, it has become an essential document of the creative genius of Syd Barrett before his ability to function was derailed by his mental illness. Within their overall catalogue, it may be something of an outlier and atypical of the music they’d produce without Barrett’s influence, but it remains a fundamental cornerstone of the band’s mythos.