“I've got a bike/You can ride it if you like/It's got a basket/A bell that rings/And things to make it look good/I'd give it to you if I could/But I borrowed it.” A kind of playfulness permeates “Bike,” that wonderful little ditty from Pink Floyd’s brilliant “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” (1967). The album is the baby of the late, great Syd Barrett, rock’s first acid casualty and the inspiration for “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” Bicycles, scarecrows, gnomes, fairytales; they’re all here, straight from Syd’s stem. The entire album is filled with a sense of wonder, rather than the overproduced pompousness of latter-day Floyd a la “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall.”
8 comments:
A beauty for sure. Also partial to his solo stuff, but the overproduced pompousness of latter-day Floyd is still the shit. Remember when it comes to Classic Rock; if something is worth doing, then it is worth overdoing.......
i've been thinking about posting this for awhile. i listen to it at least once a month. piper is one of my favorite records. yes, it is true.
I have to confess that despite my history with this album I don't have it on mp3. It's long overdue for a revisit. Gentleman, do I need the mono or stereo version? Or does anyone have that deluxe reissue and is up for a trade?
Maybe I should revisit Syd Barrett and that whole Pink Floyd era, but I remember not liking it that much, especially compared with later Floyd that is incredible, the early stuff is too absurd and wacky for my taste, but maybe it warrants another listen, I haven't checked it out in years.
there are definitely silly aspects to this record. i mean, there's a song about a gnome on it. still, the whole thing is amazing, and it's a rock solid base for what the band became. syd's bizarre songwriting style is far poppier or single oriented than newer floyd. also consider that piper was recorded around the same time as sgt. pepper, and that both syd and pink floyd were a big part of the rising tide of change in the recording industry. syd's career didn't last long enough for him to get more polished and less silly (and perhaps that is for the best), but most of his songs show a freedom and honestly that can't be denied. look at the inclusion of jugband blues (the only syd song on the record) included on saucerful of secrets (pf's second album). it's a song sung in the first person that is all about how weird it is that the band even bothered to include him on the album. it's kind of sad, but as the song progresses he implies that he's not bothered by anything. it's hard to tell if he's trying to convince himself or the listener that everything is going to be okay. and then there are his solo records... shit is fascinating.
secondly, i don't have the super deluxe remasters, but the version i have is stereo. are there juicy bits on the super deluxe reissue?
The Deluxe thing has both stereo and mono versions and a disc of bonus bits, Arnold Layne, See Emily Play, some stuff I've never heard of. Most interestingly to me there are two other version of Interstellar Overdrive. If I keep thinking about it I'm going to break down and just buy the damn thing.
It has it's silly moments in the same way most stuff from that era sounds a little dated. There is some amazing music on it though, and you can definitely hear the beginnings of what they became. I'm actually not that into any of their stuff done between this and Dark Side (I guess Meddle is Ok). I am a huge fan of those Syd solo albums though, I would highly recommend them.
The later Pink Floyd stuff is so much more sophisticated musically and lyrically (not that lyrics actually matter). Sure, it's not as "innocent" or "silly" as the earlier stuff, but isn't that to be expected from a band that actually matures and grows?
Recently I've been questioning the conventional wisdom that Syd Barrett was simply an "acid casualty". His first love was painting, and Im thinking that he was just ill-equipped and not ambitious enough to be an international pop-superstar (unlike his compadre Roger Waters who, its worth noting, is largely responsible for propagating the myth of Barrett as an "acid casualty"). Im not saying that he didn't suffer from some mental illness, but it almost seems like it was at least partially an intentional act to remove himself from the spotlight. The guy was probably an EXTREME introvert, and just preferred a simpler life. His later paintings are pretty dope, too, at least the ones that survived. Apparently, he would paint something, then photograph it, then burn it!
Anyways, the early Floyd stuff and Barrett solo stuff is all great. I also love later Floyd, but you can't compare them too much, its almost like two different bands
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