The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

It's really funny to me that a before the songs about existential dread, depression , the effects of long use of drugs, they made a cute little psychedelic album. As psychedelic rock music was on the rise, there was a shit ton of it. Quite the amount of hits obviously, but a lot of misses too. So to stand out like this in that era is a pretty big deal in my opinion, and of course it did, it's not bad at all. Like I said, it's just funny that this is their debut. They had no idea the genius they will create later on.

I'm a HUGE Pink Floyd fan...starting with Meddle. I can appreciate that this Floyd was necessary to get to the Floyd that I love, and I can appreciate how this is a landmark in psychedelic rock, but I've never been a huge fan of Syd Barrett era Floyd (and cringe any time I see someone say "Pink Floyd were never as good after Syd Barrett left." And, yes, occasionally some hipster will say that online). It's a shame that the two best Syd-era tracks are single only tracks: Arnold Layne and See Emily Play (my favorite Syd-era song). Overall, the album sounds like an LSD trip through fairy tales and down Alice's rabbit hole. I agree it belongs on the list for its historical significance, but it's no more than a 3.5 for me (I'll round up because without this album, we don't eventually get Dark Side of the Moon). Favorite tracks: Astronomy Domine, Bike. I'd add Interstellar Overdrive if it was shorter.

Didn’t think Pink Floyd could get worse. Unfortunately I was wrong.

I can see why this is not rated as highly as the rest of Pink Floyd's albums

It’s an interesting record in that it’s got bundles of personality and a band who are clearly keen on creating a new path. The moment where they harness this towards more complete sounding songs for me work a bit better than the sound collage elements, but it’s all good. I love the grinding chords on Interstellar Overdrive. This is clearly not the space the band stay in post-Syd but you can continue to hear little touches of what’s going on in the debut throughout their discography

This was much better than I thought. Loved it waay better than The Wall. Maybe Animals and DSOTM are better, because they are more Pink Floyd, but this is still good.
It also sounds insanely good for 67 woow.

I'm a bigger fan of the later Pink Floyd stuff, but it's cool to see where they started and how they evolved. It's also interesting to hear Syd Barrett. This is very different from everything that came after, but it's fine.

What a fuckin weird album. The Gnome sounds like a Nigel and Marmalade episode. All in all, it's an okay album.

This is an interesting one for me. This absolutely blew my mind when I first listened to it in high school. I’m not sure it’s as good as I initially thought. This feels like I should be listening to the stereo mix with instances like the panning at the end of Interstellar Overdrive. However, sometimes it’s so choppy with how it cuts out of one ear that it takes me out of the experience. Mono it is then chief. The goofy Britishness works in this album’s favor especially on songs like The Gnome where it comes across as slightly unnerving. Favorites were Lucifer Sam, Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk, Interstellar Overdrive, and Bike.

From the first hundred days of this project I learned that I like "space rock", but this first Pink Floyd album, though purportedly space rock, is pretty heavy on the rock and only medium on the space. Really it's more "eerie British children's programme rock", if anything. Relatedly, I like the song about a gnome and the song about a scarecrow. And 'Bike'.
What I really like is the Syd Barrett song 'Dark Globe' (not on this album), and that has a very different vibe, but maybe I just think so because I heard it much earlier.

Syd Barrett era Floyd was super weird. Their sound developed so much as time went on. This album is super strange and experimental. Not really for me, but important in the grand scheme of things.

Favorite songs: Bike, The Gnome, Lucifer Sam

Least favorite songs: Pow R. Toc. H, Interstellar Overdrive

2/5

Pretty trippy. By far the weakest Pink Floyd album I've ever heard.

2.5

Ok album. For the time it was original but now quite dated.

A couple of good tracks on here but far from their best album

late 60s Floyd is not my personal favorite Floyd. Interstellar Overdrive is just 60's noodling and I am not into it.

Not the best Pink Floyd for sure. 2.81

Very rarely do I think it is imperative to listen to the first album of an artists discography to see how far they've come - Pink Floyd is certainly one of these cases. A totally unique sound from the Beatles clones of the time (and much of the other crap on this list). They truly excelled with their instrumentals and the depth of production on this album. The vocals are nonsensical and often childish which much can be attributed to Syd Barrett. Comparing this to how he directly influenced multiple of the bands biggest records as a theme (DSOTM, WYWH, TW) is mind boggling.
Not even close to the best album in the bands career, but a necessary piece of psychedelia history. 3.6/5 -> 4/5

I… um… I dunno, a 3?

This is Pink Floyd’s studio debut – I gave a lot of love to The Wall, and it’s a brilliant album deserving of its acclaim. I figured this wouldn’t be like The Wall, simply because that’s a gargantuan album, and this is only a 41 minute debut. I was fully expecting some good, solid rock, and that’s what I got through the first 5 tracks. Side 1 of this album is a really strong basis for the melodies and soundscapes they’d choose to explore in the future, without Syd Barrett in the group.

Side 2 of this album is a journey that I don’t think I can fully put into words. I don’t know if it’s my brain being slightly tired, or my expectations being sent into a different dimension, but once the brakes go off the rails and Syd Barrett’s LSD-inspired brain takes over this album during “Interstellar Overdrive”, it is… certainly a fucking experience. I can’t tell what the prerogative of the album became over the course of its final 20 or so minutes, but from the ‘18 different Classic Doctor Who episodes playing at the same time’ experience of the final 5 minutes of “Interstellar Overdrive”, to the strange strange epiphanies of Grimble Grumble on “The Gnome”, the invasion of Syd’s meditation space during “Chapter 24”, the awkwardly morbid fate of “The Scarecrow”, and the complete breakdown of a nice happy bicycle-based love story in “Bike” (which ends in what I can only describe as ‘the first time seeing Sid’s toys from Toy Story, but in audio form’ (i.e., mildly terrifying).

I truly do not know what to make of the back half of the album. It pretty much erased my memory of the first 5 tracks, all of which are really good, but… sometimes it’s about how you finish, and this album finishes in such a way that I feel like *I’ve* somehow done LSD for the first time. If the intention was that sort of feeling, then they nailed it, to a degree perhaps only matched by “Locust Abortion Technician”. It’s just not at all what I was expecting from a Pink Floyd album – it doesn’t make it bad at all, but it’s just so far removed from my expectations that I’m not sure WHAT to rate it. I guess I’m at a 3, if only because I don’t really feel like I enjoyed the second half of the album as much as I was an unwilling participant on Syd’s version of the Willy Wonka boat ride. Perhaps it’ll click for me another day, but I do admire this album for being… whatever the hell it is. An enigma, perhaps, but for my current mindset, a 3. It could totally go up, though.

Was obsessed with this band as a kid, but this album was IMPOSSIBLE to find then, so I've never heard it before now. This is outrageously good, like a psychedelic and experimental version of the Kinks. Vastly different from the later, more well known output from Floyd. Makes me realize why so many people hold Syd Barrett in such high regard. This is a great album!