THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, and the only one made under founder member Syd Barrett’s leadership. It was produced by Beatles engineer Norman Smith and released in 1967. In 2012, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was voted 347th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.The album’s title, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, refers to the god Pan; the title was taken from that of chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. (More from Wikipedia)
Pink Floyd’s debut LP The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is worth about twice as much in mono as in stereo, because the original UK release was only in mono, and it was mixed differently from the stereo albums. I had a chance to buy Piper for 99 cents at the Record Bar in Raleigh and didn’t get it – can’t win them all! I did pick up a copy later; and, of course, it went through Hurricane Katrina. The album looks a little like a Pringle’s potato chip now; but amazingly, it still plays almost perfectly, except for a little warble on “See Emily Play”.
(April 2012)
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In 1966, the Farfisa Organ was even more prominent in the hit song “Double Shot (of My Baby’s Love)” by the Swingin’ Medallions (who were from South Carolina). That lovely organ that you hear in Percy Sledge’s immortal 1966 hit “When a Man Loves a Woman” is a Farfisa, and Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone was playing one at his landmark Woodstock performance in 1969. Richard Wright’s Farfisa Organ was a key element on many of the early Pink Floyd albums, particularly The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Ummagumma, but also including The Dark Side of the Moon. Elton John was able to get a different sound entirely from a Farfisa Organ on his hit “Crocodile Rock”.
(December 2012)
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Meic Stevens is a national hero in Wales who began writing and recording songs in 1967 in the Welsh language in an attempt to create a body of pop music for the nation. He is often referred to as “the Welsh Dylan” and is also compared with Syd Barrett, the original frontman for Pink Floyd and the mastermind behind their debut album and one of the great albums of British rock, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
(April 2013)
