Understanding that this album, being released in 1967 and with Syd Barret in charge, was likely not going to be much like the version of Pink Floyd by which I became a fan in the late 70s, I was nonetheless struck by how much I disliked this album. I couldn’t relate to it on any level. Much of it sounded like disjointed noise. It all went right over my head. Maybe I needed to be on copious amounts of mind-alterers?
My Rating:
Rolling Stone slotted this album at #253 on its 2020 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
“I’m full of dust and guitars,” Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett told Rolling Stone. Here’s what that sounded like. The band’s debut is all playful, psychedelic imagery and acid guitars. “Astronomy Domine” shows the group’s pop side; “Interstellar Overdrive” shows its spacier freakouts. Released at the height of the Summer of Love, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn sums up the headlong feeling of the moment just as aptly as the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper.1
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Jim Harrington wrote:
As the house band at the UFO Club in the mid-1960’s, Pink Floyd launched a psychedelic musical revolution in London rivaling that which The Grateful Dead created in San Francisco. Despite the deceiving moniker - stolen from bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council - Pink Floyd were not a group of shabby hippies expanding on Black music, but a band of fashionably dressed architecture and art students searching for their own sound. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn achieved that goal with spellbinding results.2
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime playlist: 157. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #1313
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on September 23, 1991. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Light My Fire” by The Doors4
• Number one album: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles5
• Number one movie: You Only Live Twice by Lewis Gilbert6
• Most watched TV programs: The Red Skelton Hour, The Andy Griffith Show, Bonanza, The Lucy Show, Sid Caeser Special, Bewitched, The Lawrence Welk Show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Hogan’s Heroes, Get Smart.7
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Arrangement by Elia Kazan8
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: The New Industrial State by John Kenneth Galbraith9
Other albums released that month
• Carryin' On with Johnny Cash and June Carter by Johnny Cash and June Carter
• Aretha Arrives by Aretha Franklin
• Album 1700 by Peter, Paul & Mary
• The Byrds' Greatest Hits by The Byrds
• Lumpy Gravy by Frank Zappa
• Revolution! by Paul Revere & the Raiders
• Big Brother and the Holding Company by Big Brother and the Holding Company
• Just for You by Neil Diamond
• Branded Man by Merle Haggard
• I Was Made to Love Her by Stevie Wonder
• Greatest Hits by Diana Ross & the Supremes
• Make It Happen by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
• United by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
• The Windows of the World by Dionne Warwick
• Born Under a Bad Sign by Albert King
• Brighten the Corner by Ella Fitzgerald
• Chuck Berry in Memphis by Chuck Berry
• Cold Sweat by James Brown
• Goodbye and Hello by Tim Buckley
• Joan by Joan Baez
• Love of the Common People by Waylon Jennings
• Lush Life by Nancy Wilson
• Underground by The Electric Prunes
• Vanilla Fudge by Vanilla Fudge
• The World We Knew by Frank Sinatra10
Sport
• Aug 2 NFL New Orleans Saints play 1st ever pre-season game, lose to Los Angeles Rams 16-7 at Anaheim Stadium in California.
• Aug 5 First exhibition after AFL/NFL merger, Denver Broncos (AFL) surprise Detroit Lions (NFL), 13-7 at University of Denver.
• Aug 6 Future Baseball Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson (Baltimore Orioles) hits into MLB record 4th career triple play.
• Aug 6 Minnesota Twins pitcher Dean Chance throws a perfect no-hitter vs Boston Red Sox, 2-0 in 5 innings before game is called because of weather.
• Aug 18 Boston Red Sox Tony Conigliaro is beaned by Angels Jack Hamilton at Fenway Park; injuries including a fractured cheekbone, dislocated jaw, and eye damage kept him from returning for a year and a half, and led to improvements in batting helmets. 11
Notable Births
• Aug 2 Aaron Krickstein, American tennis player (Tel Aviv 1983), born in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• Aug 2 Aline Brosh McKenna, American screenwriter (The Devil Wears Prada), and director (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), born in France.
• Aug 6 Mike Greenberg, American sportscaster (ABC, ESPN), and TV personality (Battle of the Network Stars), born in New York City.
• Aug 7 Charlotte Lewis, British actress (Golden Child, Pirates), born in London, England.
• Aug 9 Deion Sanders, American College/Pro Football Hall of Fame corner-back (Super Bowl 1995, 96; 8 x Pro Bowl; Dallas Cowboys) and MLB outfielder (NY Yankees; Atlanta Braves), born in Fort Myers, Florida.
• Aug 10 Riddick Bowe, American heavyweight boxing champion (Olympic silver 1988), born in Brooklyn, New York.
• Aug 10 Todd Nichols, American guitarist, and songwriter (Toad The Wet Sprocket - "Fall Down"), born in Santa Barbara, California.
• Aug 11 Joe Rogan, American television host, comedian and podcaster (Fear Factor, The Joe Rogan Experience), born in Newark, New Jersey.12
Historical Events
• Aug 2 US Lunar Orbiter 5 is launched, enters lunar orbit on August 5.
• Aug 3 45,000 US soldiers sent to Vietnam.
• Aug 6 Pope Paul VI publishes the apostolic letter "Pro Comperto Sane".
• Aug 8 Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand meet to form Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).13
Notable Deaths
• Aug 10 John Francis Larchet, Irish arranger (Irish national anthem), composer (By the Waters of Moyle), and musical director (Abbey Theatre - Dublin, 1908-35), dies at 83.
• Aug 12 (William) "Buster" Bailey, American jazz clarinetist (WC Handy; King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band; Fletcher Henderson; Noble Sissle; John Kirby), and bandleader, dies of a heart attack at 65.
• Aug 13 Jane Darwell, American actress (The Grapes of Wrath), dies of a heart attack at 87. 14
Harrington, Jim, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, ed. by Robert Dimery, p. 112.
Ibid.