Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic release, 6 Sep 2007
This 3-CD release makes all those grumblers about 'another fan rip-off' look a bit daft. Sure - I've owned this album on vinyl, cassette, CD (twice) and STILL wanted this the day it came out. What sold it to me? The great price, the nice packaging . . . but most of all, another excuse to reappraise the music.
The mono version (designated Disc 1) is the definitive disc for me. It just rings out with greater clarity, clearly emphasising each band member, and has better internal balance. The stereo version is fine too of course - especially for that 'demented duck' noise at the end of 'Bike' (though perhaps the swinging from left to right channels at the end of 'Interstellar Overdrive' has always been a bit corny, if fun).
The singles disc is just over half an hour long, so with two copies of the same album (at 42 mins each), you really have bought the value of a double CD. The alternate versions are fascinating, with the always slightly dense 'Apples and Oranges' benefitting from being opened up by stereo.
The packaging is very generous - I see no 'fan rip-off'! It resembles a well-bound book, and has a decent booklet attached, containing lots of interesting band pics and lyrics. There's no essay (just as well, they are usually badly-written and full of errors!!), and sadly no reference to recording dates. But let's face it - the number of books and websites out there make up for it, and it's the music that counts. Slipped in is a Syd Barrett collage booklet, which does add to the 'confectionary' atmosphere. I'm glad to have this on the shelf next to the treasured Japanese-issue mini-sleeve CDs, and hope that EMI consider using the same format for other Pink Floyd albums. I'd love an enhanced 'Saucerful of Secrets' done exactly the same way, which would wrap up the Barrett legacy properly.
(Actually, an enhanced 'Saucerful' would surely have to include the legendary unreleased songs 'Scream thy last scream' and 'Vegetable man' . . . not only replacing the easily-found poor quality bootlegs every hardcore fan has, but making lots and lots of money. An artistic and financial coup. Come on, EMI, you know it makes sense!)
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79 of 87 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential music presented in a very attractive packaging but... , 8 Aug 2007
This 3-CD box set is a special edition of Pink Floyd's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn."
The Storm Thorgerson designed package resembles a cloth-covered book. The original artwork has been carefully adapted. An 8-page reproduction of one of Syd Barrett's notebooks is also included.
Inside are three CD's. The first two include the stereo and mono versions of the album. They highlight whatever differences there are between the stereo and mono mixes (such differences were a common occurrence at the time.)
The third CD brings together familiar single sides as well as two "rarities": a French edit of "Interstellar Overdrive" and an unreleased stereo version of "Apples and Oranges."
The set is presented as a celebration of the band's fortieth anniversary. However good - and I mean good - the respective contributions of Nick Mason, Rick Wright and Roger Waters might be, this box is, in my opinion, foremost a monument to Syd Barrett's incredible - but all too short - burst of musical creativity.
Aside from Waters' weak "Take up Thy Stethoscope & Walk" (from the initial LP) and Richard Wright's lightweight "Paint Box" (the B-side to their third single), Syd Barrett receives sole credit for every vocal track. The instrumental "Pow R. Toc H." and "Interstellar Overdrive" are credited to the four band members however.
Syd Barrett's guitar playing proves quite distinctive for a player who had not been influenced primarily by Jimi Hendrix. Although no virtuoso axeman like the various guitar "gods" at the time, Barrett's guitar work nevertheless maintained a psychedelic, dramatic ambience of sudden contrasts and violent quirks. His idiosyncratic guitar playing dominated the proceedings even when he only played chords. His use of feedback and wah-wah sounds fresh to this day.
His singing is highly personal and quite attractive, including haunting chants, verses full of tension and devastating choruses.
Moreover, Barrett's lyrics prove quite original. He liked to use fairytales themes, to juxtapose psychedelic detail and plain fact, to mix childhood reminiscences and adult confusion. It should be noted that these lyrics are widely considered to reflect traces of the already existing psychological problems that would very soon submerge Syd.
To top it all, Barrett comes up with strong, catchy and melodic hooks. Two UK hit singles and a top 6 UK peak for the LP are proof to it.
At first glance, this box set can be seen as something of interest only to the more dedicated Floyd fan.
It is, however, a nice way to gather in one place all the marvellous studio tracks that Syd Barrett recorded with Pink Floyd and that were originally released by EMI (except for any input that Syd Barrett had in the making of their second album.)
Nevertheless, a lot of fans would be happier still should EMI and the band decide to release studio and live material that, until now, has only ever surfaced on bootlegs.
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81 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic Album But I Do Have Reservations , 10 Aug 2007
Another anniversary of another classic album and once again, a record company decides that it is yet another opportunity to fleece the public. Before I go any further, I should say that this is a great album and an excellent introduction to British psychedelic music. It is also one of the jewels in the crown in the Floyd back catalogue and the only one to feature original guitar player Syd Barrett (who would be ousted from the band he had helped to create due to his ever increasingly unreliable behaviour). It is most probably the only album to feature songs about Gnomes, cats, bikes, outer space or scarecrows. The majority of the songs were credited to Barrett alone and all of these are highlights. It is on the songs which Barret co-writes or had nothing to do with where the album falls down. The two psychedelic instrumental jams (which made up quite a large portion of the Floyd's live set at this time) have not stood the test of time that well and the one credited to Roger Waters is terrible.
As this released is no doubt aimed at the serious record buyer (who more than likely owns this album in at least incarnation already), my earlier comment about fleecing the public should be explained. To be a fully representative special edition of this album and to give the fans what they have been after for many years would be to include songs that have never been commercially available, but have been the preserve of bootlegs. There was so much scope for so many of the songs that Barrett recorded with the band to be have been included but for one reason or another, are not. These include Scream thy Last Scream, Vegetable Man, In the Beachwoods, She was a Millionaire, Lucy Leave, I'm a King Bee (made when the Floyd was a five piece band), the original lyric version of Candy and a Current Bun (which was entitled Let's Roll Another One) as well as the BBC recordings the band made. The only rarities that have been included are a version of Interstellar Overdrive that was previously only available on an EP in France, and the true stereo version of their third single Apples And Oranges.
The other incentives of buying this collection are it will include all the singles from 1967 as well as their B-sides, as well as presenting the album in both its Mono and Stereo mixes. With the Mono mix, we can only hope that the record company don't make the mistakes they made at the 30th Anniversary. They didn't release same mix as the original album, but included a slightly edited version of Flaming (which was actually the A-Side of a US only single) rather than the full length LP mix. All of the 1967 singles have been made available on CD before as well.
It is a shame when the record buyer is pursuaded to buy items for the inclusion of one or two hard to find or previosuly unreleased songs. The album deserves its four stars (well, it really should be four and a half) but we all pray for the day when major artists such as Pink Floyd give the fans what they want instead of money making exercisies such as this.
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