Thoughts on "The Piper at the gates of dawn"

the rest i can take or leave.

It's great!!!!! Seriously, what's not to love about this record? "Lucifer Sam" is brilliant, "Pow R Toc H" is completely freaky. "Take Up Thy Stethescope & Walk" is great. It's fabulous.

Great album though. "Bike" is totally sublime, and "Interstellar Overdrive" is just magnificent and triumphant (in my ears at least).

However, if you are among those who find the word "twee" a negative one, then don't bother. :-)

Well that's the impression I get from what I've heard: Piper is a masterpiece, Meddle is awesome, Dark Side is very good, Animals is good, The Wall sucks.

It's too deranged to be twee.

But that's the point!

You've got to be kidding, this and "Sister Ray" are about the only time a rock band took on the avant-garde head-on and won!!!!!!

reports suggest this song was the core of their live show, my guess is the reason why the studio version doesn't work is because it isn't long enough. it takes time to get there.

chris cutler ranks barrett as one of hendrix's only contemporaries as an experimental guitar player on the basis of the early live shows, and regrets the total lack of any released live documents...

enter Roger Waters, plodding through it on his bass, the only headless instrument in the mix and far too loud, with the most dull untersallar set the controls for the fog on the moors imaginationless dirge -- presumably providing what film makers call 'continuity'

Oh jeeze louise, it's WAY better than that.

I've just realized that, although I own 8(!?!) Floyd albums (on vinyl!), the only ones I ever listen to are: Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Meddle, Ummagumma.

Wondered if the Floyd title was coincidence and of course found out that it wasn't. Another similar chapter can be found towards the end of C.S. Lewis's Perelandra. I'd like to see someone put together a collection of those snippets of transcendence that show up in mainstream literature. It'd be a fun read.

Is Syd still alive?

check out the new Phosphene CD (Projection) on Secret Eye. not only does John Cavanagh pay tribute to the Piper sound (he's entitled; he literally wrote the book on PatGoD), but the artwork is also Piper photographer Vic Singh's only other album cover.

and the film that went with it is beautiful.

I agree!

"Chapter 24" ... i need to melt into the floor

"Look at the sky, look at the river
Isn't it good?"

But it's still a great song, even if I don't know why I call him Gerald.

Syd was so fucking rad.

And plus, no "Stethoscope" also means no "Pilot Can At the Queer of God"!!

1. "See Emily Play" – 2:53
2. "Pow R. Toc H." (Barrett/Waters/Wright/Mason) – 4:26
3. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" (Waters) – 3:05
4. "Lucifer Sam" – 3:07
5. "Matilda Mother" – 3:08
6. "The Scarecrow" – 2:11
7. "The Gnome" – 2:13
8. "Chapter 24" – 3:42
9. "Interstellar Overdrive" (Barrett/Waters/Wright/Mason) – 9:41

It was already high time that the mono version of Piper was back in print.

We're finally getting that mono reissue:
http://www.pinkfloyd.co.uk/index.php

Triple CD (stereo + mono + extras), but no mention of Vegetable Man or Scream Thy Last Scream.

Great news, as I screwed up and missed the last CD mono reissue. Have realized, with some slight embarrasment, that I prefer the Jesus and Mary Chain version of Vegetable Man to any other.

Triple CD (stereo + mono + extras)

Doi doing!

probably their finest hour. especially if you are in the mood for something weird but not too wierd (like syd solo for example). with or without certain substances.

I really like this album! I havent heard it in a looong time but "Bike" and "Lucifer Sam" are awesome.

Everything is great on it... well apart from "Take Thy Stethoscope, and even then, Syd and Rick are pulling out all the stops to save a crappy Roger Waters song... leaving aside Syd's songs, "Pow R Toc H" and "Interstellar Overdrive" are fantastic

Never understood the hatred for "Stethoscope" myself. I think it's just fine, a nice energetic little jam whose only sin was that it was written by Roger instead of Syd. Even if the lyrics suck, they only use up, what, maybe 45 seconds of the total playing time? And maybe sounding a bit more like the Who than the Floyd.

But the REAL holy grail would be a deluxe reissue of "Piper" with ALL of the remaining extant Syd-era stuff tacked on at the end, the singles and "Jugband Blues" and "vegetable Man" and all that. And ooh, howbout those lengthy live versions of "Nick's Boogie" and whatnot, they'd be nice too. But what label would release anything that definitive?

Oh, and I withdraw my anti-"Scarecrow" remarks upthread. Still not my favourite track but it's nice enough.

Yeah, this reissue doesn't look like it will quite go to the lengths of the Village Green one, despite having disc space to do so. Kind of a shame.

The mono mix I have (I guess it's from that previous CD issue) is a revelation. I like it better than the stereo, no question. But apparently it doesn't correspond to the original mono vinyl mix. I suppose this new mono disc will hew closer to the original.

fuck a bourgeois precious expensive three cd box set.

it doesn't correspond to the original mono vinyl mix

It's a new mono mix???

I borrowed this album from my guitar teacher once; I really need to listen to it again. Syd rules.

xpost-- so I was told by someone who seemed obsessed enough by such matters.

Even if the lyrics suck

Dark doom
Gruel ghoul
Greasy spoon
Used spoon
June bloom

These lyrics do not suck!

I can't believe someone bothered to create a new mono mix. WTF is the point?

If someone reissues "Louie Louie" on COMPACT DISC, I would like it to be a new mono mix plz.

"40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION" = fuck off. Rock and roll is garbage music.

Tim I know this is mindblowing to you but there are people who think mono had lots of advantages

Van Gogh, Evander Holyfield...

"stethoscope" is one of the best songs on it, morans.

John, I know this is mindblowing to you, but you missed my point. I would actually like to hear the original mono mix. Someone doing a new mono mix (if that's what actually happened here, though it seems incredibly bizarre) is absurd.

I would actually like to hear the original mono mix.

But not by purchasing precious expensive bourgeois BOX SET.

what does mono sound like in 5.1

With the 3CD Village Green thing, I found I liked the mono better than the stereo on that too. Not on principle or anything. It just sounds better.

I've got a rip of the U.S. Tower Records mono version of "Flaming" that was on a 45. It's neat, but I do like the stereo mix of that one better.

wasn't there a mono reissue a while back? 1990s? i've got a burn of it and it's pretty killer.

So I've had this hour long interview/chat between Rick Wright and latter Floyd hired gun Guy Pratt (who's also Wright's son-in-law apparently) sitting in my iTunes folder and shuffle play finally got around to it. The whole hour is the two of them listening to Piper... with Wright talking about what he can remember of the recording - filling Abbey Road with miked-up windup toys for the end of "Bike," encouraging Syd to "get weirder" on "Astronomy Domine," Paul McCartney sticking his head in the studio occasionally, filling in a weird jazz chord to get from one place to another, and expressing relief when Waters got around to writing songs better than "Take Up Thy Stethoscope..." All great stuff.

Apparently the proper way to say "Pow R. Toc H." is "Power Tock Aich"

not power toke?

not power toke?

That's what I always thought, but maybe they were just being polite forty years down the line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toc_H

Asked my Dad about it once, he pronounced it "Tock Aitch". It was a National Service thing, apparently.

"As dim as a Toc H bulb" being particularly relevant here I think.

I liked Guy Pratt's book a lot.

It's excellent.

oops wrong book.

http://bullmurph.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/cub.jpg

GIS for "that cat's something I can't explain."

btw: is that the best refrain in any rock song?
also I hope I used the word "refrain" correctly

A+ picture there

be a hip cat, be a ship's cat, somewhere, anywhere!

that's from Zooborns- the only website worth going to on a daily basis.

power tokage

btw: is that the best refrain in any rock song?
also I hope I used the word "refrain" correctly

― Stop Non-Erotic Cabaret (Abbbottt), Monday, December 13, 2010 7:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

yes and maybe

What about "you're the kind of girl who fits in with my world, i'll give you anything, everything if you want things"? That's pretty hard to top too.

it always pisses me off that that track on the 1st black angels is called "sniper at the gates of heaven", cuz you know what they meant, and they should have just gone ahead and said it

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858542413/

Pow R. Toc H. Lyrics

Whoo, Whoo!
Doy Doy!

Still my favorite Pink Floyd, and one of the best British psych records of all time. Definitely in the top 3. I really like that there was a time in pop history where someone could get on TV singing "Apples and Oranges". I know that's not on the album, but all those singles are just as incredible.

Where's that interview? I want to hear it!

I love Chapter 24 so much. Change return success.
Best song inspired by the I Ching ever?

Whoo, Whoo!
Doy Doy!

Bollocks knows it's...

Doi doing!

― Tom D., Thursday, 14 June 2007 08:55 (4 years ago) Bookmark

... supposed to say 'Bollocks, everyone knows it's...' but that'll do

Bollocks knows best.

I found a DVD online of a 'mime-fest' they did just after Syd was left, for Belgium(?) TV.

They shared the 'I'll do Syd' vocal 'performances' between them..

Actually, rediscovered "Paintbox" as a thing of beauty.

Just recently, got a very cheap "By the Way" box set (actually a not-boot copy, hray!), so I'll (probably very slowly) be going through this until I lose the will to live (which will probably be around 'Meddle' or somesuch)

To me, there seemed to be three early phases:

1) The Syd "Happy" years (2 singles, first album)

2) The Dark "Syd" years (3 tracks off Saucer, singles, some unreleased tracks)

3) The "Rick writes" years (a b-side, some tracks off Saucer, some singles)

The rest I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yBvhIC8d5U

The butchering of British albums for US release in the '60s never ceases to amaze me. Look what they did to poor "Piper" back in the day:

A pity they removed "Bike", but having "Interstellar Overdrive" at the end seems like a good idea. Easier to skip it then ;)

why i oughta *shakes fist*

Doi doing!

Kinda sad that the rest of Pink Floyd's career relied so heavily on exploiting Syd.

Classic!

Doy doy!

i don’t know what psychedelia even is. the sound of this album is like antique etched glassware, it’s so stiff and so fragile it would shatter like peanut brittle if you breathed on it funny.
Bike is the best Pink Floyd song. i’m also pretty sure Syd Barrett is the best lyricist of all time. the thing about all the “crazy Syd” mythos that especially annoys me is he wrote about his schizophrenia-like condition soooo well, it’s all right there in plain sight, there’s no need for other people to tell that story for him. the Scarecrow is i guess the beginning of that. not sure if this is Syd’s best album, or PF’s but i’ve owned 3 copies and listened to it more times than any other album by anyone

Bike sounds exactly the same backwards btw

picked up the mono vinyl reissue from a couple of years ago, this is just incredible

for real

have it, love it

UMS I think you tipped me off to the mono Saucer reissue as well? thanks for that, it's also great.

is this the best front-to-back LP of the UK psych scene circa '67-mid '68

yes

pretty close, SF Sorrow is one that comes to mind

xpost yeah that's great, honestly I don't know if I've heard a mono version of a 60s record I didn't like more than the stereo

yeah SF Sorrow is very consistent, even if it never quite hits the peaks Piper does. Seems like the other big name contenders (Beatles, Small Faces, Stones, the Who, Bee Gees, Hollies, Tomorrow) all have their flaws and/or bad spots/tracks

Kinks are of course amazing during this period but also didn't quite fully plant their feet in the psych garden

"is this the best front-to-back LP of the UK psych scene circa '67-mid '68"

this and the July album are both the best to me.

don't know that one, will check out

sf sorrow i guess i think of as more classic rock a la sgt pepper. it is the best thing too though. they are all great.

July album also has substantial differences in mono/stereo.

Odessey and Oracle? imo that's an even better album than Piper but it's close

didn't mean to leave that one out, def a contender. altho I find A Butcher's Tale tiresome.

I cannot hang w/The Zombies. I need to get into that July album! I know about it but have never done a deep dive.

the July album begins with the brilliant "My Clown" which is up there on the psych mountaintop with "Arnold Layne" and all the other biggies for me.

Lazing in the foggy dew *cuckoo*

never did know what an eiderdown was -- i guess i had thought it was a kind of flower. but actually it's a quilt!

love how several distinct acoustic spaces exist within each song, even simultaneously

sometimes it sounds like two dreams fading in and out of each other

never did know what an eiderdown was

an eider is a type of duck and down is its soft insulating feathers, so yeah, it's a quilt stuffed with those

never did know what an eiderdown was -- i guess i had thought it was a kind of flower. but actually it's a quilt!

― budo jeru

it's not even the only floyd song to mention "eiderdown"

an eider is a type of duck and down is its soft insulating feathers, so yeah, it's a quilt stuffed with those

― Bernard Quidbins (NickB)

it took me ages to understand the joke:
Q: How do you get down off an elephant?
A: You don't get down off an elephant, you get down off a duck!

i guess maybe this is how certain autistic people feel about lots of different kinds of joke. most jokes i do understand.

i guess maybe i'll relisten to the July album. mainly i found it disappointing after the tremendous alternate version of "The Way".

Also mentioned in the Move's "Flowers in the Rain". 1967 was all about eiderdowns!

The Move! Another band that couldn't sustain the consistency of their brilliant psych singles for a whole album

i like that first Move album. this thread has me listening to the Five Day Week Straw People album for the first time in years.

i like the Tomorrow album a lot too. The Open Mind. i'm gonna play that next. that was later though. 1969. i love that album. and then the Billy Nicholls album.

yeah, its good. But it also has Zing Go the Strings of My Heart on it.

xp

if only Wimple Winch had hung in there long enough to make an album. they would have blown everyone away. same with The Poets.

there are a few clunkers on the one and only album by The Creation but the best stuff is the bestest.

see this is why i love hearing you talk about music, there's so much out there that's deeper than i know. when you were talking about "the open mind" you had me thinking of "the open window". i love them a lot. a couple people, one of whom is peter schickele, who went on to do some great work for sesame street. god, peter schickele and robert dennis on sesame street. the best music, in those early days.

i think we need some love for the left banke, if that counts. or the free design. are they too pop? poli palmer's blossom toes. they were really underrated, wish they'd released more. paper fortress. so many groups from that era that would have killed if they'd gotten to do an album. oh, god, the charlatans! the fucking charlatans! that ep of theirs...

anyway i wish i had time to listen to the stuff you suggest! i still haven't finished listening to the new black dresses album...

i have this numero group Creation comp it's so good

https://numerogroup.com/products/the-creation-action-painting?variant=41176024416454

when you were talking about "the open mind" you had me thinking of "the open window". i love them a lot. a couple people, one of whom is peter schickele, who went on to do some great work for sesame street.

^^^omg 'June, 4am: the Sky Was Green' is one of my favorite songs ever <3

YES amazing song

i wish robert dennis had written more

i didn't realize the louisville orchestra did arrangements of a couple of their songs!

are the louisville orchestra's old recordings streaming anywhere? they were the best orchestra in the '60s for recording new compositions. they have a fantastic oeuvre and it needs to be more widely available.

uh did Beach House sample/reference this? never heard it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knXK9gW6N34

i love this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRdvbRV5BhM

that Open Mind track is def killer, makes me think I've given up seeking this kind of stuff too soon.

The Louisville Orchestra thing is on Internet Archive but it's a v noisy rip. Anything else of theirs you recommend? I'm really glad to know you're a fan of that Open Window record! I only know one other person who likes it.

No idea about Beach House, not sure I've heard anything by them.

that open mind track is nice

i'm always kinda bummed that when i get these floyd related recommends about freakbeat or other era psych stuff, i listen and end up going "yes! see, this is what i wished/hoped pink floyd would sound like."

i was generationally estranged from investigating pink floyd outside of some barret-y stuff. to the extent i heard madcap laughs in 83, 15 yrs before i ever bothered with listening to pink floyd. and having listened, i was pretty good with that.

ma'am this is the Piper at the Gates of Dawn thread

This July album is pretty wild. I dunno if the songwriting is all up to snuff, but the opener "My Clown" is stellar, what a sound.

if only Wimple Winch had hung in there long enough to make an album. they would have blown everyone away blown some lollipop minds.

I might be restating the obvious, but if someone was going to make the effort to track down high-resolution FLACs of a pristine mono vinyl of The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn then they should definitely get the same high-res FLACs of the mono The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators

The Louisville Orchestra thing is on Internet Archive but it's a v noisy rip. Anything else of theirs you recommend? I'm really glad to know you're a fan of that Open Window record! I only know one other person who likes it.

― Deflatormouse

oh jeez nice! the only thing i see on there is the track samples unfortunately but it's good to get a bit of a listen. no, i haven't listened to hardly anything of the louisville orchestra from that period... i know it only by reputation...

xp YSI???

https://archive.org/details/lp_the-louisville-orchestra_jorge-mester-the-louisville-orchestra-p

you can dl in 24-bit Flac, rather pointlessly given the condition of the copy they ripped xp

my first copy of the PatGoD was a cassette of the stereo mix I bought early in 1997... I was already OBSESSED with Syd before hearing the album, this RoIO was my intro: https://www.pf-roio.de/roio/roio-cd/cd_full_secrets.cd.html and I had a few other unofficial releases including Magnesium Proverbs, because people on AOL were willing to send me cassette dubs of those for free.

Later that same year I was visiting fam in London when this very luxe mono CD dropped:
https://www.discogs.com/release/706138-Pink-Floyd-The-Piper-At-The-Gates-Of-Dawn

and that CD is the version of PatGoD I grew up listening to
I've never heard the vinyl, don't need to, for one thing I've heard this album enough fucking times. but that CD is perfect and I really can't imagine the 1967 vinyl, or a reissue, being any better.

if you are listening to PatGoD in stereo, you're doing it wrong.

doi doi

and may I say, it is a steal at 4 GBP if anyone wants a physical copy and doesn't wanna shell out for a vinyl RI

in my alternate universe syd moves to germany and makes ten albums for Brain Records that sound like this and he lives happily ever after.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NPUB9kR2Nc

the paths not taken. there were so many paths that could have been taken! its okay. all of germany took up the challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rQb81z7ciI

sorry, just one more because so amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pLbikKjDO4

holy moly, never heard "In The Beachwoods" before!

piper stereo isn’t “doing it wrong”, it sounds great too, you all need cheaper stereos

this is them willing Can to exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcjk6cawSwc

this chronological playlist is hard to beat. hours of fun. bring your own acid.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhATozv851coiG9uhBlH9iwW4djrOm7bf

oh the mono mix is a way better record for artistic reasons, i'm not interested in which one "sounds better" from an audiophilic standpoint

"doing it wrong" is flip ofc but the point is if you know the stereo mix and like the album you might LOVE the album in mono, as was the case for me

this is them willing Can to exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcjk6cawSwc

― scott seward, Wednesday, May 22, 2024 12:08 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

maybe it's the organ (?) but this sounds more like Faust to me. you can definitely hear some Can in it but it's the weirder side of Can

pretty astonishing how much of that German scene is drawn from early Floyd, though to be fair I think early Zappa deserves some credit too

... and Velvets. The whole John Latham thing is pretty terrible tbh.

i mean early floyd are the stiffest, unfunkiest band ever, so that's something to consider re: spawning can

i actually loved that john latham thing, it was the biggest surprise on that box set. syd's driest guitar sound in PF and climaxes in his most anarchic playing on record, i think. rick doing pop-AMM.

it's not as good as AMM obviously but nothing is.

not that it's anything like in AMM's league but AMM are the best band of all time

AMM are the best band of all time

real talk

Mason and Waters should just have stayed at home that day tbh.

"In the Beechwoods" is pretty fully formed, too bad Syd couldn't setle on any lyrics for that session

xo lol fair

mason's unstudied improv can be uhh, charming (such as in nick's boogie). waters should have stayed home for sure.

early floyd are the stiffest, unfunkiest band ever

i think early floyd really swings but ymmv. if anything they got stiffer after roger took over. is there anything less funky than "money"?

"but AMM are the best band of all time"

yes, but do you listen to the first AMM album in mono or stereo?

well, the question in their case would be "do you listen to the lp edits or the unedited tracks?" and possibly "where do you program the silence"

i think early floyd really swings but ymmv. if anything they got stiffer after roger took over. is there anything less funky than "money"?

oh interesting! any track(s) in particular you have in mind?

i think gilmour introduces a lot of fluidity and makes them sound less odd for that reason, not necessarily overnight.

nick is more willing to take risks early on, and i like the tentative quality of his parts- i get that from syd and rick too. waters is more prone to playing it safe and spins his wheels a lot.

something like Candy and a Currant bun swings!

Scream Thy Last Scream is like a march, though. So rigid.

i think pretty much all the tracks on PIPER swing. i mean i realize it's not the JB's. there are definitely early psych acts that i think of as clunky or stiff, but i think PF are operating in a cool space between groove and floating on this record

one thing i don't understand is how the end of "Interstellar Overdrive" is supposed to work in mono?

Chapter 24 is one of roger's best bass lines

would think this goes without saying but obviously the mono version of "Interstellar Overdrive" does not feature the roughly synchronized hard-panning

which, to be honest, loses its novelty rather quickly in the stereo version - this trick was refined better by others in subsequent years anyway (Zep for ex.)

Early on, when he didn't know what he was doing, Waters had quite a few good basslines.

yeah his bass playing on Piper and Saucer are fine, its when his inner tiresome dullard comes to the fore that the problems set in

https://themidnightcafe.org/2024/05/23/pink-floyd-have-you-got-it-yet-syd-barrett-archives-1965-1969/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9n5tHvCHDc

no

The guy who compiled that, K1l0h, is a character xxp

you can dl in 24-bit Flac, rather pointlessly given the condition of the copy they ripped xp

oh jeez thanks, your searching abilities are very much beyond mine

Later that same year I was visiting fam in London when this very luxe mono CD dropped:

one of my friends, who's got one of the best ears of anyone i've known, pointed out that the stereo channels of that release aren't identical... one is better than the other, i forget which, so he duped the good channel, and that's the version of mono piper i listen to

mason's unstudied improv can be uhh, charming (such as in nick's boogie). waters should have stayed home for sure.

what i love about mason is how much of his career is him trying to sound like chico hamilton's playing on "blue sands" (and failing):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F5fhwiWsyg

not that it's anything like in AMM's league but AMM are the best band of all time

jeez it's been a while since i tried to listen to them, i hated them when i last listened to them but i had no understanding of free improv back then

The guy who compiled that, K1l0h, is a character xxp

― Deflatormouse

oh god you can say _that_ again

AMM's Newfoundland is their masterpiece imho

Still best experienced live tbh.

what i love about mason is how much of his career is him trying to sound like chico hamilton's playing on "blue sands" (and failing):

oh wowwww i'd never heard this before. that's really something. you absolutely nailed it, it is uncanny, undeniable, otm. and yes, this is *exactly* the thing i love about Mason's playing.

one of my friends, who's got one of the best ears of anyone i've known, pointed out that the stereo channels of that release aren't identical... one is better than the other, i forget which, so he duped the good channel, and that's the version of mono piper i listen to

oh my GOD. i have listened to that cd ... *at least* hundreds of times, and i never noticed. I'd ask you to YSI but as i say i have heard that album enough fucking times. what am i gonna do, store it on a hard drive incase i ever want to listen to PatGoD again? Yeah, maybe.

AMM's Newfoundland is their masterpiece imho

Yeah, that one is my favorite. It just has the most devastating emotional arc. I don't know if it makes sense to talk about it in terms of a "masterpiece" - not only because these are ephemeral performances, but also because, while their trio era is excellent and early-mid 90's prob their "peak", it doesn't approach the *monumentality* of the early stuff, AMMMusic and The Crypt. Those recordings are... I don't want to say "challenging", like, don't force yourself to listen to The Crypt when you'd rather be listening to T Rex obv. But I guess they propose a different kind of encounter with the listener than "paying attention", they are more like an ambient sound, only VERY obtrusive. and so what they give you is really singular, more than the trio stuff. the key to those pieces for me is to approach them when i'm the most hungry for them, i guess.

But, Newfoundland - def give that one a try! there's an extended lulling, ASMR-ish section about half an hour in which is gorgeous, with Prevost playing an mbira or something and Rowe producing dense clouds of static. And Tilbury's sustained chords around 50 minutes made me weep uncontrollably the first time I heard it, I mean that's not something that often happens to me when I listen to free improv... like, it is absolutely "masterful" in that sense, just really delicate, sensitive, responsive performances from all 3 of them. Combine & laminates is probably their most delicate, that one is my second fave.

oh god you can say _that_ again

i know 😬

properly this should probably be flac or something but this is what i had lying around

https://www.sendspace.com/file/uxpz54

i will have to check out newfoundland!

I'm listening to it right now!

Thank you, Kate! At a glance, I think this is from the 2007 3x CD, not the 1997 UK mono CD, based on the track numbering "1-X" and bonus tracks:
https://www.discogs.com/release/1060844-Pink-Floyd-The-Piper-At-The-Gates-Of-Dawn

I've only heard the bonus tracks from that one, but the comments on Discogs suggest it's a lemon

Not to go all Hoffman board on ya

gotcha, your '97 is probs better :)

Prompted by this thread, I just listened to Piper for the first time in at least 20 years. Superb. Music that is deep in my bones.

Yeah but was it the mono version?