best song on Pink Floyd's Piper

Will astronomy domine win as I think it will?

not if we all vote for "The Gnome"

Well,homogeneous was never a strong Ilx character..

Bike

didn't we do this? this album remains fresh to me, uncannily so; there were lots of albums I loved when I was 20, and i'm sure if I heard them again I'd enjoy them, but Piper's still with me in my real life. I can sing the songs from memory and actively enjoy them, they still feel like there's news in them. the sheer sonics of Lucifer Sam are hard to beat, that groove, but honestly my two favorites really are the Gnome and the Scarecrow. they feel like they're deeply felt in this odd mannered way. I voted for the Gnome because of "look at the sky, look at the river/isn't it good" which just gets deeper for me with every year closer to death, and because of "he had a big adventure/amidst the grass/fresh air at last" which is just so perfect I wouldn't even know where to start. I guess for some people the Gnome's just a goofy Cambridge-hippie-Tolkien-lite tune? but I feel like it's something pretty special, a story without much of a story that still lets me inside this non-character who's probably a stand-in for Syd.

the first Floyd i owned was some weirdo bootleg cassette of Syd, the Floyd-era tracks and bits of the solo albums, i played that fucking tape til it wore out on my little mono cassette player, i still associate "The Gnome" and "Scream Thy Last Scream" et al with bumming around country lanes in Wales one awesome summer holiday at an Auntie's caravan where me and my bro just communed with nature and Syd and books of poetry, my best holiday ever

lucifer, go to sea!

Agree w aero, this whole thing has an ageless air of mystery to it, the deeply wistful but sometimes almost frightening production wed perfectly to the compositions. Hard to pick one, its all one long song to me

If "Arnold Layne" had been part of the album, I'd probably vote for it. But I think otherwise it might be "Bike." Or "Interstellar Overdrive." Or "Scarecrow." Or "Lucifer Sam."

Overdrive for me, with Bike, Lucifer Sam and Astronomy nipping at its heels.

"Bike" and "Lucifer Sam" are both my long-time favorites but I went with "Matilda Mother" cos atm I really like that downward chord progression and I can imagine a young King Diamond hearing the chorus and deciding to start switching suddenly to falsetto right in the middle of singing lines.

Gnome is a really great one, tho! All of these are. Best Floyd album hands-down.

particularly love the lyrics to Matilda Mother
"For all the time spent in that room/the doll's house, darkness, old perfume/and fairy stories held me high on/clouds of sunlight floating by"
etc

Matilda Mother for me

I think that one is the most perfect hybrid of the childlike pastoral whimsy side and the slightly darker, more sinister edge.

which fits in so great with the childrens story theme and the "oh mother tell me more" refrain

Lucifer Sam

The lp title was so well chosen, this record really distills that very British combination of comfort and unease and pastorale you find in things like wind in the willows. Aero makes a great case for the gnome: the adventure is mainly worthwhile insofar as it revitalizes one's love of being at home.

Lucifer Sam

particularly love the lyrics to Matilda Mother
"For all the time spent in that room/the doll's house, darkness, old perfume/and fairy stories held me high on/clouds of sunlight floating by"
etc

― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, August 24, 2013 11:24 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that, and also how that last verse comes in so suddenly after the instrumental bridge almost a beat too soon, like the tape was just sloppily cut and spliced, yet it somehow sounds perfect.

Bike

I haven't listened to this in a while, and I forgot how good "Matilda Mother" is, but I had to go with "Astronomy" because it's the one that sticks with me most.

I wish we who're long in the tooth could have polled this at decade-long intervals because I'd bet it'd be different each time. I know when it was new to me I would have gone with Lucifer Sam or Astronomy Domine or Interstellar Overdrive. I think ten years later I probably would have gone with the Scarecrow for sure, it feels like a proto-Nick Drake song to me. Now as I say it's all about the Gnome

Mine would have been Lucifer Sam when I first got the album 20 years ago. Then about 5 years later it was Take Up Thy Stethoscope.

Oh man. Toughie. But I'm going with 'Lucifer Sam."

first got this album 20 or so years ago and it's always been "lucifer sam" for me. that surf riff is perfect

Mission impossible kinda riff

It is a killer riff. And that solo (it is bowed guitar?) is a killer solo!

Lucifer Sam for today. But any of 'em really, except the Waters song.

Didn't really get into the more whimsical songs ("Bike," "The Gnome") until I heard the mono version, which adds exponential punch.

Lucifer Sam for me, But only because thread title demanded SONG, not wig-out or jam or even performance.

That's exactly why I voted for "Interstellar Overdrive."

"Astronomy Domine" is head and shoulders the best space jam on this

I regret not buying the 3 CD issue of this a couple of years ago (the one with mono and stereo versions). It was going really cheap in my local shop for a while, but I decided I was content with my beaten up old vinyl edition.

Must re-listen before making my choice.

I used to be really really REALLY into pow r toc h. Just wanted to say that cause nobody else will.

This album tho is just well I cannot, but aero & nv otm

echo the sentiments of shakey above. love this whole album, has a richly unique vibe to it that makes it special to me among all the other psych albums from this period

lucifer sam, siam cat

but i had strange inclination at first to go with The Scarecrow

Take Up Thy Stethoscope, but Flaming close behind.

There is a cool alternate version of "Astronomie" that appears my 2xLP of "A Nice Pair". Has a really neat organ part than the normal take, and it's a bit more pensive overall.

I'm actually surprised no one else has said "Flaming."

Flaming isn't an obvious choice for me, but it's one of those songs that's like nothing else you're ever going to hear...

traveling by telephone

Exactly, Charlie. A nice lil' slice of twisted psychedelic pop.

XP Adam - That's the Ummagumma version of Astronomy that's on A Nice Pair iirc

Does that mean Syd's not on it?

Correct, Syd's not on it.

i.imgur.com/QdZB508.png

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6208451584/h005FB4FF/

I Can U

'Astronomy Domine'.

Flaming, for me.

I wonder what was going through Norman Smith's mind when he produced this album. From the RAF, engineering the early Beatles to this - quite a jump.

I've always had to skip 'Take Up Thy Stethoscope' - really ruins the mood of the album for me.

o man i don't think i can even choose. probably my favorite album ever.

if i had to choose a favorite moment it'd probably be the sudden transition from 'interstellar overdrive' to 'the gnome,' which always kind of makes me gasp.

I went with scarecrow. I just have a soft spot for it. It is one of the best albums ever so it's hard to choose. I do think Take Up Thy Stethascope is the weak point, though even that has it's charms.

i can't even really explain why, but this is such a beautiful, evocative verse to me:

his head did no thinking
his arms didn't move
except when the wind cut up rough
and mice ran around on the ground

I reflexively voted for Bike, but am now wishing i could take it back so that Chapter 24 which is such a cool piece of psychedelic numerology nonsense gets a vote or two.

I Ching

So difficult... except for "Stethoscope" which blows obv.

I can imagine a young King Diamond hearing the chorus and deciding to start switching suddenly to falsetto right in the middle of singing lines.

This is an awesome standard to apply, but I voted Lucifer Sam anyway.

that cat's something I can't explain

although on another day it would be one of the other's from aero's trio of Piper For Beginners, which makes sense, because despite owning it for quite some time I have to say I don't listen to it all the way through very often

others, agh!

Doi doing!

― Tom D., Thursday, June 14, 2007 8:55 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Doi doing!

― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Friday, April 20, 2012 12:19 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Doi doing!!

Stethoscope is awesome, its like some 1964 Beatles song but with the middle packed with Floyd's patented swirling galactic cheez wiz

I went with "Lucifer Sam".

Stethoscope is awesome, its like some 1964 Beatles song

i'mma stop you there

Maybe one of Ringo's

that's not the direction i was going

Ah, it's you!

They were taping "Sgt. Pepper" right down the hall during the recording of this.

a well known story.. paul mccartney wad jaw dropped blah blah blah..

"Thought you might like to know!"

(is not on this album)

overdrive

(is not on this album)

()

As much as I'd like to vote for "Matilda Mother" because it balances the two styles of the album (Donovan-esque child whimsy and Hendrix-esque guitar freakout) quite well, it would be totally wrong to vote for anything but "Interstellar Overdrive." Just a phenomenal mind-blowing freakout. Why don't bands make freakout music anymore??? When the guitar goes "MMmmmmrrroowwwww, mrrrrrrrrrooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww, mmmmmmmrrrrrrrrroooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, owww-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, MwwrrrrOWwowoweoeoeoe" it's the greatest thing you ever heard.

Donovan? don't insult Barret please.

eh I don't think it's that much of a stretch

Barrett is by far the better writer but they both loved their nursery rhymes

and thats about it

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Donovan? don't insult Barret please.

It's no insult. Syd even copped his hairstyle!

it's an insult. Donovan was the worst

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

First time I saw Barrett pics (the ones with the car) I thought it was Bolan

first time i saw Bolan pics i though it was Barrett

... and June Bolan was involved with Syd in some capacity I can't remember

"June Child (a former secretary to the manager of another of his heroes, Syd Barrett)"

wiki

It's the corkscrew hair?

don't insult the corkscrew

Aero why u brake heart