King Crimson - In The Court of The Crimson King (1969)

King Crimson - In The Court of The Crimson King (1969)

Rating: 13

"For I Fear Tomorrow, I'll Be Crying,"

Best Song: 21st Century Schizoid Man

Worst Song: Moonchild

     I shall be reviewing King Crimson's albums, all 13 of them. For the sake of saving money, I won't be reviewing any of the live albums yet. I own Absent Lovers, Live in Toronto 2015, The Great Deceiver, and Radical Action to Unseat The Hold of Monkey Mind, but I won't be reviewing them until at least all of the studio albums have been finished. King Crimson is my favorite band technically, but I will try not to endlessly gush over all of their albums, because frankly, some of them don't deserve praise. However, some bias may be present, so if you'd like, lower all of these scores by 1-2 if you're not a fanatic unless I state otherwise. Unless you're not a fanatic and consider my score the correct one, in which cool. But this is just a fanatic warning right at the very beginning.

     Anyway, what can be said about this album that hasn't been said? This is the root of the tree that is progressive rock. From this album, emerged progressive rock, fully formed and ready to grace the world with its complicated song form and odd instrumental choices. The background of this album has been stated by hundreds of articles, so I won't spend a long time talking about it here. After their previous band, Giles Giles and Fripp, drummer Michael Giles and guitar player Robert Fripp recruited singer Greg Lake, lyricist Peter Sinfield, and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald to perform a form of music that had been toyed with, but never fully fleshed out: Classical-Jazz-Rock. After playing a few successful concerts, this album was released at just the right time in 1969, and it exploded. Despite only having 5 tracks in just over 40 minutes, it was embraced by the overall public and met with rave reviews (other than Robert Christgau, but whatever).

     Does it deserve this praise however? As you can see by my rating, I certainly think so. This album encompasses everything that prog should aspire to be. By that, I don't mean that every prog album should sound like this, I mean that they should try to live up to their name and be progressive. This album came out of seemingly nowhere, fully formed and out of this world. Many bands continued this formula, and while some just repeated the tropes found in this album, others saw it as a sign to continue to try and innovate, no matter how strange the territory. Sometimes, it would fail miserably, but the influence this album had on good music as well is undeniable.

     But enough about the influence, what about the music?? Well to sum it up in one word: amazing. This is a varied album for the genre, starting off with the progressive thunder of the opener, "21st Century Schizoid Man," one of the all time great tracks from the band. The amount of power, but control over the power shown in this song is mind-blowingly amazing, and the way that the end of the song freaks out, then cuts out right into the flutes of the next song, "I Talk to The Wind," is a testament to album flow. The chaos of the first track moving right into the calm and carefree attitude of the second song is simply amazing. The song itself has one of the best melodies you're likely to find around the era period, and the perfect streak that the album started with the first track is completely continued here. The third song on Side one, "Epitaph," bridges from the second track, and continues the flow going. This one is nearly a combo of the first two songs. It is not frantic, but it replaces the carefree attitude of "Wind," with one of anxiety and worriment. The lyrics up to this point are not very good, but they sound amazing in the context of the album, and this song is possibly the greatest example of that. Even though it's 9 minute, it feels half the length, and the lyrics add to that in a way that is astounding.

     At this point, why shouldn't the album get a perfect score?? It was a pretty much perfect side? Side two unfortunately is why this album falls a bit in my eyes. I quite like the first song, "Moonchild," for about 6-7 minutes, but Fripp and the gang fall into their excess just a bit. That just a bit however, is the straw that breaks the camel's back, because after the very pleasant two minute pop song that comprises the beginning of "Moonchild," comes 10 minutes of very quiet improvised, and not very well produced noodling. This takes up nearly a quarter of the record. It is certainly tolerable, but it is nowhere near the greatness of the rest of the record. In fact, it knocks the score down by 2 points. If only the other songs went on a bit longer to compensate for a 6-7 minute Moonchild, then we may have a runner-up for the greatest album of all time. It may still be a runner up, but a shorted "Moonchild" would put this in top 10 territory for me personally. 

     Fortunately, after the slight blemish that is "Moonchild," comes a song that stands toe to toe with every other song on the album: the title track. The drum fill that segues this song from the previous one is legendary, and it features one of the most beautiful choruses of all time, and a wordless one at that. The lyrics are medieval drivel, but they fit the song amazingly, and the fake ending is surprisingly effective. 

     Overall, this is one of the best albums of all time, and if you haven't listened to this album, check it out now. It's fantastic. 

7 Skies H3 (Full) - The Flaming Lips

*The Flaming Lips - 7 Skies H3 (24 Hour Song) (2011)*

Rating: 15

"I can't shut off my head."

Best Section: Metamorphosis

Worst Section: Meepy Morp (Reprise)

Section Listing:

1. 7 Skies H3 (Cant Shut off My Head) (25 Mins)

2. Meepy Morp (55 Mins)

3. Radiation Wind (35 Mins)

4. Battling Voices From Beyond (2 Hours, 30 Mins)

5. Electric Toy Factory (10 mins)

6. In A Dream (An hour and 5 mins)

7. Metamorphosis (7 Hours!!!)

8. Requiem (25 mins)

9. The Other Side (1 hour 5 mins)

10. Immaculate Light From Heaven Consumes Your Body (3 Hours, 35 mins)

11. Meepy Morp (Reprise) (2 Hours 15 Mins)

12. Riot in My Brain!! (1 Hour 30 Mins)

13. 7 Skies H3 (Main Theme) (2 Hours, 15 Mins)

14.  Can't Let It Go (9 Mins)

It all started about a week ago. On 4/20, (no drugs involved) I got the idea to finally get around to listening to the whole 7 Skies H3. I had listened to a 90 minute version (which I loved), and the official 50 minute version (Which I loved almost as much and I'm gonna get around to reviewing soon), but I decided that this was finally the time to listen to the actual entire thing in one sitting. And well, I did it. And I can safely say that the Flaming Lips have created their absolute masterpiece. The fact that they can make 24 hours of music that I can see myself listening to in its entirety again is mind blowing. That is why i love this band so much. Because of the things they do like this. 

     The reason that they decided to do a 24 hour song came by on a very sad and somber note

     Instead of a conventional review I'm going to give you a 24 hour summary of my April 26, the day I listened to the entire thing. Ill explain the parts of the song, and how much I liked them as well, because that is what you are all here for. I'll also rate all of the parts out of 15. Also note this; if I compiled all of the parts of the 24 hour song together by those ratings, the rating would not end up being 15 like I gave it above. 7 Skies H3 is greater than the sum of its parts in concept, themes, and the fact that there is a 24 hour song that I could listen to again and love it again.

12:00 AM: Cant Shut off My Head: I woke up, and 7 Skies H3 began right on time. The first section (Can't Shut off My Head) is one of the greatest parts of the entire song, so it really wasn't that hard to wake up and start it. This part is 26 minutes, which is really long in retrospect if it was put on an album like The Terror or some other one, but on here its among the shortest sections. Sad clean guitars in each speaker play as Wayne sings his pain. Then a beautiful keyboard melody comprising of only three notes plays and repeats for a while. Then it goes back and the beautiful cycle repeats for about 26 minutes. During this part of the song, I just kinda woke up and listened for a while. This is one of the most listenable parts of the song, and its not hard to actually pay attention to all 26 minutes of it. 14/15

12:25 AM: Meepy Morp: Wayne sings for the last time, and then a small drum fill signals the beginning of Meepy Morp. Meepy Morp has a strange name, yes, and Its not exactly the absolute best portion of the song, but it is considerably good, and very hypnotic; a sign of things to come in this song. The first section was amazing, but a bit off putting as to what 90% of the album is going to sound like. This is where Meepy Morp shines. It starts off with a hypnotic repetitive keyboard glitch line that is really hard to describe. Then throughout the 54 minutes that it plays, it slowly builds layers upon layers of keyboards and other instruments. Drums, wind blowing, all while never losing that base loop. It's actually quite gorgeous. During this part, I read a book, but about half the time couldn't help but pay attention to the beautiful sound that was being created. 12/15

1:20 AM: Radiation Wind: This section of the song wasn't hard to listen to and read at the same time. There really isn't too much going on, though it, like the last part has a depressing beauty to it. It just kind of swells depressing chords and Wayne's voice hyper slowed down echoes from the beyond. It gives a real feeling of loss and desolation. During this part I finished my book, and I actually tried to listen to the last 10 minutes of it. It really was pretty nice, but a bit boring for listening to actively 10/15

2:00 AM: Battling Voices From Beyond: Let me just start out by saying this section could be a kick butt 40 minute break with two loops total. But no, to fit the 24 hours, The Flaming Lips decided to make this section a ridiculous 2 and a half hours. This section is BRUTAL. There's distorted drums, a hypnotic loop of only two notes (that appears later and is used much better), screaming, yelling, and choral voices from beyond. Its like a 20 minute loop played 9 times, then they finally decide to move onto the better loop with more variation in the voices and the drums. This part I actually almost fell asleep to I think. It was intense, but after 1 and a half hours of the same damn thing, I got really bored of it. I read a new book, did some review for my exams, and laid in bed for a while during this. To sum it all up, no it isn't bad, but its rating does get decreased by the fact that it is long as heck. 8/15

4:30 AM: Electronic Toy Factory: This section is really short actually. Its a repetitive Can like song with more electronics. It's okay I guess. I really don't have much to say about it. I listened to it actively and enjoyed it. 9/15

4:40 AM: In A Dream: Around here is where the song got really good again. That loop that I said showed up in Battling Voices came into this section, and formed the backbone. Let me tell you, it works a lot better in this section than it did in that one. Its a lot less intense, and this one is more bongo and rhythm focused than the loud and distorted smashing of the last one. And Wayne sings again! This time he sings more depressing lyrics about death and all that, and this repeats for about an hour and five minutes. It may be a slight bit overlong, but its really good, so I'm willing to overlook it. During this section i sat and listened, absorbed by the hypnotic rhythm and singing. 13/15

5:45 AM: Metamorphosis: Oh god. 7 Hours? Why would anyone make a section of a song with an ungodly amount of time like that? And this has to be boring as heck man. Let me tell you that those were my thoughts as Metamorphosis started. Let me also tell you how surprised and happy I was to find out that it was absolute perfection. 7 Hours of Psychedelic noodling, jamming, improvisation, and beauty. How do I even explain it? Let me tell you a normal cycle of the progression. A sad minor chord is strummed, and a bassline plays in the background, slowly complementing it. Keyboard sounds play, maybe drums come in, and it builds up until that sad chord is strummed again, and every single time  it is different. At one point a pretty cool Krautrock jam comes in involving a b flat chord and some drums (not this part's last appearance). Overall, Metamorphosis is the best part of  the song by far and I loved it so much. During this time, my house stirred, I did all of my homework, I ate breakfast, then I took my ipod with me and went to the store. Halfway through my trip, the song ended however. Overall. I am just in love with this section. It is one of the best things the lips have ever done. 15/15

12:45 PM: Requiem: Some pretty chords waved goodbye to the beauty that was the metamorphosis section, and a piano, some synths, and Steven's voice rose out of the dim sadness that this song provides. But he wasn't alone. A very high pitched version of his voice sang with him an octave higher. And the melody that they sung was amazing. Just as this song seems like its going to wrap up however, drums and bass come in, and for the next 19 minutes there's an amazing jam! Its pretty much built up on the chords of the rest of the section, and it just rocks for 19 minutes. Its amazing. During this part, I continued my shopping at Wegmans, and right as I finished and left the store, the section ended. 14/15

1:10 PM: The Other Side: As I drove home, this section slowly faded in and Requiem ended. This part is very pretty, and very reminiscent of the end of Moonchild by King Crimson, except done electronically. Its built up on a loop made in an ipod app called SynthPond, and some pretty chords chime in every few seconds and add some color too it. This part is pretty overlong, but that's okay. This is definitely a part to do other things to. I drove home, ate lunch, and then vacuumed my whole house. Just as I finished that, the next section came on. 10/15

2:15 PM: Immaculate Light From Heaven Consumes Your Body: This section is really long. The second longest section, (3 Hours 35 Mins About). It takes that Krautrock B flat jam that I talked about in the Metamorphosis section, and loops 26 minutes of it a bunch of time, all while adding different effects and sounds around it. During the 2nd or 3rd loop, it reverses it, and some gorgeous sounds come out of that. This is probably the second best part of the song, just because of how amazing the whole loop is, and for some reason, it really doesn't seem that overlong. Its so strange how the two longest sections didn't seem overlong. They were just really well done. Like... wow. I just kind of fooled around on my computer and listened to this section while it was on 15/15

5:50 PM: Meepy Morp (Reprise): The last section faded out sadly, and left us with this. This is not a reprise of Meepy Morp. There is nothing in this section that sounds like Meepy Morp. The chords don't sound similar, or anything. It is literally: A synthesizer farts, and an electric piano noodles for a bit. Then the synth farts, and the piano noodles. Fart, noodle, fart, noodle. Occasionally the piano will take over and play some pretty melodies for a bit, then the synth comes back and farts. And it does this for 2 hours and 15 Minutes! It is ridiculously over long. 10 Minutes is too long for this section. Ugh. Only the electric piano interludes frequently showing up give it a rating over 3. I ate dinner and played video games during this section. It felt like it never ended. 5/15

8:05 PM: Riot In My Brain!!: Thank god for this section. This section kicks all of the butt. It's like someone took Aquarius Sabotage, re arranged it a bit, then took the Battling Voices from Beyond section of this song and combined them into a thrashing, epic, distorted beauty. Theres loud epic drums, an awesome bass line thing that is really hard to describe. Sometimes a distorted harp plays an epic chord. Loud noises flow from speaker to speaker, and Steven Drozd screams and chants in both speakers randomly in the middle and the end. This totally redeems the last section, and if this went on for another hour I really don't think I would care. It's an absolute masterpiece. During this section I listened, and I played a bit of video games. This section is just amazing. Not really any other words for it. 15/15

9:35 PM: 7 Skies H3 (Main Theme): An amazing drum fill signals this part to begin, and immediately as it begins, beautiful string organs fill the sound space. They play the gorgeous chord progression from the first section of the song, and about an hour in, a very Gilmourish guitar comes in and plays a very long and drifting solo that I fell absolutely in love with. Every so often, a radiation wind-esque swell comes in, until the solo fades out, and a Radiation Wind reprise (kind of) happens. This time though, it uses a different chord progression, and its just very pretty, and one of the best sections in the song. Its 2 hours and 15 minutes, but its length is very justified. Its the perfect counterpoint to the last section. During this part I started to drift off a bit. After all I had been up since 12:00 AM that day, and i was nearing 24 hours up total. But i just played games and then i decided to focus on the last 30 minutes of the song. This section was too gorgeous to ignore anyway. 15/15

11:50 PM: Can't Let It Go: As Wayne started to sing again for the first time since 5:45 AM, I knew that this was the big finale. He was singing some very beautiful and sad lyrics around a very similar progression to the first part of the song. Then, he stopped as the beautiful 3 notes from the beginning returned. All of the instruments built up and up and up, until finally, the song ended with a strangely beautiful noise. amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Then I heard Steven and Wayne talk for a bit, and I heard the notes of the song beginning again. It was 4/27, and I had listened 7 Skies H3 in its entirety. 15/15

A year in the making of this review. I never got around to listening to the entire thing until recently, though I did plan to make this review for over a year. I absolutely am in love with this song, and while I cant get around to listening to 24 hours of it frequently, the official 50 minute version serves me just fine. They are both amazing, and I have decided that this album, 7 Skies H3, may be the crowning moment in long-form music and The Flaming Lips. Who else would go and make a song that is 24 hours long and make it an actually amazing song!? That there is why I give it a 15, not because it is the best song I have ever heard. 

     If i judged it on song quality, I would probably give it a 12/15. However, the concept, the beauty, the whole sum of its parts are way better than the individual songs (Though Metamorphosis, Immaculate, Riot, Main theme, and Can't Let It Go show them at their absolute best). This may just be me gushing, but the reason I give this a 15 is because it is the most impressive song that I have ever heard in my entire life. My mind is blown.

Anyway, there is only one more EP in my 2011 Flaming Lips reviews, and that is the one with Yoko Ono. I don't see how it could ever live up to this, and it more than likely wont get even close, but I'll probably enjoy it. After that, expect a review of 7 Skies H3 in its reduced 50 minute form.

Lark's Tongues in Aspic- King Crimson

King Crimson- Lark's Tongues in Aspic (1973)

Rating: 11

"And I Swear I Like Your People, The Boys in The Band"

Best Song: Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part 1 & 2

Worst Song: Book Of Saturday

Track Listing:

1. Lark's Tongues In Aspic Part 1

2. Book of Saturday

3. Exiles

4. Easy Money

5. The Talking Drum

6. Lark's Tongues In Aspic Part 2

     This is the first album in the trilogy of "Wetton/Bruford/Fripp/Cross" lineup, and this one includes a second percussionist, the strange Jamie Muir, who was only on this album. This is also the last album in the trilogy I have to review, so I pretty much went backwards! Most people either put this as the best or second best of the trilogy, but I have to put this as the worst, unfortunately. 1/3 of it is great, but 2/3 of it is just good. Fripp and Cross are the stars on this album, as Wetton wasn't a confident singer yet, and Bruford, while great, needed a bit to round out his style to the Crimson sound. Jamie is fit for the sound, and probably is better than Bruford on this one.

     The album kicks off with "Lark's Tongues in Aspic Pt. 1," which is one of the greatest songs they ever did, but is not as good as "Fracture" or "Starless". It however, does have their most epic and heavy riff about 3 minutes in. The only part of the song I could live without is the David Cross by himself solo section. On this album, he's always better when other people are playing, so that section in the middle could be better. But that's the only complaint. The next song, "Book of Saturday," is not so great, but not bad, and really, no song on this album is bad, just only the title tracks are Really Great. "Book of Saturday" is just a generic ballad with no real parts that stand out. And no, the guitar that's backwards does not stand out.

     The album then goes into "Exiles," which is slightly overlong, but good. Then "Easy Money," which is the best of the 4 songs in the middle, comes on and is pretty good, but very similar to Pink Floyd's "Money." The last song of the middle songs is "The Talking Drums," which is really really intense, but a bit long. A bunch of guitar feedback signals the other best song, which is the second part of the title track. It's a three part epic song, that makes me want to just yell "RAWK!", but I don't, cause if I do, the neighbors will probably get mad. So I don't do that. Now, as a special bonus, here's me trying to type the lyrics of "Book of Saturday" in time with his singing:

"if i onyls contnmd r for get thie  gam eevety ynbruin trokr ny olyou e kajkfbghtn rsnvjayh mr t ne the po rpndmmmifeios and  js 5to al t y,me dunw. you c-kayn the bkacs oifd poband to foab viaketn thr eponbngbs n bt9ikm n mtheb b an jrkemn e kjkj gklkn   jb ay ikm mthen   m gnafn ylmjgbajke  nfsouuuunnnnnnnnnnddddddddd *backwards solo* *David Cross Crying About How Bad This Song Is Through A Violin!* oooooooooooooooo  dooodododoodododooododoododoodododoododoododododooododdoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo *More Crying* *Backwards* onnyj  tinteh th aspleppe on jni ll th4 onbgi cojbkshe oikosize jaksthbgrkuio krjjto flljen and oyesdyreretsay dtheyee  as duhbcm jrthjemm sids skjrngnedrtnsisimt thdebrma and oss the sanht dejannlasys ahair ajfbjajmaking swwrt xsixteen. ooooooooooooooo do yki mik ylin   book of sytauhtkd,atys nand i have o schoooseoo *Ppirf*"

I really like my cats

*Dedicated to Mark Prindle (The Jukebox FORK)

Starless And Bible Black- King Crimson

King Crimson- Starless and Bible Black (1973)

Rating: 12

"The Worthy Captain and His Squad of Troopers, Standing Fast"

Best Song: Fracture

Worst Song: Trio

     This has to be one of the most underrated albums I have ever reviewed. On every site I look at for reviews, it got 7/16, 4/10, 4/10, and 7/10. It's a really good album! Most people tend to talk about the fact that 5/8 songs are live, and that 4/5 of those are improvisations. But the King Crimson improvs are some of the best music they ever did. All of the improvisations (except for one) are great and it's really hard to believe they actually improvised on it. But let's do a track by track analysis.

     The album kicks off with a song called "The Great Deciever", which is a great song driven by an awesome electric violin line and an awesome bassline! The lyrics are funny, and the singing is top notch. The next song, "Lament," is not as good, but has two cool sections. The first one is quiet, but the second part is regular rockin' Crimson, lead by a cool bassline. The next song is the instrumental improv, "We'll Let You Know," which is the best improvisation on the album. Once again, the bass is amazing. And when the drum comes in... wow.

     The 4th song is called "The Night Watch," and it's pretty good, just a bit soft. The next song, "Trio," is waayyy too soft. It's frankly just a boring song. Then side one closes out with "The Mincer", which is really creepy, but is made even creepier by the random cutout. Then side 2 opens up with the final improvisation of the album, which is the title track. While it's not my favorite, its still pretty good!

      All of these songs however, do not compare to "Fracture," This is easily in my top 5 Crimson songs, and one of the greatest Heavy prog songs ever. It's 11 minutes, but not overlong in the slightest! The main guitar part is awesome, made awesome by the octave power of the guitar-bass playing the same thing. The violin's pretty great too! But wow, that bass. That amazing bass. John Wetton was a heck of a bass player.

     Overall, this album is vastly underrated, and if you don't have it, go pick it up as soon as possible!

Red- King Crimson

King Crimson- Red (1974)

Rating: 15

"Sundown/dazzling day/Gold through my eyes/But my eyes turned within/Only see"

Best Song: Starless

Worst Song: Fallen Angel

       Christmas morning. I opened up a moderately small present to reveal the 2012 5.1 edition of Larks Tongue's in Aspic and the 2009 5.1 edition of... this. Wow, where do I start? I've never been a fan of King Crimson. I only liked their first album. But then I saw the 5.1 remasters, and I decided to give them a try. I had already heard Larks Tongues in Aspic, and that had scared me half to death. But I had never heard Red.
       So I popped this baby into my DVD player and started it up. Immediately, I was hit by an amazing wall of distortion that was the title track. Everything in the mix was distorted even the bass. There were seemingly billions of Guitars yelling around me, and then there was a cello, and then the song ended. Needless to say, I was blown away, and decided nothing on the album could be better than that wall of noise.
       Sadly, when the next song, "Fallen Angel" came on, I thought it was great, but it really wasn't as good as the last. Then came on an absolutely amazing song called "One More Red Nightmare," This was even better than "Red," and had me wondering what could be better than that. "Providence," was pretty good, but not as good as the last song. It was no question, the weirdest, but I still really liked it.
       Then... "Starless" came on. If you haven't heard that song, drop absolutely everything you're doing and listen to it right now. That has to be one of the top 6 songs that I have ever heard. The pacing is fantastic, and I have absolutely zero complaints about it. It is the greatest heavy prog song of all time.
       Overall, this is an amazing album. Go out and buy it today!

Please Please Me by The Beatles

Please Please Me (1962)- Beatles #1
Rating: 10
Best Song: I Saw Her Standing There
Worst Song: Boys 

     Ahhh, the debut album of the most known band in the entire world. I actually like it, but in the end, it's generic 60s pop, but in the spirit of most of my reviews, let's do a little history on the Beatles. The Beatles formed in 1960, and the band members were bassist Paul Mcartney, guitarist John Lennon, guitarist George Harrison, and then drummer Pete Best. Back then, they were a pretty unknown Liverpool band, playing in clubs and such for money. Then one day, they went to Germany and played there, Pete met a girl, and stayed in Germany. This left the Beatles without a drummer, so they found Richard Starkey (Better known as Ringo Starr) and he became the drummer.
     They became a big hit eventually, with several #1 hit singles, but they needed to get a full-length LP out sooner or later, so they went in and recorded Please Please Me, which had several of their singles. Obvious highlights are "I Saw Her Standing There", "Love Me Do", and "Twist And Shout",  but there are lesser known ones that are good like "Anna (Go to Him)". The rest ranges from okay to good, so there aren't any complaints, but this is not the best effort from them, even though it's a solid debut. Sorry, not much to say this time.

Pink Floyd- A Saucerful of Secrets

A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)- Pink Floyd #2
Rating: 9
Best Song: Set The Controls for The Heart of The Sun
Worst Song: A Saucerful of Secrets      Here we have what is one of the most overrated Floyd albums in the world. While you may think, "Not many people know this album!", what I mean is that among Floyd Fans (Myself included), the majority hold this as one of the best Floyd album, but everytime I hear it, it sounds ok, some good, but not amazing. The best song is the awesome, "Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun," as it shows Mr. Roger Waters at his early best.
     The opener, "Let There Be More Light" sounds kind of generic, even though I swear I've never heard anything like it. It confuses me to this day. On some days it reminds me of The Doors. Then "Remember A Day," I cannot stand, as I've never been a fan of Richard Wright's vocals, and this is no exception. "Corporal Clegg" comes after "Set", and gets my vote as the second best song, even though it's a bit silly. Then we have the Ambient/Noise/Rock/Space Rock/Exploding/Noodling/SFGERTTHG title track which I don't like AT ALL. It's not one of their better long songs. The next Rick Wright song, "See-Saw" is a break from the Ambient/Noise/Rock/Space Rock/Exploding/Noodling/SFGERTTHG of the last one, so I actually quite like it when listening to the album in its entirety.
     And then we come to the infamous ending track; Yes, it's Syd Barrett's final song with Pink Floyd before he was kicked out of Floyd for drug issues and insanity, "Jugband Blues". Unfortunately, I do not like it as much as other people like it, but there's nothing wrong with it. It almost becomes Ambient/Noise/Rock/Space Rock/Exploding/Noodling/SFGERTTHG, but Barrett had enough sense not to end it the same freaky way they ended Piper
     In the end, this isn't a bad Pink Floyd album, it just isn't a really good one. half the album is good, but the rest is okay to one terrible Ambient/Noise/Rock/Space Rock/Exploding/Noodling/SFGERTTHG.

Pink Floyd- The Piper At The Gates of Dawn

The Piper At The Gates of Dawn (1967)- Pink Floyd #1
Rating: 12
Best Song: Interstellar Overdrive
Worst Song: Scarecrow

     ...And so begins the saga of my favorite band of all time: Pink Floyd. I used to be a Dark-Side through Wall fan, so most of Pink Floyd's albums were ones I didn't like. I loved the "Prog" sound of the most famous albums, so when I picked this up on my birthday 6 months ago, I hated it. I also love The Beatles, and yes, Sgt. Pepper was an album during the psychedelia period, but not many songs on it were really "Psychadelic." This one, however is psychadelic at it's max potential. However, it really grew on me.
     The lyrical content of this album is different from the rest of the discography because of one man: Syd Barrett. Syd was the lead of Pink Floyd from the time they formed in 1965, until the time when he went insane in 1968 and was replaced by the then session guitarist David Gilmour. He was kicked because of drug problems and mental issues.
     You can almost feel him falling apart in these songs. The lyrics are kiddish, but have a Barrett twist to them. The guitar playing is very good, but very loose. The standout songs are: "Astronomy Domine", known as one of the first space rock songs, "Interstellar Overdrive" one if the first prog instrumentals of all time, and "Bike", a demented almost nursery rhyme.
     Some of the songs however, like "The Gnome" and "Scarecrow", are not very good, and seem to be thrown together by Syd. Roger Waters, the future lead of Floyd wrote a song, "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk". It's so dumb, but I kind of like it. Overall, it's one of the most solid debut albums I have heard. Sadly, Syd Barrett was kicked out right after this album, and only had one more song to contribute to Floyd, which appeared on the next album, which already showed a stylistic change...