Monday, January 28, 2013

#721 Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

I'd heard all of Pink Floyd's big albums, basically the ones that Jake liked when he was giving me a crash course in classic rock back in the day: Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here. Heavy, psychey stuff, all.

This album starts off a little wierd, sure, with Astronomy Domine (sounding a bit like late Blur, actually), but then things are actually kind of sunny for a while there. You get thinking you're in for a feel-good album, especially, say, if you've just been listening to a lot of Moby Grape. "What happened to you, Pink Floyd?" you wonder. You used to be such a happy little band; what happened?

Well, this happened, as the whole album goes down a hole. Is this the world's first bad trip album? It starts to swirl on Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk, and then its 9 minutes of Interstellar Overdrive. This isn't "look at the pretty colors" music this is "fold into yourself and watch the universe die" music. Be thankful they put form to this madness in the later years, in its purest form its a little rough for my taste. Relevant, must-hear, on a whole nother level, but not the kind of trip I'd choose to go on more than once 3/5

fun fact: I had no idea Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk from Reverse Shark Attack was a cover. I think 7 albums is the fastest turnaround I've ever had from presuming a song original to being correct by hearing the actual original

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