Day 20 – Astronomy Domine
The continuing adventures of “Eric’s Trip Around the Sun”. One final trip with the iPod.
Richard Dawson: Top 100 people survey top 5 answers on the board. Name a Pink Floyd Album?
Contestant #1 – *Buzzer* – Dark Side of the Moon
Richard Dawson: #2 Answer and you deserve a big wet kiss for that one.
Dawson begins to accost the young woman who wraps her arms around the elder gameshow statesman while her husband frowns in the background.
Dawson: Okay dear, this sweetheart over to my left provided a solid response (and smooch!) Can you do any better?
Contestant #2 – The Wall
Dawson: Show me The Wall!!
#1 Answer!, are you going to play or do you skip out of here meet me at the Howard Johnson just outside of town?
If you review the Pink Floyd legacy, from the perspective of the average fan, the immediate albums of note would be from the period between ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ to ‘The Wall’, with ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Animals’ squeezed in-between.
What I would like to focus on here, however, is the early years when the band was being led by Syd Barrett, a visionary, guitarist, composer and influential piece of the 60s psychedelic movement out of the UK. ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn,’ is the only proper album (not including compilations) that prominently features Syd Barrett. By the time that their second album, ‘Saucerful of Secrets’ is being recorded, Barrett is in the outs and only has a marginal voice.
A list of the top 10 essential psychedelic records from the 60s would be incomplete without Piper being listed. It’s central to the scene in the UK and over time, the album critical acclaim has only strengthened.
In 1967 we hear this explosion of important psychedelic music for the ears. If only to be alive and to experience the first time that you heard ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ or ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ by the Beatles, or, in the case of Pink Floyd, Astronomy Domine, the opening track off ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’. The idea that one track off an album can create an entirely new genre of music: Space Rock and, of course, pigeonhole a band along those same lines for years to come.
Before the band can even get started, Barrett begins his sad demise. Whether it is drugs, particularly LSD, schizophrenia or a little bit of both, the band struggles in promoting the record as Barrett’s behavior onstage is completely erratic.
In 21st century era with smartphones, the band or their management would not be willing to put up with his exploits before he is released entirely. In the video above, in 1968, we see Roger Waters on lead vocals and an almost unrecognizable David Gilmore on drums.
Beyond this album, Barrett’s legacy lives on with portions of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The Wall.’ both being inspired to a degree on the content of those albums. If anything, Floyd cornered the market on music about insanity.
It also lives on through artists, Robyn Hitchcock, the most noted in terms of content that he has covered. Next time, instead of hitting up The Wall, take notice of this seminal classic and go on an interstellar overdrive.
• Fiery Furnaces – Asthma Attack
• Wilco – At Least That’s What You Said
• The Besnard Lakes – At Midnight
• Battles – Atlas