Disc of the day
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
Features Disc of the day
Pink Floyd
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
(EMI, 1967)
Grantchester, rave on!
Musically cauterised by 1971, the late Syd Barrett lived quietly until his 2006 death, all the while provoking strange legends and doomed hopes. Premier British psych artefact The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was the cause of all the excitement. Condensing the lifetime of his version of Pink Floyd into 42 mesmeric minutes, it's an exercise in exhilarating whimsy and derangement, with lyrical nods to the I Ching, Kenneth Grahame and interplanetary travel, or as Nick Kent described it, "musical rococo freak-outs underpinning Barrett's sudden ascendancy into the artistic realms of ye olde English whimsical loone..." As such shimmering fantasias as Flaming and Matilda Mother channel Syd's beaming inner six year old - Roger Waters' Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk can only sound stiff in such effervescent company - cosmic rock outs Astronomy Domine and Interstellar Overdrive communicate a more elemental force churning underneath the glowing colours. Certain lyrical cues also suggest an edge of psychosis; like notorious outtake Vegetable Man, Scarecrow depicts an inert figure "resigned to his fate", while Bike's glassy-eyed exit suggests the removed tragi-comedy that would follow. But while there's an inescapable feeling of descending, the ascents are equally dizzying, as are contemporary singles Arnold Layne, See Emily Play and Apples And Oranges, sensibly available on 07's affordable box set incarnation.
Clive Prior
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 8:08 AM GMT 09/09/2009
Further Listening
Syd Barrett– The Madcap Laughs (Harvest, 1970)
13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere (IA, 1967)
Julian Cope – Fried (Mercury, 1984)
Previous Disc of the day
-
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
6:00 AM GMT 20/11/2009
-
-
Isley Brothers - The Brothers: Isley
The Cincinnati siblings bed into their heavy period.
6:00 AM GMT 18/11/2009
-
Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land
The trumpeter's most soulful excursion entrances MOJO messageboarder.
6:00 AM GMT 16/11/2009
-
-
end of body content back to top
Footer
Join us on:
© Copyright Bauer - all
rights reserved.
Reproduction of this
website, in whole or in
part, in any form or
medium without express
written permission from
Bauer is prohibited. All
use is subject to our
Terms of Use
|
|
Comments
Comment on this post
Comment on this post