Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Discussions about Pink Floyd and Solo Official Album CDs and DVDs.

Rate This Album

5 - Best
26
30%
4
27
31%
3
21
24%
2
12
14%
1 - Worst
2
2%
 
Total votes: 88

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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by sonylr »

The live version from "Umma Gumma" is one of my favourite Floyd tracks which also should have gone onto Echoes. The ASOS version comes third behind the version from Live At Pompeii footage.

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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by moom »

Pompeii is, of course, classic :) But it still lacks the freakin' great intro of the studio version.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Wolfpack »

Recently, I finally heard a copy of the mono mix. There are more differences than between the mono and stereo versions of Piper. Title track 'A Saucerful of Secrets' has some effect that makes the drums sound as if they're in another room, for example. I didn't expect that.

What I already knew is that 'Jugband Blues' misses the "lalalalalalala"-part. A part which maybe can be interpreted as a reference to glossolalia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by J Ed »

A Nice Pair is another candidate for my poorly remembered 5th Floyd purchase

I must admit from first listen Saucerful was the least interesting thing Id heard from them yet, much weaker than Piper
the two songs that also appeared on Ummagumma sounded much thinner, more tentative, all round sketchier in their studio versions
and the rest sounded like random bits and pieces thrown together to fill 45 minutes
in retrospect it may even be a grabbag of different individuals ideas of where Floyd should go, moreso than the studio half of Ummagumma
two servings of Rogers version of Floyd, two of Ricks version, and one from Syd that was the best song on the album

the Rick songs in particular were completely different from anything they would do again, Remember A Day being a singular instance of a path they did not follow

yall know that if you stare close at the collage on the cover, you can make out on the right hand side a drawing of Steve Ditko's comic book character Dr Strange
ImageImage
who lived in drawings that Floyds music at the time sounded like, if that makes any sense
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Jack Wolf »

A Saucerful Of Secrets

1. Let There Be More Light: A very underrated, mildly psychedelic song. Instruments and vocals are fantastic. Just an all around kick ass song! - 8.5

2. Remember A Day: One of my favorite songs on this album. For me the song is very tranqulizing and easygoing. The kind of song you could listen to while gently skipping through a grassy field, naked and free. - 8.0

3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun: A beautiful, ethereal, occultic sounding masterpiece. This is Pink Floyd at its best! Everything from the mind-expanding instrumentals to the restrained, almost whispering, vocals is perfect. When I listen to this song I just imagine a cult of sun worshippers performing some bizarre ritual in conjuction with the music. For me the song feels very spiritual. Some of the live versions are excellent as well. - 9.5

4. Corporal Clegg: Another underrated song. The lyrics are great and the guitar riffs are catchy. The kazoo portions of the song may annoy some listeners but I think they add to the unique character of the song. - 8.0

5. A Saucerful Of Secrets: An intrumental triumph! This non-lyrical track takes listeners on a gently haunting and musically diverse epic audio journey. This is a near masterpiece. Some may prefer the live versions but I thought the album version was quite alright. - 8.5

6. See-Saw: A mostly mellow song with some elements similar to Syd's songs on Piper, but with better instrumentals and less prominent vocals. I like this one a whole lot! - 8.0

7. Jugband Blues: The last song on the album is also my least favorite, but it's still a decent listen. - 7.0

8. Album Artwork: I definitely love the trippy album cover, it's one of Pink Floyd's best. -8.0
When you mirror two of the album covers together, you get this:
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5845/sau ... ecrets.jpg (Image size is HUGE)
Some say you can see a monkey, an Aztec deity, or the face of a wolf.

Final Score: 8.2 (out of 10)

Final words: A drastically different album from Piper, and a vast musical improvement too! Judging by the songs "Set The Controls..." and "A Saucerful...", it is apparent that Pink Floyd was aiming to create a deeper, more meaningful sound to their music. I think they managed to succeed in doing that with this album, which is one of my favorites.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by danielcaux »

J Ed wrote:in retrospect it may even be a grabbag of different individuals ideas of where Floyd should go, moreso than the studio half of Ummagumma two servings of Rogers version of Floyd, two of Ricks version, and one from Syd that was the best song on the album
I have always feel that Saucerful was the end result of them trying to come with a "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Vol. 2" album. It's a similar case of what happened with the first two King Crimson albums (the second being a carbon copy of the first one), with the difference that Fripp and co. had the enough musical chops and theoretical expertise to replicate the first album while the Syd-less head-leass 68 Floyd where just four stoner amateurs running scared in every direction while trying to act and sound Barrett-like but not being very good at it.

You can see them following a sonic blueprint very similar to that of the first album, but of course, lacking ideas and inspiration at this point, the second one ended up being much shorter and not as good and authentic:

1. Open the album with a high energy psychedelic rocker:

Astronomy Domine - Let There Be More Light.

2. Follow it with a dreamy song reminiscent of childhood:

Matilda Mother - Remember A Day.

3. Put in some psychedelic freak out songs:

Pow R Toc H - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

I gotta say this is the one moment where the sophomore album surpass the debut's counterpart, and actually introduces new sonic ideas. Although you could also make a case for RAD.

4. Everything leads to the big central psychedelic epic:

Interstellar Overdrive - A Saucerful of Secrets.

5. Fill the rest of the album with half-assed attempts at writing songs that sound like something resembling Syd Barrett's singles:

Arnold Layne - Corporal Clegg.
See Emily Play - See-Saw.

6. End it all up with a quirky Barrett song:

Bike - Jugband Blues.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Jack Wolf »

danielcaux wrote: I have always feel that Saucerful was the end result of them trying to come with a "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Vol. 2" album.
I couldn't disagree more. I thought the band sounded far more mature on this album.The songs were longer, the instrumentals more elaborate. For me it sounded nothing like Piper, which is really a good thing. Another album of Matilda Mothers, Scarecrows and Gnomes would be pushing it!
danielcaux wrote: You can see them following a sonic blueprint very similar to that of the first album, but of course, lacking ideas and inspiration at this point, the second one ended up being much shorter and not as good and authentic:
It's only shorter by like 2 or 3 minutes.
danielcaux wrote: 2. Follow it with a dreamy song reminiscent of childhood:

Matilda Mother - Remember A Day.
Half the songs on Piper are "dreamy songs reminiscent of childhood".
"Flaming", "The Gnome", "The Scarecrow", maybe "Bike" isn't so dreamy but still reminiscent of childhood.
danielcaux wrote: 3. Put in some psychedelic freak out songs:

Pow R Toc H - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

I gotta say this is the one moment where the sophomore album surpass the debut's counterpart, and actually introduces new sonic ideas. Although you could also make a case for RAD.
Surpasses? It blows every song on Piper out of the water!
danielcaux wrote: 5. Fill the rest of the album with half-assed attempts at writing songs that sound like something resembling Syd Barrett's singles:

Arnold Layne - Corporal Clegg.
See Emily Play - See-Saw.
Not really seeing the resemblance here. "See Emily Play" always sounded like a Beatles song to me. "See-Saw" sounds so vastly different, I don't see how the two can be compared.
danielcaux wrote: 6. End it all up with a quirky Barrett song:

Bike - Jugband Blues.
Jugband Blues being the superior song IMO.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Jimi Dean Barrett »

One for the musicians but... "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun". It's an almost 12 bar blues but with an Egyptian riff.
It's not exactly "Well I woke up this morning/Woo hoo/And I set the controls for the heart of the sun" but I can see a blues influence on this track. I still love it, but I can still hear the blues in it.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Hudini »

I always thought it had a blues structure too.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Flying pig437 »

PinkFloyd69 wrote: See-Saw--one of the few Rick songs
. Period! :D
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by danielcaux »

Jack Wolf wrote:I couldn't disagree more. I thought the band sounded far more mature on this album.The songs were longer, the instrumentals more elaborate. For me it sounded nothing like Piper, which is really a good thing.
No it doesn't sound like Piper, but it sounds like something wanting to be Piper and not being able to do so.

Maybe the songs were longer because they had fewer of them, so they needed to stretch them the most?

Far more mature? No way! If anything they sound even more amateurish on this one. Although the recording equipment may have been better, I'm not sure, the production sounds definitely more austere and misused than Piper's.

Piper is an album with a clear and defined vision, and the band successfully achieves it, musically and lyrically. Saucerful on the other hand is a good portrait of the sate of the band at the time: a confused bunch of individuals, a head-less band with no particular vision, running everywhere over the map, trying to overcome the loss of his leader.
Jack Wolf wrote: It's only shorter by like 2 or 3 minutes.
Yeah, I was thinking "shorter" in terms of total number of songs and musical ideas.
Jack Wolf wrote:Half the songs on Piper are "dreamy songs reminiscent of childhood".
Yep, and that's a testament on how Barrett could pretty much fart out songs like that in his sleep, while 68 Pink Floyd really had to struggle to come with a single decent one in that style.
Jack Wolf wrote:Arnold Layne - Corporal Clegg / See Emily Play - See-Saw.

Not really seeing the resemblance here. I don't see how the two can be compared.
Yes, is not a big musical resemblance, but lyrically and stylistically both songs sound to me like Waters and Wright attemping to come with something resembling a) a catchy up-beat character vignette like the one found in Syd's first single (Corporal Clegg) or b) a dreamy pastoral floaty song like Syd's second single or even an album song like Flaming (See-Saw). And if anyhting sounds Beatlesque is not Emily but that funky organ in See-Saw, it sounds straight out from Magical Mistery Tour!
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Flying pig437 »

an album I'm very fond of. I loved LTBML when i first heard it 'cause I'm a big fan of coda's or songs that go into cool jams like this one and David's guitar solo is brilliant. Remeber a day is moving as is see-saw. STCFTHOtS is a classic. The title track is suitably mind-blowing and a perfectly succesful experiment in avant-garde music and jBB is weird and mulit-part and the lyrics are weird and wacky too but also poigniant. Corporal Clegg is a bit of a mess buy I think it's got some good ideas in it and is quite catchy and moving too. Altogether a brilliant album with a bit of everything.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Flying pig437 »

Funnily enough. I've read through this thread and no-one seems to have mentioned the fact Norman Smith played drums on Rember a day. or is that just a wiki fuck up?
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Idisaffect »

danielcaux wrote: It's a similar case of what happened with the first two King Crimson albums (the second being a carbon copy of the first one)
But which tune is Cat Food copying? And is Devil's Triangle the Moonchild of Poseidon??


I think this is the only floyd album I have not reviewed. I think it is their second weakest album after the studio LP of Ummagumma.

Let There Be More Light sounds dated and insincere. Waters was reading sci fi novels for lyrical inspiration. Aimed at the emerging hippie market. This album is the original Momentary Lapse Of Reason. Trying to forge a sound.Architecture music. This song gets a 4.5 (of 10)

Remember A Day is a decent Syd Barrett cop. Atmospheric hilarious slide guitar. 5.5

Set The Controls would be the best song on the disc if Jugband Blues wasn't. Perfec t floyd improvisational vehicle. 9.0

Corporal Clegg is an embarrassment to Roger Waters now, I'm sure. Obviously. 3.5

The title track is better live. At least until Gilmour starts singing those absurd "aaaah"s. Architects writing music for people on acid. What did Barrett say on his second solo album?..."You shouldn't try to be what you can't be." 2

See Saw. It's defenitely drug music. Period. Can't really deny it. Another Barrett influenced psychedelic Rick Wright composition. 6.0

Jugband Blues.....The promise shown here is immense. The structure is unique and the melody is beautiful/sad with intriguing lyrics. Salvation Army blues. One of Syd Barretts best songs. 10

Cover work is excellent so I will give it an overall rating of 6.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by danielcaux »

Cat Food and Triangle are the two instances where the band shows some development and new musical ideas. Well, only Cat Food, Triangle is a straight Holst's Mars cover; and in a way yes, it takes the place of both Moonchild (although it chances the long section of delicate jazzy noises for a long section of bombastic orchestral mayhem noises) and In The Court; it even recycles a recording of the first album closing song at the end!

On a related note, about See Emily Play:

http://forum.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/vie ... 10#p592410