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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danielcaux
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by danielcaux »

This thing just "dawned" yesterday on me. Am I the only one who thinks Waters was influenced or inspired by "Chapter 24" when creating "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun"?

Think about it.

Both songs are quite atmospheric.
Both songs are based around eastern-like esoteric melodies.
Both songs have lyrics that rip-off or are inspired by ancient chinnese writings.

That seems like too much of a coincidence for me.

Still, STCFTHoTS is the better song.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Wolfpack »

danielcaux wrote:Still, STCFTHoTS is the better song.
I go for 'Chapter 24'. Music and lyrics.
I like STCFTHOTS, but find it a bit boring. It hardly has a vocal line and it goes on and on and on and on...
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Idisaffect »

danielcaux wrote: Am I the only one who thinks Waters was influenced or inspired by "Chapter 24" when creating "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun"?

Think about it.
I think every song Waters did right after Barrett left the group was an attempt at reproducing his style.
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progo
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by progo »

The B side is pure gold. Gold. The A side has its weak spots, a fair amount of them, though.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets Lyrics

Post by Frankymole »

Okay, here are some slightly dodgy internet-found lyrics for "Let There Be More Light". What should they really say?

Far far far away way
people heard him say say
I will find a way way
there will come a day day
something will be done

Then at last the mighty ship
descending at a point of flame
made contact with the human race at no time

Now now now is the time time
time to be be be aware

Not as far the solar bear
in human role revealed to him
a living soul of heavenward forever

Sunlight, something in my eye
something in the sky
waiting there for me

The antilope grows hurling back
the servicemen would like to sigh
the memory wentflowing rounds
as Lucy in the sky

Oh oh did you ever know
no never ever will they ascend

Summoning in his cosmic powers
and flowing slightly from his toes
psychedelic nations fly
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Jimi Dean Barrett »

Far, far, far away - way
People heard him say - say
I will find a way - way
There will come a day - day
Something will be done.
Then at last the mighty ship
Descending on a point of flame
Made contact with the human race at Mildenhall

Now, now, now is the time - time
Time to be - be - be aware
Carter's father saw him there
And knew the Rhull revealed to him
The glowing soul of Heremond the Wake.

Oh, my, something in my eye - eye
Something in the sky - sky
Waiting there for me
The outer hatch rolled slowly back
The service men were heard to sigh
For there revealed in glowing robes
Was Lucy in the sky

Oh - oh - did you ever know - know
Never ever will they
I cannot say
Summoning his cosmic powers
And glowing slightly from his toes
The psychic emanations rose
Understand why the singing was so down in the mix now! :lol:
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Enish »

I was surprisingly underwhelmed by this album, given how good Piper was. I could tell by listening to a lot of the tracks that the band had no idea what they were doing, but they got better at faking that later on. There are some stand-out moments on the album, like "Remember a Day" and "Jugband Blues", but they did little to make the album as good as it should have been. Having only listened to live versions of the title track beforehand, I was in for a surprise when I listened to the studio version of it. I think the studio version of "Saucerful" is a little more restrained than the live versions, but even then that wasn't saying much. After hearing only Gilmour do the wordless vocalization at the end against a chaotic soundscape, it was interesting to hear a softer take on the "Celestial Voices" movement. The Mellotron is an awesome instrument indeed.

But aside from those good points, I really don't find myself listening to it often. It was by no means bad, but I was expecting a little more from it.

3.5/5
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Flying pig437 »

[quote="Enish", but they got better at faking that later on. T[/quote]
What's that supposed to mean?
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Enish »

Flying pig437 wrote:
Enish wrote:but they got better at faking that later on.
What's that supposed to mean?
What I meant by that, up until Dark Side, the band managed to hold off their Writer's Block by coming up with some of the most experimental ideas of their career, with each album getting better and better as they went along. It was why Meddle became the eureka moment that the band was waiting for and why Dark Side was the absolute culmination of everything they had been building on until that point.

I'm sorry if it came off as something offensive. I didn't mean for it to be that way. 8-[
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Mike Eder »

Good record but still a second to Piper for me. The first side is really cool as is Jugband. The title song and See Saw don't do it for me though I like when David sang the last part of the title track live. Remember A Day is along with Paint Box my favorite Rick song. Along with Julia Dream, Point Me At The Sky, Cymbaline, and Pigs On The Wing, Let There Be More Light is in my top five Roger moments. Set the Controlls is good but I'm kind of sick of it.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by flippikat »

I once wondered what a 2nd Pink Floyd album would have sounded like if the "Syd as a British Brian Wilson" (staying home & writing/recording while the others toured with David Gilmour) tactic had worked for long enough to get a full 2nd album with more Syd songs.

Messing around with iTunes, I ended up with the following playlist of a 2nd Pink Floyd album that could have been released about August 1968.

---Side A---
1 Let There be More Light
2 Remember a Day
3 Set the Controls for the heart of the Sun
4 See-Saw
5 Late night (Basic track recorded May 1968, Overdubs in 1969 for Syd's first solo album.. but in this scenario Syd records it as a Pink Floyd song)
---side B----
6 It Would be so nice
7 Apples & Oranges (maybe a remake of the single version, with rather better production)
8 Paintbox
9 Julia Dream
10 Scream Thy Last Scream
11 Jugband Blues

You also have tracks like Vegetable Man, Corporal Clegg, plus other 'Madcap Laughs' songs that were written by mid 1968 - Silas Lang, Octopus (original version was recorded in mid-1968) and Golden Hair... actually not a bad batch of songs to assemble an album from!
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by RonToon »

I think you'll find these lyrics to be pretty spot on...

Far, far, far away - way
People heard him say - say
I will find a way - way
There will come a day - day
Something will be done.
Then at last the mighty ship
Descending on a point of flame
Made contact with the human race at Mildenhall

Now, now, now is the time - time
Time to be - be - be aware
Carter's father saw him there
And knew the Rhull revealed to him
The glowing soul of Heremond the Wake.

Oh, my, something in my eye - eye
Something in the sky - sky
Waiting there for me
The outer hatch rolled slowly back
The service men were heard to sigh
For there revealed in glowing robes
Was Lucy in the sky

Oh - oh - did you ever know - know
Never ever will they
I cannot say
Summoning his cosmic powers
And glowing slightly from his toes
The psychic emanations rose
Wolfpack
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Wolfpack »

flippikat wrote:You also have tracks like Vegetable Man, Corporal Clegg, plus other 'Madcap Laughs' songs that were written by mid 1968 - Silas Lang, Octopus (original version was recorded in mid-1968) and Golden Hair... actually not a bad batch of songs to assemble an album from!
There's also 'In the Beechwoods', which could have lyrics recorded over it. And maybe titles like 'John Latham'.
'Nick's Boogie' is an early version of title track 'A Saucerful of Secrets'.
And they could have (re)recorded 'She Was a Millionaire', for which Barrett did an unfinished, instrumental solo attempt in 1970. (Which means that the title wasn't forgotten.)
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by flippikat »

Wolfpack wrote:
flippikat wrote:You also have tracks like Vegetable Man, Corporal Clegg, plus other 'Madcap Laughs' songs that were written by mid 1968 - Silas Lang, Octopus (original version was recorded in mid-1968) and Golden Hair... actually not a bad batch of songs to assemble an album from!
There's also 'In the Beechwoods', which could have lyrics recorded over it. And maybe titles like 'John Latham'.
'Nick's Boogie' is an early version of title track 'A Saucerful of Secrets'.
And they could have (re)recorded 'She Was a Millionaire', for which Barrett did an unfinished, instrumental solo attempt in 1970. (Which means that the title wasn't forgotten.)
true, true.. while I was mostly thinking of the better known tracks & songs, but the appeal of late 1967-1968 Pink Floyd is that there's so much speculation & conjecture - it really is a "dark age" of Pink Floyd, which is just ripe for some light to be shed on.

I think a well done deluxe edition of Saucerful could be one of the most INTERESTING things to release just because there's so much unknown

There's certainly some tapes existing in the vaults of EMI - probably more so than for any Piper bonus tracks.. I think the only extras that Piper has been issued with are finished masters (whether it be singles, EP tracks, or the alternate mono mix) - apart from the 'Matilda Mother' early take (Piper Deluxe)& alt mix (Syd Best of)

I seem to recall reading that the Matilda Mother sessions are the only sessions from Piper that still exist in the vaults, with the rest of the session tapes wiped, and every other tape being mixes for various purposes (masters or test mixes).

Saucerful, however looks to be a different case...
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Flying pig437 »

flippikat wrote: iTunes,!
*spit* *spit* :lol: