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

Wolfpack
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Wolfpack »

flippikat wrote: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
These are singles. 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play' are excluded from 'The Piper'. Or are you thinking of an American pressing? :)
Also, I have a hard time imagining Barrett wasting his talents on 'Let There be More Light', with it's crappy lyrics. (IMO)

My playlist:

Side A
1. Clowns and Jugglers (Octopus)
2. Remember a Day
3. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
4. Scream Thy Last Scream [sounds like 'Corporall Clegg]
Side B
5. Nick's Boogie (revisited) [sounds like 'A Saucerful of Secrets']
6. In the Beechwoods [or 'Swan Lee']
7. Vegetable Man
8. Jugband Blues
9. Late Night

EDIT: five tracks on side B is too long. I'll exclude 'Late Night', which sounds a bit like 'Jugband Blues'. I'll make 'Late Night' their hit single of 1968. :)
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by flippikat »

Wolfpack wrote:
flippikat wrote: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
These are singles. 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play' are excluded from 'The Piper'. Or are you thinking of an American pressing? :)
Also, I have a hard time imagining Barrett wasting his talents on 'Let There be More Light', with it's crappy lyrics. (IMO)
They may be singles in our timeline, but if Syd stayed with the band who knows what decisions the band would have made about single releases?

Also I note your point on 'Let There be More Light', but maybe Syd would have helped with the lyrics.
Musically it's a very strong song compared to some of the others in that period (Corporal Clegg, anyone?).

I think Syd might well have welcomed the others trying their hand at writing more songs, to ease some of the pressure on himself.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Wolfpack »

flippikat wrote:They may be singles in our timeline, but if Syd stayed with the band who knows what decisions the band would have made about single releases?
I think that they would have had the same policy. Barrett's Floyd excluded singles. Waters's Floyd excluded singles. So, I don't think that Barrett's Floyd would have changed the policy if Barrett had stayed.
flippikat wrote:Also I note your point on 'Let There be More Light', but maybe Syd would have helped with the lyrics.
Musically it's a very strong song compared to some of the others in that period (Corporal Clegg, anyone?).
I think 'Corporal Clegg' is musically interesting. It sounds to me like an answer to 'Scream Thy Last Scream', 'Vegetable Man' and 'Jugband Blues', containing elements of those titles.
flippikat wrote:I think Syd might well have welcomed the others trying their hand at writing more songs, to ease some of the pressure on himself.
This way, the album could have been exactly as it is now, but then with Barrett instead of Gilmour. Imagining how a second album with Barrett would be, is largely based on the assumption that he stayed the main songwriter (as with The Piper). That's Barrett's Floyd as we know it.
Maybe if Barrett stayed, they might have chosen to become a heavy metal band. But that would not be the Barrett Floyd as we know it. The question "what if Barrett stayed" is based on the assumption that they more or less would have continued their direction. Another example: imagining that Mason or Waters may have left instead of Barrett, puts the imagination too far.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Chris Moise »

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Last edited by Chris Moise on Thu Jun 29, 2023 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by flippikat »

Chris Moise wrote:
flippikat wrote: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).
True but there is some of unused mixes that survive are very interesting. Most notably the first mono mix of Bike (RM1) with the alternate vocal that contains some alternate lyrics. Also of note is an stripped down early mix of Lucifer Sam (also RM1), an unedited rough mono mix of Interstellar Overdrive from 2/67 and a mono mixdown of the otherwise unavailable take 5 of Chapter 24 - a completely different performance the the take used on the LP.
Hmm.. good point. (Just had a quick re-read of the relevant pages of the "Random Precision" book).

I had assumed that the alternate mixes were all takes that we already had, with minimal differences from the released versions - I blame years of listening to Beatles mixes! hehehe

It's not heaps of outtakes, but it's enough to be added as some sort of bonus

I'm starting to think the best way to release this stuff is for a 3-disc rarities collection - "Pink Floyd - the Early Years" - just because there may not be enough to warrant a Piper AND a Saucerful set.

EMI could always release the mono mixes of those albums on their own anyway - or as mono/stereo sets.

How would this sound?

Disc 1 - Singles 1967-1968 - maybe mono/stereo if both mixes exist for some
Disc 2 - BBC sessions 1967-1968 (maybe spill this over disc 3 if it doesn't fit 1 disc)
Disc 3 - Studio outtakes 1965 - 68 - Lucy Leave, King Bee, Scream Thy Last Scream, Vegetable Man, Sunshine, John Latham, Beechwoods etc, plus alt mixes & work-in-progress or basic mixes.

I hesitate to suggest a live disc for CD4, because the live recordings I've heard of that era are so bog-awful in sound quality, they'd likely never get an official release.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by danielcaux »

Sounds pretty great. Just add the recently surfaced finland (dannish?) show and you have a killer of a box. Although any of those discs would be awesome in their own right if released as stand alones.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by flippikat »

danielcaux wrote:Sounds pretty great. Just add the recently surfaced finland (dannish?) show and you have a killer of a box. Although any of those discs would be awesome in their own right if released as stand alones.
I think a lot hinges on how they want to tackle the BBC sessions.

if they want to release the BBC sessions as a separate set covering 1967-1971, then that removes a key piece of a "1965-68 Anthology".

I honestly believe that the early BBC sessions would sit best as part of an early years rarities anthology, because the style of music fits together better than trying to fit BBC versions of the early stuff with epic versions of Atom Heart Mother, Echoes etc from later BBC sessions.

So, an early years anthology, followed by a "BBC Sessions 1969-73" set?
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Frankymole »

RonToon wrote:I think you'll find these lyrics to be pretty spot on...
I'm going with:

Far, far, far - far away - way
People heard him say - say
I will find a way - way
There will come a day - day
Something will return.
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 it there
And knew the role revealed to him
The living soul of Hereward the Wake.

Oh, my, something in my eye - eye
Something in the sky - sky
Waiting there for me
The outer lock 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 -
No, no, never ever - will they?
I can't say
Summoning his cosmic powers
And glowing slightly from his toes
The psychic emanations fly



I've still no idea what a "Rhull" might be!
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rememberaday
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by rememberaday »

psychic emanations "flow". (not fly)

but otherwise it's quite correct.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Nicholas »

I'm a bit of a latecomer to this album having only first heard it about seven years ago and only just purchased it last week. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was my favourite from the 10 albums I have heard but this view has changed in the last few days. The sheer scope and dynamic says for me this was Pink Floyd's best album. It features all five members for a start and includes both their pop side and experimental side all on one recording. This is where the past ends and the future begins.
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rememberaday
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by rememberaday »

Nicholas wrote:This is where the past ends and the future begins.
What do you mean by that? It is not in any way comparable to their later stuff (not quality-wise, I mean, but rather in musical styles).
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Nicholas
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Nicholas »

rememberaday wrote:
Nicholas wrote:This is where the past ends and the future begins.
What do you mean by that? It is not in any way comparable to their later stuff (not quality-wise, I mean, but rather in musical styles).
The title track is said to be the blueprint for Atom Heart Mother ergo Echoes ergo The Dark Side of the Moon.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by flippikat »

Nicholas wrote:I'm a bit of a latecomer to this album having only first heard it about seven years ago and only just purchased it last week. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was my favourite from the 10 albums I have heard but this view has changed in the last few days. The sheer scope and dynamic says for me this was Pink Floyd's best album. It features all five members for a start and includes both their pop side and experimental side all on one recording. This is where the past ends and the future begins.
Yeah, what is overlooked about this album is that the sessions had 3 songwriters contributing at the same time - Syd's last few contributions to Pink Floyd, Rick just starting to hit a real purple patch of form (late 1967-1970 is when he REALLY came up with gems!), and some interesting - albeit hits-and-misses - contributions from Roger.

As I said before, the whole period Aug '67 - Mid '68 (Post-Piper/Saucerful sessions) just screams for the deluxe edition treatment!!
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by redspecialist »

I agree that the production isn't the best - it's all a bit muddy - but the material is great, although it came together much better live. I even like See Saw actually.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets

Post by Morty »

I could have given it 5, but like Piper it just does not do it 100%. It has its moments, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, a track that I just adore. But the sound is not there, but strong experimental album. A strong 4 from me.