Review Summary: The album that opened my mind, and led me downstream
I will never get tired of showing people songs off of this album who have never heard of it and watching the faces of said people as they ask what the hell they are listening to and their reaction when they find out its Pink Floyd, and even more-so when they ask who the hell Syd Barrett is.
Yes, the same people who made Dark Side of The Moon, The Wall and The Final Cut, made this; the ultimate magnum opus of their career and of psychedelic music in general, save for one person… the aforementioned Syd Barrett, who had to sadly leave the band the following year after this album came out, which is a terrible shame, as he was the man who basically wrote this entire masterpiece.
People talk about how sometimes they encounter something that changes their lives. For many, religion is their life changing experience. For me, it was this album. I was a punk kid who only really listened to metal-core, saves for The Beatles. Psychedelia was a silly 60's fad. Trippy drug induced music for the hippies. I never paid too much attention to it. Then one day I decided to buy this album on the sheer fact that I couldn't find Pink Floyd's final album, The Division Bell. I got home, put it in and listened. I liked it, but it didn't quite click until Bike. After the album was over, I played it again...and again...and again.
Each time I listen to this album, something happens to me. I get nostalgic and reminisce of years past, think about the seemingly thousands of sounds that come out per second of the record or just go to my happy place. This album blew me away in every single aspect that one can imagine from music.
The album opens peculiarly with someone talking into a megaphone saying various astronomy signs and what have you, followed by a rocking chord progression. The LSD hits you and you’re off on 41 minutes of the craziest psychedelic rollercoaster imaginable. The album covers the rocking aspect of the genre with Lucifer Sam, which is arguably the heaviest song on the album, (the other contender being Interstellar Overdrive) which also comes with one of the best freak out jam sessions I’ve heard; and also goes in to the utmost psychedelic of tunes with Matilda Mother. The serene imagery and calm vocals, coupled with the beautiful guitar sends the listener to their childhood, reading books with your mother in your house, carefree and innocent. The ending of the song brings such happiness to me, it’s almost indescribable. The album covers everything in between as well. The “Jam Songs” as I like to call them are some of the most insane, crazy songs you can come across. They are instrumentals that truly use the term “Space Rock” to a high not matched quite often. The band use such technical mastery it’s almost mind boggling how they managed to do all of this, let alone in 1967.
This album was pretty much my Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. After hearing this, I got highly interested in Syd Barrett, which led me learning more and more about the 1960’s. I now adore psychedelic music, the 60’s and the culture it brought upon.
This album changed who I am, what I am, and everything in between, and i can't thank the group enough.
Peace&Love
