ROCK MILESTONES PINK FLOYD'S THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

What a fascinating documentary, this evening I watched it for the second time and I was carried away again as if I had never seen before anything from Syd Barrett era! The first part tells the story about their first contract to play in an Irish dancing hall for 15 pounds a week but when they started to play in the UFO Nightclub with liquid slides and an inventive lighshow The Pink Floyd became the darling of the London underground scene. Record producer Joe Boyd comes with a story I had never heard before: Pink Floyd was on the brink of signing with Polydor (they were rehearsing in the studio for their first album) but after a switch in the Pink Floyd management, the band signed with EMI and they were very happy because EMI gave the band a big contract. Another amazing story is the fact that the "radio pirates" refused to play the controversial first hit single Arnold Layne while the decent BBC had no problems with it! Quite funny is the chapter about the BBC programm The LooK Of The Week (1967) and the following interview by Mark Keller ("one of the main musical commentarists") with Roger and Syd. It's a perfect example of the generation gap, "a sort of sketch" and we all can enjoy how two young, intelligent and creative musicians compete with "an old fool", this is supported by a hilarious imitation of Hans Keller by a Classic Rock Magazine reviewer! An interesting chapter is the one about the collaboration between the 'Old School' producer Norman Smith (he worked with The Beatles in the Abbey Road studios) and Syd Barrett who hardly accepted any rules. The tension between them fueled the album but Norman said "it was pretty damned difficult to work with Syd"! The chapter about the song Interstellar Overdrive reveals that the album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was hailed by everybody ...except the fans who supported The Pink Floyd in the UFO because "The Piper failed to capture the live sound of Pink Floyd". For many the composition Interstellar Overdrive was "the closest thing we have on record to what Pink Floyd did on stage in the early days". and "This song paved the way for spacerock". The story is embellished with mindblowing live footage: Rome Goes Pop by the German television (ARD 1968). The chapter about the song Scarecrow has a strong analysis: it contains both childlike elements as sadness. The final part of this DVD contains footage of the A Saucerfull Of Secret song Jugband Blues (according to the Syd Barrett biography author Mark Watkinson "the ultimate self-diagnosis of schizophrenia") and Flaming (with David Gilmour who replaced his childhood friend Syd). It also contains the problems David had with his replacement of Syd (during a Pink Floyd gig Syd stared at David for at about 25 minutes, David thought he couldn't carry on to be in Pink Floyd!) and Astronomy Domine with David, it showed how the band struggled with their indentity, they had 90 percent of Syd songs! Interesting quotes: "Syd's continuing silence adds another dimension to the mystique that surrounds the album" and "The band survived because it was greater than the sum of the parts!". The last song is Shine On Your Crazy Diamond, it features a tribute to Syd Barrett: witty, charismatic, attractive, incredibly original, a legend ............ And we are treated on a serie of euphoric words about The Piper, for many Pink Floyd fans in those days Pink Floyd was another band after Syd's departure.

Not to be missed by any Pink Floyd fan!!