A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS

1." Let There Be More Light" (5:38) opens with a guitar and bass riff that must have been an inspiration and model for Grand Funk Railroad's iconic song "I'm You Captain (Closer to Home)," but then the instruments fill out with organ and drums, both slowly panning across the sonic field in opposite directions until 1:25 when the music thins out and settles into a CREAM-like blues rock pattern over which some two different and unusual vocal approaches alternate, on with multiple voice whispers and soft accompaniment, the other with background and very aggressive organ-led rock bombast. A long guitar solo occupies the fifth minute with one standard guitar soloing up front (constantly panning around) and another freak-out guitar squealing away in the back left. Interesting song that definitely goes beyond the usual psychedelia of the day. (9/10)

2. "Remember a Day" (4:33) an interesting song for its many familiar riffs and parts that have been masterfully synthesized into something totally new and fresh. Piano and guitar play together while Richard Wright occupies the mercurial lead vocal spot with a gentle, breathy style. Syd's slide guitar is all over the place, but then, Richard's Colin Blunstone-like vocal is sliding all over the wide sonic field. The use of really odd minor chords within a context of more standard pentatonic blues is really fresh--giving the song a kind of classical music feel. Quite ingenious songwriting and production. (9.25/10)

3. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (5:28) this is perhaps the only song from the Syd Barrett-era of Pink Floyd that I've actually ever really liked. I love how well-recorded Richard Wright's vibes and keys are. (9/10)

4. "Corporal Clegg" (4:12) with this heavier song the band seems to be reaching back into THE BEATLES' repertoire for inspiration "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," "Yellow Submarine"), but, as usual, the band doctor it up with plenty of inventive sound engineering and stylistic juxtapositions. The song is very theatric, using multiple voices in stage-like character performance roles. The use of kazoos and marching band drums at the end are so Sgt. Pepper/"Yellow Submarine." I don't dislike it but it loses its novelty in the face of all that the Beatles had done before. (8.5/10)

5. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (11:57) timpani and other percussive noise thingies populate the sound feel behind a macabre soundscape of organ, brass, Mellotron, and effects for the first four minutes of this one, giving the listener the feeling of being either in an amusement park's "house of horrors" or else a Loony Toons-imagined version of other planets. Around the four-minute mark cacophonous butt-sitting piano play and militaristic drumming are embellished by plenty of fly-by guitar squeals, screams, and crashes. Storm thunder interrupts the song around 7:15 allowing a kind of reset/start-over as organ, timpani, and percussives begin to repopulate the soundscape over the next minute. Progressing sustained organ chords then dominate--almost solo--for the next 90 seconds before other incidentals begin returning to the field's background. At 10:15, choral vocal "ahhs" and Mellotron join in, amplifying the organ's chord progression, multiplying as the song continues right up to the end. I can definitely see where Mike Oldfield got some of his inspiration for his first two or three albums. Quite a remarkable expansion of what is possible with musical expression! (23/25)

6. "See-Saw" (4:36) to go into this dreamy, French-sounding psychedelic pop song (something that must have inspired the founders of STEREOLAB immensely) is quite a ballsy move. Piano, jazz bass and drums, with Mellotron strings. Brilliant! This happens to be Richard Wright's second turn on lead vocals and I must say he's very effective over and within the controlled chaos going around him in the sonic field. What a delightful, fun, and truly beautiful song! (What killer chord sequences!) Not the most innovative music or song but it hits all of my pleasure buttons (including the incorporation of a little The Soft Machine's self-deprecating humour). (9.6667/10)

7. "Jugband Blues" (2:59) were the Beatles playing jugband music when they did some of their silliest, most "drunken" psychedelic songs? The "la-la-la" infinite choir and village square oompah band is brilliant. And then Syd returns with a solo-with-acoustic guitar verse. (8.6667/10)

Total Time 39:23

This is definitely the proggiest album I've heard from 1968--maybe the only one that could/would qualify as a true progressive rock album (as opposed to proto-prog or prog-related).

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of early progressive rock music that deserves major credit and kudos as a major innovator in the possiblities of both multi-track recording and song expression.

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