THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

I'll come right out and say it. I'm not a fan of psychedelic. I don't like the constant keyboard solos because they all sound the same. You hear very little psych on the radio nowadays, but when you do it's only the same songs over and over. That being said, this is probably the only psych album I've ever liked. The first time I heard Astronomy Domine I was amazed. Syd's near-constant jamming on his guitar and his and Rick's voice together were brilliant. Another high point is the 10-minute Interstellar Overdrive, with it's constant strumming and zipping form fast to slow to fast to faster, it's a true Floyd classic. But there are some down sides to the album. Being of the psychedelic era, the music suffers from the sometime sillyness and "let's try anything" attitude of the time, as shown on tracks like "Take Up Thy Stethescope and Walk" and "Bike". However, this remains a staple in Pink Floyd's career and is a great addition to a Floyd fan's CD collections.