A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS

Syd Barrett is deteriorating so Roger Waters and Richard write pretty much carry this album thru and prove they have come a long way in the songwriting department since Pintbox and Pick up thy Stethoscope, they succeed to a degree although this album is not Floyd's greatist its definately not their worst, mostly not bad is a adequite description, The real highlibghts of this album I my opinion is A Sourceful of Secrets, in particular the third part, See Saw and SydBarretts Jugband Blues.

Let there be more light is not band I especially enjoy the part sung by Syd, great psychedelic sounding keyboards by Wright, Interesting for Floyd fans but Remeber a Day is ok, some love it personally its a pretty average song not great but not terrible either some nice vocals by Richard Wright and some lovely piano moments a little cheesy in the lyric department "Why can't we play today?", but hey it was 1967 after all so the song is a little dated.

Set the Controls, is ok nothing great an early classic for Floyd fans though, they used it for many of their early concerts, and perhaps one of Waters first lead singing, or whispering, it has trance qualities that many krautrock bands would use and develop. It just doesn't grab me, perhaps because its very much dated to 60s psychedelia. Corporal Clegg is the albums silly song with funny noises but a through away track in my opinion, it sounds very Beatlesish, with what sounds like Roger Waters putting on a silly voice.

A Saucerful of Secrets is a three part mini epic showing that music at the time was going into that kind of direction. The first part builds up up with keyboards, percussion and weird noises it sounds sinister and has some interesting moment, part two has Nick Masons drumming building up to something with wierd spacy music I wonder if this part influenced Jacki Leizbect's drumming of Can, the final part is lovely and shows a glimpse of what Pink Floyd would be capable of in the future, with a nice lick by Gilmour. The first two parts of this also sound like they had an influence on Krautrock. See Saw in my opinion is a great track, I love it, it sounds very Alice in Wonderlandish, especially the trumpety part after Wright sings "...and shes down", I think it is an early classic of Wright.I think It is a very pleasant piece, I know that many Floyd fans find this boring but to me it has a certain charm to it, I also think it is quite creative, I like the use the percussion to it I also like the lyrics quite a bit To me it also signifys Floyds future the dreamlike music that would be found on Darkside of the Moon.So to me I think it is an underrated classic.

Jugband Blues, is Syd's swansong and my personal favourite by him, it has his mysterious and ghostly qualities and excentricity and really stands out as quite different from the other tracks on this album, perhaps why this song has survived the test of time is that it is so colourful,eccentric and quiet and gentle which is typical of Syd and also quite tragicomic.This piece is also quite transitional, half folk and half psychedelic, a farewell to his past and a nod to the future on his solo album,I have read in places that the lyrics were a self diagonses of Barrett's fragile mental state. I think that Barrett is still able to write coherently at this piont but you can tell he is losing it, the final line "...And what exactly is a Joke?" is both mysterious and haunting at the same time, and works as a fairwell both because of its ending but also because its the last song on the album.

This album would appeal to many fans of 1960s psychedelia, as well as Pink Floyd fans, it has some nice moments, but is also quite dated, and there would be stronger albums to follow. Still a good album but not essential