A Saucerful of Secrets

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-06-30 rating:
Transitional album with highs and lows
Without Syd Barrett, it's clear Pink Floyd were struggling to find a new direction. They lacked his brilliant songs, though Rick Wright's Remember a day (on which Syd played) is a fair pastiche, and while Dave Gilmour was a fine guitarist even at the time, he lacked Syd's manic edge.

The result is very much a mixed bag. The attempts to carry on in Syd's style, with such songs as Corporal Clegg and See Saw are, at best, nothing special, while the search for a fresh direction with the title track results in a rather long and padded out piece that's either a brave experiment or the sign of a lack of material, depending on your point of view. Better is Set the controls for the heart of the sun, on which you can hear the Floyd they grew to be. The track that usually makes this an essential buy for Floyd fans, though, is Jugband Blues, Syd's parting shot. It's a moving song in the context of the circumstances of Syd's departure, but the Salvation Army segment simply intrudes, and while Syd's guitar suggests this could have been the basis of an improvised piece and the ending is suitably haunting, this is not really in the same class as the songs on Piper.

There's enough on here to make it an enjoyable album, but it's very much a band in transition; while there are traces of the band that made Piper, the Floyd sound of the 1970s is still a long way away.

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review by: date: 2008-01-01 rating:
Between Whimsy and Weary
Once Syd left the group in early 1968, and David Gilmour joined, the subsequent three records - including this one - are the sound of a band looking for a new direction. "Saucerful Of Secrets" is the only record to feature the five-piece Floyd lineup (albeit briefly), and is a confused artistic mess as Syd audibly untangles and falls to pieces on `Jugband Blues', whilst Roger starts to assume control with the driving (and oft-sampled) `Let There Be Light'. It has some great moments and is an intruiging look at a group in transition.

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review by: date: 2007-09-19 rating:
super
In a way this is Roger Waters et al trying to be syd barrett, "corporal clegg" superficially with its themes of englishness fulfills this role, but bubbling just below the surface is roger waters bile, and "set the controls" sets the template for the meanderings of pink floyd for the rest of the 60's, cool curio of a album that will appeal to fans of syd as well as fans of the later floyd because this is the album were they began to find their own identity sans syd.

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review by: s.vernon date: 2007-08-14 rating:
FLOYD'S SECOND ALBUM IS A MUST LISTEN
A transitional album on which the band moved from Syd Barrett's relatively concise and vivid songs to spacy, ethereal material with lengthy instrumental passages. Barrett's influence is still felt (he actually did manage to contribute one track, the jovial "Jugband Blues"), and much of the material retains a gentle, fairy-tale ambience. "Remember a Day" and "See Saw" are highlights; on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," "Let There Be More Light," and the lengthy instrumental title track, the band begin to map out the dark and repetitive pulses that would characterize their next few records.


review by: Fintan date: 2006-12-22 rating:
Space rock meets psychedelia
With Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd's original frontsman) becoming more and more unstable, Pink Floyd seemed on the verge of collapse. After all, he had penned all their singles and all but one song from their debut album, 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn'. So, when he 'left' (read sacked) in April 1968, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to think that they wouldn't last long. How wrong they were.

'A Saucerful Of Secrets' did indeed reveal secrets; Roger Waters and Rick Wright could write songs! And great songs, too. Hypnotic beats and bizarre lyrics showcased in one heck of an album, which does feature one Barrett composition, 'Jugband Blues'. New guitarist David Gilmour doesn't contribute any material here, bar a little on the title-track, so you could argue that this is the most disjointed Pink Floyd album, as Barrett, Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason can all be heard; the only Pink Floyd album that can boast that.

Let There Be More Light - space rock riff, weird lyrics, great song
Remember A Day - brilliant. Probably the best song on here
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun - a mouthful and-a-half! But another great song
Corporal Clegg - Decent song, not bad, not great
A Saucerful Of Secrets - actually, this is the best song on here. Betters 'Interstellar Overdrive' as far as I'm concerned.
See Saw - good song, perhaps best appreciated in a cloud of incense and blue smoke
Jugband Blues - goodbye Syd. Very good song with haunting last line ('And what exactly is a joke?')

Not so much for the casual listener as the Floydian. However, 'A Saucerful Of Secrets' delivers everything its cover promises.

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