PINK FLOYD PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN ( ST-5093 TOWER) ORIGINAL 1967 PRESSING LP

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Pink Floyd- Piper at the Gates of Dawn original 1967 pressing 2nd US stereo issue for the year 1967.Catalog #ST-5093. Run out matrix STI-5093 A1,STI-5093 B2. IAM stamped inside a triangle on sides A&B run out matrix. Side A: song # 3 incorrectly titled "Take Up My Stethoscope And Walk". Vinyl sound grades as good. No skips and not warped. Orange labels nice with no writing. Vinyl dull with some surface scratches. Cover is Fair to Good. Spine is split all the way across and most of bottom split across. Top has about a 5" seam split from the right corner. Many clear tape marks from old repairs. Some writing on front cover top, and a small sticker same top right corner. Back has red stain top. Small hole punch on front cover top left corner. This was the first album released by Tower Records.1967 was a banner year for the introduction of heavy psychedelic music. With Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and others, the genre was well established in a very short time. The title of Pink Floyds' debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barretts' favorite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD. Barretts' catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences -- "Astronomy Domine" is a poppier number in this vein, but tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" are some of the earliest forays into what has been tagged space rock. But even though Barretts' lyrics and melodies are mostly playful and humorous, the band's music doesn't always bear out those sentiments -- in addition to Rick Wrights' eerie organ work, dissonance, chromaticism, weird noises, and vocal sound effects are all employed at various instances, giving the impression of chaos and confusion lurking beneath the bright surface. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation -- the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barretts' subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time.