Pink Floyd PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN mono 1st press LP

	£		130
	$		172

PINK FLOYD - THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN

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EXTREMELY RARE UK COLUMBIA 1st PRESSING MONO LP SX 6157

This record has fast become one of the most sought after UK 60s records, and rarely appears for sale. The holy grail for so many record collectors. The item on offer here is a first pressing, as the above matrix numbers prove. I am often asked if Pipers with this sleeve are second pressings (as it has "File Under POPULAR" to the upper flipback) and my response is to stress how ludicrous it is to distinguish a 1st pressing exclusively on a minor, insignificant sleeve detail. Frankly, RECORD COLLECTOR are wrong in their assumption that such a detail can distinguish a first pressing. First Pressings can only be identified by labels and matrix numbers, and this record I am offering is precisely that, a 1st pressing. Similarly to the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, quite simply there are copies out there with and without the printer's credit to the lower flipback, but the 1st pressing of that album can only truly be identified by the label details and matrix numbers, and not by a blank lower flipback. It's as  simple as that! One cover or another may be rarer, but not exclusively a "First Pressing"!

VINYL IN VERY GOOD(-) CONDITION
SLEEVE IN VERY GOOD+ CONDITION

The first pressing COLUMBIA blue/black labels are in EXCELLENT condition, with light spindle wear only, and no major wear. The heavyweight vinyl itself displays light surface marks and yes, some scratches, but this barely affects the audio quality. Occasional ticks and light surface noise in quieter areas, but judged purely audibly, I would grade this as VERY GOOD, slightly downgraded visually. Absolutely no sticks or jumps, and it plays very respectably throughout. The sleeve is very respectable, with absolutely no major defects. No edgewear, an excellent spine, complete laminate, beautifully clean flipback and no severe wear to the unlaminated rear. No graffiti and no heavy staining, just a couple of light marks and a tiny graze to the upper flipback (see below). A nice sleeve completing a respectable copy of this highly sought after record.

click on any photo for postage info

click on any photo for postage info

While Pink Floyd are mostly known for their grandiose concept albums of the 1970s, they started as a very different sort of psychedelic band. Soon after they first began playing together in the mid-'60s, they fell firmly under the leadership of lead guitarist Syd Barrett, the gifted genius who would write and sing most of their early material. The Cambridge native shared the stage with Roger Waters (bass), Rick Wright (keyboards), and Nick Mason (drums). The name Pink Floyd, seemingly so far-out, was actually derived from the first names of two ancient bluesmen (Pink Anderson and Floyd Council). And at first, Pink Floyd were much more conventional than the act into which they would evolve, concentrating on the rock and R&B material that were so common to the repertoires of mid-'60s British bands.

Pink Floyd quickly began to experiment, however, stretching out songs with wild instrumental freak-out passages incorporating feedback, electronic screeches, and unusual, eerie sounds created by loud amplification, reverb, and such tricks as sliding ball bearings up and down guitar strings. In 1966, they began to pick up a following in the London underground; onstage, they began to incorporate light shows to add to the psychedelic effect. Most importantly, Syd Barrett began to compose pop-psychedelic gems that combined unusual psychedelic arrangements (particularly in the haunting guitar and celestial organ licks) with catchy melodies and incisive lyrics that viewed the world with a sense of poetic, child-like wonder.

The group landed a recording contract with EMI in early 1967 and made the Top 20 with a brilliant debut single, "Arnold Layne," a sympathetic, comic vignette about a transvestite. The follow-up, the kaleidoscopic "See Emily Play," made the Top Ten. The debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, also released in 1967, may have been the greatest British psychedelic album. Dominated almost wholly by Barrett's songs, the album was a charming funhouse of driving, mysterious rockers ("Lucifer Sam"), odd character sketches ("The Gnome"), childhood flashbacks ("Bike," "Matilda Mother"), and freakier pieces with lengthy instrumental passages ("Astronomy Domine," "Interstellar Overdrive," "Pow R Toc H") that mapped out their fascination with space travel. The record was not only like no other at the time; it was like no other that Pink Floyd would make, coloured as it was by a vision that was far more humorous, pop-friendly, and light-hearted than those of their subsequent epics.

very minor graze to upper flipback - the only real point to note about sleeve.

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