A Saucerful of Secrets is the second studio album by the
English rock bandPink Floyd. It was recorded atEMI's Abbey Road Studioson various dates from August 1967 to April 1968 and was released on 29 June 1968, through EMI Columbiain the United Kingdom, while the album was released on 27 July 1968 in the United States by Tower.
The album was recorded before and afterSyd Barrett's departure from the group. Due to Barrett's behaviour be- coming increasingly unpredictable, David Gilmour was recruited in January 1968.*[1]*[2]As a result, A Saucer- ful of Secrets became the only non-compilation Pink Floyd album on which all five band members appeared, the first for Gilmour, with him appearing on five songs ("Let There Be More Light", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", "Corporal Clegg", "A Saucerful of Se- crets" and "See-Saw"), and the last for Barrett, with him on three ("Remember a Day", "Jugband Blues" and“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”).*[3]“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”was the only song all five members appeared on together. Band memberNick Masondeclared A Saucerful of Secrets his favourite Pink Floyd album.
6.2.1 Background
From mid to late 1967, Syd Barrett's erratic behaviour be- came more apparent,*[4]and at one performance of the band's first US tour, he slowly detuned his guitar while on stage. The audience, used to the band's experimen- tal performances, seemed to enjoy such antics, and were unaware of the rest of the band's increasing consterna- tion. Interviewed onPat Boone's show during this tour, Barrett's reply to Boone's questions was a“blank and to- tally mute stare”.*[5]*[6]Barrett exhibited behaviour in a similar style during the band's first appearance onDick Clark's popular TV showAmerican Bandstand.*[5]Bar- rett kept his lips closed during a mimed performance of "Apples and Oranges".*[7]
6.2.2 Recording and structure
Recording with Syd Barrett
The album was recorded atEMI Studiosin London.*[8] The first songs recorded for the album wereRoger Wa- ters'“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”and an un- released Barrett track, "Scream Thy Last Scream";*[nb 1] both recorded on 7–8 August 1967.*[10]*[11]*[12]The two tracks were arranged to be released as a single on 8 September, before it was vetoed by the band's record company, EMI.*[13] The band recorded "Vegetable Man"*[nb 2] at De Lane Lea Studios on 9–11 Octo- ber,*[14]and returned later in the month, on 19 October,
to record“Jugband Blues”,*[15]with producerNorman Smith booking aSalvation Army band, at Barrett's re- quest.*[nb 3]*[15]Overdubbing “Remember a Day”at the sessions; the song, which was an outtake from The Piper at the Gates of Dawnsessions,*[14]features Bar- rett on slide guitar,*[16]*[18]the band took a break from the album sessions to record what become their third sin- gle, “Apples and Oranges”,*[15]on 26 and 27 Octo- ber.*[19]A few days later, the band recorded the B-side, "Paint Box",*[15]before leaving for a US tour.*[15] In November, “Apples and Oranges”was released as a single but failed to chart at all.*[20] The band even- tually went back to De Lane Lea and recorded the un- released track "Vegetable Man".*[20]Sometime around Christmas, David Gilmour (Barrett's old school friend) was asked to join the band as a second lead guitarist to cover for Barrett when his erratic behaviour prevented him from performing.*[21]As Barrett had, up until then, written (or co-written) most of the songs on the band's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, as well as the band's three singles up to this point,*[6]the ini- tial plan was to keep him in the group as a non-touring member – in similar style toBrian Wilson's recent status inThe Beach Boys– but this meant that Barrett and the group were essentially separated.*[7]*[22]*[23]For two days from 10 January 1968, Pink Floyd reconvened at EMI Studios, attempting to work on older tracks: Waters' vocals and Wright's organ were overdubbed onto“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”,*[15]while Mason added vocals to “Scream Thy Last Scream”.*[2]Upon leaving the Floyd, Barrett said toMelody Maker: “I sup- pose it was really just a matter of being a little offhand about things”.*[24]
Recording with David Gilmour
When Gilmour joined the band, the Floyd performed briefly as a five-man piece, from 12 January till the 20th.*[21]For a handful of shows Gilmour played and sang while Barrett wandered around on stage, occasion- ally joining in with the playing. In between these five- piece gigs, the group rehearsed a few Waters-penned songs on 15 and 16 January. During the next session on 18 January, the band, joined by Smith, jammed on rhythm tracks;*[nb 4]*[25]Barrett didn't attend this ses- sion. On 24 and 25 January, the band recorded a song, logged as “The Most Boring Song I've Ever Heard Bar 2”at Abbey Road.*[nb 5]*[26]The band recorded“Let There Be More Light”, “Corporal Clegg”(which fea- tures lead vocals byNick Mason)*[27]and“See-Saw”all without Barrett, despite managerAndrew Kingclaiming Barrett performed the slide solo at the end of“Let There Be More Light”.*[7]The other band members soon grew tired of Barrett's antics and, on 26 January 1968, when Waters was driving on the way to a show atSouthampton University, picking the members up on the way, one per- son in the car said, “Shall we pick Syd up?" and another
said, “Let's not bother.”*[21]*[28]Barrett was finally ousted from the band in late January 1968, leaving the new incarnation of Pink Floyd to finish the album; “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”is the only song on which all five band members appeared.*[29]
The four-piece band struggled to come up with new material for an album,*[3]*[21] but in February 1968 recorded Wright's "It Would Be So Nice" and Waters' "Julia Dream".*[nb 6]*[7] In early February it was an- nounced that the Waters-penned track,“Corporal Clegg” would be the band's next single,*[7]however, due to pres- sure from the label, the song*[30] was earmarked for the album, and “It Would Be So Nice”was released in April was a single,*[nb 7]with“Julia Dream”on the B- side.*[31]Throughout April, the band was taking stock of the songs recorded up to that point.*[31]Waters blocked the release of the two tracks, “Vegetable Man”*[nb 8] and “Scream Thy Last Scream”, on the album, though the band retained “Jugband Blues”, and the Waters- written“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”which Barrett played on.*[31]With not enough material to fill the album's last 12 minutes, the band started piecing to- gether several pieces of material̶that the finished song the band later said that they felt happy with̶that was to become the title track of the album, “A Saucerful of Secrets”.*[nb 9]*[31]Mason and Waters planned the track out as if it were anarchitectural design, including peaks and troughs.*[31]Producer Smith didn't like the song, stating to them that they“just can't do this, it's too long. You have to write three-minute songs.”*[31]On 25 June, the band recorded another session forBBC Radio's Top Gear, the session featured two tracks from Saucerful: “Let There Be More Light”and a shortened retitled ver- sion of the title track, titled here as“The Massed Gadgets of Hercules”.*[36]
6.2.3 Songs
Like The Piper at the Gates of Dawn before it, the al- bum contains space rock and psychedelic rock songs. However, unlike Piper, which was dominated by Barrett's compositions, A Saucerful of Secrets contains only one Barrett original: “Jugband Blues”.AllMusicdescribed that with A Saucerful of Secrets, “the band begin to map out the dark and repetitive pulses that would characterize their next few records.”*[37]Wright sings or shares lead vocals on four of the album's seven songs, and contributes vocals on the eleven-and-a-half-minute instrumental opus “A Saucerful of Secrets”,making this the only Pink Floyd album where his vocal contributions outnumber those of the rest of the band.
With Barrett seemingly detached from proceedings, it came down to Waters and Wright to provide adequate material. The opening, “Let There Be More Light”, penned by Waters, continues the space rock approach established by Barrett. “Let There Be More Light” evolved from a bass riff that was part of "Interstellar
Overdrive".*[25]Both “Remember a Day”and “See- Saw”use the childlike approach*[38]*[39]that was es- tablished on their debut.*[40]Wright remained critical of his early contributions to the band.*[40]“Set the Con- trols for the Heart of the Sun”was first performed with Barrett in 1967.*[41]The success of the track was such that it remained in their live setlist until 1973 where it appeared in a greatly extended form.*[42]Waters later performed the track during solo concerts from 1984 and later.*[43]Waters borrowed the lyrics from a book of Chinese poetryfrom theTang Dynasty, like Barrett had used in "Chapter 24".*[44]“Corporal Clegg”, is the first Pink Floyd song to address issues of war, a theme which would endure throughout the career of Waters as a song- writer for the band, culminating on the 1983 albumThe Final Cut.*[42]“A Saucerful of Secrets”was originally written as a new version of “Nick's Boogie”.*[45]The track is titled as four parts,*[46]onUmmagumma.*[47] A staple in the band's live set until summer 1972,*[47]a live version of the song was recorded on 27 April 1969 at theMothers Club in Birmingham for inclusion on Um- magumma.*[48]*[49]“Jugband Blues”refers to Bar- rett's departure from the group ("It's awfully consider- ate of you to think of me here / And I'm most obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here").*[50]*[51]A promotional videowas recorded for the track.*[16]The band's management wanted to release the song as a sin- gle, before being vetoed by both the band and producer Norman Smith.*[15]
Unreleased songs
Main article:List of unreleased Pink Floyd material As well as “Jugband Blues”, the album was to include “Vegetable Man”, another Barrett composition.*[6]The song was to appear on a single as the B-side to “Scream Thy Last Scream”.*[9]*[11]The band performed“Jug- band Blues”,“Vegetable Man”and“Scream Thy Last Scream”for a Top Gear session, recorded on 20 Decem- ber, and broadcast on 31st.*[52]Two additional Barrett songs,“In the Beechwoods”,*[53]and“No Title”(fre- quently referred to on bootlegs as“Sunshine”),*[nb 10] were recorded early in the album sessions.*[54]At least one other song, “John Latham”, was recorded during these sessions, and remains unreleased.*[54]
6.2.4
Release and reception
This is the first of several Pink Floyd album covers that were designed byHipgnosis,*[61]and was only the sec- ond time that an EMI group (The Beatleswere the first) was permitted to hire outside designers for an album jacket.*[62] The album was released in the UK on 29 June 1968 on EMI'sColumbialabel as both mono*[nb 11]and stereo*[nb 12]LPs, reaching number 9 in the UK
charts.*[65]*[66]It was released in the US by theTower Records*[nb 13]division ofCapitol, where it remains the only Pink Floyd album not to chart.*[68]However, when reissued asA Nice Pair*[nb 14]*[nb 15]with the original version of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn after the suc- cess ofThe Dark Side of the Moon, the album did chart at number 36 on theBillboard 200.*[71]“Let There Be More Light”was released as a single, backed with “Re- member a Day”, in the US on 19 August 1969.*[72] The CD stereo mix of the album was first released in 1988,*[nb 16]and in 1992 was digitally remastered and reissued as part of theShine Onbox set.*[nb 17]The re- mastered stereo CD was released on its own in 1994 in the UK*[nb 18]and the US.*[nb 19]The mono mix ver- sion of the album has never been officially released on CD.
Upon its release,Rolling Stonemagazine's review was un- favourable, writing that it is “not as interesting as their first”and “rather mediocre”, highlighting the near- departure of Syd Barrett as one of its detractions.*[58] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Richie Unter- bergercalled the album “gentle, fairy-tale ambience”, with the songs that move from “concise and vivid”to “spacy, ethereal material with lengthy instrumental pas- sages”.*[37]In a review forBBC Music, Daryl Easlea said Saucerful was“not without filler”,adding that“Jug- band Blues”was “the most chilling”song on the al- bum.*[55]
While promoting 2014'sThe Endless River, Nick Mason named A Saucerful of Secrets as his favourite of Pink Floyd's studio albums.“I think there are ideas contained there that we have continued to use all the way through our career,”he says.“I think [it] was a quite good way of marking Syd [Barrett]ʼs departure and Dave [Gilmour]ʼ s arrival. Itʼs rather nice to have it on one record, where you get both things. Itʼs a cross-fade rather than a cut.” *[77]
6.2.5 Track listing
6.2.6 Personnel
Pink Floyd
(all personnel uncredited)
• Roger Waters– bass guitar, percussion, vocals*[78] • Richard Wright – piano, organ, mellotron, vibraphone,xylophone, vocals,*[78]tin whistleon “Jugband Blues”*[79]
• David Gilmour– guitar,kazoo, vocals*[78] • Nick Mason– drums, percussion, vocals on “Cor-
• Syd Barrett–acousticandslide guitaron“Remem- ber a Day”,*[16]*[18]guitar on “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”,*[10]*[12]vocals and gui- tar on “Jugband Blues”*[80]
Additional personnel
• Norman Smith– producer,*[81]drums and back- ing vocals on “Remember a Day”,*[18]voice on “Corporal Clegg”
• The Salvation Army (TheInternational Staff Band) on “Jugband Blues”*[15]
6.2.7
Sales chart performance
6.2.8
References
Footnotes
[1] Despite having only two complete takes of the song,*[9]
“Scream Thy Last Scream”was viewed as a potential sin- gle.*[10]
[2]“Scream Thy Last Scream”was again scheduled for re- lease, this time with “Vegetable Man”as the B-side, but cancelled and both tracks remain unreleased.*[9]*[11]
[3] When the Salvation Army were brought in to play on the track,*[16]Barrett told them to“play whatever they want”
, Smith insisted on recorded parts.*[17]
[4] This jamming later formed the intro to “Let There Be More Light”.*[25]
[5] This song later became “See-Saw”.*[11]
[6] Originally titled “Doreen's Dream”.*[7]
[7] The single was released on 12 April 1968, almost a week after Barrett's departure from the band was an- nounced.*[31]
[8] Peter Jenner, one of the band's managers, said Waters blocked “Vegetable Man”because “it was too dark” .*[14]
[9] It was David Gilmour's first professional songwriting credit. His name is incorrectly spelled “Gilmore” ,*[32]*[33]*[34]an error that would persist on all press-
ings until finally being corrected with the 1994 remastered version.*[35]
[10] Not to be confused with the early title of “Remember a Day”, as written on the recorded sheet, “Sunshine” .*[11]*[15]
[11] UK EMI Columbia SX 6258*[63]
[12] UK EMI Columbia SCX 6258*[64]
[13] US Capitol Tower ST 5131*[67]
[14] UK EMI Harvest SHDW 403*[69]
[15] US Capitol Harvest SABB-11257*[70]
[16] UK EMI CDP 7 46383 2*[73]
[17] UK EMI 7243 8 29751 2 0 / CDEMD 1063*[74]
[18] UK EMI CDS 7 80557 2*[75]
[19] US Columbia CXK 53180*[76] Citations
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