This is an accepted version of this page The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 4 August 1967 by EMI Columbia.

The album followed the band's influential performances at London's UFO Club and their early chart success with the 1967 non-album singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play".

It blended Pink Floyd's reputation for long-form improvisational pieces with Barrett's short pop songs and whimsical take on psychedelia.

Part-way through the recording sessions, Barrett's growing use of the psychedelic drug LSD accompanied his increasingly debilitated mental state, leading to his eventual departure from the group the following year.

The album title was derived from referencing the god Pan in chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's novel The Wind in the Willows, a favourite of Barrett's.

[8] In the United States, it was released as Pink Floyd in October on Tower Records with an altered track listing that omitted three songs and included "See Emily Play".

[13][14][15] Their first single, a song about a kleptomaniac transvestite titled "Arnold Layne", was released on 11 March to mild controversy, as Radio London refused to air it.

The popular broadsheet News of the World printed a story nine days before the album's recording sessions began, saying that "The Pink Floyd group specialise in 'psychedelic music', which is designed to illustrate LSD experiences.

[25] It included album development, which was very unusual; EMI, unsure of exactly what kind of band they had signed, gave them free rein to record whatever they wanted.

[18][26] The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was overseen by producer Norman Smith,[18][27] a central figure in Pink Floyd's negotiations with EMI.

[28] Balance engineer Pete Bown, who had mentored Smith, helped ensure that the album had a unique sound, through his experimentation with equipment and recording techniques.

[18][38] Barrett would end up writing eight of the album's songs and contributing to two instrumentals credited to the whole band, with Waters creating the sole remaining composition "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk".

[54][55] The next three tracks – "Astronomy Dominé",[nb 4] "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Pow R. Toc H." – were worked on extensively between 21 March and 12 April,[58] having originally been lengthy instrumentals.

[62][63][64] "Percy the Rat Catcher" received overdubs across five studio sessions and then was mixed in late June, eventually being given the name "Lucifer Sam".

The band initially hoped that his erratic behaviour was a phase that would pass, but others, including manager Peter Jenner and his secretary June Child,[nb 6] were more realistic: ...

[69]To the band's consternation, they were forced to cancel their appearance at the prestigious National Jazz and Blues Festival, informing the music press that Barrett was suffering from nervous exhaustion.

He was sent to relax in the sun on the Spanish island of Formentera with Waters and Sam Hutt (a doctor well-established in the underground music scene), but this led to no visible improvement.

This new design was done by Hipgnosis' Aubrey Powell and Peter Curzon and includes a gold-embossed version of the graphic by Syd Barrett which features on the back cover of the original LP.

[105] AllMusic called it one of the greatest psychedelic albums of all-time, and described it as "full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD," adding that "Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs.

"[3] James E. Perone says that The Piper at the Gates of Dawn became known as a concept album in later years, because listeners wanted to play it all the way through rather than pick out a favourite song.

Author George Reisch called Pink Floyd the "undisputed" kings of the concept album, but only starting from Dark Side.

[108] In July 2006, Billboard described The Piper at the Gates of Dawn as "one of the best psychedelic rock albums ever, driven by Barrett's oddball narratives and the band's skill with both long jams and perfect pop nuggets".

[109] In 1973, the album, along with A Saucerful of Secrets, was released as a two-disc set on Capitol/EMI's Harvest Records label, titled A Nice Pair to introduce fans to the band's early work after the success of The Dark Side of the Moon.

[114] For Record Store Day 2018, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was reissued in its mono mix with a bespoke envelope package containing the original cover art.

[71] The band finally flew across the Atlantic on 1 November, but work permits were not yet obtained, so they settled into a hotel in Sausalito, California, just north of San Francisco.

Barrett's mental condition mirrored the problems that King encountered;[72] when the band performed at Winterland, he detuned his guitar during "Interstellar Overdrive" until the strings fell off.

His odd behaviour grew worse in subsequent performances, and during a television recording for The Pat Boone Show he confounded the director by lip-syncing "Apples and Oranges" perfectly during the rehearsal, and then standing motionless during the take.

[117] Longtime Pink Floyd psychedelic lighting designer Peter Wynne-Willson left at the end of the Hendrix tour, though he sympathised with Barrett, whose position as frontman was increasingly insecure.

[118] Pink Floyd released "Apples and Oranges" (recorded prior to the US tour on 26 and 27 October)[119] but, for the rest of the band, Barrett's condition had reached a crisis point, and they responded by adding David Gilmour to their line-up, initially to cover for Syd's lapses during live performances.

[126] David Gilmour, though not a member of Pink Floyd at the time the song was originally recorded, resurrected "Astronomy Dominé" for his On an Island and Rattle That Lock tours.