"A Saucerful Of Secrets" was the second album from Pink Floyd. As described in the review of "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", I sold my copy after purchasing the double compilation album " A Nice Pair", which was cheaper than a single copy of Piper.
Whilst I quite liked the album, I thought it to be a mismash of styles, with Floyd clearly not knowing what direction to take after the departure of Syd Barrett, previously their main song-writer, singer and guitarist, and being replaced by David Gilmour.
The album had three lengthy tracks to re-enforce their space cadet credentials, two piano dominated melodic songs from keyboard player Richard Wright, a lightweight almost fun song from Roger Walters, and "Jugband Blues", the final contribution from Syd, which shone a bright light on his ongoing mental decay, and is by far and away the most interesting song on the album.
I had been aware of three of the tracks on the album prior to buying it. "Remember A Day" had been included on the "Relics" compiliation, whilst live versions of "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" and A Saucerful Of Secrets" were on "Ummagumma".
The album begins with "Let There Be More Light" which has a throbbing bass and swirling keyboards for the intro, before leading into a slow, repetitive verse sung by Wright, then Gilmour sings the rising refrain. The keyboards somehow remind me a little of Procol Harem and there is some psychedelic guitar for the lengthy outro. The lyrics seem to be about an alien spaceship landing at the Mildenhall Air Force Base in Suffolk but there is also a reference to The Beatles and LSD with line "Lucy In The Sky !". It sounded much better than I remembered.
"Remember A Day", written and sung by Richard Wright, has a dreamy feel to it. Syd Barrett contributes on the slide guitar but the ivory playing dominates, although the pounding drums are significant.
"Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" has a dominant bass riff, but there is also tribal drums, crashing cymbals and eerie keyboards.
The Beatles like "Corporal Clegg" closes side one and is sung by Nick Mason, with Gilmour and Wright signing the dreamy chorus. It is perhaps most notably for its Kazoo solo played by drummer Mason.
"A Saucerful Of Secrets" takes up most of side two, being a 12 minute long instrumental in four parts. The opening section reminds me of the music from the Clangers, the second section is basically a drum solo with some random poundings on a piano and distorted guitar sounds. The third part has some funeral style keyboards before moving into an uplifting organ piece with a choir singing a wordless chorus. Listening to it now it sounds a mess, and for me the final section is the only part worth listening to again. I always thought the live version was better, we will see if that is still the case when I get around to playing "Ummagumma" again !
"See-Saw" is dreamy piano ballad written and sung by Richard Wright, who also plays the organ, mellotron and xylophone. It does sound very 1960s but is another track that was better than I remembered.
The album finishes with "Jugband Blues". Despite his ongoing Schizophrenia, it shows that Barrett was aware that he was being forced out of the band. "It’s awfully considerate of you to think of me here, and I’m most obliged to you for making it clear that I’m not here". The song has a jaunty brass section before submerging into sounds of The Salvation Army playing as if they were marching in the street. The song powerfully ends with just a faintly strummed guitar and the vocal of "And the sea isn’t green, and I love the Queen. And what exactly is a dream? And what exactly is a joke?"
In summary, "A Saucerful Of Secrets" is a much better album than many people give credit to, although I could do away with the title track.
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. Let there Be More Light
2. Remember A Day
3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
4. Corporal Clegg
Side One :
2. See-Saw
3. Jugband Blues
Released 1968
UK Chart Position : 9