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Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn - Wednesday, Apr. 16, 2014
A.F.I. - Sing The Sorrow - Monday, Mar. 31, 2014
Pan Sonic - Kesto (234.48:4) - Thursday, Mar. 27, 2014
Esperanza Spalding - Radio Music Society - Monday, Mar. 24, 2014
Charlie Parker - At Storyville / Ken Burns Jazz - Thursday, Mar. 13, 2014

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Wednesday, Apr. 16, 2014 | 11:38

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

the first disc of the 40th anniversary edition of 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' is in mono. this is very disorienting for me. i have a very distinct memory of sitting in the family jeep while my mom and sister went to the grocery store and i listened to "Interstellar Overdrive" at full blast. i had it on tape, on 'Relics', so i'd have to rewind it every time. about seven minutes in the song seems to trail off, then everything returns with the guitars panning left and right wildly. it's an exhilarating, and yes disorienting, feeling. listening to the song in mono, however, is weird for the effects that aren't there. everything plays straight up the middle and that return doesn't go anywhere. i hear it in my head, but can't feel it spinning me around. very strange.

as for the rest of the album, i spent years disregarding it for the goofy psychedelic songs with their lyrics about gnomes and cats. reading praise of the album didn't change my mind, but did encourage me to give it another chance. what i realized is that while the lyrics seem goofy and haven't all aged very well, the music is still fantastic. at the worst the album sounds like the perfect snapshot of its times. at best songs like "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" are master strokes of mood and guitar. "Bike" is something else entirely, and taken as a group those songs forced me to rethink my understanding of rock 'n' roll. mind expansion at its very best.

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