SOLD

A Saucerful of Secrets

Signed by Richard Wright, Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Syd Barrett.

SOLD

The band originally consisted of students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett. Founded in 1965, the band first became popular playing in London's underground music scene in the late 1960s. Under Barrett's leadership they released two charting singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and a successful d�but album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967).
Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd as its fifth member in December 1967, several months prior to Barrett's departure from the group due to his deteriorating mental health. Following the loss of their principal songwriter, Pink Floyd bassist and vocalist Roger Waters became the band's lyricist and conceptual leader, with Gilmour assuming lead guitar, taking on most of the band's music composition, and sharing lead vocals. With this line-up Pink Floyd achieved worldwide critical and commercial success with their concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall.

A Saucerful of Secrets.

For their second studio album the band returned with Smith to Abbey Road Studios. Several songs featuring Barrett had already been laid down, including "Jugband Blues" (his final contribution to their discography). Waters contributed three songs, "Let There Be More Light", "Corporal Clegg", and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (which includes guitar work by Gilmour and Barrett). Wright composed "See-Saw" and "Remember a Day". Encouraged by Smith some of the new material was recorded at their homes, continuing the type of experimentation seen on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Smith remained unconvinced by their musical style, but when Mason struggled to perform on "Remember a Day", he stepped in as his replacement. Wright recalled Smith's attitude about the sessions, "Norman gave up on the second album ... he was forever saying things like, 'You can't do twenty minutes of this ridiculous noise.'" Neither Waters nor Mason could read music so to create the album's title track, "A Saucerful of Secrets", they invented their own system of notation; Gilmour later described this as looking "... like an architectural diagram". A Saucerful of Secrets was released in June 1968. The album cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. Record Mirror urged listeners to "forget it as background music to a party" and John Peel claimed that the album was "...like a religious experience...". NME, however, viewed the title track as "...long and boring, and has little to warrant its monotonous direction". Upon the album's release Pink Floyd performed at the first free Hyde Park concert.

SOLD