A Saucerful of Secrets

A Saucerful of Secrets

(Released on:- 29th June , 1968)

  Album's title cover

Recorded - August 1967, October 1967, January–April 1968

Length - 39:25

Label - Columbia (EMI) (UK), Tower/Capitol (U.S.)

Producer - Norman Smith

Introduction

A Saucerful of Secrets is the second rock album by Pink Floyd. It was recorded at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, from January to April 1968. The album was released later that year in the USA on July 27 and two days later on July 29 in the UK. Due to Syd Barrett's declining mental state, this would be the last Pink Floyd album that he would work on.

Recording and structure

During its difficult recording sessions, Barrett became increasingly unstable and in January of 1968, David Gilmour was brought in. Barrett was finally removed from the band by early March, leaving this new incarnation of Pink Floyd to finish the album. As a result, A Saucerful of Secrets is the only non-compilation Pink Floyd album on which all five band members appear, with Gilmour appearing on four songs (Let There Be More Light, Corporal Clegg, A Saucerful of Secrets, and See-Saw) and Barrett on three (Remember a Day, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, and Jugband Blues). As well as "Jugband Blues", the album was to include "Vegetable Man," another Syd Barrett song. However, the band believed "Vegetable Man," with its autobiographical lyrics, was unsuitable for inclusion and so it was left off the album. The song was to appear on a single as the b-side to another unreleased track, "Scream Thy Last Scream". Two additional Syd Barrett songs, "In The Beechwoods" and "No Title" were also recorded early in the sessions for the album.

An image of the Living Tribunal from Marvel Comics can be seen in the cover's upper left corner. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is the only Pink Floyd song that features all five band members. Keyboardist Rick Wright sings lead or backing vocals on four of the album's seven songs, making this the only Pink Floyd album where Wright's vocal contributions outnumber those of the rest of the band.

Release history

The album was released that June as both mono (SX 6258) and stereo (SCX 6258) LPs in the UK, where it reached #9 on the charts. It remains the only Floyd album to not chart at all in the US (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn's US version, entitled Pink Floyd, had lingered at the bottom of the US charts some months earlier). However, when reissued as A Nice Pair, with the original version of Piper after the success of Dark Side of the Moon the album did chart at #39 on the Billboard Hot 200.

The CD stereo mix of the album was first released in 1987, and in 1992 was digitally remastered and reissued on CD as a part of the Shine On box-set. The remastered stereo CD was released on its own in 1994 in the UK, and then in April of 1995 in the US. The mono mix version of the album has never been officially released on CD, although ROIO CD versions do exist.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Let There Be More Light" (Roger Waters) – 5:38 

o Lead vocals: Rick Wright, David Gilmour, and Roger Waters

2. "Remember a Day" (Rick Wright) – 4:33 

o Lead vocals: Rick Wright

3. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Roger Waters) – 5:28 

o Lead vocals: Roger Waters

4. "Corporal Clegg" (Roger Waters) – 4:13 

o Lead vocals: David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Rick Wright

Side two

1. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (Roger Waters/Rick Wright/David Gilmour/Nick Mason) – 11:57 

o Instrumental

2. "See-Saw" (Rick Wright) – 4:36 

o Lead vocals: Rick Wright

3. "Jugband Blues" (Syd Barrett) – 3:00 

o Lead vocals: Syd Barrett

 Singles

• "Remember a Day" (edit) / "Let There Be More Light"(edit) (19 August 1968, U.S. release only)

Non-album singles

• "It Would Be So Nice" / "Julia Dream" (19 April 1968, 7" UK release)

• "See Emily Play" / "The Scarecrow" (22 July 1968, U.S. re-release 7")

• "Point Me at the Sky" / "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (6 December 1968, 7" UK release)

Quotes

"Was "Corporal Clegg" on Saucerful of Secrets a deliberate Hendrix-style sound that you were going for?"

"No, not really. I didn't know what the hell I was trying to play at the time to be quite honest. I'd really no idea. What I was used to playing, the style I had, didn't fit Pink Floyd at the time, and I didn't really know quite what to do."

                                                                                                            – David Gilmour, Sounds                    "Guitar Heroes" Magazine, May 1983

"It was really stressful waiting for Syd to come up with the songs for the second album. Everybody was looking at him, and he couldn't do it. "Jugband Blues" is a really sad song, the portrait of a nervous breakdown. The last Floyd song Syd wrote, "Vegetable Man", was done for those sessions, though it never came out."                                                                                                                                                                                                     

– Peter Jenner

Personnel

Roger Waters – bass guitar, lead vocals


David Gilmour – guitar, lead vocals (incorrectly spelled "Gilmore" on the album)

Rick Wright – piano, organ, mellotron, vibraphone, lead vocals


Nick Mason – drums, percussion, vocals


Syd Barrett – guitar, lead vocals

Additional personnel

Norman Smith – drums and backing vocals on "Remember a Day"

8 members of the Salvation Army (The International Staff Band) - Ray Bowes (cornet), Terry Camsey (cornet), Mac Carter (trombone), Les Condon (E♭ bass), Maurice Cooper (Euphonium), Ian Hankey (trombone), George Whittingham (B♭ bass), and one other in "Jugband Blues".