EMI to re-issue Pink Floyd's Piper

Along with the hubbub surrounding the 40th anniversary of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, it's important to recall that Pink Floyd recorded its debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at the very same time in the very same Abbey Road Studios. Let us all be thankful, however, that the BBC has not commissioned Bryan Adams to contribute his interpretation of "Astronomy Domine."

Instead, commemoration will come Sept. 4 in the form of EMI-released special editions with the original UK track order - one two-CD version with a disc for both mono and stereo that will become the new standard, and a three-CD package with bonus tracks (all of Pink Floyd's singles from 1967, including "Arnold Layne"), B-sides ("Candy And A Current Bun," "Paintbox"), rarities (exclusive edit of "Interstellar Overdrive" from a French EP) and eight reproduced pages of a then-bandleader Syd Barret's notebook.

Although Piper is Barret's most significant work with Pink Floyd, having written every song but Waters-penned "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk", the upcoming re-release is re-mastered by James Guthrie, who produced The Wall long after Barrett infamously wandered into the Wish You Were Here sessions an unrecognizably rotund and hairless creature. Regardless, The Wall is obviously nothing to shake a stick at, whatever that's supposed to mean, so Guthrie should do it up just fine. Maybe he's even thrown in a screaming sound effect or some Gomer Pyle dialogue, for kicks.

Video: "Arnold Layne"

Stream: "Bike"

Related links:
PinkFloyd.co.uk
EMIGroup.com

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.