Part 2: A hint of later glories.
Syd went crazy somewhere in 1967, so they had to get rid of him, and doing so, got the immensly more talented David Gilmour on guitar. Good choice, guys. Their sound was never the same after that, but they still had a long way to go before Meddle and Dark Side. This is the beginning of what I call the "finding ourselves" phase. The band tried to make a better album than Piper, which is fine by me, but it only succeeds in a few tracks. Let There Be More Light has a really cool bassline (Wow, Roger can play), but it degenerates into a noodling pointless jam. Remember A Day and See-Saw are both romantic hippie songs that really don't go anywhere. The good tracks, however, such as Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun and the title track, point towards the right direction. The former being a space mantra that would border on the intense level live (flaming gongs and all that), and the title track basically being orchestrated noise with an uplifting ending. These 2 tracks are the saving grace of the album, and it's almost worth the price. Jugband Blues, though, really sucks. This is Syd at his most scizophrenic, and he can barely play the melody through without changing the time signature. I guess it was a nice gesture though. On the whole, not that great, but it's a foreshadow of things to come.

The Follow Up To The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
As you can see by the title of this review this is the follow to pink floyds first album. By the time this album was finished Syd Barrett was out of the band because of LSD but contains one last song by him, "Jugband Blues", all the songs on here are great
buy today

PINK FLOYD WANTS YOUR FACE!!!!
This album for a long time was one I always passed off, but over the years it has steadily climbed its way to the top of my Floyd pile. Syd leaves his legacy on just one track. The closeout JUGBAND BLUES. Syds style itself has gone from being a type of pyschedelic pop on the previous album, to the revealing twisted personal accounts that he would write for his two solo albums. In a way I see this song as Syd saying :Thanks and F off: To his former band mates. Creepy and beautiful songwriting, and an excellent close out.
The rest of the material leading up, is the rest of the band, with new guitar Dave Gilmoure, finding an identity. Theres no psychedelic pop here. Most of this set is out to attack your mind from the inside out. Floyd is in your face! Like space. LET THERE BE MORE LIGHT just sets the album off. They don't fool around, this is one of THE absolute best Floyd tracks there is. Soaked in atmospheric madness, and folky space like vocals. REMEMBER A DAY is more mellow, as is SET THE CONTROLS. CORPRAL CLEGG is weird underground british psych. Then the title track. Its kind of a nightmare. This was the attempt at an Interstellar Overdrive, only I think the band beefed it up a little to make up for the shortage of Syds pen. Its one of the darker Floyd instrumental space outs for sure. This insanity is bridged into the Syd track with SEE SAW, another smooth folk offering from Rick Wright, with a little of the albums trip vibe on it for good flow.
All together Saucerful is yet another Floyd gem, that just gets better every time you hear it, with some fine identity all of its own. Its freaky trippy good... just make sure you hold onto your face, they may just snatch it away from you when your not aware.

absolutely great
Pink Floyd sure were incredibly strange back in the pre-Dark Side of the Moon days. They weren't afraid to experiment with their sound and style, even if it meant giving listeners the creeps! Sometimes the album focuses more on atmosphere and lets us search for the vocal melodies behind many interesting and creative musical ideas.

I absolutely love "Let There Be More Light". The speedy psychedelic introduction that builds to a catchy verse melody and highly unusual yet comforting chorus. LOVE this song.

Now let's talk about the title song. I have a friend who refuses to listen to this song, despite how much he loves Pink Floyd because it puts bad pictures in his head. I can totally see why. Listening to the song this afternoon I was totally caught up in the quiet atmospheric parts in the beginning of the song. That wasn't the only fantastic thing about it.

The drums came along and while they play a really nice pattern, they were able to put me in very dreamy state that NO drumming has ever been able to do before on ANY other rock record. Come on, it's drumming! How can it be possible for a guy playing on a drum kit to move a listener all by itself? I have no idea how, but it did.

After that, the drumming got really hectic and out of control, while changing from a moody drumming pattern to a more uncontrollable and outrageous style (or to put it simply, messy as heck). Then came along either keyboards or organs and that totally changed the entire feeling I originally had. Now it feels like an evil presence is around me, whereas in the beginning of the song I could sense something was wrong and my life was about to be temporarily hypnotized. The evil is real, and now it's right in front of me the way the vocals and the instruments get all spaced out and extreme as can be. It makes the whole experience very confusing to me. A VERY eerie song.

There's other songs on the album that have solid melodies, and these would be more fun, playful tunes.

3.5 Stars
With the loss of their mad genius, Syd Barrett, the band struggles to find a sound on this album. However, that same loss sparks the ascension one of the other great musicians of this band, Roger Waters. The Waters influence on the band, most clearly seen in later compositions like The Wall, is still developing and limited, though it shows itself in brief flashes of greatness ("Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun") that seem odd next to songs that are more reminiscent of The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour.