Artist: PINK FLOYD
Album: A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS REMASTERED (CD)

Year: 1968/ 1994
Media type: CD

A Saucerful of Secrets is the second album by rock band Pink Floyd, and arguably one of the first progressive rock albums. It was recorded at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, at various dates from August, 1967 to April, 1968. Due to Syd Barrett's declining mental state, this would be the last Pink Floyd album that he would work on. 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 five songs (Let There Be More Light, Corporal Clegg, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, A Saucerful of Secrets, and See-Saw) and Barret 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 deranged 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". 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.

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). 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.

TRACKLIST:

"Let There Be More Light" (Roger Waters) – 5:38
Lead vocals: Rick Wright, David Gilmour, and Roger Waters
"Remember a Day" (Rick Wright) – 4:33
Lead vocals: Rick Wright
"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Roger Waters) – 5:28
Lead vocals: Roger Waters
"Corporal Clegg" (Roger Waters) – 4:13
Lead vocals: David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Roger Waters

"A Saucerful of Secrets" (Roger Waters/Rick Wright/David Gilmour/Nick Mason) – 11:57
Instrumental
"See-Saw" (Rick Wright) – 4:36
Lead vocals: Rick Wright
"Jugband Blues" (Syd Barrett) – 3:00
Lead vocals: Syd Barrett

LINE-UP:

Roger Waters – bass guitar, lead vocals
David Gilmour – 1960s Blonde Ash Fender Telecaster, lead vocals (incorrectly spelled "Gilmore" on the album)
Rick Wright – piano, organ, mellotron, vibraphone, lead vocals
Nick Mason – drums, percussion, vocals
Syd Barrett – rhythm guitar, lead 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".