Question about Piper

[The Dogs of War]

Hello all. Recently, I was lucky enough to purchase a brand spanking new copy of Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Unfortunately, upon listening to it on my DVD player, I discovered the sound quality was, well, without quality! Some rather nasty static appears on Chapter 24, Pow R. Toc H., and The Gnome (*especially* Chapter 24!), and the whole album in general has a less-than-perfect soundscape. To make sure it was the CD and not the player that was giving me problems, I played Piper again on my stereo. It had the exact same problems in the exact same spots. I need to know people: Do I have a defective CD or is everybody's copy like this?

Thanks in advance.

[FloydWright]

OK, can you give me the times of the "mistakes" you're hearing?

That album DOES have some faulty mixing (PF was restricted to rather poor equipment at the time), so I'll need to check to make sure it's not that.

Also, have you physically inspected the CD itself for scratches?

[The Dogs of War]

The Gnome: irritating bursts of static at the 1:34 and 1:46 marks.
Chapter 24: *excruciating* static that begins at the 2:22 mark, but doesn't really get bad untill the 2:57 mark and continues on to the 3:19 mark.
There is also some static on Pow R. Toc H. and Take up Thy Stethoscope... that's a bit irritating but I'm not sure of the exact spots.

I could search around a bit for more static but I don't want to nitpick. You have to expect some flaws in an older recording. I'm only talking about the spots on the record that are exceptionally bad. To be fair, the only song on the album that is rendred completely unlistanable due to static is Chapter 24.

[Shane G.]

Well, I'm sorry to say that you probably have a defective copy. My copy doesen't have the static you speak of.

Make a complaint... send it back... or something. Piper is a great album. That sucks that you have a bad copy. HORRIBLE!!!

[FloydWright]

Whoa! I checked that place on Chapter 24 and a few others, and I don't hear anything like that. There are places where the mixing pans back and forth pretty badly (the end of "Interstellar Overdrive", for instance), but I don't have any problems with static.

Sounds to me you have a defective copy. I hope you kept the receipt; you may need to take it back and show them what it's doing, and get them to replace it!

I would be quite angry if I had a CD like that!

[thorin13]

yeah there is nothing wrong with mine either. you should sock someone.

[Cluster One]

Hear hear.

[Organ Grinder]

Word............>

[meddleman]

Sometimes my DVD player will do that with some CDs, not piper though

[Botley]

Read the other thread about this...

[cho.manno]

Originally posted by FloydWright
There are places where the mixing pans back and forth pretty badly (the end of "Interstellar Overdrive", for instance)

I love that kind of mixing in that moment of the song!

[FloydWright]

I don't mind it too badly, either, but the effect can be a little disorienting on occasion. I also suspect the origin of it may be in Mr. Barrett playing with the mixing controls at random.

[Botley]

No, none of the band members had anything at all to do with the sometimes awful stereo mixes. They were done long after the mono album was finished, probably while the Floyd were on tour. Whereas many of the mono mixes were done by Syd himself.

[Wonderwall]

I have never noticed any problames on that album

[Madcap Diamond]

I have a different question? Was the Gnome influenced by Lord of the Rings? The DJ who hosts Floyd Fix on the weekends at the local classic rock radio station said it was inspired by that story. Looking at the lyrics, I can't seem to find the connection. I'd like to think he's a poser, but he played One of these days from Pompeii, so he's not just a standard fan. Talk amongst yourselves.