Pink Floyd: "Piper at the Gates of Dawn"

2007 is Pink Floyd's 40th anniversary, and to mark this milestone, a 3-CD special edition of the band's debut album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, originally released on August 5, 1967, will be available on August 28 from Capitol/EMI in the U.S., and in the U.K. and Europe on September 3 from EMI Records. The 3-CD package includes mono and stereo mixes of the original album, plus the band's 1967 singles and previously unreleased and rare bonus tracks.

The packaging, designed by longtime Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson, resembles a cloth-covered book with the original Vic Singh photo on the front, and holds the three CDs, along with an eight-page reproduction of one of Syd Barrett's notebooks. Newly remastered by James Guthrie, the first two discs contain the full 'Piper' album, represented in both stereo and mono mixes. The third disc includes bonus tracks, including all of Pink Floyd's singles from 1967 ("Arnold Layne," "See Emily Play," and "Apples And Oranges"), plus the B-sides "Candy And A Current Bun" and "Paintbox." Other tracks include an exclusive edit of "Interstellar Overdrive," previously available only on an EP released in France, and the 1967 stereo version of "Apples And Oranges," which has never before been officially released.

The album's title, The Piper At The Gates of Dawn, came from the seventh chapter of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows. It was the fledgling Pink Floyd's first album, charting at Number 6 in the U.K. The band members were guitarist, singer, and main songwriter Syd Barrett, bassist Roger Waters, keyboardist Rick Wright and drummer Nick Mason. The album was recorded in Abbey Road's Studio 3 and produced by EMI resident producer, Norman Smith, while the Beatles were in the studio next door working on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

"Barrett's flair for the unpredictable still has the power to knock you off balance" - BLENDER

The current single-disc version of The Piper At The Gates of Dawn is now replaced by the new two-disc version that will feature the mono and stereo versions of the album. This package will not include the Syd Barrett booklet or the third disc of extras.