As some of you will be aware, there have been some minor variances to the release date of the 40th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd's debut album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

We have clarification here of what the dates are, some important information regarding the contents of the release (and how some previously unreleased material was uncovered), and a video taster to whet your appetite...

For the UK market, the release date of the 2CD and 3CD editions was cemented as September 3rd. In the US, as many of you in North America have found, the 2CD edition was released two days ago, on September 4th. The 3CD edition will hit the stores on September 11th. Other countries and regions have similar dates to these.

The move of the release dates was for a good reason: while searching the EMI and Abbey Rd archives for the original master tapes to be used in this release, it became clear that the producers had unearthed some previously unreleased versions of tracks from the 'Piper' sessions. In order to allow these rare and previously unreleased new versions to be included on this special anniversary edition, it was necessary to move the album release date.

The 3CD packaging, designed by longtime Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson, is very nicely done, and resembles a cloth-covered book with the original Vic Singh photo on the front, and holds 3 CDs, along with a reproduction of one of Syd Barrett's notebooks. Due to legal reasons, page 13 of the booklet is intentionally blank but this omission is not a major loss.

Newly remastered by James Guthrie, discs 1 and 2 contain the full 'Piper' album, represented in both stereo and mono versions. Disc 3 includes bonus tracks, including the following: all the Pink Floyd singles from 1967, ('Arnold Layne', 'See Emily Play', and 'Apples And Oranges'), plus the B-sides 'Candy And A Current Bun' and 'Paintbox' as well as previously unissued versions of 'Matilda Mother', 'Apples And Oranges' (1967 stereo version) and two rare edits of 'Interstellar Overdrive', one previously only available on an EP in France (French Edit) and take six of the track from the original recording sessions discovered in the EMI archive.

When the re-mastering of this groundbreaking album started to come together, a collector loaned EMI a copy of the original French EP; much to the surprise of Guthrie it was a different version of 'Interstellar Overdrive' to what had been supplied from the EMI archive...

Guthrie explains: “Whereas the French release used the same take as that later used on the album albeit in a shortened and pre-overdubbed form, this version was more structured and clearly not from the same take. The tape box information was emphatic this was the French edit. The 40 year old job files were pulled and only confirmed the same information listed on the tape box.”

Following investigation into the reason behind this, it was discovered that this version was an unreleased mix from take six of the original session, it also materialised that a different version of 'Matilda Mother' had been recorded - it had the same backing track as the album version, but the verse vocal and lyrics are different.

A shame that the two most notable "missing" tracks from the era - 'Vegetable Man' and 'Scream Thy Last Scream' - were not included in the edition, but apart from this, it is a well-packaged, and thoughtfully put together collection. A fitting tribute to the original album.

The current single-disc version of The Piper At The Gates of Dawn has been replaced with the new two-disc version that features the mono and stereo versions of the album. This package doesn't include the Syd Barrett booklet or the third disc of extras.

ORDERING INFORMATION

The release can be ordered through the following links, some of which at a discount at time of writing:

3CD set: Amazon US/International, Canada, UK/Europe, France, or Germany
2CD set: Amazon US/International, Canada, UK/Europe, France, or Germany

VIDEO PREVIEW - ARNOLD LAYNE

As a taster, to get you in the mood, here's the original 1967 promo video for Arnold Layne, courtesy of our friends over at EMI. Just pick your preferred format and quality (dependent on your connection speed)...

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