Pink Floyd is practically synonymous with the genre of psychedelic rock. Right from the opening moments of their 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, their music takes its listeners to another dimension. Throughout their catalog, Pink Floyd has employed unusual sounds and panning techniques that create a very trippy experience.
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The centrality of psychedelia to Pink Floyd’s music has waned over the years, so in curating a list of the band’s five most psychedelic songs, the albums from 1977’s Animals forward are not represented here. The latter part of their discography has its moments, but if you want to hear the version of Pink Floyd that is positively steeped in psychedelia, these tracks offer the best starting point.
5. “Flaming“
This song from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, written and sung by Syd Barrett, features a distantly whirring Farfisa organ, a droning Hammond organ, bells, and the clicking sound of toys being wound up. Barrett accompanies this concoction of sounds with lyrics about sitting on unicorns and sleeping on dandelions. The scene is definitely not of this earth.
4. “Welcome to the Machine“
The entirety of 1975’s Wish You Were Here has a spacy feel, but no track from the album has a greater psychedelic vibe than this one. It begins with the whirring, buzzing, and pulsating noises of the titular machine, and the spareness of the arrangement throughout gives the listener a feeling that is both ethereal and sinister. Despite the song’s bleak message of disillusionment with the rock star lifestyle, it takes us on a beautiful sonic journey.
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3. “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun“
Just the title of this Roger Waters composition from A Saucerful of Secrets lets you know you’re in for a cosmic adventure. The repetition of the song’s main riff and Nick Mason’s incessant drum pattern (played with timpani mallets) are entrancing, and Waters’ pillow-soft vocals and the ringing sound of a vibraphone, played by Richard Wright, make the song all the more mesmerizing.
2. “Time”
Any number of tracks from Dark Side of the Moon could have made this list, but there was absolutely no way that this song could be omitted. The onslaught of alarms and chimes at the song’s beginning disorient the listener, and then Mason’s echoing rototoms take us on yet another trip through space and…you guessed it…time.
1. “A Saucerful of Secrets”
The title track from Pink Floyd’s 1968 album fills the first 12 minutes of Side 2, and is a suite consisting of four movements. The first of these movements, “Something Else,” starts quietly with a spooky organ and a variety of sound effects, ultimately reaching a dramatic crescendo after four minutes. The second movement, “Syncopated Pandemonium,” is truth in advertising, as discordant piano chords play over a looped drum pattern. The spooky organ returns briefly for “Storm Signal,” which then gives way to the concluding movement, “Celestial Voices.” Each section is distinct, which creates the experience of embarking on a distant journey. The trip is mostly a bumpy and disturbing one, but the mellotron and chorus of “celestial voices” in the song’s concluding movement provide for a reassuring and safe return to everyday life.
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