''A Nice Pair'' is a compilation album by
Pink Floyd, re-issuing their first two albums—''
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 5 August 1967 by EMI Columbia. It is the only Pink Floyd album made under the leadership of founding member Syd Barrett (lead vocals, g ...
'' and ''
A Saucerful of Secrets''—in a new
gatefold
A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...
sleeve. The album was released in December 1973 by
Harvest and
Capitol
A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity.
Specific capitols include:
* United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
* Numerous ...
in the United States and the following month in the United Kingdom by Harvest and
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
. It reached number 36 in the US ''
Billboard'' album charts, and was certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in March 1994.
Release history and track variations
There are a few differences between the US and UK issues on the first disc of this compilation. In the US
Harvest Records
Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969.
History
Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...
and its distributor
Capitol Records reconstructed their edition from tapes that had been previously altered for the debut 1967 US album ''Pink Floyd'' (the original U.S. title for ''Piper'') and other recordings, which were cut from the UK version. As explained in a note on the back cover of the US edition of ''A Nice Pair'', songs dropped from the US 1967 ''Pink Floyd'' album, "
Flaming", "
Astronomy Domine" and "
Bike
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
", are restored for this re-issue.
However, some of the restored songs appear in versions that are different from the UK ''Piper'' release: the eight-minute live ''
Ummagumma
''Ummagumma'' is the fourth album by English rock band Pink Floyd. It is a double album and it was released on 7 November 1969 by Harvest Records. The first disc consists of live recordings from concerts at Mothers Club in Birmingham and the Co ...
'' recording of "Astronomy Domine" replaces the original four-minute studio recording; "
Interstellar Overdrive
"Interstellar Overdrive" is an instrumental composition written and performed by Pink Floyd. The song was written in 1966 and is on their 1967 debut album, '' The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'', clocking in at almost ten minutes in length.
The so ...
" fades out slightly early (as it did on the US debut album) and adds a few seconds of silence before "
The Gnome
"The Gnome" is a song by the English Rock music, rock band Pink Floyd. Written by Syd Barrett, it is the eighth song on their 1967 debut album, ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn''. The song takes place in a Fiction, fictional gnome world from th ...
", rather than using a segue between these songs as found on the UK version; and "Flaming" is an alternate mix and edit which previously appeared on a US single, and the only track to appear on this album in mono. In later pressings, the correct stereo version of "Flaming" was restored, while the other songs continued to appear in the versions described here. The US version of this album was also released in Canada.
Cover art
The cover is by
Hipgnosis
Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10c ...
, who designed many other Pink Floyd covers, and consists of four grids of nine small images, including some proposed but previously unused album cover designs. Several images depict a well-known phrase or saying in the form of a
visual pun
A visual pun is a pun involving an image or images (in addition to or instead of language), often based on a rebus.
Visual puns in which the image is at odds with the inscription are common in cartoons such as ''Lost Consonants'' or ''The Far ...
; for instance, the centre right-hand panel on the front depicts "a
fork in the road
Fork in the road may refer to:
* Fork (intersection), the point at which a road branches into two
* Fork in the road (metaphor), a metaphor for making a decision
Film and television
* ''A Fork in the Road'' (TV series), a 1992–2006 Australia ...
", while the bottom right represents "a fine kettle of fish". Another picture presents two puns on the album title: a nice
pear
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...
, and an image of a woman's pair of breasts; the latter is censored with a black bar on some copies, while other US copies opted to cover it with a purple and white sticker over the shrink wrap. Initial copies had a picture of a Mr. W.R. Phang's dental surgery on the cover (a genuine business photographed in Hammersmith, west London), but Dr. Phang objected because NHS dentists were not permitted to advertise, and the picture was replaced with one of a gargling monk. US editions from the 1980s restored both the nudity and the W.R. Phang photo. The selection of band photos on the inside cover also varies, with some copies including a photo of a shirtless, disturbed-looking Syd Barrett from ''
The Madcap Laughs
''The Madcap Laughs'' is the debut solo album by the English singer-songwriter Syd Barrett. It was recorded after Barrett had left Pink Floyd in April 1968. The album had a chequered recording history, with work beginning in mid-1968, but the ...
'' cover photo session, while others replace it with a photo of a smiling Barrett sitting by a car.
The album was the band's next US release after ''
The Dark Side of the Moon
''The Dark Side of the Moon'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album was primarily developed during live performances, and the band premiered an early version of ...
'', and introduced new fans to the earlier psychedelic sound of the
Syd Barrett period of Pink Floyd, which contrasted greatly to the style of their more recent work. Following the worldwide re-issue of the original two albums on CD, including the original UK version of ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'', ''A Nice Pair'' is now out of print.
Track listing
All songs by
Syd Barrett, except where noted.
''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn''
;Side one
;Side two
''A Saucerful of Secrets''
;Side three
;Side four
Cassette versions in the UK feature ''Piper'' on side one and ''Saucerful'' on side two. For the US versions, "Bike" was moved to the beginning of side two, due to the longer running length of "Astronomy Domine" on this version.
United States release
The US 8-track version alters the running order more radically.
;Program 1
#"Astronomy Domine"
#"Lucifer Sam"
#"Matilda Mother"
#"Flaming"
#"Pow R. Toc H."
;Program 2
#"Interstellar Overdrive"
#"The Gnome"
#"Chapter 24"
#"The Scarecrow"
#"Bike"
;Program 3
#"Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk"
#"Let There Be More Light"
#"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
#"Corporal Clegg"
#"Jugband Blues"
;Program 4
#"A Saucerful of Secrets"
#"See Saw"
#"Remember a Day"
Personnel
;Pink Floyd
*
Syd Barrett –
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
s,
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
on British version of "Astronomy Domine", "Lucifer Sam", "Matilda Mother", "Flaming", "Pow R. Toc H.", "The Gnome", "Chapter 24", "The Scarecrow", "Bike", and "Jugband Blues"
*
David Gilmour – guitars,
kazoo
The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifie ...
, vocals, lead vocals on American version of "Astronomy Domine", "Let There Be More Light", and "Corporal Clegg"
*
Nick Mason –
drums,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
, kazoo, vocals, lead vocals on "Corporal Clegg"
*
Roger Waters –
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
, percussion, vocals, lead vocals on "Pow R. Toc H.", "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk", "Let There Be More Light", and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
*
Richard Wright –
Farfisa
Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professio ...
and
Hammond organs,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
,
tack piano
A tack piano (also known as a harpsipiano, jangle piano, and junk piano) is an altered version of an ordinary piano, in which objects such as thumbtacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the ha ...
,
electric piano,
Mellotron,
harmonium
The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...
,
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...
,
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
,
celesta,
xylophone
The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...
,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
,
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...
, vocals, lead vocals on British and American versions of "Astronomy Domine", "Matilda Mother", "Remember a Day", "See-Saw", "Let There Be More Light", and "Corporal Clegg"
;Additional personnel
*
Peter Jenner
Peter Julian Jenner (born 3 March 1943) is a British music manager and a record producer. Jenner, Andrew King and the original four members of Pink Floyd were partners in Blackhill Enterprises.
Early career
Peter Jenner is the son of Willia ...
– intro vocalisations on British and American version of "Astronomy Domine"
*
Norman Smith – drums and
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...
on "Remember a Day" and
drum roll
A drum roll (or roll for short) is a technique used by percussionists to produce a sustained sound for the duration of a written note.Cirone, Anthony J. (1991). Simple Steps to Snare Drum', p.30-31. Alfred. . "The purpose of the roll is t ...
on "Interstellar Overdrive", producer
*The Salvation Army (The International Staff Band) on "Jugband Blues"
;Cover design
* Sleeve design by
Hipgnosis
Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10c ...
* Graphics by
Richard Evans
* Illustrations by Colin Elgie, Bob Lawrie
Charts and certifications
Charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nice Pair, A
Albums produced by Norman Smith (record producer)
Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis
Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson
Pink Floyd compilation albums
1974 compilation albums
Capitol Records compilation albums
Harvest Records compilation albums
EMI Records compilation albums