Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets

A Saucerful of Secrets is the second studio album by the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd, originally released in June 1968 via EMI Columbia in the UK.

Pink Floyd were founded in 1965 by students Syd Barrett on guitar, Nick Mason on drums, Roger Waters on bass, and Richard Wright on keyboards. They gained popularity performing in London's underground music scene during the late 1960s, and under Barrett's leadership released two charting singles Arnold Layne and See Emily Play, and their successful debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn in 1967. Guitarist David Gilmour joined in December 1967 and Barrett left in April 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. 

A Saucerful of Secrets was released on 29 July 1968 in the United Kingdom via EMI Columbia and released on 27 July 1968 in the United States via Tower Records. The album was recorded before and after Syd Barrett's departure from the group. Owing to Barrett's behaviour becoming increasingly unpredictable, Barrett was forced to leave the band and David Gilmour effectively replaced Barrett on guitar and vocal duties.

As a result, A Saucerful of Secrets became the only non-compilation Pink Floyd album on which all five band members appeared, the first for Gilmour, with him appearing on five songs (Let There Be More Light, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Corporal Clegg, A Saucerful of Secrets and See-Saw), and the last for Barrett, with him on three (Remember a Day, Jugband Blues and Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun).

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun was the only song all five members appeared on together. The band's drummer Nick Mason has declared A Saucerful of Secrets to be his favourite Pink Floyd album.

Like The Piper at the Gates of Dawn before it, the album contains space rock and psychedelic rock songs. However, unlike Piper, which was dominated by Barrett's compositions, A Saucerful of Secrets contains only one Barrett original: Jugband Blues. Richard Wright sings or shares lead vocals on four of the album's seven songs, and contributes vocals on the eleven-and-a-half-minute instrumental opus A Saucerful of Secrets, making this the only Pink Floyd album where his vocal contributions outnumber those of the rest of the band.

This is the first of several Pink Floyd album covers that were designed by Hipgnosis, and was only the second time that an EMI group (The Beatles were the first) was permitted to hire outside designers for an album jacket. The album was released in the UK on EMI's Columbia label as both mono and stereo LPs, reaching number 9 in the UK charts. In the US, the album failed to chart, which is the only Pink Floyd album to do so.

Let There Be More Light was released as a single from the album. A promotional video was shot for the song Jugband Blues, but not released as a single.

The album received mixed reviews upon release. While promoting 2014's The Endless River, Nick Mason named A Saucerful of Secrets as his favourite of Pink Floyd's studio albums. “I think there are ideas contained there that we have continued to use all the way through our career,” he says. “I think [it] was a quite good way of marking Syd [Barrett]’s departure and Dave [Gilmour]’s arrival. It’s rather nice to have it on one record, where you get both things. It’s a cross-fade rather than a cut.”

In May 2016 it was announced that the complete Pink Floyd catalogue would be made available on vinyl for the first time in over two decades, with the first four studio albums being released on 3 June 2016. Special care has been taken to replicate the original packaging. The first batch of releases, mastered by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Bernie Grundman have been pressed on 180gram vinyl for optimum sound quality.

This LP Record is the 2016 Stereo Remastered Album on 180 Gram Heavyweight Vinyl, pressed in the U.S.