Line #44 Music/ASaucerfulOfSecrets


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/350x350px-f35e6da8_asaucerfulofsecrets_1479.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"One inch of love is one inch of shadow/Love is the shadow that ripens the wine/Set the controls for the heart of the sun..."'']]
3
4	->''"And the sea isn't green\
5	And I love the Queen\
6	And what exactly is a dream?\
7	And what exactly is a joke?"''
8	-->--'''"Jugband Blues"'''
9
10	''A Saucerful of Secrets'' is the second studio album by Music/PinkFloyd, released in 1968 through Creator/EMIColumbiaRecords in the UK and Tower Records in the US. It marks a turning point in Floyd's history, as it's their last studio album to feature the ailing Music/SydBarrett and their first studio album to feature David Gilmour. Barrett would only appear on 3 songs off the album, one of which he wrote ("Jugband Blues"), and another ("Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun") which is the only song to ever feature the 5-man line-up of Pink Floyd.
11
12	Preceded by ''Music/ThePiperAtTheGatesOfDawn''. Proceeded by ''Music/{{More}}''.
13	----
14
15	!!Tracklist:
16
17	[[AC:Side One]]
18
19	# "Let There Be More Light" (5:38)
20	# "Remember a Day" (4:33)
21	# "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (5:27)
22	# "Corporal Clegg" (4:12)
23
24	[[AC:Side Two]]
25
26	# "A Saucerful of Secrets" (11:59)
27	## "Something Else" (0:00 – 3:57)
28	## "Syncopated Pandemonium" (3:57 – 7:04)
29	## "Storm Signal" (7:04 – 8:38)
30	## "Celestial Voices" (8:38 – 11:52)
31	# "See-Saw" (4:36)
32	# "Jugband Blues" (3:00)
33	----
34
35	!!Principal Members:
36
37	* Music/SydBarrett – guitar, lead vocals
38	* David Gilmour - guitar, backing and co-lead vocals, kazoo
39	* Nick Mason - drums, percussion, backing and co-lead vocals, kazoo
40	* Music/RogerWaters - bass, backing and lead vocals, percussion, gong
41	* Richard Wright - lead vocals, piano, organ, mellotron, vibraphone, xylophone, tin whistle
42	----
43
44	!!Let There Be More Tropes:
45
46	* AliensInCardiff: The aliens in "Let There Be More Light" make contact with the human race at RAF Mildenhall.
47	* AlienInvasion: One interpretation of the track "A Saucerful of Secrets" (due to the 'Saucer' in the title). Another is simply any general war/invasion scene. There's the lead-up and feeling of dread/the invader(s) appearing (''Something Else'')....then the invasion/battle (''Syncopated Pandemonium'')....then surveying the damaged wasteland/Aftermath (''Storm Signal'')....then the mourning of the dead (''Celestial Voices''). Whenever from Extraterrestrials or an Earthly military, the song is definitely a depiction of an invasion scene.
48	* AlliterativeName and AlliterativeTitle: "A '''S'''aucerful of '''S'''ecrets", "'''C'''orporal '''C'''legg'', "Jug'''b'''and '''B'''lues", "'''S'''torm '''S'''ignal".
49	* ArtificialLimbs: Mentioned in "Corporal Clegg".
50	-->''Corporal Clegg had a wooden leg\
51	He won it in the war, in 1944''
52	* ChangingOfTheGuard: The album was literally recorded in the midst of Syd Barrett leaving and David Gilmour joining. Indeed, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is the only track in the entire Pink Floyd discography to have both of them on it together. The trope also shows in the music- having elements of both ''Piper'' and the later albums.
53	* CompilationRerelease: ''Saucerful'' was reissued in 1973 alongside ''Music/ThePiperAtTheGatesOfDawn'' as ''A Nice Pair''.
54	* DarkerAndEdgier: In comparison to ''Music/ThePiperAtTheGatesOfDawn'', that is.
55	* DeadpanSnarker: "Jugband Blues".
56	* DemotedToExtra: This pretty much happened to Syd Barrett as the album was being made.
57	* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The album cover, the first designed by Creator/{{Hipgnosis}}.
58	* EpicRocking: The 12 and a half minute TitleTrack.
59	* {{Foreshadowing}}: "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" actually name-drops ''Music/TheWall'', and parts of the song's lyrics come surprisingly close to what would come later on the album[[note]]"Witness the man who raves at the wall" anyone?[[/note]]. Also SelfPlagiarism when Roger Waters recycled the basic riff of "Set the Controls" for the three parts of "Another Brick in the Wall".
60	* GrandFinale: "Jugband Blues" to Syd Barrett's time with Pink Floyd.
61	* GratuitousJapanese: The Japanese release of ''Saucerful'' changed both the name of the album and the song to 神秘 (shinpi), which means "Mystery".
62	* {{Homage}}: Roger Waters admitted in an article shortly after the release of ''Saucerful'' that the lyrics to "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" were borrowed from a book of Chinese poetry, specifically A.C. Graham's translation of ''Poems of the Late Tang''.
63	* KazoosMeanSilliness: "Corporal Clegg" has kazoos on the chorus for a darkly humorous effect, to match the sardonic lyrics about a ShellShockedVeteran.
64	* {{Lampshad\|eHanging}}ing: "Jugband Blues"
65	-->''And I'm wondering who could be writing this song?''
66	* MyNaymeIs: On the original vinyl and early CD issues ''Saucerful'', David Gilmour's name was misspelled as "David Gilmore". The mistake was corrected starting with the 1994 remastered version.
67	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Saucerful'', while still very much psychedelic, is not only a lot darker, but the title track in particular is a predecessor to their later progressive epics.
68	* OneWordTitle: "See-Saw".
69	* ThePowerOfTheSun: "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is sung with an almost mystic admiration for the sun.
70	* PutOnABus: Syd Barrett during the ''Saucerful'' sessions.
71	* SanitySlippage: Happened to Syd Barrett during the album's recording sessions, and the song "Jugband Blues" is about his experiences with schizophrenia. The song effectively serves as his TakeThat to the other members of Pink Floyd and everyone else around him for their treatment of him.
72	* {{Scatting}}: "A Saucerful of Secrets".
73	* ShoutOut:
74	** The album cover is a heavily modified version of a page from the ComicBook/DoctorStrange comic "The Sands of Death", from ''Strange Tales #158'' (published the previous year).
75	** "Jugband Blues" namedrops "I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine" by Patti Page.
76	** To [[Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"]] by Music/TheBeatles on "Let There Be More Light".
77	--->''For there revealed in glowing robes\
78	Was Lucy in the sky''
79	** Many of the lyrics of "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" are lifted directly from classical Chinese poetry, much as many of the lyrics of "Chapter 24" from the previous album were taken directly from the ''I Ching''.
80	* SomethingBlues: "Jugband Blues".
81	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Syd Barrett sings lead on "Jugband Blues". Roger Waters sings lead on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and co-lead vocals on "Let There Be More Light". David Gilmour sings co-lead vocals on "Let There Be More Light", "Corporal Clegg" and "A Saucerful Of Secrets". Nick Mason sings co-lead vocals (on one of the select few Pink Floyd songs he even sings on) on "Corporal Clegg".
82	** Unusually, this is the only Pink Floyd album in which the majority of the lead vocals is done by Richard Wright.
83	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "See-Saw".
84	* TitleTrack: "A Saucerful of Secrets".
85	* [[TroubledProduction/{{Music}} Troubled Production]]: Mainly because of the problems they were having with Syd Barrett at the time.
86

Context Music / ASaucerfulOfSecrets