A Saucerful of Secrets - Recording and Structure

Recording and Structure

The album was recorded at EMI Studios in London. The first songs recorded for the album were Roger Waters' "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and an unreleased Barrett track, "Scream Thy Last Scream", were both recorded on 7–8 August 1967. The band went to De Lane Lea Studios on 19 October to record "Jugband Blues". Producer Norman Smith was asked to book a Salvation Army band, at Barrett's request. The band also recorded "Remember a Day" at the sessions; the song features Barrett on slide guitar. The band took a break from the album sessions to record what become their record single, "Apples and Oranges", on 26 and 27 October. The band recorded the B-side, "Paint Box", a few days later. A few days after recording "Paint Box", the band went on a tour of the US. Partway through a tour of the UK, "Apples and Oranges" was released as a single in November, failing to chart. The band eventually went back to De Lane Lea and recorded the unreleased track "Vegetable Man". For two days from 10 January 1968, the Floyd reconvened at EMI Studios, attempting to work on older tracks: Waters' vocals and Wright's organ were overdubbed on to "Set the Controls", while Mason added vocals to "Scream Thy Last Scream".

When Gilmour joined the band, the Floyd performed briefly as a five-man piece, from 12 January till the 20th. For a handful of shows Gilmour played and sang while Barrett wandered around on stage, occasionally deciding to join in playing. In between these five-piece gigs, the group rehearsed a few Waters-penned songs on 15 and 16 January. During the next session on 18 January, the band, joined by Smith, jammed on rhythm tracks; Barrett didn't attend this session. The band recorded "Let There Be More Light", "Corporal Clegg" and "See-Saw" all without Barrett, despite manager Andrew King claiming Barrett performed the slide solo at the end of "Let There Be More Light". The other band members soon grew tired of Barrett's antics and, on 26 January 1968, when Waters was driving on the way to a show at Southampton University, picking the members up on the way, the band elected not to pick Barrett up: one person in the car said, "Shall we pick Syd up?" and another said, "Let's not bother." Barrett was finally ousted from the band in late January 1968, leaving the new incarnation of Pink Floyd to finish the album; "Set the Controls" is the only song on which all five band members appeared. After Barrett was ousted, the band struggled to come up with material for the album.

From February 1968, the band performed and recorded as a four-piece, the first tracks they recorded were "It Would Be So Nice" and "Julia Dream". In early February it was announced the Waters-penned track, "Corporal Clegg" would be the band's next single, however, due to pressure from the label, the band abandoned releasing "Corporal Clegg", and placed it on the album instead. Wright's "It Would Be So Nice" was released in April was a single, with "Julia Dream" on the B-side. Throughout April, the band was taking stock of the songs recorded up to that point. Waters blocked releasing the Barrett tracks "Vegetable Man" and "Scream Thy Last Scream" on the album, though the band retained "Jugband Blues", and the Waters-written "Set the Controls" which Barrett played on. With not enough material to fill the album's last 12 minutes, the band started piecing together several pieces of material—that the finished song the band later said that they felt happy with—that was to become the title track of the album, "A Saucerful of Secrets". Mason and Waters planned the track out as if it were a architectural design, including peaks and troughs. Producer Smith didn't like the song stating to them that they "just can't do this, it's too long. You have to write three-minute songs." On 25 June, the band recorded another session for Top Gear, the session feature two tracks from Saucerful: "Let There Be More Light" and a shortend retitled version of the title track, titled here as "The Massed Gadgets of Hercules".