A Saucerful of Secrets was the second Pink Floyd album, recorded amidst the drug-fueled psychic breakdown that led to original bandleader Syd Barret being rather unceremoniously dumped from the lineup. Barrett himself only features on two tracks, and as you can probably well imagine the result is a fairly rudderless album, though not without its pleasures.

Barrett’s two appearances are definitely the highlights of the album. “Jugband Blues” is a rather bitter, resentful, and disjointed look at a man aware his friends are already deeply tired of his shit and wanting one last sardonic laugh at their expense before it’s all over, all backed by a brass band borrowed from the Salvation Army, while “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” is a mellow, almost meditative rhythmic piece that is the only song in Pink Floyd’s entire discography to feature all five core members of the band. It’s this album more than any other that gave the Floyd a reputation for writing “space rock”, a label they would studiously flee from for many years afterward, though all the tracks dealing with space are reasonably enjoyable.

The weak link, I suppose, is “Corporal Clegg”, a goofy psychedelia song about a man who habitually steals valor and his drunken wife or mother having to put up with it that features a vanishingly rare lead vocal performance from drummer Nick Mason, who counts this as his favorite of the studio albums. As for me, I’m sure I feel much the same about the track as Mrs. Clegg feels about her own corporal.