Saucerful of Secrets is a band learning to be a band.

It forced them to become a real collaborative unit. Before, Syd wrote almost everything. After he left (and while he slowly faded during recording), the remaining three had to figure out how to make music together. The result is messy, weird, and full of improvisation.

The title track “A Saucerful of Secrets” is basically a group composition built on jam sessions. That’s unheard of on their debut. You also get longer, more atmospheric pieces like “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (already written by Waters before Syd left, but it points where they were heading). And Syd’s own “Jugband Blues” sits right next to them like a ghost at the table.

It’s not a perfect album. But it’s the necessary bridge between the pop-psychedelia of Piper and the spacey, textured sound they’d master on Meddle and Dark Side. Without losing their frontman, they might never have learned to listen to each other.