Pink Floyd’s second album is a record caught between two bands. Barrett’s writing still shows through parts of it, but the group that made A Saucerful of Secrets is already reaching for something longer, colder, and stranger than anything on their first record.
Side One Opens
“Let There Be More Light” opens the album with a driving riff and words full of strange lights and voices from beyond, setting the tone for a record more interested in mood than in simple songs.
“Remember a Day” and “Corporal Clegg” are the weaker points here — the first a piece left over from an earlier time in the band’s history, the second a joke that does not quite come off.
“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” is where the album finds its true shape. The steady low notes and the steady, turning rhythm build the track into a kind of repeated call without stop, and it points straight at the sound the band would follow for years to come.
Turning Toward the Title Track
The title track, “A Saucerful of Secrets,” runs 12:00 and takes up most of the album’s second half. It moves like a long piece in several parts, built from noise, organ, and hard, heavy strikes before it opens into a full, singing finish. It is the boldest thing the band had tried, and for the most part it succeeds.
“See‐Saw” follows with a gentler, quieter turn, pleasant enough but easy to forget beside what comes before it.
“Jugband Blues” closes the record and closes the door on Barrett’s time with the band. It is broken apart, funny, and sad all at once, and it stands as one of the strongest things he ever wrote for Pink Floyd.
Critics Take Sides
The reviews split from the start. Rolling Stone called the record a step down from the band’s first album, saying it fell short and singling out “Let There Be More Light” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of The Sun” as weak in every part — tune, shape, and words alike.
A later review took the opposite view, describing the album as a bridge between Barrett’s short, clear early songs and the drifting material, thick with instruments, that the band moved toward afterward.
By the Numbers
- Year: 1968
- Tracks: 7
- Total time: 39 minutes
- Score from the later review: 3.5 out of 5
- Tracks singled out by critics: “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” “A Saucerful of Secrets,” “Jugband Blues,” “Let There Be More Light”
The Verdict on Saucerful of Secrets
This is not a smooth or finished piece of work, and it was never meant to be. It is a band losing one shape and finding another in real time, with all the trouble that brings. The best parts — the title piece, “Set the Controls,” “Jugband Blues” — carry the record on their own.
- Let There Be More Light5:39
- Remember a Day4:33
- Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun5:27
- Corporal Clegg4:12
- A Saucerful of Secrets12:00
- See‐Saw4:37
- Jugband Blues3:01
