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A Nice Pair

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A Nice Pair is a compilation album by Pink Floyd, re-issuing their first two albums—The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets—in a new gatefold sleeve. The album was released in December 1973 by Harvest and Capitol in the United States and the following month in the United Kingdom by Harvest and EMI. It reached #36 in the U.S. Billboard album charts, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in March 1994.

Release history

There are a few differences between the U.S. and U.K. issues on the first disc. Capitol Records reconstructed their edition from tapes that had already been altered for the debut U.S. album Pink Floyd (the original U.S. title for Piper) and other tapes in their possession. As explained on the back cover of the U.S. edition, songs dropped from the Pink Floyd album, "Flaming", "Astronomy Domine" and "Bike", are restored for this re-issue. But some of these songs appear in versions that are different from the U.K. "Piper" release: the eight-minute live Ummagumma recording of "Astronomy Domine" replaces the original four-minute studio recording; "Interstellar Overdrive" fades out slightly early (as it did on the U.S. debut album) and adds a few seconds of silence before "The Gnome", rather than using a segue between these songs as found on the U.K. version; and "Flaming" is an alternate mix which previously appeared on a U.S. single, and the only track to appear on this album in mono. In later pressings, the correct stereo version of "Flaming" was restored, while the other songs continued to appear in the versions described here. The American version of this album was also released in Canada.

The cover is by the Hipgnosis group, who did many other Pink Floyd covers, and consists of 2 grids of 18 small pictures of proposed but previously unused album cover designs. Several images depict a well-known phrase or saying in the form of a visual pun; for instance, the centre right-hand panel on the front depicts "a fork in the road", while the bottom right represents "a different kettle of fish". Another picture presents two puns on the album title: a nice pear, and an image of a woman's breasts; the latter is censored with a black bar on some copies, while other U.S. copies opted to cover it with a purple and white sticker over the shrink wrap. Initial copies had a picture of a Mr. W. R. Phang's dental surgery on the cover (a genuine business), but Dr. Phang objected because dentists were not allowed to advertise, and the picture was replaced with one of a gargling monk. U.S. editions from the 1980s restored both the nudity and the W. R. Phang photo.

The album was the band's next U.S. release after The Dark Side of the Moon, and introduced new fans to the earlier psychedelic sound of the Syd Barrett period of Pink Floyd, which contrasted greatly to the style of their more recent work.

Following the worldwide re-issue of the original two albums on CD, including the original U.K. version of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Nice Pair is out of print.

Track listing

All songs by Syd Barrett, except where noted.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Side one
  1. "Astronomy Domine" – 4:14
  2. "Lucifer Sam" – 3:07
  3. "Matilda Mother" – 3:08
  4. "Flaming" – 2:46
  5. "Pow R. Toc H." (Barrett / Roger Waters / Richard Wright / Nick Mason) – 4:26
  6. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" (Waters) – 3:05
Side two
  2. "Interstellar Overdrive" (Barrett / Waters / Wright / Mason) – 9:41
  3. "The Gnome" – 2:13
  4. "Chapter 24" – 3:42
  5. "The Scarecrow" – 2:11
  6. "Bike" – 3:21

A Saucerful of Secrets

Side three
  1. "Let There Be More Light" (Waters) – 5:38
  2. "Remember a Day" (Wright) – 4:33
  3. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Waters) – 5:28
  4. "Corporal Clegg" (Waters) – 4:13
Side four
  2. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (David Gilmour / Waters / Wright / Mason) – 11:57
  3. "See-Saw" (Wright) – 4:36
  4. "Jugband Blues" – 3:00

Personnel

Pink Floyd
  • Syd Barrett – lead guitar, lead vocals on British version of "Astronomy Domine", "Lucifer Sam", "Matilda Mother", "Flaming", "The Gnome", "Chapter 24", "The Scarecrow", "Bike", and "Jugband Blues"
  • David Gilmour – lead guitars, vocals, lead vocals on American version of "Astronomy Domine", "Let There Be More Light", and "Corporal Clegg"
  • Nick Mason – drums, percussion, vocals, lead vocals on "Corporal Clegg"
  • Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
  • Richard Wright – keyboards, piano, Mellotron, vibraphone, vocals, lead vocals on "Astronomy Domine", "Matilda Mother", "Remember a Day", "See-Saw", and "Let There Be More Light"
Additional personnel
  • Ray Bowes (cornet)
  • Terry Camsey (cornet)
  • Mac Carter (trombone)
  • Les Condon (E♭ bass)
  • Maurice Cooper (euphonium)
  • Ian Hankey (trombone)
  • George Whittingham (B♭ bass)
  • One other uncredited musician

Sales chart performance

Year Chart Position
1974 UK Albums Chart 21[citation needed]
1974 Billboard Pop Albums 36[citation needed]
1974 Norway's album chart 8[citation needed]
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