A Saucerful of Secrets has always seemed to be an incomplete document. Half the songs recorded during this period wound up being released as stand-alone singles (or remained unreleased altogether). The songs that did make the cut don't flow together especially well; Syd Barrett's "Jugband Blues" sounds especially out of place next to the other compositions.

Revisiting ASoS and including all the tracks recorded during this period might seem like an obvious choice today, but the band never planned it that way. As such, there isn't any kind of proposed running order for these songs. I've created my own tracklist, and have simply placed all the songs in roughly the order in which they were recorded, and the results are perfect. Set The Controls fits as the opener, being the only song that all five members appeared on together. With this sequencing, the album flows from Syd's last Floyd compositions to the rest of the band emulating his songwriting style, until the third act when they begin dipping their toes into the sound that would later define them.

This "Expanded Edition" is a more balanced version of their sophomore effort. Barrett plays guitar on seven songs to Gilmour's six, and one song features both. Barrett wrote five of these songs, Richard Wright and Roger Waters wrote four each, and the final track is credited to the (Gilmour lineup) full band.

This is A Saucerful of Secrets as it might have been; a true "cross fade" (as drummer Nick Mason has described the album) between the whimsical psychedelic pop of the Barrett era and the more mature, complex efforts that were to come later.

Thoughts?

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1. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (Waters)

2. Scream Thy Last Scream (Barrett)

3. Vegetable Man (Barrett)

4. Jugband Blues (Barrett)

5. In The Beechwoods (Barrett)

6. Remember A Day (Wright)

7. Apples and Oranges (Barrett)

8. Paint Box (Wright)

9. Let There Be More Light (Waters)

10. Corporal Clegg (Waters)

11. See-Saw (Wright)

12. It Would Be So Nice (Wright)

13. Julia Dream (Waters)

14. A Saucerful of Secrets (Waters-Wright-Mason-Gilmour)

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