(Sort of a tribute to Syd Barrett, 1946-2006)

Roundhouse Records was this hole-in-the-wall record store on Chatsworth and Balboa in Granada Hills owned by a cool guy named Gideon who had live photos of Siouxsie and Morrissey behind the cash register. Given its location, I could easily pass the store every day while driving my secondhand Chevy Corsica home from school. Whenever I had a few extra dollars, I would stop in, talk to Gideon and buy a bunch of music. Because of this store, I have an ample collection of material from the likes Kate Bush, Siouxsie, Lush and other favorites. This is also the store where I learned to stop hating Pink Floyd.
Yes, I flat-out despised Pink Floyd as a youngin', which I credit to hearing "Money," which I still loathe, on the classic rock stations non-stop throughout my formative years. One day, though, I came across a double-CD inside Roundhouse called A Saucerful of Pink. Released off a then-new label known as Cleopatra, A Saucerful of Pink was one of, if not the, first of a slew of tribute albums the label would unleash over the next decade. I don't even know what prompted me to pick it up, but when I noticed that the album featured tracks from Sky Cries Mary, who I loved at the time, and Spahn Ranch, another favorite, I had to have it. After heading home with this and a copy of a new Bikini Kill album, I put the Pink Floyd tribute into my CD player and found a new favorite song.

Electric Hellfire Club "Lucifer Sam"
(song removed)

Budding music geek that I was, I did my research, asked the good questions and found out that the song stemmed from the Syd Barrett period of Pink Floyd. This Syd Barrett is amazing, I thought. For years, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, was the only Pink Floyd album I liked. It's still the only one I own, although I later gained appreciation for later-Floyd tracks, most of which I later learned were inspired by Barrett.

To this day, I think A Saucerful of Pink is the best tribute album released, if only for the fact that it made someone who abhored Pink Floyd grow to appreciate the band. To the best of my knowledge, this CD is out of print, but look around and you might come across it somewhere.