| A Nice Pair | ||||
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| Compilation album by Pink Floyd | ||||
| Released | December 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1967–1968 | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 79:19 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Harvest/Capitol | |||
| Producer | Norman Smith | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
| Pink Floyd compilations chronology | ||||
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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.
Contents |
There are a few differences between the U.S. and UK 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 UK 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 fine 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 UK version of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Nice Pair is out of print.
All songs by Syd Barrett, except where noted.
Cassette versions in the UK feature Piper on side one and Saucerful on side two. For the US versions, "Bike" was moved to the beginning of side two, due to the longer running length of "Astronomy Domine" on this version.
The American 8-track version moves "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" after "Bike" and before "Let There Be More Light."
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | UK Albums Chart | 21[1] |
| 1974 | Billboard Pop Albums | 36[2] |
| 1974 | Norway's album chart | 8[3] |
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