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EMI Records managed to miss marking the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's album, but they just about made up for it with this triple-CD set, packaged in a handsome hardcover book format. It offers fans of the early Pink Floyd a chance to do something for the first time in the CD era (and for the first time since the year 1967) - immerse themselves, up to the neck at least (if not quite to the top of the head) in the Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd sound. EMI pulled out all the stops with this triple-disc set commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, containing the stereo and mono mixes of the album on two separate digital platters, and augmenting them with a bonus CD containing the band's three early singles, plus two previously unreleased alternate takes (an "alternative version" of "Matilda Mother" and "Take 6" of "Interstellar Overdrive")…

The Genuine Pig's "Ultra Rare Trax" series offers a fair sample of Pink Floyd's BBC sessions and unreleased material…

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released 5 August 1967 by EMI Columbia. The only album made under founding member Syd Barrett's leadership, it takes its title from chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, which refers to the nature god Pan, and was recorded at EMI Studios in London from February to May 1967 with producer Norman Smith. The band at the time consisted of Syd Barrett (lead vocals, lead guitar), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass, vocals), and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). Barrett also served as the band's primary songwriter, though two tracks on the album are credited to the band collectively and one track was written by Waters. The album was produced by Norman Smith, who would go on to produce two more albums for Pink Floyd.

Being the quintessential album rock band, Pink Floyd hasn't had much luck with "best-of" and "greatest-hits" compilations, like A Collection of Great Dance Songs and the bizarro follow-up, Works. Since both of those were released in the early '80s (and time travel being unavailable even to Pink Floyd), they obviously left out any tracks from the post-Roger Waters era albums. While countless hours in dorm rooms have been spent laboring over whether or not the post-Waters recordings should even be considered the "real Floyd," the later albums nonetheless stand as a further progression in the band's evolution and warrant recognition…

Appearing after the sprawling, unfocused double-album set Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother may boast more focus, even a concept, yet that doesn't mean it's more accessible. If anything, this is the most impenetrable album Pink Floyd released while on Harvest, which also makes it one of the most interesting of the era…