This album isn’t quite what it used to be personally. I guess some of that is part of the fact that Pink Floyd were a far more compelling live band than studio at this point, and were more compelling live here than they would become even with the stronger material. There is a fair amount of filler uncommon on Pink Floyd releases. The band was in a turbulent point, Dave Gilmour was brought in to substitute for Syd Barrett when he was in any of his ‘less manageable’ moments which were becoming more and more common. The band is trying to emulate some of the uniquely Syd Barrett elements (examples here and here) with songs like See-Saw and it fails spectacularly.
Where the album really works are in the tracks which were worked into long-form (usually superior) live works that became the basis for the ‘classic’ Pink Floyd sound. Probably the best example of this is Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. The album is the definitive transitional album. Where it gets overlooked is not many people hear where it transitions to without either being there or listening to bootlegs. That said I thought the album was great when I first heard it, it’s only when you hear better versions that this comes across as some studio demos of great live tracks.
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