Pink Floyd night on BBC Four

Of course, I'll watch this again and enjoy it, but when are they going to do

ELO night
Atomic Rooster night
Curved Air night
Fairport Convention night
Planxty night
Emerson Lake and Palmer night
Alice Cooper night
Amon Duul night
Christy Moore weekend

and that neglected hardly ever mentioned band

HMHB month

Still Floyd are OK and 1 zillion times better than last Friday's effort.

Enjoy - ATB Rotf

And your special favourite Genesis featuring PC WEEK.

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
And your special favourite Genesis featuring PC WEEK.

That was last Friday - saw about 15 minutes and thought - wouldn't I rather be watching Eurovision. Sorry, I just didn't get it at all.

I don't really consider that after PG left that Genesis were prog-rock anymore - in fact I was never convinced by Lamb Lies Down. Perhaps PG thought that too and felt it was time to call it a day. Other than money though, why did they carry on.

I'm a great Creedence Clearwater Revival fan and often say Mardi Gras was the most disappointing album I ever bought and it probably was, but it did have two great songs on it. However, when I bought Trick of the Tail, I was very disappointed, it didn't have one good track on it. So I tried to watch some of that programme about Rome, but it just re-enforced my views. I know lots of folks disagree and that's fine, why not, but if there was Genesis featuring PC WEEK, I'd expect a refund on my TV licence.

You see of the bands I've mentioned

ELO made Eldorado, an absolute musical gem, they made lots of great records, but Eldorado is something very special indeed.

Atomic Rooster made three very interesting records: the first three including the superb Death Walks Behind You featuring John DuCann at his most expressive and the rather sad, but very talented Vincent Crane. I know the beeb haven't got the footage, but a documentary on VC would be really interesting.

Curved Air - what a great band, a collection of gifted musicians who knew how to play and what to play. Phantasmagoria is epic and mixes folk, classical influences, jazz and rock quite subtly.

Fairport Convention - do I need to say anything about FC. Everybody knows they were folk rock par excellence - Richard Thompson, Iain Mathews, Dave Mattocks, Simon Nicol, Judy Dyble, Dave Swarbrick and, of course, Sandy Denny.

Planxty, probably the best live band I ever seen.

Emerson Lake and Palmer are the pinnacle of 70s music; it has always been fashionable to knock them, but there are no better keyboard players in rock music than Keith and he's a nice bloke as well ..... and Brain Salad Surgery is every bit as good as DSOTM.

Alice Cooper made a series of excellent records and some pretty duff ones too, but it his best he was up there with the greats - Love it to Death, Killer, Million Dollar Babies and Welcome To My Nightmare.

Amon Düül II: I know nobody knows them, but if they don't they're missing out: Phallus Dei, Yeti, Tanz Der Lemmings, Carnival in Babylon, Wolf City, Vive La Trance, Almost Alive and Vortex. After hearing the first album, I bought every Amon Düül II record as it reached Ecstasy record shop in the midst of psychedelic Chelmsford. The Düül never disappointed.

Christy Moore: much as I like Val Doonican, I would have preferred to have the Christy Moore shown on every Saturday night. Christy has made loads of great records like Ride On.

So as you can see I think there is a lot the BBC could put on without resorting to the same old groups again. The ones we all know inside out.

So BBC please could we have a night of Frank Zappa, Greatful Dead, Kraftwerk, Soft Machine, Gentle Giant, Colosseum or Chas n Dave, but please, please, please no more PC - have mercy.

ATB Rotf

Very enjoyable, but decided to give the Sid Barrett documentary a miss, I have seen it before.

The Sid Barrett period just isn't the Pink Floyd I like, even if they could not have made those albums without having his creativity to start them off.

Thought it was a better evening of TV than the Genesis night. Collins was a great drummer and I found Hackett' s playing very appealing, but the night was mostly about the three piece who apart from Duke didn't make any music I like.

I don't find that Genesis have dated as well as many of their contemporaries. Floyd however still seems fresh in its way.

quote:

The Sid Barrett period just isn't the Pink Floyd I like, even if they could not have made those albums without having his creativity to start them off.

I'm with you on this one, OK a couple of pop songs and a load of ramblings, I thought the later band(s) were more cohesive made better music IMO.

Next Friday on Four it is Basia Bulat night. Actually it's on for 10 minutes

While on the subject of Pink Floyd, does anyone else here prefer the original CD release of 'Dark Side of the Moon' to the remastered one?

I bought the remastered version, listened through it and thought it just did not sound like the album I knew from vinyl. The key thing was that it seemed the bass had been EQ'ed out, particularly noticeable at the beginning of 'Time'.

I took it back, and exchanged it for the last unremastered copy in the shop, which I am very happy with, maybe not as clear, but has a fuller tonal range and a gentler quality to it.

I do like the remaster of 'Animals' (my favourite Floyd album), and also 'Meddle'. I still have an unremastered 'Wish You Were Here', and must compare it to the remaster sometime.

What do other people here think of the remasters, or do you stick with vinyl for these albums?

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
Next Friday on Four it is Basia Bulat night. Actually it's on for 10 minutes

More details please - I can record it and watch it a few hundred times

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:

quote:

The Sid Barrett period just isn't the Pink Floyd I like, even if they could not have made those albums without having his creativity to start them off.

I'm with you on this one, OK a couple of pop songs and a load of ramblings, I thought the later band(s) were more cohesive made better music IMO.

Of course I disagree 100%: you knew I would .

Please listen to the three CD re-issue of Piper At The Gates of Dawn, much as I like Walter's Floyd they never came close to the magic of that debut elpee or the sheer enthusiasm of the Barrett singles again. Then there are Syd's solo albums Madcap and Barrett, although not as as good as Piper, they are extraordinary - Dominoes, Baby Lemonade, Waving My Arms In The Air. Rats and Gigolo Aunt are just some of Syd's fantastic material.

I didn't watch the Syd bit, there is nothing new to say about Syd and I think I've got it on DVD in any case. I really don't ever want to see that interview in which that guy asks them Why does it have to be so loud?, the BBC kept that, but erased the TOTP footage.

How can you say Syd's great timeless lyrics were ramblings

Blam, splattered, tactile, engine
heaving, quacky, squeaky, dormy, roofy, wham
I'll have them mind blown
broken jardy, cardy, smoocho, poocho, paki, puffi
splosh eat moxy, very smelly,
cable, gable, splinter, shaddle
top the seam he's taken off

rats, rats lay down flat
we don't need you, we act like that
and if you think you're un-loved
then we know about that...
rats, rats, lay down flat!
yes, yes, yes, yes, lay down flat

says it all really.

ATB Rotf

I rest my case!

I think people like Syd's music because he was the main founder of Floyd. If you take Syd's music in isolation it isn't very talented.

I guess it was still the catalyst of how Floyd emerged, but that's as far as it goes.

Me thinks.

Jon

quote:

If you take Syd's music in isolation it isn't very talented.

Hi Jon

Once again I disagree 100% - people like it because it did far more than kick off Pink Floyd - it was influential on a whole generation of great musicians and songwriters. Even punk groups like the TV Personalities and Public Image Limited were influenced by Syd, as were Blur. Kevin Ayres one of the finest songwriters ever acknowledges his debt to Syd. David Bowie described See Emily Play as the perfect song and said he wished that he could have written a song that was as good - he record a version of it on Pinups. Syd's music survives through the generations even though regretfully Roger Keith Barrett did not.

Although Walters was a talent composer and Gilmour a decent guitarist and performer, neither had the originality and talent of Syd - I think even they would admit that - the advantage they had was they didn't destroy themselves with stupidity and they took their music more seriously.

Piper At The Gates of Dawn remains one the great 20th century albums and although Floyd made some very good records (DSOTM, WYWH and The Wall) they never matched the sheer quality and inspired genius that was apparent in Piper At The Gates of Dawn. If we are allowed to add See Emily Play and Arnold Layne to PATGOD, as they did for its American release then it enhances its quality further.

So for me Syd's greatest contribution was not that he set Pink Floyd going, but that he inspired our musical heritage and took us away from R&B and gave us the magical ingredients derived from Leer and Carroll. It was Syd's influence that inspired the Pretty Things to ditch RnB and work on SF Sorrow (an even better album than PATGOD, but one that wouldn't exist without it).

From the great 60s songwriters whose work brought that quintessentially English/British element in to play, I can only think of Ray Davies, Kevin Ayres, Robin Williamson, Mike Herron and Peter Daltrey (Kaleidoscope) that matched Syd.

BTW it was Syd who was Pink.

ATB Rotf

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
Next Friday on Four it is Basia Bulat night. Actually it's on for 10 minutes

More details please - I can record it and watch it a few hundred times

Bugger they have changed the scheduling

It's interesting how PF polarises opinion. Whilst I think See Emily Play is great and one of the best records of the Sixties I don't really rate anything else they did between 67 and 72. For me, the proper PF is the five album run from DSOTM to the Final Cut, all brilliant in my view but completely different.

I saw Roger Waters at the O2 Arena last week - amazing, spectacular and musically as good as if not better than the original recordings. I'm really glad I made the effort (twice!)to see probably the last live performance of DSOTM by a Floyd member. It was noticeable though when Roger started the Final Cut and solo stuff section a sizeable number of people felt it was the time to go out for a drink. I wouldn't have missed it for anything but obviously some don't care much for that stuff!

Anyone else go to the O2?

quote:

though when Roger started the Final Cut and solo stuff section a sizeable number of people felt it was the time to go out for a drink

having heard that album I think that is thoroughly understandable - in my view one PF's worst records ... I think music will often polarise views that's probably what makes it interesting ... after the Wall I think PF should have called it a day, not much after the Wall that was worth the effort and that would have been a great album to go out on.

Still seems I'm fighting a losing battle on this Pink Floyd thread - not that it matters, just a difference of view. I still prefer Piper, Madcap and Barrett to any of the subsequent Floyd albums. My second favourite Floyd album is Saucer Full Of Secrets. Whilst I don't dislike DSOTM (quite the opposite), I don't think it is as good as The Wall, which I think was Walters at his introspective best.

That said, I don't find any of the non-Barrett Floyd albums as memorable as the first four ELP albums or ELO's Eldorado or New World Record - hence my call for BBC4 to look beyond the half dozen or so groups it seems to rotate for its Evenings of ....., but the Beeb probably ate the footage so such opportunities are lost forever.

ATB Rotf

quote:

That said, I don't find any of the non-Barrett Floyd albums as memorable as the first four ELP albums or ELO's Eldorado or New World Record - hence my call for BBC4 to look beyond the half dozen or so groups it seems to rotate for its Evenings of ....., but the Beeb probably ate the footage so such opportunities are lost forever.

I have to agree a slightly wider net is required.

quote:

... but the Beeb probably ate the footage so such opportunities are lost forever.

After auntie suffered the embarrassing publicity about lost programmes like Dr Who,
she really got her knickers in a twist & has been very retentive ever since.

The main problem for the Beeb is getting all the required clearances to use the old materials, & this is usually what prevents these programmes being made.

quote:

Originally posted by munch:

quote:

Originally posted by BigH47:
[QUOTE]That said, I don't find any of the non-Barrett Floyd albums as memorable as the first four ELP albums or ELO's Eldorado or New World Record - hence my call for BBC4 to look beyond the half dozen or so groups it seems to rotate for its Evenings of ....., but the Beeb probably ate the footage so such opportunities are lost forever.

They did the ElO night a few months back it started with the history of all the great bands to come out of Brum in the 60s and 70s and how they evolved.

Was it called the Brummies Guide to Music?

Damn I missed it and I bet it was Wiz(z)ard, but I was too slow to Move and turn on the TV, perhaps I'm just one of the Idle Race. Oh well, no point to get the Moody Blues over it and sulk off to the Cathedral, they'll probably repeat it on Sunday week or some other Black Sabbath. If they, like the Uglys, don't lose their balls Down in the Bunker and put on yet another repeat of the Vikings.

They sometimes do classic albums - I saw a fantastic one on the Grateful Dead when Phil Lesh talked us through Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty, I wonder if they've got one on Brain Salad Surgery or Eldorado or This is the Ice Age?

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:

quote:

though when Roger started the Final Cut and solo stuff section a sizeable number of people felt it was the time to go out for a drink

having heard that album I think that is thoroughly understandable - in my view one PF's worst records ... I think music will often polarise views that's probably what makes it interesting ... after the Wall I think PF should have called it a day, not much after the Wall that was worth the effort and that would have been a great album to go out on.

Still seems I'm fighting a losing battle on this Pink Floyd thread - not that it matters, just a difference of view. I still prefer Piper, Madcap and Barrett to any of the subsequent Floyd albums. My second favourite Floyd album is Saucer Full Of Secrets. Whilst I don't dislike DSOTM (quite the opposite), I don't think it is as good as The Wall, which I think was Walters at his introspective best.

ATB Rotf

I think the final cut is a terrific album, hard to compare to DSOM etc until I've heard it a few hundred times.

Missed out on the early Pink Floyd but the BBC4 programs have got me interested.

Probably not a popular view, but I really do not like 'The Wall' as an album, and in the exactly the same way that I do not like Genesis 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'.

For those whose focus is on lyrics and narrative then I fully understand the appeal of these albums.

As someone whose focus in music is on the instrumental playing, and the experimentation in how songs/tracks can be constructed I find the balance between music and narrative has moved far way from what appeals to me in the other works by Pink Floyd (and Genesis).

I do like 'Comfortably Numb' and a few other tracks in isolation (all those co-written by Gilmour), but 'The Wall' is not an album I would choose to listen through in its entirety.

Not surprisingly my favourite Pink Floyd albums are 'Animals' and 'Wish You Were Here', which are perhaps too dominant on the instrumental passages for some.

Interesting view Jamie - I do like The Wall, but am not keen on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway where I thought Peter Gabriel was just Counting Out Time until he could escape to Solisbury Hill. Trespass is my favourite Genesis album, but perhaps it is because it is more song-based.

ATB Rotf