Pink Floyd

Piper At The Gates of Yawn?

Defending my position, as I feel I have to, because of this being a serious area of discussion unlike those perpetual debates on global warming I postulate the following:

When Piper was released, Mr Roger Keith Barrett's group were known as The Pink Floyd. On subsequent albums they became merely Pink Floyd.

As Piper is the only album released by The Pink Floyd - I feel I'm right in advocating it was their best.

The subsequent group called Pink Floyd of which David Jon Gilmour CBE was a member also released some fine elpees - as there was more than one of these then al f has my complete agreement, not that he needs it, that the best albums are subjective to individual taste. to say one is better than the other is mere personal oppinion, its not factual.

I hope that clarifies what I see as a very important issue of which you'll no doubt hear more on a special 4-hour documentary I'm thinking of making for BBC4 call By the way which one's Syd - compulsive viewing: not 'arf.

ATB Rotf

Rotf, you are of course spot on, it is THE best album by THE pink floyd, as it has no equal nor competition.

for me, other than Waters Amused, there have been two albums that are up there, and that is momentory lapse and division bell. i wouldnt say it was their best, but for me, they are the ones that get the most play time on my vinyl spinner. Syd has that childlike imagination in his lyrics that non of the others capture, but Waters solo stuff is more a political way of lyricism, nothing childlike nor daydreamer like.
floyds earlier stuff imo, is experimental, and thats what put them on the road to being, probably, the greatest band. imo of course!

I have to put a point in here.

Rotf: I believe that amongst the Floydians, you are in the minority being an avid fan of Syd's work. I personally also love Floyd, but Syd's contibition for me is just the foundations for what went astronomical in his absence. Total respect I must stress nonetheless.

Al f: Welcome to the machine!

My favourite Floyd is the middle group when Waters took the reigns with Gilmore, Wright and Mason.

If one were to take Waters solo music and Gilmore solo music (alongside Momentary Lapse and Division Bell), one can conclude the following:

Lyrically, Waters wins totally - and I know politics and war have been great contributers.

Musically, Gilmore based music is far better.

The sad thing is that they needed that friction to create musical masterpieces, but of course artistic friction has a short half-life....

...and it will never happen again.

Regards,

Jon

I think I prefer PF when they were trying to do lengthy pieces, in both the Barrett and post-Barrett eras. So I like tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive", "Set the controls for the heart of the sun", "Saucerful of Secrets", "Atom Heart Mother", "Wish you were Here", and my all-time favourite, the mighty "Echoes".

And I get less keen of PF when they started to try to "say something" which began with Dark Side of the Moon (a classic album nonetheless) Like many bands, I find there is a sort of tailing off in terms of quality, and I am not so keen on stuff after The Wall.

My Top Floyd Albums
Meddle
Ummagumma (only the live bit)
Dark Side of the Moon
Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Wish you were here
Atom Heart Mother
Animals

quote:

Originally posted by al f:
R

for me, other than Waters Amused, there have been two albums that are up there, and that is momentory lapse and division bell.

Have to disagree with you alf. A Momentary Lapse is the worst record ever to be released under the Floyd name. It's awful, all mullets and MIDI, with terrible lyrics of breathtaking banality, rubbish dated 80s production tropes, slap bass (aaargh!) all topped off with Scott Page's oafish sax parps.

"Dogs of War" is simply the worst PF song ever released (back in the late 80s, readers of the esteemed Floyd fanzine The Amazing Pudding voted it just that), while "Learning to Fly" is just really bourgeois. Mason and Wright barely feature, and it's a Gilmour record in all but name. The accompanying live record/video Delicate Sound Of Thunder is similarly crap. The Division Bell is much, much better but still a long way off the best of the Waters-era Floyd.

The post-Waters Floyd seemed a great idea back in '87 (I bought into it) but with hindsight it was a terrible mistake and has tainted this great group's legacy. While I can see Gimour's point in wanting to carry on, it turns out that Roger Waters was right all along...

We all appreciate different PF albums.
Maybe the Syd stuff is age depandant? I simply cant get into the psychedellic stuff penned by the original line-up. There are only a couple of songs that I can listen to. Again my opinion!

The Wall and The Final Cut are my faves.

Cheers
Pete

Pete,

Then you are obviously a Roger Waters fan - nothing wrong with that, welcome to the club!

Mike

Interesting (& opinionated!) piece on Pink Floyd live shows. I need to seek out some of these boots as I do like the pre-DTSOTM period (Meddle/Atom Heart Mother etc)

Pink Floyd Reappraised - The Quietus

I loved Meddle hearing it once on the radio and not knowing who it was. Then a roomie last year of college had a TT and small collection of records. I bought it after college and then again when I got my Naim system. LOve that dog howling. Fits of giggles when friends hear it and give a strange look as my roommate laughed when I heard it the first time in 75.