To be honest, I'm not sure what I can really add critically to these that hasn't been said a million times, so I'll be mostly focusing on more on the personal side for these and what these albums have come to mean for me. I should also establish some expectations, though. While I grew up listening to the band due to my father, he was never very interested in the psychedelic stuff, largely focusing on the 70s and the handful that came out after. As such, my remarks about every album before Meddle are going to be more historical than personal, as I generally listen to them in more of an academic mindset.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
The beginning! After tearing up the underground scene and making an impact with some quirky singles, this band of architecture students, led by the more artistic Syd Barrett, were allowed to put together an album. Guided to largely avoid their extended space-rock jams, the album has some pretty mixed qualities.
While the do get in some psychedelic chops, largely through "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive," the rest of the songs seem to bounce between folky, fairy-tale-like numbers and weirder Beatles pastiches (which does make sense, as the band was allowed to watch The Beatles record some of their material for Sgt. Pepper). The result is quite the mixed bag of songs that awkwardly lurch around, shifting from idea to idea in a scattershot manner. Still, it's easy to see their experimental nature peeking out, as I'm sure there was nothing quite like this at the time. Even their Beatles-esque songs are uniquely quirky in that Syd Barrett way, conveying the tone of fairy tales, whimsy, and lost innocence that has always been a part of his sound.
As I mentioned in the introduction, this isn't an album I grew up with, but had to come back to later as I became curious about the rest of the band's discography. While I do hear some of the elements of the band I grew up hearing, it's clearly in its infancy, deep in the psychedelic context of its inception. I do enjoy the space rock elements (and I'll listen to "Bike" upon occasion), but this isn't really an album that stays with me like their later ones do.
A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
Once the band had an album under their belt, they were really growing as a live act. However, Barrett was becoming more difficult to work with, resulting in bringing in David Gilmour to cover his parts for their live shows. Eventually, they decided to let him go, something Barrett himself seemed to be aware of, considering the lyrics of "Jugland Blues," one of the few compositions he provided for the album.
Still, with only a few pieces recorded at the time, the rest of the band had to come up with stuff on their own without Syd. The result is largely more of the same, but with maybe a bit more confidence. "Let There Be More Light" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" carry on their space-rock side, but with a more controlled and moody tone. Wright provided "Remember a Day" and "See-Saw" which are like the whimsical singles Syd had provided before, though "See-Saw" makes more use of psychedelic effects. "Corporal Clegg" is another Beatles-esque jaunt, with the addition of kazoos. However, the main piece is the title track, a 12-minute epic, full of abstract noise and bizarre rhythms before settling into a kind of mournful hymn. The album ends with the anarchic "Jugland Blues," and you really do feel going mad just listening to it, especially when the marching band comes through.
As this is another album I had to come to later, it's an odd mix. While it's very much like the first album, it also has stronger traces of the grandiose melancholy the band would become known for, largely in moody "Set the Controls...." The rest are just novel at best and don't really stick with me beyond "well that was weird," so it hasn't really been an album I come back to.
More (1969)
While this isn't the first time the band had recorded for a movie soundtrack, it was definitely the most they had written and recorded for one. It was also their first full-album effort without their musical center Syd Barrett, and the result is once again a mixed bag.
Of course, a lot of that has to do with the band trying a lot of new styles and ideas. Not only are their a number of folky, acoustic ballads and meditative pieces, but they wander into more eclectic and avant-garde ideas, like the jazzy "Up the Khyber," the tribal beats of "Party Sequence," and the very moody and ambient sounds in "The Main Theme" and "Quicksilver." They also try out some harder rock riffing, with "The Nile Song" and "Ibiza Bar." There are some nice moments here and there, but they're pretty infrequent.
As an album, it's pretty scattered, without much of a spine or concept to hold these songs together other than their use in the film's soundtrack. While it's hard to say if it's their worst material, it is surprisingly bland and underwhelming compared to their better known works. Again, I came to this one later in my life, and without the psychedelic edge of the Barrett albums or the melancholic majesty of their 70s stuff, it really doesn't do much for me. Songs written to fill space.
Ummagumma (1969)
However, by the end of 1969, Pink Floyd were becoming well-known for their elaborate live shows, including one tour called The Man and the Journey that recontexualized a lot of their own pieces into a kind of program music production. Pieces of this would end up on Ummagumma, including a few of their older songs that were captured live for the first half of this album, showing the jam-heavy improvisational side of the band.
Atom Heart Mother (1970)
Ah yes. The one with the cow on the cover.
After the highly experimental Ummagumma, the band begins to work on a much larger piece, initially given names like "Themes from an Imaginary Western" and "The Amazing Pudding" before eventually borrowing a newspaper article's title, resulting in the 23 minute title track as we know it now. It's a curious piece, very progressive rock in style, sort of like Procol Harum's "In Held 'Twas In I," but more continuous and moody. As a song, I don't know if really holds together as a song so much as a theme-driven jam, with a weird noise collage section in the middle, and orchestrations on top of it all. However, with this piece, the band is drifting into the sound they eventually become known for.
As for the rest of the album, they did the same "everyone do something solo" thing as with Ummagumma, but across just a single side, resulting in shorter pieces. Roger is first, with "If," a dreamy but dark ballad, foreshadowing some of his later material on Animals and The Wall. Then comes Rick's "Summer of '68" which is a kind of symphonic psychedelic pop song about a groupie. It's a little monotonous in the verses, and the orchestral bits are a little jarring in tone, as it jumps from light introspection to bombast. David is next with "Fat Old Sun," a very soft and folky ballad, much lighter in tone than Roger's. It feels like a precursor of Gilmour's later solo album On an Island. Finally, Nick brings the whole band together for "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" which focuses on the noises and mutterings of their roadie while he eats. The whole thing has a sample-heavy vibe, making it probably the most psychedelic piece on the album (which makes sense given the title). Why it needed to be 13 minutes, I don't know, as it often meanders about without much purpose or direction. It's more bearable when the band starts playing together, but it's definitely the most abstract and bizarre piece on the album.
Again, I came to this album much later, and while I appreciated that there was more of the Pink Floyd sound in this one than in earlier albums, it's still a mess. The title track is definitely the strongest, as the other pieces don't really stick with me. Overall, anything I do like here is done better on subsequent albums.
Meddle (1971)
Obscured By Clouds (1972)
However, before they would release their most popular album, the band was contracted to do some more soundtrack work for a French film called La Vallée. While they were still working on Dark Side's material, they threw these songs together fairly quickly. They didn't feel the pressure to try and turn them into normal rock songs, but ended up recording a few nonetheless, eventually getting enough material to release it as its own album.
The Wall (1979)
The Final Cut (1983)
After The Wall was a major success and a feature film was made based on it, the band decided to throw together a quick album of some of the leftovers from The Wall's recording, originally called Spare Bricks. But when Argentina and the UK initiated the Falklands War, Roger decided to shift the pieces around, and add some new ones, in an effort to make a full-on anti-war album. Wright was not involved (having been previously fired from the band), and Mason was barely contributing (largely due to extenuating circumstances). Gilmour got to put in a few licks and sang on one of the songs, but otherwise, this is a Roger Waters solo album in all but name.
To be honest, I don't really connect with this album. I get that Roger has a message, and I understand that message, but that doesn't necessarily make the songs stick. Honestly, I think Animals is a much better version of Roger's angst and frustration, and it at least has some solid song-writing and performances. The Final Cut is mostly Roger putting together some ballads about how disappointed he is with the world, and while it may have been cathartic for him, to me this album is just a mess that I don't feel any need to return to.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987)
So after The Final Cut, there was no tour, but instead the remaining members went off on their own to record solo albums. Then, David Gilmour and Nick Mason decided they wanted to use the Pink Floyd name again, but Roger Waters prevented it, calling the band a "spent force." After some courtroom drama, Roger finally relented (largely due to how much it would cost him financially to continue fighting), and A Momentary Lapse of Reason was the result.
It's an interesting listen, especially considering the band's history. Coming from The Wall's epic drama and Final Cut's charged ballads, it's quite a jarring shift. There's a clear attempt at evoking the sounds of Dark Side, but through an 80s pop filter, as the songs are much shorter and conventional in nature. It's also a very Gilmour heavy album, though that's understandable, given that most of the material was initially intended for his third solo album. While Nick Mason does a few things, and Rick Wright is brought back for some keyboards, it's hard to call this a collaborative effort, really.
That being said, I do think this album does a lot of things right. Despite the very 80s production, it captures some of the melancholic grandeur of Wish You Were Here or Dark Side. A lot of it has to do a return to a greater emphasis on keyboards as well as the trio of female back-up singers, both of which add layers in a very classic manner. It also brings back some the bluesy elements of the band's classic sound, as Gilmour's licks and riffs dominate the album.
Honestly, I feel like this one is such a breath of fresh air. The angst and tension are mostly gone, instead evoking a strong sense of relief and freedom. I don't know if I'd say the album is perfect, but I have a lot of strong feelings for this one, as I know my father played it a lot when it first came out. When "Learning to Fly" kicks in, I can't help but smile, like a happiness returning after a long absence. I also love "On the Turning Away" and "Sorrow," songs that let Gilmour really shine, especially with that massive opening riff on "Sorrow." As far as I'm concerned, this is Pink Floyd alive again.
Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988)
While A Momentary Lapse of Reason may have been a Gilmour-led project, the following tour saw the three remaining members working together much more closely, which was documented with this live release. Pulling from a handful of concerts again, it's a pretty solid collection of songs, both from the recent album as well as classics from the 70s.
The Division Bell (1994)
.jpg)
The Endless River (2014)
So during the recording of The Division Bell, the band ended up recording a bunch of ambient stuff, and cheekily called it The Big Spliff. However, it never got released. A few years after Rick Wright passed away, Nick Mason and David Gilmour decided to go back over it and see if they could put another album together, intending it to be a tribute to Wright, and the last thing released in the name of Pink Floyd. The result is an interesting experience.
It's sort of like what you would get if you took Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Division Bell, mixed them all together, distilled it down to about an hour, smoothed out the edges, and then added a dash of modern production to increase the richness and scope of the sound. There's nothing really new or unusual that hasn't been on a Pink Floyd album before, but at the same time, it's not like the band is on autopilot either. There are occasional glimpses of their 70s greatness, mostly when Wright's hammonds and synthpads take center stage.
I have to admit I kind of avoided this album until last year, largely because I'd heard some pretty mixed reviews, and that it was a largely ambient album. I admit I kind of regret it now, as I do find quite a bit to enjoy, and it's far less ambient than I was expecting (we aren't in classic Tangerine Dream territory by any means). Instead it feels like a handful of left over improvised jams that were polished up as is. I don't know if there are any real standouts (though I kind of wish "Allons-Y" got turned in to more of a song), but it's the sound I love being used for something new and yet familiar, like an encapsulation of their entire career, and that's not a bad way to go out, I think.
As this retrospective article is much longer than the last one, I'll be hiding it behind a jump break on the main blog page so that it doesn't dominate the blog. I thought about splitting it up into multiple articles, but then I realized that I generally don't like it when other sites do that, so instead, here's the whole discography all at once.
The beginning! After tearing up the underground scene and making an impact with some quirky singles, this band of architecture students, led by the more artistic Syd Barrett, were allowed to put together an album. Guided to largely avoid their extended space-rock jams, the album has some pretty mixed qualities.
While the do get in some psychedelic chops, largely through "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive," the rest of the songs seem to bounce between folky, fairy-tale-like numbers and weirder Beatles pastiches (which does make sense, as the band was allowed to watch The Beatles record some of their material for Sgt. Pepper). The result is quite the mixed bag of songs that awkwardly lurch around, shifting from idea to idea in a scattershot manner. Still, it's easy to see their experimental nature peeking out, as I'm sure there was nothing quite like this at the time. Even their Beatles-esque songs are uniquely quirky in that Syd Barrett way, conveying the tone of fairy tales, whimsy, and lost innocence that has always been a part of his sound.
As I mentioned in the introduction, this isn't an album I grew up with, but had to come back to later as I became curious about the rest of the band's discography. While I do hear some of the elements of the band I grew up hearing, it's clearly in its infancy, deep in the psychedelic context of its inception. I do enjoy the space rock elements (and I'll listen to "Bike" upon occasion), but this isn't really an album that stays with me like their later ones do.
Once the band had an album under their belt, they were really growing as a live act. However, Barrett was becoming more difficult to work with, resulting in bringing in David Gilmour to cover his parts for their live shows. Eventually, they decided to let him go, something Barrett himself seemed to be aware of, considering the lyrics of "Jugland Blues," one of the few compositions he provided for the album.
Still, with only a few pieces recorded at the time, the rest of the band had to come up with stuff on their own without Syd. The result is largely more of the same, but with maybe a bit more confidence. "Let There Be More Light" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" carry on their space-rock side, but with a more controlled and moody tone. Wright provided "Remember a Day" and "See-Saw" which are like the whimsical singles Syd had provided before, though "See-Saw" makes more use of psychedelic effects. "Corporal Clegg" is another Beatles-esque jaunt, with the addition of kazoos. However, the main piece is the title track, a 12-minute epic, full of abstract noise and bizarre rhythms before settling into a kind of mournful hymn. The album ends with the anarchic "Jugland Blues," and you really do feel going mad just listening to it, especially when the marching band comes through.
As this is another album I had to come to later, it's an odd mix. While it's very much like the first album, it also has stronger traces of the grandiose melancholy the band would become known for, largely in moody "Set the Controls...." The rest are just novel at best and don't really stick with me beyond "well that was weird," so it hasn't really been an album I come back to.
While this isn't the first time the band had recorded for a movie soundtrack, it was definitely the most they had written and recorded for one. It was also their first full-album effort without their musical center Syd Barrett, and the result is once again a mixed bag.
Of course, a lot of that has to do with the band trying a lot of new styles and ideas. Not only are their a number of folky, acoustic ballads and meditative pieces, but they wander into more eclectic and avant-garde ideas, like the jazzy "Up the Khyber," the tribal beats of "Party Sequence," and the very moody and ambient sounds in "The Main Theme" and "Quicksilver." They also try out some harder rock riffing, with "The Nile Song" and "Ibiza Bar." There are some nice moments here and there, but they're pretty infrequent.
As an album, it's pretty scattered, without much of a spine or concept to hold these songs together other than their use in the film's soundtrack. While it's hard to say if it's their worst material, it is surprisingly bland and underwhelming compared to their better known works. Again, I came to this one later in my life, and without the psychedelic edge of the Barrett albums or the melancholic majesty of their 70s stuff, it really doesn't do much for me. Songs written to fill space.
However, by the end of 1969, Pink Floyd were becoming well-known for their elaborate live shows, including one tour called The Man and the Journey that recontexualized a lot of their own pieces into a kind of program music production. Pieces of this would end up on Ummagumma, including a few of their older songs that were captured live for the first half of this album, showing the jam-heavy improvisational side of the band.
However, Ummagumma would turn out to be a double LP, and it was decided that each member should take half a side of the second record on their own, essentially making four solo tracks or sections. The result is the band probably at their most experimental. First up is Wright's "Sysyphus," which starts out alright before eventually devolving into discordant chaos halfway through, followed up with some ambient noodling and more chaos. Waters gives us two songs: "Grandchester Meadows," a pastoral ballad, and "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" which shows Roger flexing his musique concrète interests, if only for his own pleasure. Next is Gilmour's "The Narrow Way," which starts with a folky, bassy section, gets darker in the middle, and then moody and slidey for the end. And finally is Mason's "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party," essentially an extended, spacy mix of drums and samples, before finishing with a drum solo, and bookended with some flutes that were played by Nick's wife.
I definitely prefer the live side, as it's the band working well together, even if the pieces are a bit odd. The solo pieces are just a mess of ideas, something of a kitchen sink approach to song-writing, with art overwhelming any sense of structure. It pretty much makes the studio half quite skippable, in my opinion, making this another album that I just don't got back to much at all.
Ah yes. The one with the cow on the cover.
After the highly experimental Ummagumma, the band begins to work on a much larger piece, initially given names like "Themes from an Imaginary Western" and "The Amazing Pudding" before eventually borrowing a newspaper article's title, resulting in the 23 minute title track as we know it now. It's a curious piece, very progressive rock in style, sort of like Procol Harum's "In Held 'Twas In I," but more continuous and moody. As a song, I don't know if really holds together as a song so much as a theme-driven jam, with a weird noise collage section in the middle, and orchestrations on top of it all. However, with this piece, the band is drifting into the sound they eventually become known for.
As for the rest of the album, they did the same "everyone do something solo" thing as with Ummagumma, but across just a single side, resulting in shorter pieces. Roger is first, with "If," a dreamy but dark ballad, foreshadowing some of his later material on Animals and The Wall. Then comes Rick's "Summer of '68" which is a kind of symphonic psychedelic pop song about a groupie. It's a little monotonous in the verses, and the orchestral bits are a little jarring in tone, as it jumps from light introspection to bombast. David is next with "Fat Old Sun," a very soft and folky ballad, much lighter in tone than Roger's. It feels like a precursor of Gilmour's later solo album On an Island. Finally, Nick brings the whole band together for "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" which focuses on the noises and mutterings of their roadie while he eats. The whole thing has a sample-heavy vibe, making it probably the most psychedelic piece on the album (which makes sense given the title). Why it needed to be 13 minutes, I don't know, as it often meanders about without much purpose or direction. It's more bearable when the band starts playing together, but it's definitely the most abstract and bizarre piece on the album.
Again, I came to this album much later, and while I appreciated that there was more of the Pink Floyd sound in this one than in earlier albums, it's still a mess. The title track is definitely the strongest, as the other pieces don't really stick with me. Overall, anything I do like here is done better on subsequent albums.
Finally, through all their experimentation, the band find a sound to revolve around: bluesy, moody progressive rock. As far as I'm concerned, here is where the band finally comes into their own, and the first of the albums I really love. Gone are the atonal chords or chaotic free-jazz sections, as the band really focuses on their melodies, tones, and textures.
And it starts with an incredibly moody piece, "One of These Days." Driven by a pair chugging basses, the song has this ominous energy, slowly building until it explodes into musical power, brought about by an electrifying solo from Gilmour. Then come a couple of acoustic ballads. First is "A Pillow of Winds," which features Gilmour on a slide guitar, making for a kind of folky, psychedelic-tinged love song. Next is Waters' "Fearless," another dark-ish folk rock piece, focusing on the ideas of fear and bravery and what they really mean, curiously backed by a crowd of soccer fans singing a Rogers and Hammerstein number that had become associated with the Liverpool club at the time. The first side concludes with a quirky pair of songs. "San Tropez" is a jazzy pop song that don't quite fit the album, but Roger kinda croons his way through it, and Wright gets to do some jazzy piano stuff, so it's not a waste of time. "Seamus" features more of the band's sense of humor, making a classic country blues song with a dog howling along for effect. It's dopey, but I find it fun.
Of course, the album is better known for the single track that dominates the second side: "Echoes." Starting with the ominous, almost lonely piano note, famously played through a Leslie speaker to get that pinging quality, it grows into this moody epic that takes the listener on a journey. While long songs aren't certainly new for the band, they never felt this well-connected and thorough. Their early space-rock efforts were mostly extended jams, and songs like "Atom Heart Mother" were too jarring in their shifts and moods to never develop a proper flow. "Echoes" shows a much stronger sense of craftmanship in the arranging, allowing the sections to settle and build on their own, but also featuring smooth transitions to ensure the song never loses its focus or flow. Even the formless, ambient section, punctuated by Gilmour's guitar wails, fits right in with the rest of the underwater moods and imagery. The band was clearly firing on all cylinders for this one.
As I alluded to in the beginning, this is where I think Pink Floyd really picks it up and becomes a great band. "One of These Days" and "Echoes" are probably two of the best songs they've ever written, and the rest of the album isn't too shabby either. Of course, the band would reach much greater heights from here, but this is definitely the first in a string of great albums, and proved that the band could write and play something truly amazing.
However, before they would release their most popular album, the band was contracted to do some more soundtrack work for a French film called La Vallée. While they were still working on Dark Side's material, they threw these songs together fairly quickly. They didn't feel the pressure to try and turn them into normal rock songs, but ended up recording a few nonetheless, eventually getting enough material to release it as its own album.
While the songs may not quite flow together, I do feel this is much better than their last soundtrack effort, More. Here, the band are working within their established sound, full of mellow, psychedelic layers that coast along without too much trouble. I mean, "Burning Bridges" and "Mudmen" sound like they could have come straight off of Dark Side, really. The band is sounds together, even if they aren't trying too hard with it.
I already reviewed this album on its own back in July of 2019, really enjoying the ambient pieces and stating that it's decent stuff, if a bit lackluster compared to the two albums it comes between. I do think it has some of Gilmour's most chunky riffs, particularly on "When You're In" and "The Gold It's In The..." I admit that I didn't come to the album until somewhat later, mostly because of Gilmour including "Wots... Uh The Deal" on his solo tour. Still, the album neat little inbetweener that may not stand on its own, but certainly more than the filler some take it for.
The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
What hasn't been said about this album that hasn't been said a thousand times before. The band was really hitting a creative peak. After the success and popularity of their side-long epic "Echoes," Roger hit on the idea of having an entire album be focused on a single theme, and the rest of the band agreed. Eventually, this became two sequences that explored the depths of humanity and its fragility to madness, chaos, greed, and death.
What hasn't been said about this album that hasn't been said a thousand times before. The band was really hitting a creative peak. After the success and popularity of their side-long epic "Echoes," Roger hit on the idea of having an entire album be focused on a single theme, and the rest of the band agreed. Eventually, this became two sequences that explored the depths of humanity and its fragility to madness, chaos, greed, and death.
The band really get to show all their experience they've built up to this point: the proggy nature of the songs, the wit of Roger's lyrics, the experimental musique-concrète-like use of samples, and the psychedelic blending from song to song that holds the album together. The album also provides a lot of variety, from the intensity of "On the Run" to the mournful "The Great Gig in the Sky" featuring the inspired use of Clare Torre's improvised vocals, to the more rock-like "Time" and the curious mixed-meter nature of "Money," which would go on to be the band's biggest hit (ironically). It's bluesy and jazzy, weird but relatable, and rocks hard when it needs to, with an ending that's a perfect conclusion to what feels like a psychedelic theater-of-the-mind presentation. A massive success among critics and fans, the album has become a staple of 70s music and culture. Anybody who has more than a passing interest in music has likely heard this album.
I remember asking my dad to copy a bunch of the band's best stuff onto a tape so I could listen to it in my room, and he just copied this album, so it's the one I've probably heard the most, so I feel like I know it inside and out, and I never seem to tire of it. Over the years, I've found that it's not quite my favorite (that's next), but I can't deny the power and majesty of it, and I know I'm not alone in that!
.png)
Wish You Were Here (1975)
After Pink Floyd's success with Dark Side, they had a lot of mixed emotions. On the one hand, it had brought them considerable success and fame, but had also shown them the shallow greed of the music industry. It also made them feel a bit guilty about how they had kicked Syd out of the band, only to go on and become international rock stars without him. Roger brought all these elements together into something of a concept album that addressed both of these things, and made an album that all four members could come together on.
I don't know if I can properly explain how much I love this album. Like I said earlier, I actually think it's better than Dark Side, if only because each track can stand on its own as well as part of the whole. I really do think "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is quite beautiful, as it shifts from part to part, it remains quite consistent in tone and atmosphere, and it can be quite cathartic to listen. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" may focus on similar themes, but have very different attitudes, with the former coming across as cold and mechanical, while the second is more bombastic and bluesy, each representing sides of the music industry that the band came to despise. And "Wish You Were Here" is the heart of the album, that guilt I had mentioned earlier being put front and center, resulting in a rather heartfelt apology that really builds on, and in my opinion surpasses, the acoustic ballads the band had written before.
The band really came together for this one, and it would be the last time the band would be quite so united in song and purpose. Gilmour's licks are as catchy and slick as ever, Waters lyrics are clever and insightful, and Wright's keyboards really are the glue that hold all these emotions and ideas together. Just a great album from beginning to end, and the one that I come back to regularly. This, to me, is the epitome of Pink Floyd.
Animals (1977)
After Pink Floyd's success with Dark Side, they had a lot of mixed emotions. On the one hand, it had brought them considerable success and fame, but had also shown them the shallow greed of the music industry. It also made them feel a bit guilty about how they had kicked Syd out of the band, only to go on and become international rock stars without him. Roger brought all these elements together into something of a concept album that addressed both of these things, and made an album that all four members could come together on.
I don't know if I can properly explain how much I love this album. Like I said earlier, I actually think it's better than Dark Side, if only because each track can stand on its own as well as part of the whole. I really do think "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is quite beautiful, as it shifts from part to part, it remains quite consistent in tone and atmosphere, and it can be quite cathartic to listen. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" may focus on similar themes, but have very different attitudes, with the former coming across as cold and mechanical, while the second is more bombastic and bluesy, each representing sides of the music industry that the band came to despise. And "Wish You Were Here" is the heart of the album, that guilt I had mentioned earlier being put front and center, resulting in a rather heartfelt apology that really builds on, and in my opinion surpasses, the acoustic ballads the band had written before.
The band really came together for this one, and it would be the last time the band would be quite so united in song and purpose. Gilmour's licks are as catchy and slick as ever, Waters lyrics are clever and insightful, and Wright's keyboards really are the glue that hold all these emotions and ideas together. Just a great album from beginning to end, and the one that I come back to regularly. This, to me, is the epitome of Pink Floyd.
After touring heavily for both Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, the band took a break, built their own studio, and focused on their next album. At this point, cracks in the band were starting to appear, but they were small at this point. Confident from their successes, Roger felt that it was his ideas that was making the band work, and pushed them even harder. As the rest of the band didn't have much to bring to the table at the time, they simply followed his lead, which ended up inflating Roger's ego even more.
Most of the album had already been written during the Wish You Were Here sessions, as "Raving and Drooling," which became "Sheep," and "You've Gotta Be Crazy," which became "Dogs." This zoological shift came from reactions to the chaotic political turmoil the UK was experiencing through the mid 70s as well as George Orwell's famous novella Animal Farm. Roger sought to bring these two together, criticizing the failures he saw in society and the forces that brought them about. The advent of the more politically charged punk rock scene and it's angry energy was also a factor. All of this resulted in a rather dark, angsty album from the band, essentially taking the concepts from Dark Side's "Us and Them" and "Brain Damage" and turning them up to 11.
This was quite the shift from the more melancholic and nostalgic vibes of their earlier material, causing mixed reviews. While the band doesn't quite reach the heights of the previous two albums sonically-speaking, I do think this is Roger's best writing. His iconic frustrated sadness mixing well with the band's melancholic majesty. It also shows that the band could shift moods and not be stuck in one mindset all the time, as it hammers down its points. At the same time, it doesn't shift too far from its core base, allowing Wright's keys to drift through the songs and giving Gilmour plenty of ample space to ring out chords with his delay pedal or his licks on the solos. Essentially, I consider this a classic, with some great, cathartic moments and some solid songwriting. "Dogs" in particular is one of their best epics, with a very epic ending. While I wasn't as familiar with this one growing up, it's become one of my favorites of theirs as I've grown older, probably because I'm more capable of understanding the album's nuances and themes.
During the In the Flesh Tour for the Animals album, Roger Waters was becoming more and more frustrated fame and celebrity, feeling like the music was being overwhelmed by the crowds and the spectacle of it all (leading him to infamously spit on a fan at one show), and ultimately wishing to build a wall between him and the audience. These ideas, along with aspects of his own life and looming absence of Syd Barrett in their success, resulted in a concept album turned full-blown rock opera about a fictional rockstar (named Pink Floyd) struggling with his life and fame only to break down and build a figurative wall between him and the rest of the world.
The band was really struggling at this point. Finances were rough, and members of the band were trying to maintain relationships with their new or expanding families. Eventually, they just let Roger make all the decisions, which ultimately led to the firing of Rick Wright from the band (the circumstances of which are not completely clear), though Wright was retained as a salaried musician. While all the pieces for a solid Pink Floyd album are here, it's very much Roger's show, and he proceeds to bring the house down with a double album that's as preposterous as it is ambitious.
The Wall is probably the band's best known album after Dark Side, featuring massive singles in "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)," "Comfortably Numb," and "Run Like Hell," all great songs, for sure. However, as it the nature of story-driven concept albums, there are a lot of shorter, intersecting tracks to move the narrative along, resulting in a lot of the songs that don't really hold up outside of its context. Because of this, there are only a few other songs that really stand out to me, namely the apocalyptic "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Three)," and the somber "Hey You." I also want to point out "The Trial," as it's a curious piece going for full-on Broadway melodramatic bombast, carried by Michael Kamen's orchestrations. It's a pretty bonkers piece, and hardly Pink Floyd in sound, though very much fitting for the psychodrama on display here.
Having grown up in a post-Waters Pink Floyd era, I mostly knew the big songs and the general concept of this album, but not much else. Now, whenever I do sit down to listen to this, I find it rather hit-and-miss. A lot of the elements I like about Pink Floyd are here, but in piecemeal, and not very unified or consistent in quality. I get that it's telling a psychological story, so things are all over the place, but as an album of music, I just pick out the handful of songs I like and don't really bother with the rest. Gilmour is certainly doing some great work here with the solos, and Wright's keys are there to maintain their iconic sound, but otherwise, I find The Wall to be too long and haphazard to really enjoy as an album. Still, it remains quite the experience to listen to, and it's easily recommendable as an example of how far one can push the rock opera form.
Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81 (1980-81/2000)
While a tour for The Wall was obvious, Roger's sense of scale and drama insisted that it be a massive show, featuring a literal wall being built during the first half of the show, and having animation projected onto it for the second half, resulting in an incredibly expensive show. As such, the band only played 31 dates for the tour, leaving many out of the experience of seeing such a spectacle. Footage was filmed for an anticipated concert film, but they never came together, and while bootlegs circulated, it would take some time before an official live version was available, though I do wonder if the expanded runtime of the CD format helped with that decision, allowing for the audio version to at least feel seamless, instead of being cut up across multiple vinyl records.
While a tour for The Wall was obvious, Roger's sense of scale and drama insisted that it be a massive show, featuring a literal wall being built during the first half of the show, and having animation projected onto it for the second half, resulting in an incredibly expensive show. As such, the band only played 31 dates for the tour, leaving many out of the experience of seeing such a spectacle. Footage was filmed for an anticipated concert film, but they never came together, and while bootlegs circulated, it would take some time before an official live version was available, though I do wonder if the expanded runtime of the CD format helped with that decision, allowing for the audio version to at least feel seamless, instead of being cut up across multiple vinyl records.
As for the album, it really is just The Wall again, with a few extra tracks that were planned for the studio release but were cut due to vinyl's limitations. Naturally, the solos are different, and there's some extended segments were the band gets to jam, who do sound good here, though I suppose pulling from multiple shows allows for the best takes of a song to be weaved together. Still, it's a nice document of this period of the band's history, and the crowd are clearly into it. It's a quality recording, with plenty of solid performances, but even of the songs I like, I prefer other live recordings (especially Pulse), and this album mostly makes me wish we had proper live albums for their earlier tours, as they expanded their songs quite a bit for those.
After The Wall was a major success and a feature film was made based on it, the band decided to throw together a quick album of some of the leftovers from The Wall's recording, originally called Spare Bricks. But when Argentina and the UK initiated the Falklands War, Roger decided to shift the pieces around, and add some new ones, in an effort to make a full-on anti-war album. Wright was not involved (having been previously fired from the band), and Mason was barely contributing (largely due to extenuating circumstances). Gilmour got to put in a few licks and sang on one of the songs, but otherwise, this is a Roger Waters solo album in all but name.
To be honest, I don't really connect with this album. I get that Roger has a message, and I understand that message, but that doesn't necessarily make the songs stick. Honestly, I think Animals is a much better version of Roger's angst and frustration, and it at least has some solid song-writing and performances. The Final Cut is mostly Roger putting together some ballads about how disappointed he is with the world, and while it may have been cathartic for him, to me this album is just a mess that I don't feel any need to return to.
So after The Final Cut, there was no tour, but instead the remaining members went off on their own to record solo albums. Then, David Gilmour and Nick Mason decided they wanted to use the Pink Floyd name again, but Roger Waters prevented it, calling the band a "spent force." After some courtroom drama, Roger finally relented (largely due to how much it would cost him financially to continue fighting), and A Momentary Lapse of Reason was the result.
It's an interesting listen, especially considering the band's history. Coming from The Wall's epic drama and Final Cut's charged ballads, it's quite a jarring shift. There's a clear attempt at evoking the sounds of Dark Side, but through an 80s pop filter, as the songs are much shorter and conventional in nature. It's also a very Gilmour heavy album, though that's understandable, given that most of the material was initially intended for his third solo album. While Nick Mason does a few things, and Rick Wright is brought back for some keyboards, it's hard to call this a collaborative effort, really.
That being said, I do think this album does a lot of things right. Despite the very 80s production, it captures some of the melancholic grandeur of Wish You Were Here or Dark Side. A lot of it has to do a return to a greater emphasis on keyboards as well as the trio of female back-up singers, both of which add layers in a very classic manner. It also brings back some the bluesy elements of the band's classic sound, as Gilmour's licks and riffs dominate the album.
Honestly, I feel like this one is such a breath of fresh air. The angst and tension are mostly gone, instead evoking a strong sense of relief and freedom. I don't know if I'd say the album is perfect, but I have a lot of strong feelings for this one, as I know my father played it a lot when it first came out. When "Learning to Fly" kicks in, I can't help but smile, like a happiness returning after a long absence. I also love "On the Turning Away" and "Sorrow," songs that let Gilmour really shine, especially with that massive opening riff on "Sorrow." As far as I'm concerned, this is Pink Floyd alive again.
While A Momentary Lapse of Reason may have been a Gilmour-led project, the following tour saw the three remaining members working together much more closely, which was documented with this live release. Pulling from a handful of concerts again, it's a pretty solid collection of songs, both from the recent album as well as classics from the 70s.
While the Momentary Lapse songs sound great, it's the classics that seem to have some notable tweaks. Wright has clearly added some 80s synths to his keyboard set, and Mason uses some electronic drums (or so it sounds, with some of those sections). It doesn't necessarily make them bad, as gives them a bit of a different feel, but it's pretty noticeable. Still, at the time, it was the only official live Pink Floyd album since Ummagumma, so getting live versions of classics like "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," "Time," and "One of These Days" was noteworthy. I also liked some of the transitions between the songs, though some are better than others. It's probably not the greatest live album, in retrospect, but it's a nice live snapshot of a band finding their footing again.
After their successful tour, Pink Floyd took another break before coming back together for a new album, and this time, both Mason and Wright were much more involved, with Wright getting his first songwriting credits since Wish You Were Here. The result is a much more confident album that feels more consistent in tone and quality than anything the band had put out in quite a while.
The first big thing is that it's a very mellow and light album. If Momentary is relief, then The Division Bell is contentment and comfort, mostly reflected in the spacey instrumental numbers "Cluster One" and "Marooned." It's also the bluesiest the band has ever sounded, with "What Do You Want From Me" clearly drawing from the Chicago style, and Gilmour's guitars getting all kinds of opportunities to blues things up. The return of Wright is also felt, as his synthpads drift through the album, gluing sounds together as he had in the 70s. As for the lyrical themes, the band return to familiar subjects: themselves and their band's history, as well as reactions to the changes and events of the world. The theme of communication is prominent as well, thanks to contributions from Gilmour's then-fiancée Polly Samson. It's not their strongest material, lacking much of Waters' wit and charm, but they're serviceable for the songs to hang on.
I have vague memories of my Dad picking this up, and I know he played it to death as I know and love these songs quite well. Some of my favorites include "Marooned," "A Great Day for Freedom," "Keep Talking" with the Steven Hawking sample, and the closer "High Hopes." While they aren't the experimental giants they once were, instead settling into their classic sound with a more modern production, I do think it's executed well and the songs are consistent in quality across the board, and honestly was a solid conclusion to the band's history (or that's how it felt until The Endless River came along).
Pulse (1994/1995)
Once again, the trio go on tour, this time including an entire playthrough of The Dark Side of the Moon at many shows, allowing for this release of live material. While the previous live album certainly showed its era with 80s production, they definitely did a better job of capturing the classic 70s sound on these songs. The packaging was also notable, as early versions had a blinking red light, powered by AA batteries, making it stand out on the shelf. It's a bit of a gimmick, but one I've always liked.
Once again, the trio go on tour, this time including an entire playthrough of The Dark Side of the Moon at many shows, allowing for this release of live material. While the previous live album certainly showed its era with 80s production, they definitely did a better job of capturing the classic 70s sound on these songs. The packaging was also notable, as early versions had a blinking red light, powered by AA batteries, making it stand out on the shelf. It's a bit of a gimmick, but one I've always liked.
The band sound great (though they did have plenty of recordings to help ensure the best parts made it to the album), and goes to show the timelessness of their music, in my opinion. Again, they have the songs shift seamlessly from one to another, as it pulls tracks from across their catalog and recreates them very well for a live setting. This is definitely my favorite version of "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2," get the crowd singing along with "Wish You Were Here" is pretty awesome, and getting the entirety of Dark Side played live with their epic visual effects is quite the highlight. This really is the definitive live Pink Floyd album for me.
So during the recording of The Division Bell, the band ended up recording a bunch of ambient stuff, and cheekily called it The Big Spliff. However, it never got released. A few years after Rick Wright passed away, Nick Mason and David Gilmour decided to go back over it and see if they could put another album together, intending it to be a tribute to Wright, and the last thing released in the name of Pink Floyd. The result is an interesting experience.
It's sort of like what you would get if you took Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Division Bell, mixed them all together, distilled it down to about an hour, smoothed out the edges, and then added a dash of modern production to increase the richness and scope of the sound. There's nothing really new or unusual that hasn't been on a Pink Floyd album before, but at the same time, it's not like the band is on autopilot either. There are occasional glimpses of their 70s greatness, mostly when Wright's hammonds and synthpads take center stage.
I have to admit I kind of avoided this album until last year, largely because I'd heard some pretty mixed reviews, and that it was a largely ambient album. I admit I kind of regret it now, as I do find quite a bit to enjoy, and it's far less ambient than I was expecting (we aren't in classic Tangerine Dream territory by any means). Instead it feels like a handful of left over improvised jams that were polished up as is. I don't know if there are any real standouts (though I kind of wish "Allons-Y" got turned in to more of a song), but it's the sound I love being used for something new and yet familiar, like an encapsulation of their entire career, and that's not a bad way to go out, I think.
It's hard to really explain in words my connection with this band. It feels so personal and relatable, all while providing such a unique variety of soundscapes and feelings. Yet, it's also obvious that they struck a chord with so many people, as they're considered one of the best rock bands of all time.
Going back over all of this material has been fun, if very time-consuming, as I do listen to every album again to refresh myself with them. Because of that, I don't know how often I'll be able to publish these kinds of articles, but I do have a few more in the pipeline for a number of my favorite bands, so keep an eye out for those as well! Until then, rock on! \m/
No comments:
Post a Comment