What album do you consider their masterpiece vs what do you find yourself listening to more?
Like for instance, Dark Side of the Moon, basically a perfect album and like a lot of albums from them you need to listen all the way through to appreciate it.
But Dark Side of the Moon also gets a bit boring because it's kind of one note in my opinion. It's a double edged sword. It makes it feel like a masterfully designed cohesive album, but you can't have true cohesion without a bit of sameyness.
The wall is great for a different reason.
It's a wild sort of story of an album, but it's got lower lows than the DSotM (which basically had no lows) but arguably higher highs.
Then you have animals which to me is like almost a masterpiece. The parts I love about it are in some ways better than dsotm and the wall, like the part with the acoustic guitar while the dogs bark gives me chills every time, but I'd say 50% of the listening experience of animals is not that great.
Wish you were here is great but really it's like 3 and a half songs when you break it down. Shine on you crazy diamond is like more than half the album put at the beginning and end of it.
It's enjoyable but when you look at it objectively they wrote like 3 or so songs with one of them being massive and bookending both parts of the album.
Point is I couldn't pick my favorite album. They all have strengths. I think my favorite album is what I wish animals was. The potential I hear in animals, if it's best parts were 100% of the rest of the album I might like Animals the best.
Anyone else' personal tastes with Pink Floyd that you want to weigh in, why you rate one album above another?
Isn't that pretty much every album? I love Meddle. But it's One of These Days on one side, Echoes on the other and in between, uhhh... that one barking dog song, and that one that segues into the football chant?
Anyway, I really like Atom Heart Mother. This morning we've secretly replaced their Syd Barrett with Mike Oldfield Crystals, let's see if anyone notices.
My favourite song by Pink Floyd is High Hopes.
However my favourite version of High Hopes is not performed by Pink Floyd.
Who's version?
I was introduced to Pink Floyd in college. I mean, I knew about them obviously, but I had never particularly listened. I was pretty basic--I liked "Oldies" and I listened to the Beatles, etc.
During orientation week, I met the guy across the hall. He had the famous Pink Floyd back catalog poster on his wall. The one with the naked women sitting with the album covers on their backs. I was dubious (I was pretty straightlaced).
We became good friends over the course of the year. We watched The Wall film, downloaded mp3s from Napster, and so on. Later that year, he gave me a copy of The Wall for my birthday. We were dirt poor college kids, and that was seriously one of the most meaningful presents I've ever received. He was like a brother.
He ended up dropping out college. I kept up with him for quite a few years, but we eventually lost touch.
tl;dr, The Wall holds a really special place in my heart. Comfortably Numb still gives me goosebumps sometimes.
Beyond that, I really like Atom Heart Mother. Parts of Piper's at the Gates of Dawn really get me too.
For the younger kids,”The Wall” was considered a double album and was double the normal cost of a traditional album.
$30 minimum in the Napster days.
An impressive gift from a friend.
Yeah! This was the 2-CD double case, and $30+ was exactly my memory. I still have it.
Meddle and Animals are probably my favorite albums but those preferences are tied directly to personal experiences. The Wall I feel like I 'grew out of' a long time ago. Pompeii is a great album for what it is but UmmaGumma is the truly refined taste in my opinion.
Wish you were here.
Best album by far, shine on your crazy diamond is vastly underrated because it’s always chopped up on radio.
When I listened to Shine On You Crazy Diamond, particularly the instrumental in the second half of the album, I could tell that Tool took a lot of inspiration from Pink Floyd. I mean it was already pretty obvious anyways, but that instrumental was borderline proof.
I was like "That's a Tool instrumental/build up if I've ever heard one"
Specifically starting about 15 seconds into this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur4J7hhhto8&list=PLfimnwaZdumgdg-BPofqK8h6cdkxIxe2H&index=5
I like Meddle, mostly because I think Echoes is their magnum opus as far as individual songs go. It reminds me of when I used to live in Florida, watching the birds land on the lake at sunset.
As an album though, it is hard for me to choose between Wish You Were Here and The Wall. I like Wish You Were Here more, but The Wall is probably their best concept album.
One of the things I like about Pink Floyd more than the other "hippie" bands is their use of synthesizers. I absolutely adore the sound of 70's-80's analog synthesizers. They have always had a more "cerebral" sound to them than the digital ones of today.
For me it is The Wall but I like them all. Favorite song is probably Keep Talking. I still need to do the Wizard of Oz thing
Find the 2001 Space Odyssey thing, it's WAY better!
For one thing, they actually asked PF to do the soundtrack, but they were starting a tour & had zero time. For another they loved 2001 & would watch it on the tour bus. This is long ago when they had to pull out a movie projector & see it on a portable screen.
So Echoes is what they would have offered for 2001, had they had the time.
Thanks! Will do! Echoes is great
I like the synth section on Keep Talking. It's very 1970's.
Wish You Were Here is my answer to both, although I'm also a big fan of the two post-Waters albums (Momentary Lapse and the Division Bell), just for the guitar tracks. Gilmour was never as good a songwriter as Waters, but his guitar skills more than make up for it.
“Meddle” is my favorite because of Gilmour’s slide guitar.
I recently revisited “The Wall” after a decade and was impressed by Richard Wright’s velvety keyboards buried in the background of Water’s otherwise rudimentary song compositions.
I think I needed more time to develop my musical ear to really appreciate the keyboard contributions that are part of the final arrangements.
I put The Wall over Dark Side, just because Comfortably Numb is a top 5 track of all time. The guitar solo at the end has never been topped to this day.
I like their individual songs over entire albums.
Two albums stand amoung the greats of all time: Dark Side & The Wall, but the good/best songs got so over-played they're not good any more :/
Echoes and Wish You Were Here (the songs) never get old though! For example.
Meddle and Final Cut
Probably Meddle and their debut with Syd Barrett Piper at the Gates of Dawn but I really like DSOTM and The Wall too
The Wall is my favorite. Animals is the most consistent
Division bell has the longest string of perfect songs.
Final cut has the most powerful tracks.
There are no bad pink Floyd songs