The Pink Floyd Thread

[Evermind]

@those who rank WYWH at or toward the top... how do you rank the individual tracks?

1. Shine On You 1-5
2. Wish You Were Here
3. Shine On You 6-9
4. Welcome to the Machine
5. Have a Cigar

All songs are 9+/10 though

Yeah, I think same for me, except I may swap 1 and 2 depending on my mood.

[Zydar]

'Shine On You Crazy Diamond 1-5' is always battling with 'Time' for me as my favourite Floyd track ever.

[Stadler]

@those who rank WYWH at or toward the top... how do you rank the individual tracks?

Back when I listened to PF as much as any band, I tended to listen to the title track more than the other songs combined. But the other three tended to be on the radio often enough. Today those three aren't songs I am going to put on, but the title track will always sound fresh and bring a smile to my face.

Shine On 1-5
Shine On 6-9
Welcome To The Machine
Wish You Were Here
Have A Cigar

(I could flip WYWH and WTTM on any given day.)

[Kwyjibo]

Shine On 1-5
Shine On 6-9
Welcome To The Machine
Wish You Were Here
Have A Cigar

This

[ReaperKK]

Shine On 1-5
Wish You Were Here
Shine On 6-9
Have A Cigar
Welcome To The Machine

Shine on 6-9 and Have a Cigar are interchangeable to me

[Mladen]

Shine On 1-5
Wish You Were Here
Shine On 6-9
Have A Cigar
Welcome To The Machine

Shine on 6-9 and Have a Cigar are interchangeable to me

Yes, sir. All of this is correct.

[KevShmev]

Shine On 1-5 is awesome, but I have long preferred Shine On 6-9 by a hair.  The first five minutes, featuring Gilmour just wailing on that lap steel guitar, is one of my favorite Floyd instrumental sections ever.  Just jaw-dropping stuff.

[Dave_Manchester]

Dave, I know of your love for Floyd, but I never asked you: what's your take on the early stuff?  Both the Barrett (and Barrett influenced) stuff on the first two albums, and that second "soundtrack" period, that I'd say goes up to Meddle.  I think AHM is excellent (don't know why they slag it so much) and I think the bones of a great album are in "More".

I love Piper at the Gates the older I get. I wasn't keen on it in my youth because it's so different to the sound of the 'big 70s' albums that it might as well be a different band. And quite honestly Syd's headspace unnerved me a bit, I get the sense his trips only ever revealed awful and frightening things to him (that's more apparent in his solo work).

Saucerful is a mixed bag, I love the title track although every live version I've heard (especially Pompeii) is better than the studio version. Atom Heart Mother is a favourite of mine. Gilmour's disowned it because of the "rubbish" (his word) playing on the title track, but I love its ambition and its originality. It's also an important album from a historical point of view. It was the first British rock album to have one track taking up an entire side of vinyl. It was the first album to have no indication on the sleeve of who the artist was or the title of the album. It was the first Floyd album to be mixed in the quadraphonic sound. And it was also the band's first number 1. I love it because it's the last time the band would just have a lot of goofy fun with their music instead of being hyper-serious artistes.

[HOF]

Since I started some dialogue about The Wall and just listened to it for the first time all the way through, thought I’d put this discussion here:

I remember when this album came out and the MP forum was all in a tizzy about Teh Nuggetz but honestly don’t think I ever picked up on any of them. I don’t recall hearing the Roger Waters thing but then again I wouldn’t have known what it was anyway (never listened to The Wall).

You should give it a spin. It's a good album.

I have heard a lot of the music on The Wall of course, but haven’t ever sat down and listened to the whole thing. I probably should give it a try though.

You've never listened to The Wall? I would strongly recommend you do, it's a masterpiece in my opinion!

Edit, I just read that you have heard music from the album - still, The Wall deserves to be listened from beginning to end 

Ok, but why should a person who has heard only about 4-5 songs on that album and thinks they suck and/or are boring, and who likes nothing he has ever heard by Pink Floyd, listen to the other 20+ tracks?  That's like saying, "oh, you hate rap, but you should listen to such and such 2-Pack album because it's a masterpiece and deserves to be listened to from beginning to end."

Did HOF ever imply this?

My point was that, if, after 40+ years, someone hasn't listened to The Wall, it's probably because he/she doesn't like the band.

So that is part of it. I’ve heard maybe a third of this before between radio stuff, bits of the movie I’ve seen, and wherever else it’s worked it’s way into popular culture. But I also have heard a good bit of other PF (I own or have previously heard all of Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and Animals, which I’m not wild about, and then The Division Bell, which I think is great). Generally, I think Gilmour is brilliant and Waters is kind of boring. And I gathered that The Wall was more Waters’ thing, though there are certainly some great Gilmour moments here. Mostly though, it’s not an album I ever invested in owning and I may have started streaming it a time or two before but it didn’t grab me. But I do like to give things a try that are considered landmark albums or cultural touchstones just to see what they are about, so I was willing to give it a try.

Having given it a full listen just now, I can see the art in it and can connect with a lot of the themes, but a lot of it is pretty dull. Comfortably Numb is the high point, as I somewhat expected given what I knew of it going in. But there are relatively few “wow that is amazing” points throughout. May I’come back to it another time though. I suppose we should jump to a PF thread so as to not detail this one further. I’ll repost this there.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=5564.1540

[Stadler]

I know not everyone agrees with me on this - and that's fine - but I believe if you're going to be a music fan, there are certain works (and bands, too, but we're talking about albums here) you need to at least be familiar with.   Not like, but be aware of.  I think there are a number of albums - Who's Next; Tommy; Sgt. Pepper... and The Wall is one of them - that help "explain" or at least put into context a lot of what came after. 

[TAC]

I know not everyone agrees with me on this - and that's fine - but I believe if you're going to be a music fan, there are certain works (and bands, too, but we're talking about albums here) you need to at least be familiar with.   Not like, but be aware of.  I think there are a number of albums - Who's Next; Tommy; Sgt. Pepper... and The Wall is one of them - that help "explain" or at least put into context a lot of what came after.

I have never listened to Tommy or Sgt Pepper's. I've actually never listened to The Wall either.

Other than the radio hits from these albums of course.

[Max Kuehnau]

I know not everyone agrees with me on this - and that's fine - but I believe if you're going to be a music fan, there are certain works (and bands, too, but we're talking about albums here) you need to at least be familiar with.   Not like, but be aware of.  I think there are a number of albums - Who's Next; Tommy; Sgt. Pepper... and The Wall is one of them - that help "explain" or at least put into context a lot of what came after.

and before as well to some degree (Childhood's End on Obscured By Clouds (it's about Roger's father as well), which is not the same as Childhood's End by Marillion on Misplaced Childhood)

[LudwigVan]

I know not everyone agrees with me on this - and that's fine - but I believe if you're going to be a music fan, there are certain works (and bands, too, but we're talking about albums here) you need to at least be familiar with.   Not like, but be aware of.  I think there are a number of albums - Who's Next; Tommy; Sgt. Pepper... and The Wall is one of them - that help "explain" or at least put into context a lot of what came after.

I have never listened to Tommy or Sgt Pepper's. I've actually never listened to The Wall either.

Other than the radio hits from these albums of course.

That explains a lot   

[TAC]

I know not everyone agrees with me on this - and that's fine - but I believe if you're going to be a music fan, there are certain works (and bands, too, but we're talking about albums here) you need to at least be familiar with.   Not like, but be aware of.  I think there are a number of albums - Who's Next; Tommy; Sgt. Pepper... and The Wall is one of them - that help "explain" or at least put into context a lot of what came after.

I have never listened to Tommy or Sgt Pepper's. I've actually never listened to The Wall either.

Other than the radio hits from these albums of course.

That explains a lot   

 


I did have Who's Next on cassette when I was in HS.

[HOF]

I know not everyone agrees with me on this - and that's fine - but I believe if you're going to be a music fan, there are certain works (and bands, too, but we're talking about albums here) you need to at least be familiar with.   Not like, but be aware of.  I think there are a number of albums - Who's Next; Tommy; Sgt. Pepper... and The Wall is one of them - that help "explain" or at least put into context a lot of what came after.

I do try generally, and streaming helps a lot with that. A few months back I realized I’d never heard a full album by The Who so I checked out Who’s Next and really liked it. Still need to check out Tommy though. I did listen to Sgt. Pepper back when it was re-issued recently. I don’t own any Beatles albums in part because I feel like I’ve heard al their songs, even though I’m sure I haven’t. We used to have a radio station here that just played The Beatles, which was kind of fun.

[jammindude]

I'm totally with Stadler on that point. 

I've never really gotten the fascination with The Rolling Stones.  Seriously...that has got to be the most overrated band in the history of Rock.   I just do not see a single thing they brought to the table that was groundbreaking in any way.    The Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, even the Moody Blues (who I'm also lukewarm on, but warming up to) all brought something to the table that was a game changer on some level.    The Stones are just a glorified blues band that wrote some admittedly catchy tunes in the 60s...but once Brian Jones died, I pretty much just consider them to be a lucky hit machine that happened to stay together longer than anyone else.

In spite of this...I still try to keep abreast of the bands history, catalog, and hits just because (whether I like it or not) it had an impact on so many other things.     In fact, I've been thinking of picking up Exile on Main Street, not because I like the Stones, but because it appears to be an important album in rock history and I feel that it's important to listen and understand what was going on in music at the time, and how it had an impact on the music scene later.

[HOF]

I'm totally with Stadler on that point. 

I've never really gotten the fascination with The Rolling Stones.  Seriously...that has got to be the most overrated band in the history of Rock.   I just do not see a single thing they brought to the table that was groundbreaking in any way.    The Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, even the Moody Blues (who I'm also lukewarm on, but warming up to) all brought something to the table that was a game changer on some level.    The Stones are just a glorified blues band that wrote some admittedly catchy tunes in the 60s...but once Brian Jones died, I pretty much just consider them to be a lucky hit machine that happened to stay together longer than anyone else.

In spite of this...I still try to keep abreast of the bands history, catalog, and hits just because (whether I like it or not) it had an impact on so many other things.     In fact, I've been thinking of picking up Exile on Main Street, not because I like the Stones, but because it appears to be an important album in rock history and I feel that it's important to listen and understand what was going on in music at the time, and how it had an impact on the music scene later.

Your point about an album having an impact on other things is a good one. I definitely did get a sense listening to The Wall of how it had influenced other bands. I could pick out parts where I could see how Marillion were trying to put down the same vibe with Brave, or things that clearly seemed to influence Queensryche or Porcupine Tree. I’d also never considered how maybe The Edge’s trademark delayed guitar effect might have come from Run Like Hell.

[Stadler]

I'm totally with Stadler on that point. 

I've never really gotten the fascination with The Rolling Stones.  Seriously...that has got to be the most overrated band in the history of Rock.   I just do not see a single thing they brought to the table that was groundbreaking in any way.    The Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, even the Moody Blues (who I'm also lukewarm on, but warming up to) all brought something to the table that was a game changer on some level.    The Stones are just a glorified blues band that wrote some admittedly catchy tunes in the 60s...but once Brian Jones died, I pretty much just consider them to be a lucky hit machine that happened to stay together longer than anyone else.

In spite of this...I still try to keep abreast of the bands history, catalog, and hits just because (whether I like it or not) it had an impact on so many other things.     In fact, I've been thinking of picking up Exile on Main Street, not because I like the Stones, but because it appears to be an important album in rock history and I feel that it's important to listen and understand what was going on in music at the time, and how it had an impact on the music scene later.

Your point about an album having an impact on other things is a good one. I definitely did get a sense listening to The Wall of how it had influenced other bands. I could pick out parts where I could see how Marillion were trying to put down the same vibe with Brave, or things that clearly seemed to influence Queensryche or Porcupine Tree. I’d also never considered how maybe The Edge’s trademark delayed guitar effect might have come from Run Like Hell.

I've written about this before, but everyone jumps to the "Genesis" connection to Marillion, and yet I feel like the Pink Floyd influence is SOOOO much more prevalent.

I don't agree with Jammin's point on the Stones, but that's kind of what I used to think about The Who.  WTF?  Two fucking albums (Tommy and Who's Next) and a bunch of reunion/retirement tours.  What's the big deal?    And I dug into it a little bit, and hearing Quadrophenia basically "explained" Oasis for me (one of my favorite bands).   It also explained a lot, though not all, of Pearl Jam as well.   Like I said, I don't expect everyone to agree, but for me, who's a "nuggetz" guy to start with, it adds an enrichment and a context to things.     Another example:   early Scorpions and Steve Vai - two almost unrelated artists - both made more sense once I dug into Hendrix.  Blackmore too; he's known for his Bach'n'Roll stuff, but you can see a CLEAR delineation between very early Blackmore and, say, Blackmore from "In Rock" on, and the difference is very Hendrix-ian, even if Blackmore doesn't sound like Hendrix all that much.

[Orbert]

I get into similar discussions sometimes with classic bands.  They don't see the big deal, they've heard some of their songs and aren't impressed, etc.  You don't have to like a band to recognize their influence.  But having a well-rounded knowledge of and familiarity with classic bands goes a long way towards understanding everything came after it.

[Lonk]

I think the big thing is being able to listen to those classic albums/music, as if you listen to them in the time it came out.

I never been a big fan of The Beatles. I would listen to some of their big hits, and if their music came on the radio I will listen, but I can never say that I liked The Beatles. I just did not understand what the big deal was. One day I decided to listen to their discography, and it hit me, a lot of the stuff they did (though I still did not like it), paved the way to much of the music that came afterwards. I learned to appreciate their music for what it was back then, not what it is now.

Same with Hendrix, I always thought he was a glorified out-of-tune guitar player (don't hate me), but the more I listened to his stuff, the more I "get" why he is considered to be one of the greatest.

[Stadler]

It's fascinating to me - and I think we'll never see anything like this again, frankly - that from December of 1964 until about mid-1967, the Beatles were involved in a cultural/musical give-and-take that has changed music forever.

With The Beatles came out in December of '64, and had the first inclinations of influence from peers like Bob Dylan ("I'm A Loser" is the most obvious).   It's not a coincidence that Dylan "went electric" following that, and while I'm not even a little bit a fan of Dylan, it's obvious that his March '65 album, "Bringing It All Back Home" was a direct result of what the Beatles were doing, and in turn IT influenced - primarily by pushing Lennon further away from the pop and skiffle of their early records - what came next:  Help! and shortly thereafter, Rubber Soul.   (In the meantime, you had a California band, The Byrds, who were heavily influenced by Dylan putting out their debut in mid-'65 that influenced the Beatles as well).

Rubber Soul changed the game like no one's business and from that point you had a furious back and forth between bands, each one responding and at the same time influencing the others around.  It was one of the first ALBUMS, that is, a album that was a unified whole rather than a collection of songs with singles tacked on.   It was a piece of art in and of itself, and following that you had Blonde On Blonde, Turn! Turn! Turn! Aftermath and Pet Sounds, then you had the Beatles taking it up a notch with Revolver, then you had Fifth Dimension, A Quick One, Good Vibrations, Between The Buttons, and Freak Out!, then the cycle rebounded and you got arguably the pinnacle of that period, Sgt. Pepper.  (Dylan at this point had crashed his motorcycle, and didn't release new work until John Wesley Harding in December of '67).

[emtee]

Hard for me to grasp that David Gilmour turned 75 on March 6th.

The song Time is timeless. It impacts all of us equally.

Happy belated birthday, Dave.

[Cool Chris]

Roger just announced tour dates for 2022. I can barely see past the next 72 hours, I cannot imagine having a concert on my calender 521 days from now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoOIa0Vm6gQ

[KevShmev]

I can't either, but at least this gives him a long time to get the pre-recorded tracks good enough for his live lip-synching.

[Cool Chris]

 

In that show on The Wall tour where David and Nick joined him at the end, he said [paraphrasing] "I used to be an angry man, as David will attest to, but all that is changed, and I couldn't be happier..." Listening to him now, it seems he is more Roger Waters than ever.

[KevShmev]

I know he was pissed off a while back about not being able to promote his solo stuff on Pink Floyd's official social media accounts, so that likely reignited the rage inside him, which was probably already bubbling up thanks to Trump.  It almost feels right for Roger to be angry than to not. 

[Cool Chris]

Remember he has also been on the anti-Israel train for a long time.

https://rogerwaters.com/just-to-be-clear/

Your last point is spot on. Sadly his grumpiness just became part of how we all viewed him, rightly or wrongly. Not like he did anything to convince us otherwise. When someone is a certain way for so long, it just becomes part of who they are, and any change from that just doesn't feel right. If Bill Belichick bought pizzas and beer for the press before answering questions, that just wouldn't feel right.

[ReaperKK]

Roger just announced tour dates for 2022. I can barely see past the next 72 hours, I cannot imagine having a concert on my calender 521 days from now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoOIa0Vm6gQ

I got that email too! I completely forgot I had tickets to his show. I guess I will hold onto them for now.

[KevShmev]

I can't say I was overly thrilled with this slowed down version of The Bravery of Being out of Range (below), but I love that he is still at least aware of its existence and played it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JamLmpVOgE0

[Cool Chris]

Saw that a few days ago. Strictly speaking about the music, I think these videos he's been doing are pretty neat.

[XeRocks81]

I can't say I was overly thrilled with this slowed down version of The Bravery of Being out of Range (below), but I love that he is still at least aware of its existence and played it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JamLmpVOgE0

yeah I was taken off guard at first, it's hard to think of this song as anything less than a big stadium filling sound.  But I think it still works in its own way.

[WildRanger]

The Division Bell has more votes than Meddle? Really?

[HOF]

The Division Bell has more votes than Meddle? Really?

The Division Bell is PF’s finest album!*





















*in my humble opinion.

[NoseofNicko]

The Division Bell has more votes than Meddle? Really?

I didn’t vote for TDB but it has many songs I love while Meddle only has one.

[Stadler]

The Division Bell has more votes than Meddle? Really?

I didn’t vote for TDB but it has many songs I love while Meddle only has one.

Well, two (Fearless), but you make a good point.  Meddle is uneven and a little experimental, while TDB is a mature work by an artist that knew what they were going for and knew how to get it.