Pink Floyd albums please (1 Viewer)

[Dom P.]

and sadly none of the above are available on DVD-A :frowning:

 

[Gary->dee]

Years ago I saw this at Circuit City and foolishly didn't purchase it.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Gary, I had it and then sold it at a profit. If this is any consolation, it's okay, but unless you are fanatical about early Floyd, it's not all that essential a listen.

To be honest, I can think of some far juicier tapes gathering dust in the PF vault that should get an official release. E.g.

(a) the early versions of Animals tracks played on tour
(b) the version of Echoes done for a BBC broadcast
(c) Roger Waters's demos of songs for The Wall
(d) the complete film of The Wall performed in concert

 

[michael_mo]

A couple of added thoughts:
1. Roger Waters "Amused to Death" 1992 is just as good as any of the "classic" 4 pink floyd albums, maybe better. If you are a floyd fan of any era, and dont have this yet... do yourself a favor and order it online tonight. This disc solidified Rog as the quintessetial word-sleuth of our time. His play-on-words sometimes even overshadows the music. This is one of my top 3 albums of all time. Then, after you fall in love with this disc, buy Roger Waters Live DVD "in the flesh". The live tracks off Amused to Death are incredible. Also, the lengthened dual guitar solos on comfortably numb are worth the price of the DVD.

2. If you are new to Floyd (and you mentioned you just have DSOTM and Wall), put off buying "momentary lapse of reason" and "division bell" until you have the classic floyd discs (meddle, wish you were here, animals, final cut, and some early ones..) and also get the roger waters solo discs first. The 2 discs listed above were done after Roger Waters essentially (but unofficially) ended Pink Floyd. Without Rog, there would be no PF (or so he thought). After a lawyer-war.. the other members won out onthe use of the name. But, most Floyd fans view the above two albums as "Pink Fraud" and essentially David Gilmore solo discs. Now I enjoy them both, and I think they are worth getting...at some point. But when I listen to Amused to Death, then listen to the Division Bell... its a night and day difference in musical experience. I'll take the waters-arranged music hands down.

Just my opinions, i could be wrong.

 

[Yee-Ming]

But, most Floyd fans view the above two albums as "Pink Fraud" and essentially David Gilmore solo discs.

In the same way, "Final Cut" is Waters solo in all but name. Even the book "Echoes" describes it as such.

My personal take is that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. I prefer Gilmour's music, but recognise Waters' talent as a wordsmith. Hence Gilmour's solo albums make for nice listening, but you have to ignore the lyrics (which are, let's face it, crap), whilst Waters' solo albums are not as "tuneful", and indeed the melodies are quite grim, although he still has something interesting to say.

I don't think MLoR and DB are anywhere near as bad as those who label them "Pink Fraud" make it out to be. Sure, they don't reach the heights of the DSotM to Wall era, but what ever will? Even if they hadn't split, I wonder if they could have kept up those levels. But as "further" Pink Floyd material, IMHO I'm reasonably fond of MLoR and DB. Whereas I really, really, can't "get" Piper...

 

[andrew markworthy]

But, most Floyd fans view the above two albums as "Pink Fraud" and essentially David Gilmore solo discs.

I seriously doubt the accuracy of this statement. There is one group of vociferous fans who insist on this, but the majority (myself included) are quite happy to listen to PF *and* Waters and indeed, all the other solo albums. Enjoying PF isn't a religious exercise - we don't 'have' to listen to one music or another to prove the strength of our faith.

 

[Gary->dee]

Whereas I really, really, can't "get" Piper...

Speaking of Piper or Piper At The Gates Of Dawn... at one time I was strictly a 70's/Roger Waters Floyd fan. Didn't care much for anything before Dark Side because I never really delved into those albums nor did I care for the post-Waters Floyd, although I did purchase Momentary Lapse of Reason for Learning To Fly which I think is an awesome song. You can download the video here: modem or broadband.

Anyway back to Piper. I resisted the Floyd's earlier efforts. Gradually I began to learn more about the group and its founding member Syd Barrett, who was basically the subject of many of the Floyd's biggest 70's releases like Dark Side, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Syd obviously had a big impact on the group even after he'd been shown the door because of his drug use and subsequent looney behavior. I became intrigued by what the Floyd sounded like during the early Syd Barrett days. What I found in Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was a quirky, fun and hypnotic album. A 180 degree turn from, say for example Dark Side. And yet I feel Piper is still an important album, besides the fact that it's the Floyd's first album and the only Floyd album in which Syd is featured on just about every song. Why do I think it's an important album? Because the madness, isolation and guts that permeates the Floyd's albums of the 70's originates with Piper. There are some wonderful tracks on the album. Then I moved on to Saucer Full Of Secrets, which I think is another good Floyd album. Still quirky but Waters begins his rise with the addition of Gilmour. At this point Floyd is a 5 man group but Syd is on his way out and is featured on the last song which begins with these fitting lyrics:

It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here


And like that, Syd was gone or at least onto a short-lived solo career. At any rate I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that once you've come to appreciate the Roger Waters/70's Floyd mega albums such as Dark Side, Wish, Animals and The Wall, you owe it to yourself to go back to their earliest releases and find the method to the musical madness. It's like one big movie that plays out in your mind and it's very interesting following the evolution of a rock'n roll band from the swinging 60's London era of Piper to the hard rocking introspective sounds of The Final Cut.

[url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002UA0.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002U9Y.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002UA4.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002UA5.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002U9W.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002U0D.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002U8G.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002UA2.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002U82.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000024D4S.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000024D4R.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000006TRV.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url] [url=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002C1V.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg] [/url]

 

[andrew markworthy]

Piper was a hugely influential album in the UK. There was a time when trendy Brit music critics had the affectation that this was the only PF worth hearing and that after that, the band went downhill.

I personally am not all that keen on it - I can tell that it's good and can respect its value, but to me it has a 'nursery rhymish' quality like a lot of 60s music (especially the psychaedelic stuff) that I personally just can't take to. I find it all a bit twee (sorry, don't know if this Brit English word is used in the USA - it means a combination of self-regarding, trivial and saccharin). However, this is a personal opinion. Others love Piper and I can respect their opinion.

Incidentally, Piper was recorded at Abbey Road in the studio next to where the Beatles were recording Sgt Pepper.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I would vehemently disagree that the More and Obscured By Clouds (from Barbet Scroeder's recently released on DVD by Home Vision, "La Vallee") are filler or reworkings. Both albums have essential Floyd elements, and some unique songs.

More contains probably the heaviest Floyd composition ever, "The Nile Song", while OBC has a number of great tracks, and ranks as one of my favorite Floyd albums. While neither may be as concise as some of their later work, both are essential IMO.

I would also argue that Ummagumma's "The Narrow Way" is one of Gilmour's masterpieces.

YMMV.

 

[Gary->dee]

As I mentioned in the Dark Side DVD thread, I think Obscured By Clouds was a lead-in to Dark Side more than just 'the album before Dark Side'. The hard rocking song Childhood's End could very well have ended up on Dark Side and fit in nicely. I especially like Wots...Uh The Deal, very nice and Stay. If you like Floyd and you don't have Obscured you're missing out on something. More is another fantastic album, with Cymbaline being my favorite track. Roger incorporates the first inklings of dealing with 'the biz' that would resonate in the songs Money and Have A Cigar. Cirrus Minor, The Nile Song, and The Crying Song- fantastic tracks. Again, IMO an album any Floyd fan shouldn't be without.

The only Barrett/Waters Floyd album I don't have is Ummagumma but I have heard Grantchester Meadows from it and I love it. It will probably be the next Floyd album I get since I'm not interested in the post-Waters Floyd. Then of course I'll need to get Roger's solo efforts.

Btw if you can find Relics, get it. There are some wonderful rare tunes(Paintbox is my fav) on it. Not sure how available it will be in the future since the release of the Echoes set.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Gary, I agree with your selections from More and OBC. Ummagumma is not a Barret album, although it does have live tracks from the Barrett era. The live version of "Careful with that axe Eugene" is priceless. I agree that Granchester Meadows is also a great track, and I also appreciate Nick Mason and Richard Wright's contributions to the studio side of things, though to a lesser degree than Waters or Gilmour.

 

[Marvin]

The only Barrett/Waters Floyd album I don't have is Ummagumma but I have heard Grantchester Meadows from it and I love it.

Ummm..Ummagumma has Gilmour, not Barrett, though I used to wonder if the "live" disc actually contains old studio recordings (possibly with Barrett) with applause tacked on.

I'll second Jeff's statement about 'The Narrow Way', though there's not a whole lot else I like on the studio disc.

I also like the cover though its effect may be diminished by the small size of a CD. It would be worth seeking out the LP for the cover.

Oops: didn't notice that Jeff had already responded. I still wonder if the "live" recordings were actually live.

 

[Gary->dee]

Ummagumma has Gilmour, not Barrett,

Sorry I should have written that differently. I'm aware Ummagumma doesn't have Syd on it. What I meant was the only Floyd album from the Barrett and Waters eras(from Piper to Final Cut) I don't have is Ummagumma. Wasn't Barrett working on his first solo album The Madcap Laughs during the making of Ummagumma? Anyway at some point I want to also explore Barrett's solo albums because I do enjoy his witty, off-kilter style of singing and song writing as heard on Piper and the last track Jugband Blues on Saucer. He reminds me a bit of a freestyle rapper in terms of lyrics, a style kind of off the top of the head if you know what I mean. I might pick the latest Barrett compilation Wouldn't You Miss Me?.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I seriously doubt the accuracy of this statement. There is one group of vociferous fans who insist on this, but the majority (myself included) are quite happy to listen to PF *and* Waters and indeed, all the other solo albums. Enjoying PF isn't a religious exercise - we don't 'have' to listen to one music or another to prove the strength of our faith.

I fully agree. The people who think Pink Floyd was all Roger Waters and are nothing without him are unfairly discounting the talents and contributions of David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason. They're also conveniently ignoring the precedent set in 1968 when the very same band continued to exist after the departure of Syd Barrett.

Yes, Roger Waters wrote the lyrics and came up with the initial melody for a lot of the music, but he did not write every note of every melody. The best work of Pink Floyd are collaborations that are more than the sum of their parts as Yee-Ming said. When I listen to Pink Floyd up through the Animals album and most of The Wall, I hear the entire band working together, not just Roger Waters. When I listen to "The Final Cut" it is painfully obvious that the band is not working together. On most of the songs, Gilmour's guitar solos, as great as they are, seem to be merely inserted at designated pauses in the lyrics.

 

[Gary->dee]

I like The Final Cut but it is essentially a Roger Waters solo album with a Gilmour cameo on Not Now John, which I think is an amazing track.

The problem I have with post-Water Floyd is that I miss Roger's unique voice. I think Waters' and Gilmour's voices complemented each other so well and to lose the main voice of the group leaves too much Gilmour to contend with. Just my opinion. The same could be said when Barrett left the group but that just opened the door to the next evolutionary step for the group. Once you start removing all the key ingredients from a group it becomes a shell of what it once was and that's what I feel happened to Floyd after Waters left.

Besides that they still tried to fashion the songs as if Waters was still in the group. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Waters the driving force behind the various chatter and bizarre sound effects that were in some classic Floyd songs? For example, in Learning To Fly there's a moment of scrambled cockpit-like chatter and it strikes me as something Waters would insert in the middle of a song but he obviously was no longer in the band. As a matter of fact, now I do actually recall an interview with Gilmour in which he said that Roger wasn't afraid to insert weird noises like a badly tuned radio in the middle of a song. So to hear something like that on an album that Waters had no part of seemed a bit too copycat-ish to me despite the fact that I love Learning To Fly. They wanted it to sound like classic Floyd so they employed the same techniques regardless of whether Waters was with them or not.

 

[Steve_AS]

I like The Final Cut but it is essentially a Roger Waters solo album with a Gilmour cameo on Not Now John, which I think is an amazing track.

Have to disagree , at least in part. Gilmour's got solos on *several* tracks on The Final Cut, not jsut NNJ -- beautfilly spare and poignant ones, IMO: "Possible Pasts', "Fletcher Memorial Home', and the title track. Being essentially a 'guest' on a PF album seems to have brought out some of his finest playing.

To me, his stuff since them seems rote by comparison.

 

[Jeremiah]

So to hear something like that on an album that Waters had no part of seemed a bit too copycat-ish to me despite the fact that I love Learning To Fly. They wanted it to sound like classic Floyd so they employed the same techniques regardless of whether Waters was with them or not.

Maybe Gilmour learned a few things from Roger Waters and wanted to incorperate them into the music. It doesn't have to be one person ideas.

 

[michael_mo]

Wow, sorry folks
I did not mean to ignite a RW vs DG-floyd debate.
I mentioned the "pink fraud" reference to detail the original poster on the later discs and to steer him to obtain those titles later.
I enjoy "momentary lapse" and "div bell". I like the RW solo much better, but i will listen to both and enjoy.

It does seem funny how some fans wont accept change. There is a group of old Genesis fans that refer to anything after Peter Gabriel left the band as "Geneshit". And the age-old David Lee Roth Van Halen vs. the Sammy Hagar "Van Hagar". Plus, I know many people who will testify that ACDC died with Bon Scott.
At least Led Zep and the Beatles remained "pure".

To the original poster:
In order, if I were you, I would get: (as you already have Dark Side and the Wall)....

1. Wish you were here
2. Animals
3. Amused to Death (RW solo)
4. The Final Cut
5. Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (RW solo)
6. Meddle
7. Momentary Lapse of Reason and/or Division Bell
8. Then experiment with the older stuff
9. Dead last, get Radio KAOS (RW solo... and baaaadddd)

Personally, I love Floyd, but cant stomach much of the pre-"meddle" stuff. A lot is very "british". And I was never a fan of mid 60s music. My rec would be get a copy of UmmaGumma and listen to the live side. Then decide if you want to pursue the individual albums.

My opinions, Your musical taste will vary.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Here's a wierd perspective though:

I like Dave Gilmour's solo albums much more than the last two studio "Pink Floyd" records.

I do have them though. But like maybe a lot of you, I consider that middle period of Dark Side/Wish you were Here/Animals to be the peak. The Wall is a great album too, but the fact that it got so overplayed on commercial radio ruined it for me.

 

[Steve_AS]

Here's a wierd perspective though:

I like Dave Gilmour's solo albums much more than the last two studio "Pink Floyd" records.

The first one is fine indeed. It's almost like a 'lost' PF album. THe second one's less good, IMO.