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Post by kds on Feb 27, 2020 13:56:12 GMT
Which one's Pink?
So, there we are. 15 albums with several early singles and non album songs for one of the most iconic bands of all time.
Pink Floyd are rare in that they've always been in demand. They never really had a period where they were "uncool." I think part of that is the lack of trendy stylistic changes. Sure, they incorporated some disco beats on The Wall, and AMOR featured some 80s gloss, but both have aged far better than bands' works that went a little further into those directions. I also think they left fans wanting more, rather than continuing to release album by album later in their career, likely with diminishing returns (The Endless River aside).
Today, Roger Waters is able to play large arenas with Floyd heavy sets. Since Floyd has been inactive for over a quarter century (save for a brief live reunion and a posthumous album), Waters has been out there flying the flag. David Gilmour has also released two solo albums that charted very well, even if he didn't tour extensively. Nick Mason recently put a band together called Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets that tour exclusively on pre Dark Side Floyd material.
My Floyd story is somewhat similar to mine with Queen. My interest was piqued with a movie - this time catching The Wall film on Vh1 in the summer of 1996. Although, like Queen, I got into Floyd just a little too late. Their last tour was in 1994. Although, with each member alive and well, I held onto the hope that Floyd would tour again. Unfortunately, that never happened. But, I did get the chance to see Roger five times and Mason once last year.
As I picked up the Floyd catalog into the late 1990s, they became the first band who I discussed on internet forums (so as not to keep boring my friends who had little to no interest).
Even thought they had several distinct eras, I appreciate all of them. I know I've ranked their albums before, but I think my opinions have changed somewhat in the last 20 years, most notably ranking The Division Bell higher and The Final Cut a little lower. I still love the latter, just not as much as I once did.
I think I'm forever grateful to Floyd, as their music really helped me get through the awkward transition to adulthood. Even at the age of 17 and 18, songs like Remember a Day and High Hopes offered comfort about childhood slipping into the rearview. No, pushing 40, I'm more comfortable with my place in life, but those songs remain meaningful. Floyd were also the first band I really got into whose lyrics I found relatable. I wasn't popular with the opposite sex, so I couldn't really relate to the boy/girl fodder of so many artists I liked. I think Floyd's darker lyrics go great with the uplifting music (even in the Waters dominated era). It's like it's saying "life can be difficult, but it can be beautiful too."
So, here's my ranking of the 15 albums. If I ever sat down to list my 50 favorite albums of all time, I'm pretty sure each of the top 8 here would make it.
1. Wish You Were Here 2. Animals 3. The Wall 4. Dark Side of the Moon 5. The Division Bell 6. Meddle 7. Obscured by Clouds 8. The Final Cut 9. Atom Heart Mother 10. A Saucerful of Secrets 11. A Momentary Lapse of Reason 12. Piper at the Gates of Dawn 13. More 14. The Endless River 15. Ummagumma
Even though I've finished my reviews of their catalog, please feel free to chime in on all things Floyd.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 29, 2020 17:13:17 GMT
No apologies needed. The 1990s saw a lot of classic bands shed the 80s gloss and make more grounded albums. For whatever reason, it took me a long time to really appreciate A Great Day for Freedom and Coming Back to Life. Probably because they don't contain a ton of bells and whistles. I see seeing live versions of Gilmour's concert releases really got me into those songs. Those are probably my two favourite songs on the album, with High Hopes coming in third. I actually think his vocals on Coming Back to Life, not just the one part I mentioned, but the whole song, might be his best vocal performances of all. Now I realize I haven't studied the music the way you have and I haven't spent enough time with the albums to the point of being able to compare it to his other vocals. So it might be very premature for me to say that. But that one stood out right away. If you can think of a worthy comparison, I'll go back and listen.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 29, 2020 17:22:47 GMT
It might be too early for me to come up with an accurate ranking of Pink Floyd's albums, but I can try and see where they stand at this moment in time.
1. Wish You Were Here 2. Dark Side of the Moon 3. Obscured by Clouds 4. The Wall 5. The Division Bell 6. Piper at the Gates of Dawn 7. A Saucerful of Secrets 8. Atom Heart Mother 9. More 10. A Momentary Lapse of Reason 11. Meddle 12. Animals 13. The Final Cut 14. The Endless River 15. Ummagumma
I'm uncertain about the order of 8, 9, and 10 - I think I like them all equally and it's hard to put one above the others. I've moved them around a few times and I can't settle. It's going to bug me, lol.
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Post by kds on Feb 29, 2020 18:57:22 GMT
No apologies needed. The 1990s saw a lot of classic bands shed the 80s gloss and make more grounded albums. For whatever reason, it took me a long time to really appreciate A Great Day for Freedom and Coming Back to Life. Probably because they don't contain a ton of bells and whistles. I see seeing live versions of Gilmour's concert releases really got me into those songs. Those are probably my two favourite songs on the album, with High Hopes coming in third. I actually think his vocals on Coming Back to Life, not just the one part I mentioned, but the whole song, might be his best vocal performances of all. Now I realize I haven't studied the music the way you have and I haven't spent enough time with the albums to the point of being able to compare it to his other vocals. So it might be very premature for me to say that. But that one stood out right away. If you can think of a worthy comparison, I'll go back and listen. Favorite Gilmour vocal. That's a toughie. I really like the last several lines of High Hopes. The chorus of Goodbye Blue Sky. His vocals on Wots Uh the Deal. Also, from his solo album On an Island, A Pocketful of Stones.
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Post by jk on Feb 29, 2020 22:30:26 GMT
Which one's Pink? So, there we are. 15 albums with several early singles and non album songs for one of the most iconic bands of all time. Even though I've finished my reviews of their catalog, please feel free to chime in on all things Floyd. A stunning achievement, kds. Take a bow! As only a casual Floyd fan, I can't list more than a handful of albums, and 8 placings. The rest are pretty random too, apart from #1 and #2. 1. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 2. Wish You Were Here 3. Meddle 4. Obscured by Clouds 5. More 6. A Saucerful of Secrets 7. The Dark Side of the Moon 8. Ummagumma -- Atom Heart Mother -- The Final Cut -- The Wall My favourite Floyd tracks? - Syd era: "Matilda Mother" (in MONO!!!!) - Post-Syd era: Very likely "Echoes"...
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Mar 2, 2020 13:28:47 GMT
Favorite Gilmour vocal. That's a toughie. I really like the last several lines of High Hopes. The chorus of Goodbye Blue Sky. His vocals on Wots Uh the Deal. Also, from his solo album On an Island, A Pocketful of Stones. Good call on Wots Uh The Deal and Goodbye Blue Sky, they're both outstanding vocals by Gilmour. You’ve really just made me realize that he sings in that higher range far more often than I recalled. I can see why you’d also name the last few lines of High Hopes, it really builds right at the end there, which wasn’t something I had noticed previously. As for Pocketful of Stones, wow what a great song and also a fantastic vocal performance. I listened to the full On An Island album on my way in to work this morning, and I got a really good first impression. A nice (mostly) mellow album for a Monday morning. I liked it.
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Post by kds on Mar 2, 2020 13:36:52 GMT
Favorite Gilmour vocal. That's a toughie. I really like the last several lines of High Hopes. The chorus of Goodbye Blue Sky. His vocals on Wots Uh the Deal. Also, from his solo album On an Island, A Pocketful of Stones. Good call on Wots Uh The Deal and Goodbye Blue Sky, they're both outstanding vocals by Gilmour. You’ve really just made me realize that he sings in that higher range far more often than I recalled. I can see why you’d also name the last few lines of High Hopes, it really builds right at the end there, which wasn’t something I had noticed previously. As for Pocketful of Stones, wow what a great song and also a fantastic vocal performance. I listened to the full On An Island album on my way in to work this morning, and I got a really good first impression. A nice (mostly) mellow album for a Monday morning. I liked it. He sings in that higher range fairly often, but rarely on Floyd's more popular songs. A Pocketful of Stones might be my favorite Floyd solo song. I was just listening to that album this weekend.
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Post by kds on Mar 2, 2020 14:04:19 GMT
I should also mention that, last week on Spotify, I listened to the 2019 remix of A Momentary Lapse of Reason which appears on the latest overly expensive Floyd set (The Later Years). It removes some of the 80s sheen on the album, in particular you hear far more Hammond organ in this mix. The only song that really sounded very different to me was Yet Another Movie. Interesting, but still not something I'd spend a lot of money on.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Mar 3, 2020 0:29:35 GMT
I should also mention that, last week on Spotify, I listened to the 2019 remix of A Momentary Lapse of Reason which appears on the latest overly expensive Floyd set (The Later Years). It removes some of the 80s sheen on the album, in particular you hear far more Hammond organ in this mix. The only song that really sounded very different to me was Yet Another Movie. Interesting, but still not something I'd spend a lot of money on. Oh good to know. I'll have to give that a listen. Yet Another Movie is not one of my favourite songs on that album as it currently stands, so I'd like to see if it improves in the 2019 remix.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Mar 3, 2020 0:34:54 GMT
My favourite Floyd tracks? - Syd era: "Matilda Mother" (in MONO!!!!) - Post-Syd era: Very likely "Echoes"... I'll use jk's concise list of favourites as a jump off point for my own list Now, I can’t really claim a definitive list of favourites at this time, but I wanted to try and put a list together of songs that made the biggest impression on me during these reviews. Nearly half of these I already knew, but I think I appreciate them even more now, so they deserve to be listed. Even with 25 songs, the list does feel incomplete. I could easily make this a list of 50 songs, but I’m trying to practice restraint. (In fact, to keep track of what I liked so that I wouldn’t forget, I made myself a playlist during this review thread, adding songs as we went through the catalogue, and it has 56 songs on it). Anyway, these are in order of release. I can’t rank them, except for Wish You Were Here, which was my favourite Pink Floyd song before starting this review thread, and I think it still is. Though there are some close runners up. 1. Arnold Layne 2. See Emily Play 3. Astronomy Domine 4. Chapter 24 5. Remember a Day 6. Cymbaline 7. Summer '68 8. Biding My Time 9. The Gold it’s in the… 10. Wots Uh the Deal 11. Time 12. Money 13. Brain Damage 14. Have a Cigar 15. Wish You Were Here 16. Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 17. Goodbye Blue Sky 18. Young Lust 19. Comfortably Numb 20. Run Like Hell 21. Learning to Fly 22. On the Turning Away 23. Coming Back to Life 24. A Great Day for Freedom 25. High Hopes Honourable Mention: Corporal Clegg, which gets the award for being the song that gets stuck in my head more than any other, for no apparent reason. I’ve woken up with it in my head, like a lot.
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Post by jk on Mar 3, 2020 10:17:42 GMT
My favourite Floyd tracks? - Syd era: "Matilda Mother" (in MONO!!!!) - Post-Syd era: Very likely "Echoes"... I'll use jk's concise list of favourites as a jump off point for my own list Oooff! Neither of mine are on your not-so-concise list, bb. That must say something about the consistently high quality of their work. Despite being the right age for it, I never saw the Barrett-led Floyd in concert. I didn't see them after that either. But I do remember the first time I heard many of their earlier tracks at the time of their release. I am rather proud of the fact that I'm a handshake away from Syd. A musical colleague of mine was in a band with the bassist and occasional singer Jack Monck, whom I met about ten years ago. Monck had played with Syd (and drummer Twink) in the short-lived trio Stars in 1972.
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Post by kds on Mar 3, 2020 13:51:32 GMT
Here's a crack at my Top 25 Floyd tracks. Though the list may change slightly tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on.
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond 2. Dogs 3. Echoes 4. Comfortably Numb 5. Time 6. Wot's Uh the Deal 7. Atom Heart Mother 8. Pigs (Three Different Ones) 9. High Hopes 10. Have a Cigar 11. Us and Them 12. The Final Cut 13. Goodbye Blue Sky 14. Remember a Day 15. Childhood's End 16. Marooned 17. Cymbaline 18. Summer '68 19. See Saw 20. Sorrow 21. In the Flesh 22. Lost for Words 23. Julia Dream 24. Any Colour You Like 25. Fat Old Sun
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Mar 4, 2020 22:22:12 GMT
You both listed Echoes. Now I wonder what I’m missing about that one.
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Post by kds on Mar 5, 2020 13:08:04 GMT
You both listed Echoes. Now I wonder what I’m missing about that one. I just think it has anything you'd want in a classic era Floyd song. It's anchored by Wright's keyboard playing. It features several Gilmour solos. It's got multiple distinct sections ranging from pastoral calm to funk to a four minute slow tension build. Plus, the vocal harmonies of Gilmour and Wright.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 5, 2020 13:53:00 GMT
I'm a "greatest hits" fan of Pink Floyd, not having collected many of their albums. I did make a comp a few years back which I'll pull out occasionally and enjoy very much. Here's my Top 10 PF songs:
1. Arnold Layne 2. Comfortably Numb 3. Brain Damage/Eclipse 4. Astronomy Domine 5. One Of These Days 6. Time 7. High Hopes 8. Breathe 9. Wish You Were Here 10. Jugband Blues
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