Pink Floyd Cover Songs

I have heard lots of covers of Pink Floyd songs and it seems like most modern bands have decided to butcher the songs by the great band. Occasionally there will be some good ones. Here are the covers i have heard...


scissor sisters - comfotably numb - an awful pop butchery with stupid high pitched vocals, techno-ish backing music and not even a solo which is the best part of the song!

korn - another brick in the wall (parts 1-3). combining all 3 parts of this song really didn't work as they are meant to be separate from each other, not together. Also i did not care for the nu-metal distorted guitar noise used. Korn have also decided to disgrace the floyd. I sware to god they just blagged the choir from the original as well!

marilyn manson - another brick in the wall (part 2), this is much better than korn and has his own manson interpretation by using a more dramatic choir and his distorted vocals. Its not brilliant but it i like the way it has its own tint to it and isnt a disgraceful copy.

dream theater - in the flesh?/ comfortably numb/ hey you - i've heard these covers tackled live by dream theater and they toned down their heavy guitars slightly to do brilliant versions of these tracks. they know how to make proggressive rock and john petrucci is excellent at gilmour style solos. best floyd covers i have ever heard

think floyd - well they are a tribute band so they dont count as much.


what do you think?

Edited by frenchie

Good - "Shine on you crazy diamond" - Transatlantic. Pretty faithful, but a nice interpretation.

ooh i shall have to check that out!

radiohead have done wish you were here. it wasnt great but it was only a dinky unreleased song. pearl jam did it too i think.

atom heart mother. if you loved "echoes" and "one of these days" then should fit into AHM pretty well. at first it sounds like a soundtrack to a horror film, the title track is full of choirs and everything! it is very demanding to listen to but it is one of their best pieces. I think you should definetly get this album. The rest of the tracks are good too but its a brilliant album.

atom heart mother = amazin epic suite that flows like a dream, similar to echoes
if = acoustic ballad by waters. its ok but not the strongest one here
summer 68 = an uplifting piano based piece by wright. tis good.
fat old sun = a bluesy guitar based piece by gilmour
APB = a roadie cooks up breakfast while the floyd jam away.sizzling instrumental

i think the reason it gets mixed reviews is because its a lot harder to appreciate than the other albums as it is mainly instrumental based.

as to the last question, i cannot say if AHM is better than dark side or meddle, they are very different pieces and its very hard to judge but i would say meddle wins. dark side and ahm are both incredible pieces tho.

my fave era is piper - meddle.

Voivod did an incredible version of Astronomy Domine on their Nothingface album.

To Penguin: I am a big Floyd fan myself and I haven't decided which album is their worst but it is definately between More and Atom Heart Mother.

The 1st side...the title track is an interesting instrumental ,but by no means overwhelming. Overall I think they went too far with all the orchestration and chanting going on but it is still somewhat melodic and relaxing to listen to...that is the good side

Side 2 starts off with IF and that song seems like it had potential, but the music tends to meander a bit in the middle and starts to get boring

Summer 68 is a quaint tune by Wright..very melodic...best song on this side-and hardly a masterpiece.

Fat Old Sun just drags on and doesn't seem to go anywhere interesting. David gilmour does a rotten job on vocals in this one

Alan's Phychedelic Breakfast is the single worse piece of music(I use that word quite loosely) ever by Pink Floyd..it is too bad they didn't put Embryo,Crumbling Land, and Heart Beat, Pig Meat on this one in place of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, since they made those 3 tunes the same year(Embryo would later get released on Works and the other 2 were on the soundtrack to Zabriskie Point

gdub411 wrote: Alan's Phychedelic Breakfast is the single worse piece of music(I use that word quite loosely) ever by Pink Floyd..it is too bad they didn't put Embryo,Crumbling Land, and Heart Beat, Pig Meat on this one in place of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, since they made those 3 tunes the same year(Embryo would later get released on Works and the other 2 were on the soundtrack to Zabriskie Point

Embryo, Crumbling Lang, and Heart Beat Pig Meat are a year older than Atom Heart Mother.

Embryo was discarded from the Ummagumma recordings (around April '69) and was re-mixed around 1970 by their producer at the time of the recording without permission of the Floyd. It was planned to be released on a compilation in 1970 with other artists, but the album was withdrawan.

And I don't see why Crumbling Land or Heart Big Pig Meat would even get to AHM seeing how they were already released. A lot of outtakes from the Zabriskie Point Soundtrack resemble future works... Rain in the Country -> Brain Damage... Unknown Song -> Parts of AHM... The Violence Sequence -> Us and them... Those would be the ones to even get a chance on the album if it was to happen.

Anyway, Widespread Panic has covered Wish You Were Here... Primus has covered Have a Cigar... and I know Dream Theater have covered a bunch.

"Atom Heart Mother" is a bit like "Ummagumma", but less so, if that makes sense. Even if it doesn't, I'm very keen on both albums - although both are more challenging in differernt ways to the later albums.

"Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is great on very, very occasional listens - you tend to find yourself wandering around saying "Toast... I like toast..." for several days afterwards

The live part of "Ummagumma" is very good indeed - superb renditions of early Floyd classics - although I slightly prefer the "Live at Pompeii" versions; the latter wins mainly because the video is great. The studio part is one of those things - you're either gonna love the experimentation (if you're into psychedelics, this'll blow your mind - especially the bit where it goes all "A Day In The Life"), or you're gonna hate it for all the ego-tripping. Hey - isn't that what makes great prog?

Other very overlooked albums from this period are "More" and "Obscured by Clouds" - both soundtrack albums, written in just a couple of weeks each - although I'm not sure that the latter ever made it to celluloid. Both, like AHM, require time to get into, as they are not as obvious or as easy to access as later Floyd material. In my opinion, though, "Meddle" is the pinnacle of this "2nd stage" of Floyd - "Echoes" is one of my all-time favourite Floyd tracks.

The only covers I have any time for are the "Dub Side of the Moon" album, and Voivod's faithful rendition of "Astronomy Domine". I haven't heard Marilyn Manson's "Another Brick in the Wall Pt II" - but I'd imagine it'd be good, as Manson always finds time to inject his own personal style into what he does (whether you like it or not is immaterial); thanks for the heads up

The Scissor Sisters should apply the scissors to their tongues...

Edited by Certif1ed

Voivod did another Floyd song "The Nile Song", as well. I haven't heard it though.

Plus, on the subject of covers they did 21st Century Schizoid Man, which is excellent!

OSI cover "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun." I think they did a pretty good job. Portnoy does a fine drum solo that propels the tune forward.

Not forgetting of course Dave Gilmour's "covers" of many Pink Floyd songs on his (fairly) recent live DVD. The interpretations transform many of the tracks completely. Robert Wyatt guest sings on "Comfortably numb" too.