Pink Floyd Appreciation Thread

Pink Floyd is by far my favorite band and David Gilmour, my biggest influence as a guitar player and composer.

Edited by DamianX_JVL - February 10 2013 at 21:09

I became a fan of Floyd when I bought my first ever CD, Dark Side Of The Moon.  I first got into that and the albums after it.  However, after a viewing of Live At Pompeii, the era before Dark Side became, and remains, my absolute favorite.  I just found their experimental stuff much more enjoyable the angst ridden and clinical Water's dominated stuff.  I think they were far better when they were an actual band, rather than Waters dominated (though Gilmour always had a lot of input in the later stuff).

The non-Waters albums, however, don't do much for me.  Though Division Bell is a decent album in it's own right, it and Momentary Lapse really do sound more like Floyd tributes than actual Pink Floyd albums.

Pink Floyd was the first band I got into as a kid (and by kid, I mean 5 years old, back in 1979). My favorite period is the one from Darkside to Animals, the latter being my favorite Floyd album.  Even though only Waters and Gilmour are credited for songwriting, I always thought that it was on Animals that Floyd sounded the most like a band.  Each member shines on this album I believe be it Waters best bass lines or lyrics, Gilmour's amazing guitar and vocal work, Wright's PERFECT ambiences and parts and Mason's best (and most proggy) drum parts.

Sumdeus wrote: Horizons wrote: I thought it was the opposite. After Syd left Water got all the power and thats how their experimental music was made. Guess i was wrong? After Syd left is when the experimental music was made?Have you actually listened to Piper?

Of course the experimental side of Pink Floyd existed since the beginning, with Barrett... and even more so when they played live. When Barrett left, the rest of the band didn't really know what to do, so they kept doing whatever came to mind (Ummagumma anyone?), and I understand they were in a period still full of experimentation, and just about everyone had something to add to their albums. I guess, by the time of Dark Side, they just made use of all that they learned from all that experimentation, and little by little Waters began to take more control of the band. Still, for me Dark Side still was very well ballanced as far as writing for the album is concerned, and it wouldn't have been any way as great as it was if they weren't all involved. Even Wish You Were Here was still pretty good as far as collaboration is involved. Even Animals I would feel still has some good input apart from Waters (granted, the only song that wasn't completley written by Waters is Dogs... but as far as I understand, the music on that one is by Gilmour - and only the lyrics by Waters - and that song is almost half the album, and for me by far the best song). And coming into The Wall, that album is almost all Waters, but I'm still under the impression that if it wasn't for Gilmour giving his input and fighting to make better some things, the album might have been much worse that it actually ended up... plus, what would be of The Wall if it didn't have "Comfortably Numb", which was written by Gilmour?

Dellinger wrote: Sumdeus wrote: Horizons wrote: I thought it was the opposite. After Syd left Water got all the power and thats how their experimental music was made. Guess i was wrong? After Syd left is when the experimental music was made?Have you actually listened to Piper? Of course the experimental side of Pink Floyd existed since the beginning, with Barrett... and even more so when they played live. When Barrett left, the rest of the band didn't really know what to do, so they kept doing whatever came to mind (Ummagumma anyone?), and I understand they were in a period still full of experimentation, and just about everyone had something to add to their albums. I guess, by the time of Dark Side, they just made use of all that they learned from all that experimentation, and little by little Waters began to take more control of the band. Still, for me Dark Side still was very well ballanced as far as writing for the album is concerned, and it wouldn't have been any way as great as it was if they weren't all involved. Even Wish You Were Here was still pretty good as far as collaboration is involved. Even Animals I would feel still has some good input apart from Waters (granted, the only song that wasn't completley written by Waters is Dogs... but as far as I understand, the music on that one is by Gilmour - and only the lyrics by Waters - and that song is almost half the album, and for me by far the best song). And coming into The Wall, that album is almost all Waters, but I'm still under the impression that if it wasn't for Gilmour giving his input and fighting to make better some things, the album might have been much worse that it actually ended up... plus, what would be of The Wall if it didn't have "Comfortably Numb", which was written by Gilmour?

Both Gilmour and Mason (probably Wright too, not sure) have stated that Waters was not very gracious about giving credit where credit was due.  Most of the Roger dominated albums were presented to the band as rough demos (VERY rough, according to Gilmour), and the band as a whole would help Roger mold them into proper songs.  The Wall was really the first example of Waters having most of the control, but I think that album would have been even less musical than it was had it not been for Gilmour's input (Waters has admitted as much in more recent times).  Mason and Wright were not really contributing anything by that point though.

I'm not trying to downplay Waters at all (neither was Gilmour, for that matter), only to point out that his megalomaniac personality during those late 70's, early 80's albums was such that he believed he did all the work.  As Nick Mason would later say, you can't really change the mind of someone who "believes", with facts.
 


Edited by infandous - February 15 2013 at 10:31

Trying to find if there was a poll done to rate the Live DVD of Delicate Sound of Thunder against Pulse.

Dr. Occulator wrote: Trying to find if there was a poll done to rate the Live DVD of Delicate Sound of Thunder against Pulse. Can someone help me?

^ It may say that I gave it a three, but that's for technical reasons. My personal enjoyment rating for it is a four out of five simply because the first half is astonishing. Also, I choose to neglect things like "Quicksilver" (which starts with the sound of crap flowing through the sewers), "More Blues", and the boring, monotonous themes. Other than that, the album's a real hoot.

Edited by Dayvenkirq - February 18 2013 at 03:07

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Does anyone else just truly love the beautiful, shimmering `More' album by Floyd? Their last fully psychedelic album, and such a fragile and subtle acid/folk/psych beauty. Wright's organ is incredible on it :)

Dr. Occulator wrote: Trying to find if there was a poll done to rate the Live DVD of Delicate Sound of Thunder against Pulse. Can someone help me?

As far as I know, there's no official release of Delicate Sound of Thunder on DVD... if somehow I missed it, I should have to go and get it right away. I remember something about Gilmour saying he wanted to release his Live at Venice show, since before PULSE was actually released, however so far I don't know it's been done. I do have an unoficial version, which I bought only because as far as I know it wasn't officialy available yet. However, given that show, and by the CD's, I sort of prefer the PULSE shows... though there are things I really love on Delicate Sound too.