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Pink Floyd ....

Joe Hutch

Joe Hutch

Mate of the bloke
... weren't very good after Syd left. 'Money' is a nice catchy tune, but the rest is sixth form lyrics and noodly guitar solos.
 
Maybe my age, but Interstellar Overdrive doesn't do it for me in the way that the post Syd albums do. And See Emily Play is as trivial as the early Bowie (eg Rubber Band and The London Boys).

Having said that, I'm now going to put Piper at the Gates of Dawn onto the TT and see if I can find something in it to agree with Joe about.
 
bluefish said:
Maybe my age,.... And See Emily Play is as trivial as the early Bowie
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Yeh, must be your age, it was on the Juke Box in the coffee bar in Blackpool where I used to hang and it got an absolute pasting:D

Relics was the first Floyd album I bought, though it was some years later.

Jim
 
I have pretty much moved away from Pink Floyd now, oddly I like Final Cut.

I also like the live bit on ummagumma.

But thats about it.

Actually put on delicate sound of thunder the other day and it was a bit cringy worthy to be honest. 'We don't need no education..'

Meh.
 
flatpopely said:
You had better be trolling?

WYWH, enough said.
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Not trolling; that is my opinion, confirmed by watching (most of) Pink Floyd night on BBC4 yesterday. Roger Waters' lyrics seem merely statements of the bleedin' obvious (and his famous 'quiet desparation' line was coined by a US writer in the 1950s). David Gilmour's guitar playing is inclined to self-indulgence, and their stage shows are over-blown, to put it mildly.
 
I was shocked to read recently that some so called "musicians" are in fact shallow and feckless. Apparently - a number of them only got into music in order to have more sex and try and look cool by being in a band. For some it is a confidence booster, but for most is a power play to be popular.

Lyrics that "sound kinda cool" to the average twelve year old who is bolstering his or her feelings of adolescent inadequacy with fandom of a cult (be it hugely popular, or weirdly niche) may be upset by being used in this way.

I think we should boycott anyone who could be accused of creating shallow pop music for their own aggrandisment and ONLY listen to Beethoven and Bach from now on. (Mozart was show off.)
 
Jonathan Ribee said:
I was shocked to read recently that some so called "musicians" are in fact shallow and feckless. Apparently - a number of them only got into music in order to have more sex and try and look cool by being in a band. For some it is a confidence booster, but for most is a power play to be popular.

Lyrics that "sound kinda cool" to the average twelve year old who is bolstering his or her feelings of adolescent inadequacy with fandom of a cult (be it hugely popular, or weirdly niche) may be upset by being used in this way.

I think we should boycott anyone who could be accused of creating shallow pop music for their own aggrandisment and ONLY listen to Beethoven and Bach from now on. (Mozart was show off.)
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Beethoven was only in it for the money, as any fule kno.
 
Joe Hutch said:
... weren't very good after Syd left. 'Money' is a nice catchy tune, but the rest is sixth form lyrics and noodly guitar solos.
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Floyd are one of those bands who simply chose the wrong time to give up. Time would have been far kinder if say the cut-off point had been DSOTM and they would have been positively cult-cool had it been Meddle or before. My feelings are:

The Syd singles: (Arnold Layne, See Emily Play, Apples & Oranges). Just wonderful hooky quirky 60s psychedelic pop. I love these songs.

Piper At The Gates Of Dawn: Arguably the UK’s best psychedelia album, pure 1967 and it kicks Sgt Peppers to death.

Saucerful Of Secrets: A truly innovative space-rock album marred by the inclusion of ‘Corporal Clegg’ which is just crap – Waters trying to ‘be Syd’ and failing spectacularly. The title track and Set The Controls are in some ways a pre-echo of what would happen in Germany a year later. Jugband Blues is a beautiful and moving Syd song.

More: The most over-looked album in their repertoire, patchy, but in a good way, has moments of real brilliance. It remains one of their strongest albums IMO.

Ummagumma: Two distinct albums, the first, a live album from the space-rock period, is truly superb, the second of solo projects, is truly not.

Atom Heart Mother: Has not aged well at all, sounds pretentious and dated to my ears. Good cow on the cover though.

Meddle: An album of two tracks, One Of These Days and the side long Echoes, the rest can safely be ignored. Represents the end of their space-rock period and a very suitable jumping off point.

Obscured By Clouds: Obscured by filler. I’ve got a copy but I’m buggered if I can remember anything about it.

Dark Side Of The Moon: Hard to evaluate as it has just been so over-played, over-hyped and over-acclaimed. It’s not a bad album at all truth be told, but not one I’d ever need to play again. IMO it represents the start point of the “serious” and “deep” sub-6th form lyrics that basically wrecked the band later. One needs to evaluate it from the perspective of what it was when released, not what it has become since.

Wish You Were Here: The last one worth owning IMO, it has a couple of good tunes if self indulgent.

Animals: The point where Floyd really, really start to irritate me. Their shark jump. The lyrics are truly awful, just childish in the extreme.

The Wall: Possibly the most self-indulgent and pretentious album ever to sell in great quantities – to my mind it sounds like the depressed and drawn out moping of a spoilt acne covered 13 year old. It is everything that say Unknown Pleasures is not.

I’ve never bothered to listen to anything after this point, though I have truly disliked anything I've been played by others. Just sterile backing to lyrical self-indulgence - the sound of a band that clearly hate even being in the same room as one another.

Tony.
 
I love watching/listening to the Pulse DVD, especially 'One of the days'. Easy Star All Stars do a great Reggae cover of DSOTM called Dub Star of the Moon, it has humour too..

I only ever liked The Wall and it was the album i had until about 3 or 4 years ago, I've bough more since even my missus likes Floyd now ( she also likes Abba & Rod Stewart though.... )
 
That's a very good summary, Tony.

In my younger, poorer days, I spent hours in record shops trying to decide which album to buy that month. I looked at the cover of Ummagumma for so long I sometimes think I actually bought it (the same thing applies to 'The Grand Wazoo' by Zappa).

The only Floyd albums I do own are Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Saucerful of Secrets and the Masters of Rock compilation (which ironically is mostly pop songs). I also have most of Syd Barrett's solo recordings. I used to own Relics too but I think it's been borrowed or stolen from me.
 
Another vote for Dub Side of the Moon (on the CD player now, thanks Sid - I'd forgotten I had it).

Tony - agree that the lyrics of Animals are a bit suspect, but the overall build of the album and the music are as strong as any. It was one of the first 3 albums I bought, so perhaps I'm biased. It would be interesting if we could find an instrumental mix.
 
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