Pink Floyd question
 

Hi dirties,

I own Dark side of the moon, The Wall, Wish you were here & Animals(this one is a deception for me) by PF and I wanna know if you consider that Meddle and Pipers at the gates of down are essential and why.

Thanks.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Piper at the Gates of Dawn (and A Saucerful of Secrets, together as A Nice Pair) were important to me largely because of the way in which the band were pushing the boundaries of musical experimentation at the time. Bear in mind that the Moog synthesizer had only been toyed with up til then, and a lot of the effects created on these albums were using electric guitars. Piper was also the last album to have Syd Barrett on as a vocalist. In 68, he started to lose the plot seriously, and acid got the better of him. I think it is worth owning for that reason alone - a kind of Pink Floyd Mk I. ;)

Meddle, on the other hand, is an absolute must for your collection. There are some fantastic numbers on there, my faves being "One of these days...." which I described elsewhere as one of the earliest banging dance numbers, imo. The whole of side two (not that you will notice it on the CD though) is Echoes, which is a superb, experimental ambient piece that kind of weaves its way underwater. Damn, that sounds pretentious and I don't mean to, but when you listen to it you will understand what I mean.

Edit: by deception do you mean disappointment? I love Animals, but it was the last Floyd album I really loved. After that it kind of got monotonous in my opinion.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Years ago when I was first discovering Pink Floyd and starting to collect all their albums, I went to the local music store and asked if they could order in Piper... for me. I was puzzled when the store guy warned me that it "might not be what I expected".

When it finally arrived I was able to understand what he meant. As an album, it's got some great moments (and as a whole I've grown to appreciate it more and more as the years go by), but for a 15-yr-old who was weaned on Dark Side and The Wall, it sounded nothing like the Pink Floyd I knew. With a theme of fairy tales and psychedia hanging over many of the songs, it is far removed from the political protests of Animals or the angst of The Wall. Whilst most of the songs are about 3-4 minutes in length, one track (Interstellar Overdrive) probably gives the biggest hint of where they would eventually go, a sprawling jam featuring lots of guitar and electronic experimentation.

It is an important album in order to understand Pink Floyd's roots, when Syd Barrett was the driving creative influence behind the band. It gives you an appreciation of why the remaining members felt the need to write tracks such as Shine On... and Wish you were here about him, because he clearly had a lot of creative talent that was sorely missed when the drugs took hold.

As for Meddle, well, I agree that it is a must for anyone who likes Pink Floyd. Echos is arguably the greatest song they've ever written, and whilst nothing else on the album comes close to it in terms of grandeur, they're all very good (except for Seamus, which is rather awful). A good accompaniment to it is the Live at Pompeii video/dvd which contains live performances of Echoes and One of these Days.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

I love Meddle, but if you were only going to buy one more Pink Floyd album, it should be Umma Gumma. For real.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

That's why I love Pink Floyd, for this experimental rock side. :rolleyes:

Yes, and I find this one a little annoying, even after repeated listen.

About The Wall, I really like the second disc and I think the first is not musically so great. But The Wall is an entity first, so...

And for "Piper...", some says that it's "better" that Sgt Pepper, what do you think about that ?

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

I love Floyd, and I own about seven Floyd disks, and zero Beatles albums, but there is no way that Piper is better than Sgt Pepper. No way.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Heh. I saw that at the cinema as a spotty teenager! Good movie.

As to Piper vs Sgt. Pepper I will sit on the fence. It is like trying to compare apples and oranges.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

A suggestion for essential early Floyd:
"Ummagumma".

More structured and dare-i-say listenable than the hallucinogenic Syd Barrett albums, and it's trippy as heck!

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

i'm gonna stick my oar in and say you have to get meddle. you have to.
echoes is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

or, get the live in pompeii dvd.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

However, Sgt Pepper is considered by many to be the best Beatles album (though not by me), whereas Piper... isnt largely considered to be Floyd's best album.

You'd have to compare Dark Side Of The Moon to Sgt. Pepper. But personally, I consider the White Album to be their best by far, with Revolver close behind.

In general, comparing Beatles to Floyd isnt such a good idea though, and a separate thread for Beatles discussion should really be started.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

yes
yes yes.

also, just for shits and giggles, try doing this
basically, echoes is 23 minutes long, so is the last bit of 2001:space odyssey. kubrick asked floyd to contribute some of the score for that movie, they turned him down for whatever reason. roger waters later quoted as saying that this was one of the few career moves he ever made that he "truly regretted". if that was fun, then you've also got the whole dark side/wizard of oz thing too.

anywho. god i love floyd. and my mate wiley has a mint condition dark side lp, with (unverified) signatures from all band members. he went to have the signatures checked out, the collector said floyd were doing so many drugs at thats stage, no two signatures look the same - but still offered him £700 for it. worst bit is his girlfriend found it for him in a charity shop.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Every movie has a last bit that's 23 minutes long.

I know what you mean, though.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

As a Floyd fan from the late 60's i would say that Umma Gumma and Meddle were a must! Also Atom Heart Mother is a very interesting album too.

i don't much care for anything after DSOTM although Animals and Wish you were here have their moments.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

i agree with this, same said of the wall really. unfortunately the best of (echoes) cuts the good tracks from said later albums quite badly

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Actually, I'd place Wish You Were Here among my favorites.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

well, there are two (or three, or nine depending on how you want to classify shine on you crazy diamond) tracks that are absoultely mind blowingly good, but machine and cigar are just filler

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Up yours Machine is filler. :D

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Ah, I like The Wall. From what I've observed, people who don't like that album generally don't like it because of all the narcissistic rock star angst. I agree with them on that point, but I would say that the album is a lot less dependent on the inane rock star plot than the movie. The first disc of the album doesn't depend on it at all, actually.

I personally never liked Wish You Were Here. The guitar is godlike, of course, but I just thought the vocals were really grating and the whole thing just kind of dragged its feet. Meddle is cool though.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Doubly up yours. Both some of my favorite songs out there.

Meddle is absolutely essential. I hold this along with Atom Heart Mother as my favorite Pink Floyd albums. I will also STRONGLY encourage purchase of Ummagumma. The Narrow Way is probably one of their most underappreciated songs, plus the live part totally kicks ass. Excellent rendition of Careful With That Axe Eugene, whose energy build is very similar to some X-Trax techno. (Think DJ Misjah & Groovehead "The Club")

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Can't really believe Ummagumma rated highter than Piper. Ummagumma is pretty directionless much of the time with a few excellent moments. Piper is genius, practically every song a classic but an album perhaps you have to come across while pretty young before cynicism kicks in too deep. Piper besides the musical fireworks is lyrically a far deeper phenomenon than may appear to be. Gnome on the surface a Tolkienish piece of whimsy but a story of man's evolution to knowledge for those who have ears to hear. True greatness often can lie in being content for your depths to go unnoticed rather than talking about obviously heavy serious subjects in a deep and meaningful lway.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

tee hee hee. well, filler in comparison to wywh and shine....
not the sort of filler that you ever skip tho - pink floyd is one particular artist that you have to listen to the whole album al the way thru sans skipping

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

French touch here ? :D

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

If you were talking strictly about the Studio version of Ummagumma alone I'd agree with you about its rating below Piper. There's some SERIOUS noodling up in that piece. HOWEVER, throw in the live version and we're playing a different game. The Live version however is quite cohesive and is utterly sublime.

.....set your controls for the heart of the sun........

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

that's their best song and the best version of it

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

I certaiinly wouldn't argue against Set the Controls and its extended prehistoric spaceman workout by Rick Wright.

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

Of course both animals and piper at the gates of dawn are essential
piper was there first album and syd barret started off so if there was no album like that pink floyd wouldnt be what they were and are today.and i think animals is an awesome album also the lyrics are great. i love that song dogs! and the front cover is my favourite building in london!

Re: Pink Floyd question
 

:eek: :eek:

What? 'granchester meadows' and 'the narrow way' directionless???????
don't be a buffoon*:D , and the live album is one of the best live albums ever to grace a piece of vinyl!

* i love this word! for some reason it has become the favourite put-down word round my way recently.