Pink Floyd

[The Six]

Any fans out there? If so, favorite records or tracks? Let's talk some Floyd.

[wesfau2]

Pretty casual fan (as in, I'm not familiar with much beyond DSOTM and The Wall and a few other singles), but I do enjoy them.

Fave songs:
Time (got damn this one kicks you right in the jimmy)
Mother
Shine on You Crazy Diamond (all the parts)
Have a Cigar

But you really can't go wrong with most any of it.   One of my favorite background albums/videos is the Live at Pompeii "concert."

Side note: the Easy Star All Stars put out a dub-reggae version of DSOTM and it is FANTASTIC.

[AUJarhead]

Wish You Were Here is probably my favorite album they made.  Fearless from Meddle one of my favorite singles.

Saw them at Legion Field in the early 90s (94?  95?).  Think it was the Division Bell tour.

[GH2001]

One of my favorites is actually a deep track from one of their later releases in 1987, right after Waters left - On The Turning Away. Semi power ballad. But no Waters had Gilmour doing most of the work in that one.

[AUJarhead]

One of my favorites is actually a deep track from one of their later releases in 1987, right after Waters left - On The Turning Away. Semi power ballad. But no Waters had Gilmour doing most of the work in that one.

Momentary is a great post-Waters album.

[Kaos]

I already did this.

Dark Side of the Moon - front to back - is probably the greatest album (that isn't a Greatest Hits or Live album) of all time.

Not a wasted second on it.  Soulful, contemplative, deep. From the first time I heard it, to the last time (about two hours ago) it speaks to me. It has resonated in different ways and via different tracks at almost every stage of my life. 

In this stage... Time. 

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say


My God, how much all of that speaks directly to my daily existence. How they could have felt aching yearning to know what legacy you'd leave, what your life meant, at their age? What were they, 20s? 30s? when that was written? 

Beyond that, the guitar work is hauntingly amazing on that song.

I'm a huge fan of their work.  I've watched The Wall probably 40 or 50 times in varying stages of coherence. It's EPIC - but some people don't get it. 

Can I suggest the next topics for this "what does this band/artist mean to you?"  And not KISS because I think I've done that already.

Earth Wind & Fire
ELO
Styx
Rolling Stones
Elton John
Olivia Newton John
Metallica
NWA

Should be a podcast. I got something more to say...

[wesfau2]

One of my favorites is actually a deep track from one of their later releases in 1987, right after Waters left - On The Turning Away. Semi power ballad. But no Waters had Gilmour doing most of the work in that one.

Weirdly (or not) as an 80s kid, it was MTV that turned me on to PF.  "Learning to Fly" didn't sound like much else that MTV was playing and it caught my ear.

So, that song and "On the Turning Away" were my intros.

[CCTAU]

They aight. They ain’t no RamJam. But Dark Side of the Moon was a good listen.

[The Six]

Personal favorite albums of the Floyd:
DSotM
Animals
Wish You Were Here
The Division Bell
The Wall

Favorite Tracks:
Time
Breathe
Money (going from 7/8 to 4/4 for the guitar solo and back to 7/8 is some deep musician stuff)
Echoes
Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2
Comfortably Numb
High Hopes
The Great Gig in the Sky
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (all parts)

[Kaos]

The Dogs of War
Brain Damage
Learning to Fly
On the Turning Away
Us & Them
Run Like Hell
Wish You Were Here

The best way to categorize their music is to me "melancholy."  I know they were big, dumb, socialists bemoaning the evils of capitalism (idiots who benefited so much from the very concepts against which they raged), but the wistful lyrics combined with the masterful sound and amazing guitar work....  They went beyond music and transcended into operatic art.  I'd put their stuff up against any of the Great Masters.

[The Six]

The best way to categorize their music is to me "melancholy." 

That is absolutely the way to categorize their sound. Wright and Gilmour admitted their standard mode of melancholy was an interested contrasted backdrop to Roger Waters' strong, often angry & militant paranoid opinions. In their greatest moments, that delicate balance is what made it all work.

Pink Floyd is a top 5 group all time for me. Once we get to that level, I don't so much rank them as just put those groups on a level all their own.

[The Six]

Should be a podcast. I got something more to say...

You have my attention...go on...

[GH2001]

You have my attention...go on...

A Podcast ya say…

[jmar]

I've never been enamored with prog rock with the over synthesizing but agree DSOTM is a masterpiece. Count me in, it speaks to me as well at 66.

[Kaos]

I've never been enamored with prog rock with the over synthesizing but agree DSOTM is a masterpiece. Count me in, it speaks to me as well at 66.

I'd say at this point - and there's a 6 in my age too - Dark Side of the Moon has transitioned from speaking to me to haunting me. 

What's the next band to examine?  Are there others that have a similar resoundingly deep impact?  Queen? AC/DC? KISS, obviously (but we can pass on that one, my treatises are already out there and well documented - indisputable, I'd say). Zeppelin? Sabbath/Ozzy?  (I will say Ozzy's later work, and one track in particular - Ordinary Man- does hit me hard). Stones? Van Halen? 

As I write that, I realize I cannot truly think of another band with the psychological resonance of Floyd. I reiterate: It's masterfully operatic and something I'd put on the same pedestal as Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Hayden, Brahms, etc. I'd LOVE to hear a symphonic version of either Dark Side or The Wall. 

[The Six]

I'd LOVE to hear a symphonic version of either Dark Side or The Wall.

Now that Sony owns the catalogue, I expect you will be hearing a lot of that in the near future.

[The Six]

Queen? AC/DC? KISS, Zeppelin? Sabbath/Ozzy? 

Maybe Zeppelin of that list. Stones vs. Beatles could be interesting in a take the best three albums of each and compare/contrast.

Now if only someone here knew anything about podcasting...

[Snaggletiger]

I'm not saying this to be a contrarian, because music, art, etc. are totally subjective.  But, PF never appealed to me.  Way too dark and brooding for my taste, and I always felt like the only way to listen and appreciate it, was to drop a hit of acid beforehand. Did they have several songs that I really loved?  Absolutely!

My first love in music is more straightforward, bass driven R&R.  Gotta' have some lead, and a little bit of funk. Probably why my favorite Floyd song is Young Lust.

I can find something I like in just about everybody's music, even Metallica.  Not a fan of 90% of their catalog, but they've got several that kick arse, like Sad But True, and Fuel.

[wesfau2]

I can find something I like in just about everybody's music, even Metallica.  Not a fan of 90% of their catalog, but they've got several that kick arse, like Sad But True, and Fuel.

The first few albums are metal classics.  It's kind of amazing how long they've been together given the abuse they heaped on themselves in those days.

[The Six]

The first few albums are metal classics.  It's kind of amazing how long they've been together given the abuse they heaped on themselves in those days.

It's really amazing considering how the two leaders of the band (James and Lars) bring out the worst and best in each other while totally alienating everyone else around them. Kirk Hammett has the patience of Job and the new bass guy (Robert) looks like a fat Roman Reigns and is just happy to be there. What they did to Jason Newsted on And Justice For All... is musically criminal.