TheCaster

great reviews... yet pink floyds sound changes around alot and sometimes will tie differnt concepts from other cds together....like mention a qoute from a different cd that meant something in that song.. so it would be cool to add a bit of where they changed this aorund and what the concepts in teh albums were... i havent really heard these cds yet so they might not've started to do this yet so my bad if they havent..

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A soul in tension thats learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Cant keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit

jackhammer

This did'nt make much sense to me. From DSOTM onwards they made concept albums and that will be commented on when they are reviewed. They had tracks that had themes (ALANS PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST) which I have commented on. If you want to hear these albums just PM me.

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TheCaster

sorry this took so long to answer but i meant like... you know how division bell has more bluesy environmentalish sounds encorporated into it and say the wall has a british-****-the-government feel to it. i was saying it would be cool if you could go through the changes in thier styles of music and maybe if you know the history behind why they changed to each particular style(cause i honestly dont know :/)

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A soul in tension thats learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Cant keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit

jackhammer

MEDDLE (1971)


For many this was the beginning of the classic Floyd sound that defined them through the 70's an indeed, David Gilmour and Nick Mason both proclaiming it's amongst their very best work.

The original idea was again to work separately (á la UMMAGUMMA) but instead pooled their collective ideas to produce one song that filled up one half of an LP. Of course this was the masterful ECHOES and it happened to be the first track (barring the usual TIME/ANOTHER BRICK ETC) that really described what the Floyd were all about. Beginning with a piano note sent through a Leslie speaker, this note sets the whole tone of the song. The track contains a dirty funky bass section replete with some great guitar work from Gilmour. Elsewhere the mid section is ambient bliss with amplified whale calls which segues into some uplifting Richard Wright keyboard work. This track is easily in my top five all time Floyd tracks. It is 23 minutes of pure Floyd brilliance.

Elsewhere the album opens with the rumbling bass riff of ONE OF THESE DAYS which was primarily played by Gilmour. The riff keeps building and climaxes with Nick Mason banging the stuffing out of his drum kit. It has quite a futuristic sound and the keyboards add to this ambience.

A PILLOW OF WINDS is a beautiful ballad with great guitar work, while FEARLESS features YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE sung by the fans at Liverpool F.C.

The album then takes a different route and features a sun kissed jazzy acoustic number penned by Waters and SEAMUS a psuedo blues track complete with a dog howling along to the music!

This album was where the Floyd became even more interested in recording techniques and a lot of the album was recorded on 16 track. Other highlights was Nick Mason uttering the words ONE OF THESE DAYS I'M GOING TO CUT YOU INTO LITTLE PIECES with a high pitch voice which was then slowed down onto tape.

Echoes will quite rightly be remembered as the catalyst for their success and the album is worth it just for this opus.

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bob_32_116

I'm not accusing anybody of plagiarism or anything, but surely I cannot be the only one hearing the similarity between the sung portion of "Echoes" and The Beatles' "Across the Universe"? This jumped out at me the first time I heard Echoes.

I always felt that Animals was the band's attempt to "do one for the fans", as though they were trying to please some of the people who might have felt left behind by the lush ambience of DSOTM and the fairly mellow sound (for the most part) of WYWH. It sounds out of place where it is in the chronology, but it would not have sounded so out of place had it been released, say, just prior to meddle.

I agree. Despite some good musical moments, I hate the negativity that runs through the whole thing and poisons it.

The Division Bell does not quite reach the heights of DSOTM, but I consider it a great album. There are a couple of tracks i find fairly ordinary: "Wearing the Inside Out" and "Great Day For Freedom", and one - "What Do You Want from Me" that is fine except that it's too much like "Have a Cigar". The rest? Great stuff. And I admit to occasionally getting chills from the intro to "Keep Talking". "High Hopes" is also a fine closer.

OK, I have now read VERY quickly through this whole thread and i have to say that while I have some minor disagreements about individual songs, by and large I concur with the relative assessments of the albums.

Will there be a review forthcoming of The Endless River?

Urban Hat€monger ?

Lee this may interest you

It's a specially recorded gig for John Peels's show to promote the release of Meddle which was broadcast a month before the albums release.

RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting

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jackhammer

On a side note, the review of Meddle is the weakest so far. I have usually had a couple of sherberts when I do my reviews. It helps the thought process! I may edit later!

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Dr_Rez

INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE and ASTRONOMY DOMINE are imo 2 of Pink Floyd's best songs.

The best possible foundation for a band was made on this album.

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jackhammer

OBSCURED BY CLOUDS (1972)


Yet another Floyd film soundtrack? Yes, but what sets this apart is that it was delivered in a break from DSOTM sessions and was knocked out in two weeks flat. It is also one of my favourite Floyd albums and represents a band on a much more organic level. Time constraints pushing the band to be spontaneous and deliver recognisable themes.

The first thing apparent on this album is the almost total absence of Roger Waters. Although he contributed most of the lyrics and (obviously) played Bass, it is easy to deduce that his energies were firmly concentrated on DSOTM. The second recognisable element is a huge David Gilmour presence on the album. Contributing significantly to no less than seven tracks on here. The third is the bands first use of the VCS3 synthesiser. Even Nick Mason got in on the VCS3 act. Utilising a beat that is prevalent on the title track.

The title track and Gilmour dominated tracks such as when Youre In and The Gold It's In The are simple tracks based around guitar motifs, but are nevertheless refreshingly free of bombast. Childhood's End is quite simply one of my favourite Gilmour tracks. It is simple but utterly effective. His guitar work is unfussy, uncomplicated and utterly beguiling.

Richard Wright contributes some of his best keyboard work on here. Free from the regimented Roger Waters school of songwriting, his work soars on tracks such as Mudmen and Stay.

The album does throw up two very interesting tracks within the Pink Floyd cannon. Namely Free Four and the albums closer Absolutely Curtains.

Free Four is completely dominated by Waters and the lyrics are the first time that Waters used Floyd as an emotional catharsis regarding the death of his father. However the juxtaposition is (obviously) puzzling. The song is an acoustic led upbeat track, yet the lyrics are poignant and touching.

Absolutely Curtains closes the album. The song's structure, sound and album placing could almost seem prophetic. The Floyd's next album was the phenomonem that was DSOTM which sent them into an altogether different stratosphere. The tracks oblique quality bridges their acceptance that Barrett was truly gone, coupled with the knowledge that their next album would take them to a different level all together. Whether this is for better or worse is borne out by the tribal choruses that close the track. It's a world that they and you are unfamilar with and the transition is not completely known.

I am probably reading far too much into the last track but stylistically the song seems out of joint to the rest of the album and (unbeknown to the band) marked the beginning of the end for the band as a co-operative 4 piece.

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spark10036

Some very good reviews so far however I don't agree in some points here. I believe that Atom Heart Mother Suite is a great piece, maybe too experimental but very good in so many ways.
Meddle is also on of my favourite Floyd albums but I rank it after WYWH,DSOTM, and The Wall. I can't wait for your next reviews which I'm sure they will be very hard to write.
For me the easy way in to Pink Floyd is to start from The Wall which is probably their easiest album for new listeners and then move on to Wish you Were Here.
Also I know everybody is familiar with the song Wish You Were Here, so try the cover Thom Yorke did for the soundtrack of Lords of Dogtown.One of the best covers I ever listened to.
I was also searching the web to buy 'Oh by the way which one's Pink?' and I was disappointed to find out there were various problems with the original copies so stay away.

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