PINK FLOYD FANS?

[Jazz Kat]

What the top says. Anybody here?

[Jim Alfredson]

I listened to Floyd all the way through middle and high school. I recently tried to revisit what used to be my favorite record of theirs (Animals) and couldn't make it through. Too down for me!

But when you're in the throws of adolesence, it's good stuff!

That said, I've always like David Gilmore. Very tasty and inventive player. Always had fantastic tone, too.

Echoes used to be one of my favorite songs. I love the way the organ PINGS over the top of those chords. My dad swears it's a piano, but I think it's the organ... maybe layered with a piano, but the Hammond B3 has a "percussion" feature which adds a harmonic "ping" to the front of the notes on the top manual. That's what it sounds like to me.

[Jazz Kat]

I really haven't dug too deep into them. I really only heard Have A Cigar, and I think it's one of the greatest songs.

[7/4]

I listened to Floyd all the way through middle and high school. I recently tried to revisit what used to be my favorite record of theirs (Animals) and couldn't make it through. Too down for me!

But when you're in the throws of adolesence, it's good stuff!

That said, I've always like David Gilmore. Very tasty and inventive player. Always had fantastic tone, too.

Echoes used to be one of my favorite songs. I love the way the organ PINGS over the top of those chords. My dad swears it's a piano, but I think it's the organ... maybe layered with a piano, but the Hammond B3 has a "percussion" feature which adds a harmonic "ping" to the front of the notes on the top manual. That's what it sounds like to me.

It's been years since I've heard the pings on Meddle. Great album.

Animals and later = bummers.

I love Wish You Were Here.

[AfricaBrass]

Another HUGE Pink Floyd fan here. Basically, I stick with them from Piper At the Gates of Dawn through Animals.

You've got to check out their Live At Pompeii DVD when you can.

David Gilmour was a big influence on my guitar playing when I was younger.

[md655321]

I love Floyd.

They had a stretch of Meddle through The Wall of absolutely brilliant albums. The latest (albeit a decade old by now) The Division Bell is excellent as well.

[AfricaBrass]

I love Floyd.

They had a stretch of Meddle through The Wall of absolutely brilliant albums. The latest (albeit a decade old by now) The Division Bell is excellent as well.

I need to give that album another chance. I saw the band on the '94 tour and really enjoyed the show (especially the Dark Side of the Moon part ), but I didn't get into the Division Bell back then. I'm much more open minded now; maybe I'll like it.

[Jim Alfredson]

Hey, I even liked The Final Cut. I also dug parts of Water's last solo record (that I know of) Amused To Death.

I do wanna pick up the Live in Pompeii DVD. I've heard it's awesome.

[LAL]

I'm somewhat of a Pink Floyd fan.

One of my favourites is Roger Waters doing the primal scream on Careful With That Axe Eugene. Gives me the chills just thinking about it. Green Is The Colour must be one of the most beautiful ballads ever recorded. The Piper At The Gates album is superb from start to finish.

I've yet to hear any post Animals (which I found rather long and rambling) albums, maybe someday.

[Rooster_Ties]

I was a huge Floyd nut in college. Basically discovered them (at least deeply) during my freshman year of college (1987-ish). Had a whole bunch of bootlegs, and still have a few of them now -- though I sold off or traded all the vinyl ones.

Don't listen to them much any more, but still think they're pretty darn good.

Know what you mean, Jim, about not being able to get through Animals all the way. In many ways, it was my favorite record of theirs too. But I gave it a spin about a month ago, and found myself really wishing the tunes were shorter, and that more happened more quickly in them. This isn't to dog them that hard. Just that my jazz ears have spoiled me, in some ways.

Gilmore was always one of THE most tasteful (and tasty!!) rock guitarists -- especially soloist -- of the last 35 years (roughly).

Recently gave a spin to the live version of "The Wall" released a couple years back. Actually prefer it to the studio version, if only because it seems fresher to my ears. Fun to imagine what it must have been like for the guys in the band during the performances, what with all the logistics they had to contend with (the liner-notes for the live "Wall" release do a good job of capturing the flavor of it, from the band's perspective).

Maybe I'll dig out one of my favorite Floyd boots -- a complete "Animals" show (from May 9th, 1977) -- and give it a spin soon. It's got a cool, 1977-era performance of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" too -- one of the few times they played early Floyd material after 1975.

I've also got an interesting, very early complete performance of "Dark Side" (circa 1972), with a completely different "On The Run" sequence too. It's 100% different, nothing like the version that appeared on record. A great later live version of the complete "Dark Side" (circa 1974), that is really soundboard quality, and quite amazing too (with the "On The Run" tune we all know from the studio LP). The boot of that later live "Dark Side" show has the first known performance of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" from early 1974, which has some really funky sections that never got into the studio version.

Floyd doesn't do as much for me any more, but I sure as hell loved them back in college. My memories of that music are better than the experience of listening to it now. Damn jazz!!

Gilmore still rules!!

Edited March 18, 2005 by Rooster_Ties

[Jazzmoose]

Favorite Floyd song by far: Bike. Guaranteed instant flashback. Uh....I mean 'memory trigger'. Yeah, that's it...

[Shawn]

Pink Floyd will always be one of my favorite bands, one of my seminal musical influences. I tend to go for long periods without listening to their albums..sometimes years...but then I'll get on a huge kick and explore them all over again.

When I first started becoming a fan, I focused primarily on the later material, I remember when The Wall came out, I bought it and Dark Side on the same day. As the years have passed, I now find myself more closely drawn to the earlier material. I adore Piper..fucking brilliant..but the period I like the best now is that "growing" period...that wonderful period leading up to Dark Side. Primarily Obscured By Clouds and Meddle. Of course Meddle is a classic album, but Obscured is really underrated in my opinion...some of those songs like Childhood's End are primo Floyd.

It never really bothered me when Waters left...by the time that happened, I was pretty tired of his schtick...what had started as honesty had morphed into self-obsessed, overly dramatic semi-theater. Sure, the Gilmour records have dated kind of badly, mostly because of the production used...and they are a little bland...but his guitar playing still comes through and he's always been one of my favorite singers...he's so smooth...the voice and the guitar linked in a way that few artists achieve...extensions of the same voice. Lyrical cat.

[Guy Berger]

First, before I forget -- gotta second Mark's sentiment re: "Bike". Never dropped acid to it or anything, but it's such a great tune.

The Wall was the first CD I ever got, when I was 15. (Actually, maybe I owned Rush's Moving Pictures first... I don't remember.) I listened to it non-stop. These days I can't really listen to it -- side 1 ("Mother", "Goodbye Blue Sky"!) and side 3 are really good but most of side 4 (after "Run Like Hell") is just awful and I don't like side 2 that much either. It was the perfect soundtrack to teenage angst.

A couple of months later I picked up Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Momentary Lapse isn't such a bad CD, though I think the Division Bell (I saw the tour, and played the CD obsessively) is better. I slowly filled in the gaps -- Animals, Meddle, The Final Cut (which these days I'd rather listen to than the Wall). Umma Gumma was the first "weird" CD I got, back in high school. One of my friends called it "halloween music". In college I picked up the pre-Umma Gumma albums and Relics, which has some nice music on it. ("Biding My Time" is underrated!) "Saucerful of Secrets" is such a cool tune.

I don't really listen to the band much -- in fact, I don't know if I've touched one of their CDs for a few years. But still, Dark Side and WYWH are incredible albums. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" still blows my mind every time I hear it -- that incredible organ swell near the beginning, under Gilmour's guitar... definitely recommended "in a certain state of mind." Then that bell-like guitar riff, and the definitive Gilmour guitar solo (yeah, it beats "Comfortably Numb"). It's funny when you go back to the music you listened to as a teenage and you appreciate things you totally missed back then. I used to think that parts 8 & 9 of Shine On were totally boring. I was an idiot... that funk section is kinda cool (1975, after all) and Rick Wright does some beautiful synth things in the coda.

Whew... just wrote a lot about Floyd. I have to say that despite digging the Final Cut, I can't stand Waters's post Floyd solo stuff.

Guy

[vibes]

I had never heard any Pink Floyd until last year. When I set up a small SACD surround system, I bought "Dark Side of the Moon," as many people agree that it has one of the best surround mixes out there. I was completely blown away, and highly recommend the SACD to anyone. I've heard that "Wish You Were Here" will be out on SACD sometime this year, and I eagerly await its release. Since SACD hasn't really caught on and will probably remain a niche format, I don't have high hopes that Floyd's other classic albums will be released in the format, but I will hold off buying other albums like "The Wall" just in case they do get remastered again.

[dave9199]

I liked evrything while in my late teens & 20's, but now (35), I have only Piper & Saucerful along with bootlegs of the only 2 known complete shows with Syd. I also have stuck with Barretts solo albums. Floyd to me now are boring, mainly because you hear it everywhere, though I still think The Wall is a great piece of psychodrama & The Final Cut is the more tearful, warmer, what-the-Wall-was really-about album. A great album. Echoes is a great song (I like the Pompeii version more than the studio), but side 1 of Meddle never really grabbed me except for One Of These Days. Dark Side is a great album, but I've heard it enough in my lifetime to not miss it. I didn't like Wish You Were Here as much, but the same goes for that. Animals I liked more because it doesn't get airplay. Ummagumma is pretty good. I like Nick Mason's solo piece the best. Gilmour a second. I forget who said it, but to me it's true; Floyd have the most boring rhythm section. Are they important? You bet, but not for me anymore except for Syd's stuff.

[ghost of miles]

PIPER and WISH YOU WERE HERE are my favorites... started out as a DARK SIDE junkie when I was 14, but I think I permanently burned myself out on it. And also became a Barrett devotee in my later teens... was very much into the "record one album/write one book" sort of romanticism (even though Barrett ultimately recorded more than one album). Every once in awhile I read some Floyd retrospective, and some reporter goes up to poor Syd's house and knocks on the door, where he's greeted by an overweight, balding and rapidly-aging man who'd prefer to be left alone to garden.

[ghost of miles]

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to go put on THE WIZARD OF OZ.

[AfricaBrass]

Every once in awhile I read some Floyd retrospective, and some reporter goes up to poor Syd's house and knocks on the door, where he's greeted by an overweight, balding and rapidly-aging man who'd prefer to be left alone to garden.

I'm a HUGE Syd Barrett fan. I've played most of his songs in my various bands and he's another huge influence on my playing.

Recognize this fellow?

[Joe G]

Loved them in high school (along with Zep), but one day while listening to The Wall, I decided life was depressing enough without such gloomy music. And I've definitely heard all the radio hits enough times (haven't we all). Gilmore is a very musical guitarist, and Live at Pompeii is a trip.

[ghost of miles]

Every once in awhile I read some Floyd retrospective, and some reporter goes up to poor Syd's house and knocks on the door, where he's greeted by an overweight, balding and rapidly-aging man who'd prefer to be left alone to garden.

I'm a HUGE Syd Barrett fan. I've played most of his songs in my various bands and he's another huge influence on my playing.

Recognize this fellow?

I'm a HUGE Syd Barrett fan. I've played most of his songs in my various bands and he's another huge influence on my playing.

Recognize this fellow?

Syd at the Abbey Road WISH YOU WERE HERE sessions (where he showed up much to the FLoyd's surprise):

[AfricaBrass]

Here's a good Syd Barrett story:

During the recording of this song, Syd Barrett, their old band mate who had been in seclusion for years due to drug induced psychosis, suddenly appeared in the studio. Syd's former band mates did not even recognize him as he had lost his hair and gained considerable weight. He was wondering about the studio muttering nonsense when Waters and Gilmour realized to their dismay that this strange character who suddenly appeared in their studio session was their old friend Syd Barret.

Ghost - we must be psychic!

Edited March 18, 2005 by AfricaBrass

[Robert J]

Green Is The Colour must be one of the most beautiful ballads ever recorded.

I recently revisted that album - More - and I agree with you. There's some excellent work on that album and some decent acoustic work by Gilmour. Jim - there's some wacky B3 moments on More as well, like the Wright/Mason duet. Speaking of Gilmour, I used to think highly of this album, but have not heard it in awhile.

[Jim Alfredson]

That's the only solo album of Gilmore's I've heard.

[AfricaBrass]

Loved them in high school (along with Zep), but one day while listening to The Wall, I decided life was depressing enough without such gloomy music. And I've definitely heard all the radio hits enough times (haven't we all). Gilmore is a very musical guitarist, and Live at Pompeii is a trip.

Maybe this is the reason I like early Pink Floyd so much.

I don't think it was overly gloomy until the later albums. Actually, Roger Waters was always gloomy, but in the beginning he didn't have as much influence.

[ghost of miles]

Here's a good Syd Barrett story:

During the recording of this song, Syd Barrett, their old band mate who had been in seclusion for years due to drug induced psychosis, suddenly appeared in the studio. Syd's former band mates did not even recognize him as he had lost his hair and gained considerable weight. He was wondering about the studio muttering nonsense when Waters and Gilmour realized to their dismay that this strange character who suddenly appeared in their studio session was their old friend Syd Barret.

Ghost - we must be psychic!

No kidding! Great wasted minds and all that?