Pink Floyd’s
Persistence and Ingenuity
Pink Floyd is considered one of the best British rock bands of modern times. From their debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, to their most recent release they have written and performed according to a unique blend of musical influences while making their own distinct contribution. The music is called psychedelic, hard rock, classic rock and other types depending on who labels and what albums are used as the context. The following pages will focus on the studio albums including the movie soundtracks. The exception is Zabriske Point, which only has three of their songs on it. This work is an analytical view of Pink Floyd’s music. Biography can be easily found elsewhere, but will be a reference in appropriate places. The evolution of the music over the years is significant. What started out as a page of rock history tipped the balance toward mediocrity and sometimes lacked originality. But despite the slow start, Pink Floyd emerged a sensation – not all at once but gradually. Once they found their footing with Dark Side of the Moon, they ascended to greatness. The music became moody and some say depressing, but the high achievement of their art must be recognized. Their technical innovations paved the way for countless other musicians to experiment with and apply Pink Floyd’s studio-savvy example to their own projects. Pink Floyd has been called “weird” by so many people who do not take the time to listen to and experience them. No band could claim the skills of composing or the musicianship and production value that they had, especially the albums recorded during the 70’s after and including Dark Side of the Moon. Not in rock. It is doubtful they will make another album given the death of Wright and the exodus of Roger Waters to a musically inferior solo career. Fourteen albums, all with charm and personality, we will consider in this analysis.
Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Pink Floyd debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, was mostly created by the legendary Syd Barrett. Like the artist himself, the album had its ups and downs. The weaknesses of the work are many. First, the lyrics are utter nonsense. The topics of the songs are sometimes charming: Roman gods, cats, gnomes, and a bike. One that may actually mean something is "Scarecrow." Most, on the other hand, have no significance. Other weak points would be elements of their songs. Barrett was a good singer. On some songs his thick accent shows through: Lucifer Sam, Flaming and The Gnome. His guitar playing was hit or miss, however. The worst examples are in the songs "Take up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" and on many fans' favorite "Interstellar Overdrive." The latter also has a pulsing rhythm, the like of which compares to walking all day on a throbbing ingrown toenail. In the last track, Bike, the band successfully captures the spirit of the Beatles and then puts their own name on it. Nor is "Chapter 24" a very original sounding song.
There are some really positive things to consider about Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The band’s harmonies are tight and appropriate like in the first song, "Astronomy Domine" and also "Matilda Mother." One may also find very competent instrumentals in the song "Flaming." The keyboardist, Richard Wright, steals the show with his organ. He has a meandering style at times and really adds to songs like "Lucifer Sam" and "Interstellar Overdrive." A difficulty presents itself when one considers the non-melodic content of the songs. For instance, in the song Interstellar Overdrive the band goes on a little journey that covers a lot of time in the middle of a repetitive but melodic song. The departure may compare to free form jazz but sounds more practiced than improvised. Sometimes this approach works and sometimes it doesn't. Which part that doesn't work is deliberate or is accidental? Barrett’s very best work engages the listener when he plays his guitar in a melodic chord structure. When he reduces the guitar to a sound effects contrivance, the composition suffers.
How does Pink Floyd’s debut album fit into the time it was released? Does it hold its own when compared to the other famous album releases from 1967? The answer will be a matter of opinion. The major ones are: Cream’s first release, The Doors first two albums, Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow. The list goes on (David Bowie ST, Grateful Dead ST). Also, Piper at the Gates of Dawn hit the record stores in August – right in the middle of the summer of love, which spanned from early spring to October of that year. At that point, Pink Floyd was perceived to be more of an art band than part of the blossoming hippie movement. There was no British counterpart to the summer of love. Pink Floyd would later assume the role of a quintessential hippie band with all the accoutrements, but would have to bide its time until they became a fashionable one. There is irony in this observation that speaks for itself. Their songs were neither political nor socially subversive. Leading the masses to hedonism was not their thing. Like I said, they were not fashionable yet and would not try to be for a very long time. They did want to make the money, just like all the other hippie bands. They may have been too immersed in creating something genuine to rub elbows and make appearances. Who can really say?
Saucer Full of Secrets
This second album comes as a radical departure from Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Syd Barrett liked a song to come across as accessible and have something of a melody that did not grind out the same four notes over and over again the way the music sometimes does on this album. Saucer full of Secrets was the first album featuring David Gilmour. Many qualities took hold on this album by Pink Floyd when they recorded SOS. Some of the songs were so noteworthy that they were included on the masterpiece video Live at Pompeii much later. The addition of Gilmour changed the dynamic of Pink Floyd so much so that Wright's role expanded even more. Gilmour, at this point, mainly plays some lead and chords backing the others. He is not, like Barrett before him, having a major role. To be fair, Barrett did not write the kind of songs that required a lot of gimmicks and free form gobbledygook (except for Interstellar Overdrive). Gilmour would not fill the void left by Barrett as the band changed its whole conception to a more hippie environment and played to the expectations of a new market. Even though Pink Floyd only changed one member of the band, they became a completely different band playing a completely different kind of music.
Something that a person will notice immediately about SOS is that many of the songs have tempo changes within the songs. More than half the album is composed this way: the first two songs as well as the third, fourth and fifth songs. Five of the seven songs have tempo changes some of which have a large impact on the song's structure. This element is often found in jazz, but generally not as much in rock. Also like jazz, Pink Floyd in SOS plays free form that genuinely sounds improvised unlike that in the first album. The vocals soar high above the music adding a dream-like part to their music. These vocals described begin with the first song, "Let there be more Light,” a song that pays homage to the Beatles. Also dreamy vocals occur in "Remember a Day" and "See Saw." The falsetto parts are not overdone and sound plausible. The use of the xylophone may be found in "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and also on "See Saw." Even horns are included in the outlandish final song "Jugband Blues." The rare instrument known as the Kazoo they played in the song "Corporal Clegg." The band sounded like they were having the time of their lives when they recorded this very silly song.
But all did not bide well with SOS, their second album. Songs written with too much repetition, for instance, blackened what could have been one of their greatest albums ever. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is an example of how too much repetition can have a bad effect on a song. Sure, there may be a stoner out there getting really zoned out listening to it, but even the stoner is going to eventually get bored with it. The drums in "A Saucer Full of Secrets" song are too repetitive as well. This may or may not be seen as a technical problem, but that is the way I see it. Also I would find fault with their trying too many sound effects, especially with Gilmour's guitar. The guitar tremolo trick in Saucer Full of Secrets did nothing to add to the sound and could have been handled some other way, like letting Wright play it. The whispers on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" are annoying. It is inefficient use of the studio equipment. On the same track are noises made to sound like chirping birds. Overall, however, this album succeeds. They way the band's compositions work really impresses us. Many songs are outstanding -- sometimes sad and filled with gloom while at other times silly and ridiculous. Mainly they keep their mood in the middle, where the average listener likes to be.
Soundtrack from the Film "More"
On this third Pink Floyd effort, we find a number of short musical vignettes among a greater number of full length (or nearly so) songs. Some are instrumental, but most are not. These songs follow the pattern of the music written for Saucer Full of Secrets, but some fresh exceptions to the rule do stand out. How has the band changed since the preceding album? Are there any surprises? For one, the band wrote all its work without many internal tempo changes. And the order in which the songs are put in is brilliant if only for the fact there are no repetitions in song tempos from one song to the next. Like in Saucer Full of Secrets, "More" features the xylophone sparingly. Yet in the song "Quicksilver" the xylophone proves essential. Added to the mix are the bongos in two songs, notably "Party Sequence." This added instrument shows how the band ever explores new musical possibilities. Not only do added instruments reveal the band's clever curiosity and experimentation, but other factors also prove potent as changes. The song "More Blues" differs from anything recorded by Pink Floyd up to this point -- a standard city blues song in the American tradition. The song, minimally accompanied by the band, allows guitarist Gilmour to show his versatility and that he grafts his own style onto the piece at the end is telling. This is not just a commissioned work for the band, but a chance to have some fun as well.
Some parts of the music to the film “More” will deliver the listener into an aggravated state. The slow tempo songs like "Cirrus Minor" sound so mournful and the bird songs become tedious in it. The whole first minute of the song is only bird songs and they continue throughout until the end. "Quicksilver" has already been mentioned in another context, but should be pointed out that this is not really a song by any stretch of the imagination. It is a collage of noises and sound effects without melody or rhythm. The band does doodle a lot from time to time and perhaps the movie score called for something of the sort. Pink Floyd phases in and out of traditional rock, lands on jazz and other genres like a frog jumping from lily pad to lily pad. It escapes my understanding how a whole song of gobbledygook could just make itself at home on this album. That is the sort of thing one would expect a progrock band to do as a matter of habit. This was the year King Crimson's debut was released, after all. But it smacks of elitism and snobbery which was something foreign to Pink Floyd. I have to think the band was pandering to its audience. It is the only acceptable explanation.
All Pink Floyd fans should buy this album for a number of reasons. They never really truly let their hair down until they played "The Nile Song." What strong, heavy, Hendrix-like guitars, wild, yet precise, drumming and wailing, screaming vocals. If a person can just make it through the first song, there he shall find some respite. Also important is the pleasant song "Cymbaline." This mid-tempo song carries a nice melody, high vocal parts, and meaningful lyrics. It is one of the more conventional rock songs on the album. Gilmour takes the chance to reveal his powerful style in the song "Ibiza Bar." He must travel far to attain his mastered style of later years, but one may listen to this song and see something great at its beginning -- something that will come out from the shadows and be manifest in the band's future identity. In "Green is the Colour” the band triumphs with a very simple formula. Backed by acoustic guitar, the flute and piano take over during vocal breaks and other opportune moments. What would be a perfect song is slightly abused by the falsetto vocals. This time they cannot be overlooked. The flute sounds so natural to the song that it makes one wonder if it is a member of Pink Floyd or a studio musician who plays the part. The liner notes do not answer this. But a synopsis of the film there comes across as irksome. The song lyrics are included for posterity.
Ummagumma
In this fourth Pink Floyd album, also a double album, one will find a live recording (their first) and a studio recording on the second record. In the studio record, the members all get to write some songs of their own and focus on their developing talents. The studio record of Ummagumma is an excursion to the vapid spheres of irrational being, perhaps liberating from the constraints of inveterate norms and conventional life. The meaning goes with the territory of uncertainty. Some will call this work genius and laud praise upon the band for creating something without balance or commercial appeal. Others will curse their fate for listening to anything before Dark Side of the Moon. There will still be others, like myself, who are largely indifferent to either side; those who do not understand and therefore cannot recommend or be unreasonably critical. This music could be a portal to the world of dreams or a microcosm of the soul. Maybe it serves as a map without legend or, further still, a tormented fantasy engineered without function. All the laws that would normally apply fade into ethereal twilight. Do the juxtaposed parts justify the discordant reality? Do words become adequate to describe them? Ummagumma is a serious creative work that deserves consideration and respect. I will try to give them both to this worthy effort.
Before the virtues of Ummagumma are discussed, it must be pointed out that the previous album, "Soundtrack from the Film "More," has something in common with this fourth album. They both include bird chirps and in Ummagumma they are particularly annoying even more so than in the film score. Roger Waters’ songs are both replete with these sounds. And some of the sound effects are outrageously annoying too. At one point, hyena-like sounds can be heard howling away through a song that is perfectly good otherwise. Even Wright got in on the bird action, as though he and Waters copied each other's homework. Gilmour's "part 2" of "The Narrow Way" sounds much indeed like the Beatles, but a bit darker since the most popular band of all time was known for such peppy upbeat song choices. The chord structure of the first song is loitering around trying to jump a train to somewhere other than the charts. It is writing a letter to its mother in invisible ink that says chaos is a destination. Problem is, the train has jumped the tracks and the mother doesn't remember giving birth. What this means is that there are some flaws that are superficial on Ummagumma. Deep systemic problems would be a matter of opinion. I would say that an album would survive the accusation that there are too many sound effects. Wright's piano work goes from brilliant to buffoonery in a matter of minutes and the bird noises are not altogether pleasant. A word from the wise: do not listen to this album if you have a headache.
What is right about this record far outweighs the bad. Even amidst the bird chirps, Waters has masterfully written an excellent song. "Band 5" begins with 2 acoustic guitars strumming with a bit of finger-picking as well. Rogers sings somberly, but writes very poetic lyrics about nature. It works because it is a nice song with a pleasing melody. It stands in stark contrast to most of the other songs. While most of the songs are abrasive to the unaccustomed ear, many of the sound effects are interesting. For instance you don't find many looped effects this far back like on the song "band 6" by Waters. The use of echoes in the song may also have some appeal. So if you enjoy some loud nonsense for a change and you have worn out your King Crimson records, give Ummagumma a chance to redeem itself. The album begins with very official sounding imperial music. Within the work are so many kinds of experimentation. Granted, most of it is non-melodic, but it flows from theme to theme smoothly. Much evidence of great songwriting and musicianship foretells their future. Instincts cannot be taught and some striving towards originality cannot be borrowed to help define the persona of Pink Floyd in its younger days.
Atom Heart Mother
By the time this album was released in 1970, a large number of bands were fronting symphony orchestras. Pink Floyd immersed itself in the practice on this recording with mixed results. The band's production differs more than before in other ways too. We find Mason playing his combination drumming he started on the previous two albums. But he does it more on AHM with better effect. Gilmour's playing is progressing even further than ever. He plays the bluesy high parts with authority. Members of the band contribute by writing songs, as they did on Ummagumma, further establishing their abilities. The cover of the album is a picture of a cow and gives the impression this album is an art band project. No, not really. They are still a hippie band. Suffice it to say that Pink Floyd really stretched its own scope on AHM. The album starts out with orchestral presence and ends in a cacophony of seemingly inadvertent noises and sound effects. These intervals of recorded speech, which had no relation to the music nor to the lyrics, would find their way into later Pink Floyd music; both in Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. Was this the greatest Pink Floyd album to date? Not by a long shot. Saucer Full of Secrets still holds the lead overall, but even Ummagumma, weak as it was, had more going for it than AHM.
What are the best strengths of AHM? By a wide margin, the musicianship wins out above every other virtue. The interplay between piano and organ amazes the listener and pays him off for having the patience to make it this far. The coupling only occurs on the final song, but is well worth waiting for. Also on the final song is the inclusion of a steel guitar presumably with Gilmour playing. It is effective in the part and also may be the bending chords heard in the earlier song "Fat Old Sun." The choir vocals on the first track work very well. It makes the composition sound like a cross between hard rock and church music where the vocals sing out gibberish during and after Gilmour's outstanding guitar part before the song degenerates into non-melodic spleen. Also what works on AHM is the Roger Waters’ song "If." The song is a simple one that is very much like something Barrett might have penned. The band is a backdrop to the nice melody of the vocals. It features both acoustic and electric guitars that elaborate during the vocal breaks. Also the overall feel of the last half of the album engenders our appreciation. The music on the last half of the album is down to earth even when it wanders off course or engages in excessive sound effects. Gilmour's lead work on "Fat Old Sun" is unsurpassed and unforgettable. We hear more of this style in later albums. And his work on the first song of AHM is none too shabby either.
AMH never pretends to be the perfect album and the main reason to avoid it is the super long, super pretentious song "Atom Heart Mother." The song is full of repetitious phrases. No reason presents itself for the album needing to be over 50 minutes long. Why the orchestra is overpopulated by horns remains unknown. Even The Final Cut used a full orchestra and I do not see what would have been so wrong about it here. The cello always adds depth to the music that horns do not. But that could maybe interfere with the bass playing. It is a mystery. Also a mystery is the non-melodic part two thirds of the way through it. The part is myopic and without purpose only to be salvaged by the nice recovery at the end of the song. One of the other weaker parts of the album is the lyrics to "Summer of '68." Wright created the song and attempts to address the subject of casual sex. It is boring. It is meaningless. Why couldn't we have been spared from this garbage? It is not cool and it doesn't justify anything. There is no good imagery in it and it is not poetic in any way. It is also a good way to get herpes, taking a song like this seriously and then going out and trying it. So don't.
Meddle
What changed between Atom Heart Mother and Meddle makes Pink Floyd a better band with better songs. A better band means higher level of playing skills can be enjoyed. Better songs mean tighter harmony and more melodic music worth paying attention to as the band switches gears during the breaks. Moreover, the selection of songs shows the whole band becoming flexible about styles of music and what their role will be in any particular song. This will mark the first time since Syd Barrett left the band where we find more than one song played in a major key. These will be rare to the bitter end and should be appreciated any way they come. The first is "San Tropez." No doubt about it, this is a fun song. It sounds, however, much like a Beatles song and I have mentioned already that they have more than just paid tribute to the Beatles. So again we have another song that sounds like their more successful compatriots from once upon a time. I do not think that it was necessarily intentional, but it is a bit odd because even if one denies it sounds like the Beatles, it cannot be denied that the song has light jazz written all over it and that the melody is hardly what one would call original. The song "Seaumus" does us proud to hear Pink Floyd playing a 12 bar blues song and doing it well. The song rolls on and is best with the slide guitar and piano. This major key creation’s drawback diminishes its value partially because the dog is a bit too demonstrative. By the end of the song, the birdsongs might be missed. Meddle is an important stepping stone for the band. Instead of taking the worst of Atom Heart Mother and settling into mediocrity and pretention, the band goes with their strengths and even further towards greatness.
The songs “One of these Days” and “Echoes” are the best ones on the album by far. “Echoes” takes up a whole side of the record (yes, record). What makes these two unique and interesting? “One of these Days” sets the record straight (a pun) with a straightforward unapologetic use of repetition. The bass just relentlessly consumes the whole song in a way that is necessary for this great experiment in electronic sound effects. One would not normally think that the bass would be the instrument suitable for a delay or that it should be of such indulgence. It works, and does so with a vengeance. Especially the distorted guitar of Gilmour really augments the score. Wright's intermittent flares of treated keyboards follows along, marking each burst with added vitality. And Mason plays with his usual moxie and helps hold the work together, perceptible or not, as if by magic. The song "Echoes" involves parts which sometime repeat musical phrases quite a bit. It is mid-tempo and sounds fused together, especially the bluesy example of Gilmour coming into his own right somewhere near the middle of the song. His style becomes both graceful and assertive and boasts a range of musical phrasings that he can truly call his own, but still a bit to go towards his prime.
Some of the music from "Echoes" sounds like that eerie kind of music one can hear in horror movie scores: screeching and murky backdrops that lack definition. The sound effects in the first song "One of these Days" sounds creepy, not to mention the lyrics to the song which are the words of a psychopath. This album does not have the pretentious element that darkened the perception of Atom Heart Mother because even though the song "Echoes" is such a long song, it is solid. No one will argue that “Echoes” is anything but down to earth. Gilmour shines and the vocals do as well. They all work in unity to create what merits a balanced and positive grade. I believe the band is starting to care more and, therefore, learn more. They have made a lot of noises and now are ready to hone their talents. They have experimented more than any band out there besides progrockers and maybe ought to take a little reward for their effort. But their one weakness that they have had throughout their careers thus far is the repetition. They have, however, learned a little about variation within repeated phrases. “Echoes” suffers from it to some degree, but is located in parts of other songs as well. In future albums, Pink Floyd does play repeated themes but the phrasings are a little different. It is difficult to ignore too much repetition when the music is not melodic anyway. The reason repetition works on "Echoes" is because the vocals are so strong and melodic. Why repetition works in "One of these Days" is because of its sheer audacity and its intense focus is on a higher level than the band ever performed before this album.
Obscured by Clouds
Pink Floyd began to make their transition to modern rock right after Atom Heart Mother was out of their system. The experimentation did not stop and arguably never would. What was once a staple of musical forays having dramatic impact on a song would become a sequence of minor adjustments to the sound of a given instrument’s parts. Compositions became divided between emerging modern propensities and the roots of their hippie past. We have what seems like contradicting parts within some songs, combining the soft flourishes of an acoustic guitar blended with soft, high vocals in transposed layers all juxtaposed against keyboards laden with effects, droning in a technological prism; a release to heretofore unexplored musical soundscapes. Many other musical changes are found in this album. Gilmour practically masters the style he has been working on for the past few years. Wright finds a comfortable place from which to operate; the organ in a traditional backdrop, the piano in odd places to produce clean if primitive sound, as well as the keyboard, which he has learned to be confident with here on the final Pink Floyd album before the golden age begins. The two elements that stay pretty much the same are the bass guitar and the drums which have settled into a routine from which they will rarely ever depart. This album contains songs that are just mood pieces and some songs that are strong in all respects. This would be their final movie soundtrack until the Wall's release in 1979. The folkish element that has been a part of the band's music since nearly the beginning has its final resting place right here. That dying ember from bygone days served an important part of the band's collective psyche and must have been difficult to walk away from, indeed. The intensity of Obscured by Clouds marks the transition into the modern way of making music. Their mastery of the modern often blocks the memory of what they had once been. This was their turning point.
Parts of Obscured by Clouds are relevant to the band's future dynamic. Gilmour's electric guitar parts on the album are genius already as one can see a clear improvement since Atom Heart Mother. What started with the increased use of distortion led into experimenting with blues: big city blues, jazz and modern rock all mixed into one. His lead parts are hard to fathom, even by other musicians. With what flair he begins a part during a vocal break like on "The Gold It’s in the..." and on the song "Mudmen" as well. He is in full command until it is time to stop. He plays a slide guitar at the end of "Wotts...Uh the Deal." All his parts, however, do not hit the center of the target. He plays with an effect that makes his guitar sound thin and weak in the songs "When you're in" and "Burning Bridges." Otherwise, he does not fail to satisfy from the mournful title song at the beginning to the end, though he does not have much of a role in the closing song. Wright also lends to this effort with a child's curiosity and a professional's craft. The title song features the breadth and depth of Wright's talents as the song's interior changes demand something different from him. His working as co-partners to the vocals in "Broken Bridges" and to the electric guitar in "Mudmen," (especially at the end) demand respect. If Mason is playing the xylophones in the same song, he does so with authority. They are hooked up to some tremolo effect that makes them sound otherworldly, as if from a dream. We are accustomed to hearing the organ sound like that, but not a xylophone. I think the last xylophone heard in a Pink Floyd song before this was in Atom Heart Mother.
The weakness of Obscured by Clouds may be found without too much effort. For one, any time the band plays a movie score, the result is going to be different than a studio album. The composition is tailored to the scenes. Art and commercialism do not always intersect (an understatement). The first two songs on the album are both instrumentals and a bit strange for their day. But when the vocals come in there is no criticizing them. These vocals are among the best and rank high compared to Pink Floyd's other albums. There is very little chaos to atone for in the recording. We have many nice melodies and virtually no excursions into madness to explain. There occurs in two songs a brash droning of the keyboard that has little kindness to one's ears. On the songs "Childhood's End" and "Absolutely Curtains" the band inspires to protracted reveries but on the latter song, the score is very much like mood music and probably serves some higher purpose in the scheme of the movie score. Some of the songs are straightforward rock like the kind a mainstream rock-n-roll band would play. This band can play anything nearly. It seems a shame they have mainly kept to a certain style so long until this album. And there will be those who undoubtedly will accuse Pink Floyd of selling out. If they did sellout, it was on this album and starting on this album. This was the change that brought a fairly obscure band to absolute greatness. There may be one member who wants all the credit to himself. That makes me want to laugh out loud. That's a good one...
Dark Side of the Moon
The popularity of Dark Side of the Moon took none by surprise, given Pink Floyd's slow progression towards a complex mix of blues, jazz and a uniquely, modern kind of sound. But it did take people by surprise regardless of anyone's careful notice. Though the signs of their genius were showing as early as the Meddle album, no one could have ever foreseen such a surge of artistic growth and maturity. No one need say the album is philosophical and makes use of metaphors a little different for the rock audience, at least in the U.S. It is about death and life and madness as well as time and money and takes more than just a passing glance into the human condition. We have many examples of voices and laughter dubbed into the songs. I believe they originated for Pink Floyd in Atom Heart Mother which was engineered by Alan Parsons, who would go on to engineer Dark Side of the Moon as well. Much could be written on the subject of how the reincarnated Pink Floyd's music became a sensation to modern rock. One would benefit knowing that they had an earlier period and that what is best musically and what is popular are not always the same. Conclusions about value are largely a matter of opinion. Opinions are often influenced, if not guided, by trends which have to start somewhere. Pink Floyd would never have to copy the style of the Beatles again after Dark Side. The Beatles owned the sixties, but the seventies became the property of Pink Floyd. The sound of the band’s instruments changed. Gilmour plays parts with lots of complicated chord changes and his leads are blistering hot and bluesy. Nick Mason's style of drumming changes into something less repetitious, Water's bass becomes fuller and punchier. How could Wright improve? His use of keys is amazing, but is sometimes hard to distinguish from the other two band mate's parts since they sometimes took turns playing with the synthesizer. The key to the success of Pink Floyd opened the gate that allowed them to pass as they started recording in a manner that would give their individual instruments higher definition in terms of audio quality. No more muddiness. They also abandoned the chaos, the non-melodic journeys into what no longer had musical appeal much anymore. The change of style and manner of recording lifted the band to the top of a world that was ready for them.
Such a tightly knit band as Pink Floyd emerged in 1973. They had been around awhile but were not a household name yet. They had become friends with the latest sound technology although they incorporated many traditional forms to compliment one with the other. The female vocals sing up and down the score’s octaves bending their note changes as they go In the same manner as certain instruments like guitar and synthesizer. These artists during the solo parts take command and really support when serving as backup. Had the long bluesy vocal parts in "The Great Gig in the Sky" ever been tried before in Rock? I doubt it seriously. The backing vocals also have an impact to a lesser degree in the song "Time.” The operatic singing nearly conquers the music with incalculable, soulful talent used to demonstrate the power of the composition and its awe-inspiring effect on the fans. These dominating vocals do not overshadow the dark mystery of the keyboards that shape all the disparate elements of the band and blend them unless they are superimposed over the music like in "Speak to Me" and "Any Colour You Like." The songs can be fast tempo and energetic like "On the Run," but are mostly slow to mid tempo, and mostly slow. Slow does not mean lethargic in the case of Dark Side. The best two examples of the slower songs are "Breathe" and "Us and Them." More familiar to the U.S. audience is the song "Money." "Money" and "Us and Them" feature saxophone parts that are excellent. The song "Money" is in a moderate tempo. Although Gilmour and Wright are really trying to fly this thing by themselves, it is the keyboard's role to completely mesmerize the listener with choppy notes emphatic to perfection. Sure, Wright is playing off the sax with some echo going somewhere heavenly, but the inclusion of the sax insures the song's success. In "Us and Them" the sax plays over the melody in a soft, non-chalante way and drives through the traffic of the treated vocals that are focused and laid back, soft and moving with the flow.
No album should go without some type of negative criticism. One could say Dark Side is too depressing. I would go along with that to an extent, but no one needs to listen to it every day. It might be said that the most popular song on the album, "Money," doesn't seem to fit as much into the concept. I might agree with that, but I don't think every song has to be a "Time" to end up on the album. People who were in love with the old sound of Pink Floyd might have a score to settle as well. Many loyal fans were probably left with a great disappointment. Where are the acoustic guitars? Where are the high choruses that sounded a little like Crosby, Stills and Nash? Where are the parts without melody, the wild and untamed chaos mentioned already? Where is all that weird sounding space-age stuff coming from? Is there an instrument you can buy from a store that makes sounds like that? Why do the lyrics make sense? I am sure it took a long time for these old fans to heal from the wounds while the rest of the world was going crazy "discovering" Pink Floyd. To some people, the older music was a place to go exploring. The older need not be compared to the new but in a strange way, they depend on each other. The birth of Pink Floyd did not begin in 1973, but the band, nonetheless, had two trial runs before making it big. And neither should be forgotten. Dark Side of the Moon made history in the United States by charting on Billboard’s top albums for well over a decade. At least 14 years and probably more.
Wish You Were Here
In case someone exists who doesn't already know, this album is a tribute to Syd Barrett. The extremely somber frame that the first and final tracks include might lead one to think that Barrett was no longer among the living. Someone has probably written books about what the lyrics mean. I encourage those who are curious to take great care in critical thinking when learning more about it. Where Dark Side took the masses by surprise and became a commercial and artistic achievement, Wish You Were Here strikes us as a work with real emotional power. It, too, proved to be a commercial success -- just not on the scale of the previous release. The songs are not the caliber of those on Dark Side, but have distinct stylistic changes to consider. The synthesizer becomes the major instrument, serving as a backdrop, carrying the melody sometimes or creating tension with disciplined excess through seemingly untamed musical design. Often the synthesizer will coincide with the electric piano like at the end of the final track and "Have a Cigar." Other times the synthesizer will shadow the guitar as in "Welcome to the Machine" or takes turns with the melody as in the first track. The songs are composed with slight regard to basic rock-n-roll structure except for "Have a Cigar," a song with the bass and synthesizer struggling to dominate, but ending up sharing the glory with each other. The song would be recorded in 1992 by the band Primus on an EP called Miscellaneous Debris, which became the last recording of merit by the band. Pink Floyd's original version also contains one of Gilmour's best lead parts period -- not just on Wish You Were Here.
The song "Wish You Were Here" features really nice acoustic guitar playing by Gilmour. The song is not only easy to sing along with, but relatively easy for a guitar player to figure out and play. Think about Dark Side. Who would want to sing along with a song about the meaning of life or death? Or sing it in the shower? The lyrics to this song have a simple message -- we miss you. The song is more down to earth and, fittingly, more simple musically as well. It earns its place on an album that often sounds like a science experiment instead of something artistic. Even more so than Dark Side, Wish You Were Here is the product of studio expertise. The instruments have unsurpassed clarity and all undesired sound is filtered out. The use of sound effects by the band is also unmatched. The bass on the last track hasn’t sounded this scary since “One of these Days” from the Meddle album. The synthesizer accompanies an acoustic guitar on “Welcome to the Machine” and creates an odd blend of natural and artificial sound. Throughout the album the synthesizer often bends notes or makes use of other effects. By the time this album was recorded, synthesizers had built in effects. It was the point of having a synthesizer, an instrument whose popularity peaked in the 80’s – a decade later. To hear it coupled so often with a piano, an electronic piano or an organ on the same album is a bit odd. I don’t think it is a new toy for them, but they play with it a great deal on this tribute album. On the first track, Wright seems to be playing a pipe organ, but it may just be a simulated sound.
It would be wrong to assume they produced this album for their own personal gain, considering it is dedicated to Barrett. But I have never seen any evidence to suggest that they ever shared the spoils with the inspiration behind it all. They created an appropriate album. They did not try to copy anything about Barrett’s style, but instead held fast to their own with improved compositions, improved musicianship and deep reflective, sometimes nostalgic songs. Pink Floyd plays in the middle of their third phase. Audiophiles fall in love with the precision and quality of their sound. They run out and buy the albums half-speed mastered and fill their homes with the band’s masterpiece known as Wish You Were Here. People with the money start buying high-end equipment to reproduce the sound as closely as possible to the way it sounded when it was first recorded. Tech companies start to make big profits by making stereos that are good quality and affordable as well. The demand for the new Pink Floyd sound grows and grows. They become a big part of something larger – collections of music, not just rock, that have big, full and clean sound. Many people will buy Wish You Were Here without much interest in the subject of the album or what the lyrics mean.
Animals
When John Lennon told a reporter that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ, he revealed more than just what he believed to be true. He also, evidently, believed that what he had said was interesting and relevant when, in fact, it was neither. People assigned a value to his words, pretending they were controversial and meaningful. An image consultant could not have sold Lennon better advice on what to say. After all, Christianity simply must conflict with anything fun. So Pink Floyd would follow Lennon's boorish example and make a parody of the Lord's Prayer on the album Animals. And not even a very good one at that. On judgment day, God will not cast Pink Floyd into the lake of fire for mocking Him. He will send them to hell for the concept and lyrics of this album. The lyrics of the previous two albums had literary quality nowhere to be found on Animals. If the album is an allegory, it is not a good one. The music easily transcends the awkward, pointless vocals enough to salvage this otherwise disappointing effort from obscurity. Even the music comes across as perfunctory in places, but never really offends as the words do. Something in the attitude of the band has changed for the worse. They attack the easiest target on earth and call it sportsmanship, I suppose. The liner notes give credit for who wrote the songs, but nobody took credit for writing the parody. At least John Lennon did not try to make excuses for what he said. His ego could withstand anything. Pink Floyd as a band were all complicit in the event and they cashed their royalty checks with a lot of karate (hee-ya!).
Like Wish You Were Here, this recording contains a great deal of mellow music, making one suspect the band's goal was to elicit moods rather than have radio friendly songs to offer. The album is framed by Waters singing along to an acoustic guitar at a slow tempo. The song "Dogs" starts in a fast tempo and slows down significantly after three long stanzas of moronic lyrics. The sound levels do enable a person to hear the words clearly so there is no fear of missing them. The electric guitar generates more energy once the pace slows down. No sooner does this happen than the tempo picks up again before slowing back down to end the song with eleven lines of bad grammar.
One of the better lines occurs in the song "Pigs." The phrase "house proud town mouse" serves a healthy dose of assonance as internal rhyming. The words prove meaningless -- fitting for a song that is meaningless. Water's must feel that, after eight albums, the fans are ready for the "f" word and maybe thinks he should put it in the song because he can do it. The song is full of partial metaphors that are fitting, but not fertile. Mason clanks on a cowbell in places as Waters adopts some electronic voice treatment which sometimes makes him sound worse than usual. "Sheep" has some good lead guitar by Gilmour. Wright has a much smaller role in Animals than he did in Wish You Were Here or Dark Side either one. Overall, the music on Animals is OK. Sometimes it is soporific -- other times depressing -- occasionally lively and a pleasure to hear. But among the four albums that constitute the Golden Age of Pink Floyd, Animals is the weakest. Is the role of an artist to create for himself or for others? Does the band try to touch the masses or are they just doodling around? This album is not Pink Floyd's worst by any estimation. With arcane lyrics and songs whose music is inconsistent, the band produces a work that is just a little better than mediocre.
The Wall
The double album released in 1979 by Pink Floyd is organized chronologically according to how the songs are placed in the movie. Anyone could skip the movie (which I recommend) and still get a sense of how the story goes. A wretched rock star has a whole world to blame for his problems. Everyone from his promoter to his mother to his girlfriends -- probably even his guitar – all are making him go crazy. There are some cartoons in the movie as well, if you are into that sort of thing. But the music on The Wall proves to be an undeniable work of genius. Waters deserves the credit and raises himself in the estimation of many, like myself, who did not think much of Animals. The Wall catapulted the band well beyond any popularity they had ever achieved. This type of modern rock appealed to a younger generation than they had ever catered to before. It hit the airwaves without delay, could be heard everywhere from mall parking lots to skating rinks, and bowling alleys. Teenagers ran to Spencer's Gifts and bought the screaming head t-shirts and posters while smelling the incense the store reeked of and looking at sex toys. American pop culture adopted the music -- especially "Another Brick in the Wall part 2" and "Comfortably Numb."
The Wall held the winning hand for kids who liked getting into trouble. They drove their mustangs down the road singing "We don't need no education..." passing something around to everyone. Every kid, even the good students, secretly (or not so secretly) hated school. They wish it would burn to the ground or get blown up with nitroglycerin. They interpret things the way they please. The song "Comfortably Numb" they personalize and fit into the most compact part of their bodies -- their brains. Even though the song has no positive message about drugs, it is about drugs. And since it doesn't say not to do them, crank it up in the Mustang, hang your head out the window and listen to just about the greatest lead guitar part ever created in the history of mankind. Here it is 31 years later and one might still hear these two songs at a fraternity party, at an auto parts store or in the living room of a Catholic priest's house. The rebellion has fallen into the conventions of modern life. Or the conventions of modern life have fallen into rebellion. The phenomena occurred because the music itself is so grand and larger than life. The prevalence of art is not necessarily about the concept or the lyrics that support it.
"Young Lust" is a hard rocking song. The lyrics are strong and expressive and the vocals do it justice. Gilmour belts out a high-charged lead part with his usual scorched-earth policy. Any doubt about his ability, he beats into the ground and leaves it buried there to be uncovered by archaeologists someday, who will not be able to figure out what it is. Then a grad student would write his dissertation on the artifact that proves mankind once was not perfect. What do you think that the grad student is listening to? If you guessed The Wall, you guessed right. That would be millions of years into the future though. Gilmour’s lead parts are better in The Wall than in Dark Side – not just the ones already mentioned but also in “One of My Turns,” Comfortably Numb” and especially “Hey You.” With his usual commanding authority, Gilmour approaches every song differently but plays with a fluid style that remains an enigma in modern rock.
Roger Waters sings with great intensity throughout The Wall. Again and again he persists, languishes and breaks down to ground level. Much of the time his inflections exist in a manner more common to conversation than singing – which is all a part of the story as it unfolds to epic proportions. The style is found in all three parts of “Another Brick in the Wall” and most of the other songs as well. Waters served as singing narrator and would also sing the voices of characters – obviously the main character and the taunting mother rendered in a convincing way. Finally, the pompous judge Waters portrays in “The Trial” lifts the shades to let some light into an otherwise grim story. Dark Side of the Moon contained better vocals than The Wall. Many times Waters sounds as though he is informing us with more than just diplomatic intensity. Let us not forget the torment the subject is in and to whom we really ought to feel sympathetic, I suppose. The vitality of emotion covers the story and some of the music benefits while some of it suffers. The high harmonizing backing vocals do not overwhelm anyone by their presence, but they are really odd even to be included. I am surprised that the Chipmunks aren't singing them (see, you probably never read a critic who would say that). The vocals do sound influenced by the Beach Boys in places, and that's no joke. Waters also has a nasal sound on the low parts. This is not always a bad thing. Listening to screaming one's lungs out for two albums worth of music, like some feel necessary, would get very annoying. Waters and Gilmour share the singing duties on "Comfortably Numb". The song gets some help from an orchestra that is not overdone, so balance has a foothold.
Other important elements of The Wall bear mentioning. This concern does not avail itself by giving cursory attention a time or two and then thinking the album simple and direct. Through a gradual process of listening over the years, its virtues culminate in due time. This may also be said about Dark Side, the only Pink Floyd album that eclipses The Wall. The Wall, however, runs twice as long, being a double-length venture for the first times since Ummagumma. In The Wall we find pleading rhetorical questions as in “Mother.” What band can resist backward masking like in the song “Empty Spaces?” Pink Floyd does it all on this album. There are distressing psychotic lyrics in “Don’t Leave Me Now”, dubbed in voices and noises – a baby, a helicopter, an episode of the TV show Gun Smoke, birds, footsteps, screeching tires and pesky girlfriends who cannot take a joke. Together these added features create a spectacle. Out of nowhere comes a gift very special from the band – a brief but beautiful acoustic guitar part on “Is There Anybody Out There?” Together with a synthesizer, a real artistic treasure tags the middle part of a despairing song. The part is folkish and is one, like “Run like Hell”, that doesn’t fit perfectly on the album. It takes courage to have such diverse material sharing space on one album. Young guitarists should learn “Is There Anybody Out There.” The acoustic part is not difficult to figure out and play. Last but not least, in The Wall were four songs backed by a symphony orchestra which are: “Nobody Home, Comfortably Numb, The Trial and Vera.”
There are flaws in The Wall where the sound gets too loud like in “The Trial” and “In the Flesh” which is a sloppy song – maybe the only one on the album. If a person could ignore the movie experience and the plot behind the recording, nothing would taint the artistic side of the equation. As it is, it ranks just below Dark Side of the Moon in my opinion. Waters leaves a bold vision of what music can be. His talent is such that he doesn’t need worry about becoming irrelevant. The Wall was artistic and commercial. The full range of emotions runs through the album and its execution, resulting in a catharsis that someone who downloads their favorite songs from is going to miss.
The Final Cut
Mass producing The Final Cut clearly betrays the expectation built up from The Wall’s release. In the cruelest kind of way, Pink Floyd offers a requiem that is not commercial and only marginally artistic. The band could not have made it any clearer that the golden age was over. This album is minimalist despite the infusion of effects and dubbed in sounds. To combat the lack of energy and spontaneity in the composition, the band recruits a symphony orchestra to back them up. Only two of the songs on The Final Cut really stand out: “The Final Cut” and “Not Now John.” Sadly, neither of these songs could ever hope for airplay. Wright sits this one out and Waters will steer the rudder for the last time. His tepid vocals occasionally gain strength only to fall back into a lot of murmuring quiet and whining that spans throughout the album. This requiem gets geopolitical in places and what also seems out of place is the song “Not Now, John,” the only hard rocking song on it.
All is not lost. Gilmour plays a few excellent lead parts, which might be the sole reason for buying the album in the first place. He shines on “Not Now, John,” a more melodic one in “The Final Cut” and a brief but brilliant part in “Your Possible Pasts.” Gilmour’s work compares to his leads on The Wall, and continues to leave an impression no one else could. Another positive part of this effort was the backing symphony mentioned already. At times the band utilizes the horns only, which fit into the military theme. Also a plus would be the saxophone – something they have tried with success in the Dark Side of the Moon. The freewheeling saxophone part in “Gunner’s Dream” stands in contrast to the combination of soft piano combined with Waters’ weary vocals. The Sax part is one of the few spontaneous occurrences in The Final Cut with the exception of Gilmour’s contributions which seemed to be rationed out in some mysterious way. The sax may also be found in the final track, “Two Suns in the Sunset”, but in a more limited way.
The Final Cut lacks appeal in several examples. Patterns materialize in the songs that are simply unwelcomed. Long passages, slow and quiet, pass by only to suddenly jolt by the crash of cymbal, drum, bass and guitar which play one note and disappear. The soft, timid music continues on as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. The music should not be disjointed this way. It demonstrates no purpose and the effort to understand it wastes precious time. Also, long vocal phrases are executed without much accompaniment, but then the band will join into the song only to quit after a few measures of play. After that, Waters will go back to singing with one instrument backing him as though the band should be called on to perform like circus animals. Finally, last but not least, the tempo drags through the whole album without much deviation. Wish You Were Here was something like a requiem and does not tax a person’s patience with this paralyzing lethargy. The Final Cut should have more going for it than these problems described pose. When a band dishonors its fans by producing something not even remotely like the kind of music fans have been loving for years, it is shameful whoever’s fault it is. There is a time and a place for requiems and making money off of them is reprehensible. I was the only kid in my class who went out and bought this. I thought it was creepy then, and I think it is creepy now.
This is the last Roger Water’s album for Pink Floyd. A tempting urge to celebrate must be suppressed because Waters was responsible for the creation of some of rock’s greatest music. This album is a sad way to end things. It is probably for the best.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Without Waters, Pink Floyd needed a good bass player. They couldn’t have done a better job than they did when they added Tony Levin . Many people cut their teeth on the Adrian Belew period of King Crimson, which included the outstanding bass of Levin. This change by the band was not the most noticeable. Momentary Lapse was an album worth purchasing for the interesting manner in which it was recorded. The well-defined clean sound of every Pink Floyd album since and including Wish You Were Here gave way to even more advanced technology. The sound has an added dimension the past ones simply do not have. One may argue about which kind is best, but nobody can deny the impact of the change. The pattern in the new layering of sound that constituted the progress was an ideal way to alter their course from the whole depressing mood of their past albums. Another change occurred when Gilmour became the frontman – not only for his guitar, but for his vocals as well. The resulting final product finds Gilmour a capable singer, but the absence of Waters created a void in their lineup that this album has a difficult time filling. Gilmour’s vocals do not have the control of Waters’. To compensate, Gilmour uses a variety of vocal effects which are all part of the larger adaptation of musical and special effects that Momentary Lapse relies on from start to finish. The female backing vocals remind us of those used in Dark Side of the Moon. But there is no long operatic part in Momentary Lapse as in Dark Side. The backing vocals help satisfy expectations which could have easily been overlooked were this album produced by those inferior in the art and design of assigning and arranging the parts of a composition. And the sound effects within this work challenge that of any previous album by a long shot. Nothing in past albums anticipates such a strong course of original creativity as this album possesses. From the very first, a boat rowed across a body of water may be heard. The creaking of wood and the slapping of oars into the water do not claim victory over anything from past albums, but emerge as new material, worthy of attention. The album is full of sound effects, more so than any past recording by the band. The digital technology may or may not be the first time Pink Floyd used it, but would never sound better as in Momentary Lapse.
What is right about this album presents itself with clarity. The high fuzzy synth executing the melody in “Signs of Life” coincides with clean digital sound. Alerting everyone he means business, Gilmour lets fly with an interesting lead part and flutters around with high notes before descending down the scale to a bluesy conclusion. As usual, Gilmour mixes an array of erratic music that vacillates between supplemental phrases, including distorted noise, and clean high-pitched lead that either resembles the melody closely or plays it outright note for note. Some of his best work may be found in “Signs of Life, Learning to Fly, On the Turning Away, Yet Another Movie, Terminal Frost and Suffer. “ Some of the guitar parts in these songs follow in the same vein as Gilmour’s work on previous albums but are only stylistic similarities. The actual notes and how they are arranged and blend in with each song can have radical differences. The songs that stand out on Momentary Lapse are “One Slip, Yet another Movie, and Terminal Frost.” “One Slip” had success on radio and was responsible for getting their work noticed. Remember, The Final Cut, a commercial disaster, preceded Momentary Lapse. The fans needed to be convinced. What better way than a song that had a lot going for it: a nice melody, guitar with delay effects sounding almost like Frippertronics, and Tony Levin playing the stick bass. “Yet Another Movie” is one of three songs that features the saxophone, but otherwise merits recognition for the guitar part. “Terminal Frost,” also featuring a saxophone, comes across as a long-awaited instrumental of such beauty and majesty. The piano/guitar combination by Wright and Gilmour creates a dreamy atmosphere as the song touches the heart of many while it follows a slow tempo and becomes a work of subtlety in a world of exhibition. Pink Floyd would release a concert filmed while touring for this album. “Delicate Sound of Thunder” contains many live songs from this and earlier albums. Even as far back as Dark Side. Fans will want to watch the video and keep in mind it can also be found on compact disc and vinyl but may take some looking for to find them.
Some might find sound effects excessive in Momentary Lapse. If a person is so critical as to deem this a problem, he best stay clear of this album. Not many elements of Momentary Lapse strike us as negative. Some may not care for the vocals on “Dogs of War.” Gilmour kind of shouts out the lyrics, but Waters certainly was guilty of doing the same on past albums. Even as far back as the Syd Barrett days and Meddle one may hear some exaggerated vocals. The spare use of acoustic guitar does cause some alarm. It has been part of Pink Floyd’s music since the old days. “On the Turning Away” is the only song where it may be found. The guitar part on “Round and Around” is weak, especially at the end. All in all, Momentary Lapse was a big success for Pink Floyd. I find very little fault in it. The band was distracted during the time they recorded and toured for the album. It was a tough time for them and they still were able to create a great album and please fans eager to hear from a band that had dropped out of sight for five long years.
The Division Bell
Those who liked the thickly layered texture of A Momentary Lapse of Reason are in for a real disappointment with this final Pink Floyd album. Between the two albums, an important event occurred in the music business. The compact disc replaced the LP completely as a medium. People demanded or preferred the sterile sound of digital. Where instruments had formerly blended if not bled together – they now sounded separate and coming from odd direction. Much music from this period of time can be criticized for purposefully following the regrettable trend. Pink Floyd had been recording with digital already, but the natural progression towards an awkward degree of clean sound proved unsuitable. Division Bell indulges in a passing trend of recording, and their songs end up sounding like demo recordings. They sound perfunctory much of the time as the tempos range from slow to medium. The instruments often play in a subdued, hushed manner. There is nothing wild or unexpected, nothing experimental or extravagant. Extravagance proved a vital part of their music from “Interstellar Overdrive” up to “One Slip.” Now, the band plays a laid-back group of songs that sounds inferior in terms of their composition. Why did the band choose to release this mediocre album, knowing that it would likely be their last? Why would they want to go out with a whimper instead of a bang? Why are there no eight minute songs, full symphony orchestras that can be heard instead of the one on “Poles Apart” that hardly fills the usual quota, much less salvage the song.
The Division Bell begins six of eleven songs with keyboard synthesizer introductions. Many songs employ a great many sound effects, yet these elements do not have the same impact they did on Momentary Lapse. Division Bell has no dreamy, atmospheric quality and instead adopts a straightforward sound that is simple as opposed to complex. None of the songs themselves, with the exception of “Keep Talking,” have any commercial value despite their being written to appeal to commercial demands instead of artistic achievement. Gilmour plays lead parts on most of the songs – some well and some not-so-well. His work on “Keep Talking” is the best on the album. Elsewhere he plays in a very high pitch, playing lead parts on “Marooned” and “High Hopes” for two examples. Gilmour weighs in successfully in “A Great Day for Freedom,” “Wearing the Inside Out,” and saves a really bad song called “Coming Back to Life, which is what you will be doing after the song ends.
Many other problems can be found on this last Pink Floyd album. The tempo seems like something the band stopped caring about before writing these songs. All are written either in a slow or moderate pace. A fast-paced out and out hard rock song never made its way on the album. The saxophone plays on “Wearing the Inside Out” but is confined to ineffectual limitations in the composition. Faring better, the piano plays in several songs (in a few intros) with good results in songs like “A Great Day for Freedom,” “High Hopes,” and “Marooned.” In most songs, the synthesizer has a big role but cannot make up for the poor quality of the songs. The deepest weakness of this album is the abundance of lackluster songs. Only “Keep Talking” and “High Hopes” justify their place on the playlist. “Lost for Words” lacks originality and, in fact, many songs do not sound like Pink Floyd except that Gilmour’s guitar is usually unmistakable. Gilmour’s presence is felt, except in “Take It Back” which sounds like programmed music without much guitar, and instead tries to fly on its own-- mainly with synthesizer.
Money can be better spent buying some other album than this one. Division Bell stands tall only compared to Atom Heart Mother and The Final Cut. But Animals sounds like a masterpiece compared to the Division Bell. The problem isn’t Gilmour’s singing or guitar playing. It isn’t with the musicianship of the other members. Composition falls flat and the sound is too clean which is a production problem. The album sounds as though it was created in a hurry even though they had seven years to get things right. Compared to much modern rock, the album turns out pretty well, but compared to Pink Floyd’s own music, Division Bell is nearly a failure with little listening pleasure to gain from it.
Conclusion
Certain labels need to be avoided as they are often applied to Pink Floyd: like psychedelic rock, acid rock, and classic rock. When I have used the label “modern rock” to describe them, it has been to avoid the oxymoronic term “classic rock.” Out of fourteen studio albums only two are not worth listening to, and they are Atom Heart Mother and the embarrassing album The Final Cut. I do not put into that category the albums some people would, such as Umagumma (disc two) and Division Bell. The album Relics is a must-have compilation as it contains six songs previously unreleased including B-Sides. The song “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” cannot be found anywhere else, though it is on the excellent video, I believe, Live at Pompeii.
The band Pink Floyd had four separate phases: the Syd Barrett album, the hippie music they played until Dark Side of the Moon, the golden age from Dark Side to The Wall, and everything after The Wall. No one seemed to mind using the name Pink Floyd after Barrett left the band, though he wrote most of the songs on Piper at the Gate s of Dawn. Nor, to my knowledge, did Barrett try to sue the band. Indeed, the band produced Syd’s two solo albums and they parted ways on amicable terms. He had no idea how Pink Floyd was going to hold him under the microscope later on and forge a commercial outlet in his memory. He may not have been able to appreciate fully the mythology about him that created a notorious identity that millions of people would become familiar with. Three of the four albums in the golden age were at least partly inspired by Barrett. They adopted a new style that was heavy on synthesizers and the use of sound effects. Gilmour started playing in a manner he had been working on ever since the Meddle and Obscured by Clouds albums. Nick Mason’s drumming style improved into a more complex style and was active in producing the numerous sound effects. Wright was always the best musician in the band and he came out of his meandering ways to contribute just what the modern rock style needed: organ, piano or synthesizer and especially the electric piano as in the song “Money.” And money is what it has always been about in my opinion.
After considering these albums (some for the first time), the band comes across as vital to the rock genre regardless of what phase is being scrutinized. The history of the band is hard to ignore, but the music is what counts in the long run. That the band could make such radical changes in their style and improve as musicians leads us to marvel at their ingenuity and persistence. Their success is due to those two qualities more than anything else. Like many bands, however, the success led to discord. The Final Cut album would have absolutely crippled any other band, especially coming on the heels of their three best albums, Animals excluded. But most of the band felt there was more music to make. I am grateful they did not give up, because the next album with a slightly new lineup proved to be one of their best.
Pink Floyd is considered one of the best British rock bands of modern times. From their debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, to their most recent release they have written and performed according to a unique blend of musical influences while making their own distinct contribution. The music is called psychedelic, hard rock, classic rock and other types depending on who labels and what albums are used as the context. The following pages will focus on the studio albums including the movie soundtracks. The exception is Zabriske Point, which only has three of their songs on it. This work is an analytical view of Pink Floyd’s music. Biography can be easily found elsewhere, but will be a reference in appropriate places. The evolution of the music over the years is significant. What started out as a page of rock history tipped the balance toward mediocrity and sometimes lacked originality. But despite the slow start, Pink Floyd emerged a sensation – not all at once but gradually. Once they found their footing with Dark Side of the Moon, they ascended to greatness. The music became moody and some say depressing, but the high achievement of their art must be recognized. Their technical innovations paved the way for countless other musicians to experiment with and apply Pink Floyd’s studio-savvy example to their own projects. Pink Floyd has been called “weird” by so many people who do not take the time to listen to and experience them. No band could claim the skills of composing or the musicianship and production value that they had, especially the albums recorded during the 70’s after and including Dark Side of the Moon. Not in rock. It is doubtful they will make another album given the death of Wright and the exodus of Roger Waters to a musically inferior solo career. Fourteen albums, all with charm and personality, we will consider in this analysis.
Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Pink Floyd debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, was mostly created by the legendary Syd Barrett. Like the artist himself, the album had its ups and downs. The weaknesses of the work are many. First, the lyrics are utter nonsense. The topics of the songs are sometimes charming: Roman gods, cats, gnomes, and a bike. One that may actually mean something is "Scarecrow." Most, on the other hand, have no significance. Other weak points would be elements of their songs. Barrett was a good singer. On some songs his thick accent shows through: Lucifer Sam, Flaming and The Gnome. His guitar playing was hit or miss, however. The worst examples are in the songs "Take up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" and on many fans' favorite "Interstellar Overdrive." The latter also has a pulsing rhythm, the like of which compares to walking all day on a throbbing ingrown toenail. In the last track, Bike, the band successfully captures the spirit of the Beatles and then puts their own name on it. Nor is "Chapter 24" a very original sounding song.
There are some really positive things to consider about Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The band’s harmonies are tight and appropriate like in the first song, "Astronomy Domine" and also "Matilda Mother." One may also find very competent instrumentals in the song "Flaming." The keyboardist, Richard Wright, steals the show with his organ. He has a meandering style at times and really adds to songs like "Lucifer Sam" and "Interstellar Overdrive." A difficulty presents itself when one considers the non-melodic content of the songs. For instance, in the song Interstellar Overdrive the band goes on a little journey that covers a lot of time in the middle of a repetitive but melodic song. The departure may compare to free form jazz but sounds more practiced than improvised. Sometimes this approach works and sometimes it doesn't. Which part that doesn't work is deliberate or is accidental? Barrett’s very best work engages the listener when he plays his guitar in a melodic chord structure. When he reduces the guitar to a sound effects contrivance, the composition suffers.
How does Pink Floyd’s debut album fit into the time it was released? Does it hold its own when compared to the other famous album releases from 1967? The answer will be a matter of opinion. The major ones are: Cream’s first release, The Doors first two albums, Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow. The list goes on (David Bowie ST, Grateful Dead ST). Also, Piper at the Gates of Dawn hit the record stores in August – right in the middle of the summer of love, which spanned from early spring to October of that year. At that point, Pink Floyd was perceived to be more of an art band than part of the blossoming hippie movement. There was no British counterpart to the summer of love. Pink Floyd would later assume the role of a quintessential hippie band with all the accoutrements, but would have to bide its time until they became a fashionable one. There is irony in this observation that speaks for itself. Their songs were neither political nor socially subversive. Leading the masses to hedonism was not their thing. Like I said, they were not fashionable yet and would not try to be for a very long time. They did want to make the money, just like all the other hippie bands. They may have been too immersed in creating something genuine to rub elbows and make appearances. Who can really say?
Saucer Full of Secrets
This second album comes as a radical departure from Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Syd Barrett liked a song to come across as accessible and have something of a melody that did not grind out the same four notes over and over again the way the music sometimes does on this album. Saucer full of Secrets was the first album featuring David Gilmour. Many qualities took hold on this album by Pink Floyd when they recorded SOS. Some of the songs were so noteworthy that they were included on the masterpiece video Live at Pompeii much later. The addition of Gilmour changed the dynamic of Pink Floyd so much so that Wright's role expanded even more. Gilmour, at this point, mainly plays some lead and chords backing the others. He is not, like Barrett before him, having a major role. To be fair, Barrett did not write the kind of songs that required a lot of gimmicks and free form gobbledygook (except for Interstellar Overdrive). Gilmour would not fill the void left by Barrett as the band changed its whole conception to a more hippie environment and played to the expectations of a new market. Even though Pink Floyd only changed one member of the band, they became a completely different band playing a completely different kind of music.
Something that a person will notice immediately about SOS is that many of the songs have tempo changes within the songs. More than half the album is composed this way: the first two songs as well as the third, fourth and fifth songs. Five of the seven songs have tempo changes some of which have a large impact on the song's structure. This element is often found in jazz, but generally not as much in rock. Also like jazz, Pink Floyd in SOS plays free form that genuinely sounds improvised unlike that in the first album. The vocals soar high above the music adding a dream-like part to their music. These vocals described begin with the first song, "Let there be more Light,” a song that pays homage to the Beatles. Also dreamy vocals occur in "Remember a Day" and "See Saw." The falsetto parts are not overdone and sound plausible. The use of the xylophone may be found in "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and also on "See Saw." Even horns are included in the outlandish final song "Jugband Blues." The rare instrument known as the Kazoo they played in the song "Corporal Clegg." The band sounded like they were having the time of their lives when they recorded this very silly song.
But all did not bide well with SOS, their second album. Songs written with too much repetition, for instance, blackened what could have been one of their greatest albums ever. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is an example of how too much repetition can have a bad effect on a song. Sure, there may be a stoner out there getting really zoned out listening to it, but even the stoner is going to eventually get bored with it. The drums in "A Saucer Full of Secrets" song are too repetitive as well. This may or may not be seen as a technical problem, but that is the way I see it. Also I would find fault with their trying too many sound effects, especially with Gilmour's guitar. The guitar tremolo trick in Saucer Full of Secrets did nothing to add to the sound and could have been handled some other way, like letting Wright play it. The whispers on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" are annoying. It is inefficient use of the studio equipment. On the same track are noises made to sound like chirping birds. Overall, however, this album succeeds. They way the band's compositions work really impresses us. Many songs are outstanding -- sometimes sad and filled with gloom while at other times silly and ridiculous. Mainly they keep their mood in the middle, where the average listener likes to be.
Soundtrack from the Film "More"
On this third Pink Floyd effort, we find a number of short musical vignettes among a greater number of full length (or nearly so) songs. Some are instrumental, but most are not. These songs follow the pattern of the music written for Saucer Full of Secrets, but some fresh exceptions to the rule do stand out. How has the band changed since the preceding album? Are there any surprises? For one, the band wrote all its work without many internal tempo changes. And the order in which the songs are put in is brilliant if only for the fact there are no repetitions in song tempos from one song to the next. Like in Saucer Full of Secrets, "More" features the xylophone sparingly. Yet in the song "Quicksilver" the xylophone proves essential. Added to the mix are the bongos in two songs, notably "Party Sequence." This added instrument shows how the band ever explores new musical possibilities. Not only do added instruments reveal the band's clever curiosity and experimentation, but other factors also prove potent as changes. The song "More Blues" differs from anything recorded by Pink Floyd up to this point -- a standard city blues song in the American tradition. The song, minimally accompanied by the band, allows guitarist Gilmour to show his versatility and that he grafts his own style onto the piece at the end is telling. This is not just a commissioned work for the band, but a chance to have some fun as well.
Some parts of the music to the film “More” will deliver the listener into an aggravated state. The slow tempo songs like "Cirrus Minor" sound so mournful and the bird songs become tedious in it. The whole first minute of the song is only bird songs and they continue throughout until the end. "Quicksilver" has already been mentioned in another context, but should be pointed out that this is not really a song by any stretch of the imagination. It is a collage of noises and sound effects without melody or rhythm. The band does doodle a lot from time to time and perhaps the movie score called for something of the sort. Pink Floyd phases in and out of traditional rock, lands on jazz and other genres like a frog jumping from lily pad to lily pad. It escapes my understanding how a whole song of gobbledygook could just make itself at home on this album. That is the sort of thing one would expect a progrock band to do as a matter of habit. This was the year King Crimson's debut was released, after all. But it smacks of elitism and snobbery which was something foreign to Pink Floyd. I have to think the band was pandering to its audience. It is the only acceptable explanation.
All Pink Floyd fans should buy this album for a number of reasons. They never really truly let their hair down until they played "The Nile Song." What strong, heavy, Hendrix-like guitars, wild, yet precise, drumming and wailing, screaming vocals. If a person can just make it through the first song, there he shall find some respite. Also important is the pleasant song "Cymbaline." This mid-tempo song carries a nice melody, high vocal parts, and meaningful lyrics. It is one of the more conventional rock songs on the album. Gilmour takes the chance to reveal his powerful style in the song "Ibiza Bar." He must travel far to attain his mastered style of later years, but one may listen to this song and see something great at its beginning -- something that will come out from the shadows and be manifest in the band's future identity. In "Green is the Colour” the band triumphs with a very simple formula. Backed by acoustic guitar, the flute and piano take over during vocal breaks and other opportune moments. What would be a perfect song is slightly abused by the falsetto vocals. This time they cannot be overlooked. The flute sounds so natural to the song that it makes one wonder if it is a member of Pink Floyd or a studio musician who plays the part. The liner notes do not answer this. But a synopsis of the film there comes across as irksome. The song lyrics are included for posterity.
Ummagumma
In this fourth Pink Floyd album, also a double album, one will find a live recording (their first) and a studio recording on the second record. In the studio record, the members all get to write some songs of their own and focus on their developing talents. The studio record of Ummagumma is an excursion to the vapid spheres of irrational being, perhaps liberating from the constraints of inveterate norms and conventional life. The meaning goes with the territory of uncertainty. Some will call this work genius and laud praise upon the band for creating something without balance or commercial appeal. Others will curse their fate for listening to anything before Dark Side of the Moon. There will still be others, like myself, who are largely indifferent to either side; those who do not understand and therefore cannot recommend or be unreasonably critical. This music could be a portal to the world of dreams or a microcosm of the soul. Maybe it serves as a map without legend or, further still, a tormented fantasy engineered without function. All the laws that would normally apply fade into ethereal twilight. Do the juxtaposed parts justify the discordant reality? Do words become adequate to describe them? Ummagumma is a serious creative work that deserves consideration and respect. I will try to give them both to this worthy effort.
Before the virtues of Ummagumma are discussed, it must be pointed out that the previous album, "Soundtrack from the Film "More," has something in common with this fourth album. They both include bird chirps and in Ummagumma they are particularly annoying even more so than in the film score. Roger Waters’ songs are both replete with these sounds. And some of the sound effects are outrageously annoying too. At one point, hyena-like sounds can be heard howling away through a song that is perfectly good otherwise. Even Wright got in on the bird action, as though he and Waters copied each other's homework. Gilmour's "part 2" of "The Narrow Way" sounds much indeed like the Beatles, but a bit darker since the most popular band of all time was known for such peppy upbeat song choices. The chord structure of the first song is loitering around trying to jump a train to somewhere other than the charts. It is writing a letter to its mother in invisible ink that says chaos is a destination. Problem is, the train has jumped the tracks and the mother doesn't remember giving birth. What this means is that there are some flaws that are superficial on Ummagumma. Deep systemic problems would be a matter of opinion. I would say that an album would survive the accusation that there are too many sound effects. Wright's piano work goes from brilliant to buffoonery in a matter of minutes and the bird noises are not altogether pleasant. A word from the wise: do not listen to this album if you have a headache.
What is right about this record far outweighs the bad. Even amidst the bird chirps, Waters has masterfully written an excellent song. "Band 5" begins with 2 acoustic guitars strumming with a bit of finger-picking as well. Rogers sings somberly, but writes very poetic lyrics about nature. It works because it is a nice song with a pleasing melody. It stands in stark contrast to most of the other songs. While most of the songs are abrasive to the unaccustomed ear, many of the sound effects are interesting. For instance you don't find many looped effects this far back like on the song "band 6" by Waters. The use of echoes in the song may also have some appeal. So if you enjoy some loud nonsense for a change and you have worn out your King Crimson records, give Ummagumma a chance to redeem itself. The album begins with very official sounding imperial music. Within the work are so many kinds of experimentation. Granted, most of it is non-melodic, but it flows from theme to theme smoothly. Much evidence of great songwriting and musicianship foretells their future. Instincts cannot be taught and some striving towards originality cannot be borrowed to help define the persona of Pink Floyd in its younger days.
Atom Heart Mother
By the time this album was released in 1970, a large number of bands were fronting symphony orchestras. Pink Floyd immersed itself in the practice on this recording with mixed results. The band's production differs more than before in other ways too. We find Mason playing his combination drumming he started on the previous two albums. But he does it more on AHM with better effect. Gilmour's playing is progressing even further than ever. He plays the bluesy high parts with authority. Members of the band contribute by writing songs, as they did on Ummagumma, further establishing their abilities. The cover of the album is a picture of a cow and gives the impression this album is an art band project. No, not really. They are still a hippie band. Suffice it to say that Pink Floyd really stretched its own scope on AHM. The album starts out with orchestral presence and ends in a cacophony of seemingly inadvertent noises and sound effects. These intervals of recorded speech, which had no relation to the music nor to the lyrics, would find their way into later Pink Floyd music; both in Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. Was this the greatest Pink Floyd album to date? Not by a long shot. Saucer Full of Secrets still holds the lead overall, but even Ummagumma, weak as it was, had more going for it than AHM.
What are the best strengths of AHM? By a wide margin, the musicianship wins out above every other virtue. The interplay between piano and organ amazes the listener and pays him off for having the patience to make it this far. The coupling only occurs on the final song, but is well worth waiting for. Also on the final song is the inclusion of a steel guitar presumably with Gilmour playing. It is effective in the part and also may be the bending chords heard in the earlier song "Fat Old Sun." The choir vocals on the first track work very well. It makes the composition sound like a cross between hard rock and church music where the vocals sing out gibberish during and after Gilmour's outstanding guitar part before the song degenerates into non-melodic spleen. Also what works on AHM is the Roger Waters’ song "If." The song is a simple one that is very much like something Barrett might have penned. The band is a backdrop to the nice melody of the vocals. It features both acoustic and electric guitars that elaborate during the vocal breaks. Also the overall feel of the last half of the album engenders our appreciation. The music on the last half of the album is down to earth even when it wanders off course or engages in excessive sound effects. Gilmour's lead work on "Fat Old Sun" is unsurpassed and unforgettable. We hear more of this style in later albums. And his work on the first song of AHM is none too shabby either.
AMH never pretends to be the perfect album and the main reason to avoid it is the super long, super pretentious song "Atom Heart Mother." The song is full of repetitious phrases. No reason presents itself for the album needing to be over 50 minutes long. Why the orchestra is overpopulated by horns remains unknown. Even The Final Cut used a full orchestra and I do not see what would have been so wrong about it here. The cello always adds depth to the music that horns do not. But that could maybe interfere with the bass playing. It is a mystery. Also a mystery is the non-melodic part two thirds of the way through it. The part is myopic and without purpose only to be salvaged by the nice recovery at the end of the song. One of the other weaker parts of the album is the lyrics to "Summer of '68." Wright created the song and attempts to address the subject of casual sex. It is boring. It is meaningless. Why couldn't we have been spared from this garbage? It is not cool and it doesn't justify anything. There is no good imagery in it and it is not poetic in any way. It is also a good way to get herpes, taking a song like this seriously and then going out and trying it. So don't.
Meddle
What changed between Atom Heart Mother and Meddle makes Pink Floyd a better band with better songs. A better band means higher level of playing skills can be enjoyed. Better songs mean tighter harmony and more melodic music worth paying attention to as the band switches gears during the breaks. Moreover, the selection of songs shows the whole band becoming flexible about styles of music and what their role will be in any particular song. This will mark the first time since Syd Barrett left the band where we find more than one song played in a major key. These will be rare to the bitter end and should be appreciated any way they come. The first is "San Tropez." No doubt about it, this is a fun song. It sounds, however, much like a Beatles song and I have mentioned already that they have more than just paid tribute to the Beatles. So again we have another song that sounds like their more successful compatriots from once upon a time. I do not think that it was necessarily intentional, but it is a bit odd because even if one denies it sounds like the Beatles, it cannot be denied that the song has light jazz written all over it and that the melody is hardly what one would call original. The song "Seaumus" does us proud to hear Pink Floyd playing a 12 bar blues song and doing it well. The song rolls on and is best with the slide guitar and piano. This major key creation’s drawback diminishes its value partially because the dog is a bit too demonstrative. By the end of the song, the birdsongs might be missed. Meddle is an important stepping stone for the band. Instead of taking the worst of Atom Heart Mother and settling into mediocrity and pretention, the band goes with their strengths and even further towards greatness.
The songs “One of these Days” and “Echoes” are the best ones on the album by far. “Echoes” takes up a whole side of the record (yes, record). What makes these two unique and interesting? “One of these Days” sets the record straight (a pun) with a straightforward unapologetic use of repetition. The bass just relentlessly consumes the whole song in a way that is necessary for this great experiment in electronic sound effects. One would not normally think that the bass would be the instrument suitable for a delay or that it should be of such indulgence. It works, and does so with a vengeance. Especially the distorted guitar of Gilmour really augments the score. Wright's intermittent flares of treated keyboards follows along, marking each burst with added vitality. And Mason plays with his usual moxie and helps hold the work together, perceptible or not, as if by magic. The song "Echoes" involves parts which sometime repeat musical phrases quite a bit. It is mid-tempo and sounds fused together, especially the bluesy example of Gilmour coming into his own right somewhere near the middle of the song. His style becomes both graceful and assertive and boasts a range of musical phrasings that he can truly call his own, but still a bit to go towards his prime.
Some of the music from "Echoes" sounds like that eerie kind of music one can hear in horror movie scores: screeching and murky backdrops that lack definition. The sound effects in the first song "One of these Days" sounds creepy, not to mention the lyrics to the song which are the words of a psychopath. This album does not have the pretentious element that darkened the perception of Atom Heart Mother because even though the song "Echoes" is such a long song, it is solid. No one will argue that “Echoes” is anything but down to earth. Gilmour shines and the vocals do as well. They all work in unity to create what merits a balanced and positive grade. I believe the band is starting to care more and, therefore, learn more. They have made a lot of noises and now are ready to hone their talents. They have experimented more than any band out there besides progrockers and maybe ought to take a little reward for their effort. But their one weakness that they have had throughout their careers thus far is the repetition. They have, however, learned a little about variation within repeated phrases. “Echoes” suffers from it to some degree, but is located in parts of other songs as well. In future albums, Pink Floyd does play repeated themes but the phrasings are a little different. It is difficult to ignore too much repetition when the music is not melodic anyway. The reason repetition works on "Echoes" is because the vocals are so strong and melodic. Why repetition works in "One of these Days" is because of its sheer audacity and its intense focus is on a higher level than the band ever performed before this album.
Obscured by Clouds
Pink Floyd began to make their transition to modern rock right after Atom Heart Mother was out of their system. The experimentation did not stop and arguably never would. What was once a staple of musical forays having dramatic impact on a song would become a sequence of minor adjustments to the sound of a given instrument’s parts. Compositions became divided between emerging modern propensities and the roots of their hippie past. We have what seems like contradicting parts within some songs, combining the soft flourishes of an acoustic guitar blended with soft, high vocals in transposed layers all juxtaposed against keyboards laden with effects, droning in a technological prism; a release to heretofore unexplored musical soundscapes. Many other musical changes are found in this album. Gilmour practically masters the style he has been working on for the past few years. Wright finds a comfortable place from which to operate; the organ in a traditional backdrop, the piano in odd places to produce clean if primitive sound, as well as the keyboard, which he has learned to be confident with here on the final Pink Floyd album before the golden age begins. The two elements that stay pretty much the same are the bass guitar and the drums which have settled into a routine from which they will rarely ever depart. This album contains songs that are just mood pieces and some songs that are strong in all respects. This would be their final movie soundtrack until the Wall's release in 1979. The folkish element that has been a part of the band's music since nearly the beginning has its final resting place right here. That dying ember from bygone days served an important part of the band's collective psyche and must have been difficult to walk away from, indeed. The intensity of Obscured by Clouds marks the transition into the modern way of making music. Their mastery of the modern often blocks the memory of what they had once been. This was their turning point.
Parts of Obscured by Clouds are relevant to the band's future dynamic. Gilmour's electric guitar parts on the album are genius already as one can see a clear improvement since Atom Heart Mother. What started with the increased use of distortion led into experimenting with blues: big city blues, jazz and modern rock all mixed into one. His lead parts are hard to fathom, even by other musicians. With what flair he begins a part during a vocal break like on "The Gold It’s in the..." and on the song "Mudmen" as well. He is in full command until it is time to stop. He plays a slide guitar at the end of "Wotts...Uh the Deal." All his parts, however, do not hit the center of the target. He plays with an effect that makes his guitar sound thin and weak in the songs "When you're in" and "Burning Bridges." Otherwise, he does not fail to satisfy from the mournful title song at the beginning to the end, though he does not have much of a role in the closing song. Wright also lends to this effort with a child's curiosity and a professional's craft. The title song features the breadth and depth of Wright's talents as the song's interior changes demand something different from him. His working as co-partners to the vocals in "Broken Bridges" and to the electric guitar in "Mudmen," (especially at the end) demand respect. If Mason is playing the xylophones in the same song, he does so with authority. They are hooked up to some tremolo effect that makes them sound otherworldly, as if from a dream. We are accustomed to hearing the organ sound like that, but not a xylophone. I think the last xylophone heard in a Pink Floyd song before this was in Atom Heart Mother.
The weakness of Obscured by Clouds may be found without too much effort. For one, any time the band plays a movie score, the result is going to be different than a studio album. The composition is tailored to the scenes. Art and commercialism do not always intersect (an understatement). The first two songs on the album are both instrumentals and a bit strange for their day. But when the vocals come in there is no criticizing them. These vocals are among the best and rank high compared to Pink Floyd's other albums. There is very little chaos to atone for in the recording. We have many nice melodies and virtually no excursions into madness to explain. There occurs in two songs a brash droning of the keyboard that has little kindness to one's ears. On the songs "Childhood's End" and "Absolutely Curtains" the band inspires to protracted reveries but on the latter song, the score is very much like mood music and probably serves some higher purpose in the scheme of the movie score. Some of the songs are straightforward rock like the kind a mainstream rock-n-roll band would play. This band can play anything nearly. It seems a shame they have mainly kept to a certain style so long until this album. And there will be those who undoubtedly will accuse Pink Floyd of selling out. If they did sellout, it was on this album and starting on this album. This was the change that brought a fairly obscure band to absolute greatness. There may be one member who wants all the credit to himself. That makes me want to laugh out loud. That's a good one...
Dark Side of the Moon
The popularity of Dark Side of the Moon took none by surprise, given Pink Floyd's slow progression towards a complex mix of blues, jazz and a uniquely, modern kind of sound. But it did take people by surprise regardless of anyone's careful notice. Though the signs of their genius were showing as early as the Meddle album, no one could have ever foreseen such a surge of artistic growth and maturity. No one need say the album is philosophical and makes use of metaphors a little different for the rock audience, at least in the U.S. It is about death and life and madness as well as time and money and takes more than just a passing glance into the human condition. We have many examples of voices and laughter dubbed into the songs. I believe they originated for Pink Floyd in Atom Heart Mother which was engineered by Alan Parsons, who would go on to engineer Dark Side of the Moon as well. Much could be written on the subject of how the reincarnated Pink Floyd's music became a sensation to modern rock. One would benefit knowing that they had an earlier period and that what is best musically and what is popular are not always the same. Conclusions about value are largely a matter of opinion. Opinions are often influenced, if not guided, by trends which have to start somewhere. Pink Floyd would never have to copy the style of the Beatles again after Dark Side. The Beatles owned the sixties, but the seventies became the property of Pink Floyd. The sound of the band’s instruments changed. Gilmour plays parts with lots of complicated chord changes and his leads are blistering hot and bluesy. Nick Mason's style of drumming changes into something less repetitious, Water's bass becomes fuller and punchier. How could Wright improve? His use of keys is amazing, but is sometimes hard to distinguish from the other two band mate's parts since they sometimes took turns playing with the synthesizer. The key to the success of Pink Floyd opened the gate that allowed them to pass as they started recording in a manner that would give their individual instruments higher definition in terms of audio quality. No more muddiness. They also abandoned the chaos, the non-melodic journeys into what no longer had musical appeal much anymore. The change of style and manner of recording lifted the band to the top of a world that was ready for them.
Such a tightly knit band as Pink Floyd emerged in 1973. They had been around awhile but were not a household name yet. They had become friends with the latest sound technology although they incorporated many traditional forms to compliment one with the other. The female vocals sing up and down the score’s octaves bending their note changes as they go In the same manner as certain instruments like guitar and synthesizer. These artists during the solo parts take command and really support when serving as backup. Had the long bluesy vocal parts in "The Great Gig in the Sky" ever been tried before in Rock? I doubt it seriously. The backing vocals also have an impact to a lesser degree in the song "Time.” The operatic singing nearly conquers the music with incalculable, soulful talent used to demonstrate the power of the composition and its awe-inspiring effect on the fans. These dominating vocals do not overshadow the dark mystery of the keyboards that shape all the disparate elements of the band and blend them unless they are superimposed over the music like in "Speak to Me" and "Any Colour You Like." The songs can be fast tempo and energetic like "On the Run," but are mostly slow to mid tempo, and mostly slow. Slow does not mean lethargic in the case of Dark Side. The best two examples of the slower songs are "Breathe" and "Us and Them." More familiar to the U.S. audience is the song "Money." "Money" and "Us and Them" feature saxophone parts that are excellent. The song "Money" is in a moderate tempo. Although Gilmour and Wright are really trying to fly this thing by themselves, it is the keyboard's role to completely mesmerize the listener with choppy notes emphatic to perfection. Sure, Wright is playing off the sax with some echo going somewhere heavenly, but the inclusion of the sax insures the song's success. In "Us and Them" the sax plays over the melody in a soft, non-chalante way and drives through the traffic of the treated vocals that are focused and laid back, soft and moving with the flow.
No album should go without some type of negative criticism. One could say Dark Side is too depressing. I would go along with that to an extent, but no one needs to listen to it every day. It might be said that the most popular song on the album, "Money," doesn't seem to fit as much into the concept. I might agree with that, but I don't think every song has to be a "Time" to end up on the album. People who were in love with the old sound of Pink Floyd might have a score to settle as well. Many loyal fans were probably left with a great disappointment. Where are the acoustic guitars? Where are the high choruses that sounded a little like Crosby, Stills and Nash? Where are the parts without melody, the wild and untamed chaos mentioned already? Where is all that weird sounding space-age stuff coming from? Is there an instrument you can buy from a store that makes sounds like that? Why do the lyrics make sense? I am sure it took a long time for these old fans to heal from the wounds while the rest of the world was going crazy "discovering" Pink Floyd. To some people, the older music was a place to go exploring. The older need not be compared to the new but in a strange way, they depend on each other. The birth of Pink Floyd did not begin in 1973, but the band, nonetheless, had two trial runs before making it big. And neither should be forgotten. Dark Side of the Moon made history in the United States by charting on Billboard’s top albums for well over a decade. At least 14 years and probably more.
Wish You Were Here
In case someone exists who doesn't already know, this album is a tribute to Syd Barrett. The extremely somber frame that the first and final tracks include might lead one to think that Barrett was no longer among the living. Someone has probably written books about what the lyrics mean. I encourage those who are curious to take great care in critical thinking when learning more about it. Where Dark Side took the masses by surprise and became a commercial and artistic achievement, Wish You Were Here strikes us as a work with real emotional power. It, too, proved to be a commercial success -- just not on the scale of the previous release. The songs are not the caliber of those on Dark Side, but have distinct stylistic changes to consider. The synthesizer becomes the major instrument, serving as a backdrop, carrying the melody sometimes or creating tension with disciplined excess through seemingly untamed musical design. Often the synthesizer will coincide with the electric piano like at the end of the final track and "Have a Cigar." Other times the synthesizer will shadow the guitar as in "Welcome to the Machine" or takes turns with the melody as in the first track. The songs are composed with slight regard to basic rock-n-roll structure except for "Have a Cigar," a song with the bass and synthesizer struggling to dominate, but ending up sharing the glory with each other. The song would be recorded in 1992 by the band Primus on an EP called Miscellaneous Debris, which became the last recording of merit by the band. Pink Floyd's original version also contains one of Gilmour's best lead parts period -- not just on Wish You Were Here.
The song "Wish You Were Here" features really nice acoustic guitar playing by Gilmour. The song is not only easy to sing along with, but relatively easy for a guitar player to figure out and play. Think about Dark Side. Who would want to sing along with a song about the meaning of life or death? Or sing it in the shower? The lyrics to this song have a simple message -- we miss you. The song is more down to earth and, fittingly, more simple musically as well. It earns its place on an album that often sounds like a science experiment instead of something artistic. Even more so than Dark Side, Wish You Were Here is the product of studio expertise. The instruments have unsurpassed clarity and all undesired sound is filtered out. The use of sound effects by the band is also unmatched. The bass on the last track hasn’t sounded this scary since “One of these Days” from the Meddle album. The synthesizer accompanies an acoustic guitar on “Welcome to the Machine” and creates an odd blend of natural and artificial sound. Throughout the album the synthesizer often bends notes or makes use of other effects. By the time this album was recorded, synthesizers had built in effects. It was the point of having a synthesizer, an instrument whose popularity peaked in the 80’s – a decade later. To hear it coupled so often with a piano, an electronic piano or an organ on the same album is a bit odd. I don’t think it is a new toy for them, but they play with it a great deal on this tribute album. On the first track, Wright seems to be playing a pipe organ, but it may just be a simulated sound.
It would be wrong to assume they produced this album for their own personal gain, considering it is dedicated to Barrett. But I have never seen any evidence to suggest that they ever shared the spoils with the inspiration behind it all. They created an appropriate album. They did not try to copy anything about Barrett’s style, but instead held fast to their own with improved compositions, improved musicianship and deep reflective, sometimes nostalgic songs. Pink Floyd plays in the middle of their third phase. Audiophiles fall in love with the precision and quality of their sound. They run out and buy the albums half-speed mastered and fill their homes with the band’s masterpiece known as Wish You Were Here. People with the money start buying high-end equipment to reproduce the sound as closely as possible to the way it sounded when it was first recorded. Tech companies start to make big profits by making stereos that are good quality and affordable as well. The demand for the new Pink Floyd sound grows and grows. They become a big part of something larger – collections of music, not just rock, that have big, full and clean sound. Many people will buy Wish You Were Here without much interest in the subject of the album or what the lyrics mean.
Animals
When John Lennon told a reporter that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ, he revealed more than just what he believed to be true. He also, evidently, believed that what he had said was interesting and relevant when, in fact, it was neither. People assigned a value to his words, pretending they were controversial and meaningful. An image consultant could not have sold Lennon better advice on what to say. After all, Christianity simply must conflict with anything fun. So Pink Floyd would follow Lennon's boorish example and make a parody of the Lord's Prayer on the album Animals. And not even a very good one at that. On judgment day, God will not cast Pink Floyd into the lake of fire for mocking Him. He will send them to hell for the concept and lyrics of this album. The lyrics of the previous two albums had literary quality nowhere to be found on Animals. If the album is an allegory, it is not a good one. The music easily transcends the awkward, pointless vocals enough to salvage this otherwise disappointing effort from obscurity. Even the music comes across as perfunctory in places, but never really offends as the words do. Something in the attitude of the band has changed for the worse. They attack the easiest target on earth and call it sportsmanship, I suppose. The liner notes give credit for who wrote the songs, but nobody took credit for writing the parody. At least John Lennon did not try to make excuses for what he said. His ego could withstand anything. Pink Floyd as a band were all complicit in the event and they cashed their royalty checks with a lot of karate (hee-ya!).
Like Wish You Were Here, this recording contains a great deal of mellow music, making one suspect the band's goal was to elicit moods rather than have radio friendly songs to offer. The album is framed by Waters singing along to an acoustic guitar at a slow tempo. The song "Dogs" starts in a fast tempo and slows down significantly after three long stanzas of moronic lyrics. The sound levels do enable a person to hear the words clearly so there is no fear of missing them. The electric guitar generates more energy once the pace slows down. No sooner does this happen than the tempo picks up again before slowing back down to end the song with eleven lines of bad grammar.
One of the better lines occurs in the song "Pigs." The phrase "house proud town mouse" serves a healthy dose of assonance as internal rhyming. The words prove meaningless -- fitting for a song that is meaningless. Water's must feel that, after eight albums, the fans are ready for the "f" word and maybe thinks he should put it in the song because he can do it. The song is full of partial metaphors that are fitting, but not fertile. Mason clanks on a cowbell in places as Waters adopts some electronic voice treatment which sometimes makes him sound worse than usual. "Sheep" has some good lead guitar by Gilmour. Wright has a much smaller role in Animals than he did in Wish You Were Here or Dark Side either one. Overall, the music on Animals is OK. Sometimes it is soporific -- other times depressing -- occasionally lively and a pleasure to hear. But among the four albums that constitute the Golden Age of Pink Floyd, Animals is the weakest. Is the role of an artist to create for himself or for others? Does the band try to touch the masses or are they just doodling around? This album is not Pink Floyd's worst by any estimation. With arcane lyrics and songs whose music is inconsistent, the band produces a work that is just a little better than mediocre.
The Wall
The double album released in 1979 by Pink Floyd is organized chronologically according to how the songs are placed in the movie. Anyone could skip the movie (which I recommend) and still get a sense of how the story goes. A wretched rock star has a whole world to blame for his problems. Everyone from his promoter to his mother to his girlfriends -- probably even his guitar – all are making him go crazy. There are some cartoons in the movie as well, if you are into that sort of thing. But the music on The Wall proves to be an undeniable work of genius. Waters deserves the credit and raises himself in the estimation of many, like myself, who did not think much of Animals. The Wall catapulted the band well beyond any popularity they had ever achieved. This type of modern rock appealed to a younger generation than they had ever catered to before. It hit the airwaves without delay, could be heard everywhere from mall parking lots to skating rinks, and bowling alleys. Teenagers ran to Spencer's Gifts and bought the screaming head t-shirts and posters while smelling the incense the store reeked of and looking at sex toys. American pop culture adopted the music -- especially "Another Brick in the Wall part 2" and "Comfortably Numb."
The Wall held the winning hand for kids who liked getting into trouble. They drove their mustangs down the road singing "We don't need no education..." passing something around to everyone. Every kid, even the good students, secretly (or not so secretly) hated school. They wish it would burn to the ground or get blown up with nitroglycerin. They interpret things the way they please. The song "Comfortably Numb" they personalize and fit into the most compact part of their bodies -- their brains. Even though the song has no positive message about drugs, it is about drugs. And since it doesn't say not to do them, crank it up in the Mustang, hang your head out the window and listen to just about the greatest lead guitar part ever created in the history of mankind. Here it is 31 years later and one might still hear these two songs at a fraternity party, at an auto parts store or in the living room of a Catholic priest's house. The rebellion has fallen into the conventions of modern life. Or the conventions of modern life have fallen into rebellion. The phenomena occurred because the music itself is so grand and larger than life. The prevalence of art is not necessarily about the concept or the lyrics that support it.
"Young Lust" is a hard rocking song. The lyrics are strong and expressive and the vocals do it justice. Gilmour belts out a high-charged lead part with his usual scorched-earth policy. Any doubt about his ability, he beats into the ground and leaves it buried there to be uncovered by archaeologists someday, who will not be able to figure out what it is. Then a grad student would write his dissertation on the artifact that proves mankind once was not perfect. What do you think that the grad student is listening to? If you guessed The Wall, you guessed right. That would be millions of years into the future though. Gilmour’s lead parts are better in The Wall than in Dark Side – not just the ones already mentioned but also in “One of My Turns,” Comfortably Numb” and especially “Hey You.” With his usual commanding authority, Gilmour approaches every song differently but plays with a fluid style that remains an enigma in modern rock.
Roger Waters sings with great intensity throughout The Wall. Again and again he persists, languishes and breaks down to ground level. Much of the time his inflections exist in a manner more common to conversation than singing – which is all a part of the story as it unfolds to epic proportions. The style is found in all three parts of “Another Brick in the Wall” and most of the other songs as well. Waters served as singing narrator and would also sing the voices of characters – obviously the main character and the taunting mother rendered in a convincing way. Finally, the pompous judge Waters portrays in “The Trial” lifts the shades to let some light into an otherwise grim story. Dark Side of the Moon contained better vocals than The Wall. Many times Waters sounds as though he is informing us with more than just diplomatic intensity. Let us not forget the torment the subject is in and to whom we really ought to feel sympathetic, I suppose. The vitality of emotion covers the story and some of the music benefits while some of it suffers. The high harmonizing backing vocals do not overwhelm anyone by their presence, but they are really odd even to be included. I am surprised that the Chipmunks aren't singing them (see, you probably never read a critic who would say that). The vocals do sound influenced by the Beach Boys in places, and that's no joke. Waters also has a nasal sound on the low parts. This is not always a bad thing. Listening to screaming one's lungs out for two albums worth of music, like some feel necessary, would get very annoying. Waters and Gilmour share the singing duties on "Comfortably Numb". The song gets some help from an orchestra that is not overdone, so balance has a foothold.
Other important elements of The Wall bear mentioning. This concern does not avail itself by giving cursory attention a time or two and then thinking the album simple and direct. Through a gradual process of listening over the years, its virtues culminate in due time. This may also be said about Dark Side, the only Pink Floyd album that eclipses The Wall. The Wall, however, runs twice as long, being a double-length venture for the first times since Ummagumma. In The Wall we find pleading rhetorical questions as in “Mother.” What band can resist backward masking like in the song “Empty Spaces?” Pink Floyd does it all on this album. There are distressing psychotic lyrics in “Don’t Leave Me Now”, dubbed in voices and noises – a baby, a helicopter, an episode of the TV show Gun Smoke, birds, footsteps, screeching tires and pesky girlfriends who cannot take a joke. Together these added features create a spectacle. Out of nowhere comes a gift very special from the band – a brief but beautiful acoustic guitar part on “Is There Anybody Out There?” Together with a synthesizer, a real artistic treasure tags the middle part of a despairing song. The part is folkish and is one, like “Run like Hell”, that doesn’t fit perfectly on the album. It takes courage to have such diverse material sharing space on one album. Young guitarists should learn “Is There Anybody Out There.” The acoustic part is not difficult to figure out and play. Last but not least, in The Wall were four songs backed by a symphony orchestra which are: “Nobody Home, Comfortably Numb, The Trial and Vera.”
There are flaws in The Wall where the sound gets too loud like in “The Trial” and “In the Flesh” which is a sloppy song – maybe the only one on the album. If a person could ignore the movie experience and the plot behind the recording, nothing would taint the artistic side of the equation. As it is, it ranks just below Dark Side of the Moon in my opinion. Waters leaves a bold vision of what music can be. His talent is such that he doesn’t need worry about becoming irrelevant. The Wall was artistic and commercial. The full range of emotions runs through the album and its execution, resulting in a catharsis that someone who downloads their favorite songs from is going to miss.
The Final Cut
Mass producing The Final Cut clearly betrays the expectation built up from The Wall’s release. In the cruelest kind of way, Pink Floyd offers a requiem that is not commercial and only marginally artistic. The band could not have made it any clearer that the golden age was over. This album is minimalist despite the infusion of effects and dubbed in sounds. To combat the lack of energy and spontaneity in the composition, the band recruits a symphony orchestra to back them up. Only two of the songs on The Final Cut really stand out: “The Final Cut” and “Not Now John.” Sadly, neither of these songs could ever hope for airplay. Wright sits this one out and Waters will steer the rudder for the last time. His tepid vocals occasionally gain strength only to fall back into a lot of murmuring quiet and whining that spans throughout the album. This requiem gets geopolitical in places and what also seems out of place is the song “Not Now, John,” the only hard rocking song on it.
All is not lost. Gilmour plays a few excellent lead parts, which might be the sole reason for buying the album in the first place. He shines on “Not Now, John,” a more melodic one in “The Final Cut” and a brief but brilliant part in “Your Possible Pasts.” Gilmour’s work compares to his leads on The Wall, and continues to leave an impression no one else could. Another positive part of this effort was the backing symphony mentioned already. At times the band utilizes the horns only, which fit into the military theme. Also a plus would be the saxophone – something they have tried with success in the Dark Side of the Moon. The freewheeling saxophone part in “Gunner’s Dream” stands in contrast to the combination of soft piano combined with Waters’ weary vocals. The Sax part is one of the few spontaneous occurrences in The Final Cut with the exception of Gilmour’s contributions which seemed to be rationed out in some mysterious way. The sax may also be found in the final track, “Two Suns in the Sunset”, but in a more limited way.
The Final Cut lacks appeal in several examples. Patterns materialize in the songs that are simply unwelcomed. Long passages, slow and quiet, pass by only to suddenly jolt by the crash of cymbal, drum, bass and guitar which play one note and disappear. The soft, timid music continues on as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. The music should not be disjointed this way. It demonstrates no purpose and the effort to understand it wastes precious time. Also, long vocal phrases are executed without much accompaniment, but then the band will join into the song only to quit after a few measures of play. After that, Waters will go back to singing with one instrument backing him as though the band should be called on to perform like circus animals. Finally, last but not least, the tempo drags through the whole album without much deviation. Wish You Were Here was something like a requiem and does not tax a person’s patience with this paralyzing lethargy. The Final Cut should have more going for it than these problems described pose. When a band dishonors its fans by producing something not even remotely like the kind of music fans have been loving for years, it is shameful whoever’s fault it is. There is a time and a place for requiems and making money off of them is reprehensible. I was the only kid in my class who went out and bought this. I thought it was creepy then, and I think it is creepy now.
This is the last Roger Water’s album for Pink Floyd. A tempting urge to celebrate must be suppressed because Waters was responsible for the creation of some of rock’s greatest music. This album is a sad way to end things. It is probably for the best.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Without Waters, Pink Floyd needed a good bass player. They couldn’t have done a better job than they did when they added Tony Levin . Many people cut their teeth on the Adrian Belew period of King Crimson, which included the outstanding bass of Levin. This change by the band was not the most noticeable. Momentary Lapse was an album worth purchasing for the interesting manner in which it was recorded. The well-defined clean sound of every Pink Floyd album since and including Wish You Were Here gave way to even more advanced technology. The sound has an added dimension the past ones simply do not have. One may argue about which kind is best, but nobody can deny the impact of the change. The pattern in the new layering of sound that constituted the progress was an ideal way to alter their course from the whole depressing mood of their past albums. Another change occurred when Gilmour became the frontman – not only for his guitar, but for his vocals as well. The resulting final product finds Gilmour a capable singer, but the absence of Waters created a void in their lineup that this album has a difficult time filling. Gilmour’s vocals do not have the control of Waters’. To compensate, Gilmour uses a variety of vocal effects which are all part of the larger adaptation of musical and special effects that Momentary Lapse relies on from start to finish. The female backing vocals remind us of those used in Dark Side of the Moon. But there is no long operatic part in Momentary Lapse as in Dark Side. The backing vocals help satisfy expectations which could have easily been overlooked were this album produced by those inferior in the art and design of assigning and arranging the parts of a composition. And the sound effects within this work challenge that of any previous album by a long shot. Nothing in past albums anticipates such a strong course of original creativity as this album possesses. From the very first, a boat rowed across a body of water may be heard. The creaking of wood and the slapping of oars into the water do not claim victory over anything from past albums, but emerge as new material, worthy of attention. The album is full of sound effects, more so than any past recording by the band. The digital technology may or may not be the first time Pink Floyd used it, but would never sound better as in Momentary Lapse.
What is right about this album presents itself with clarity. The high fuzzy synth executing the melody in “Signs of Life” coincides with clean digital sound. Alerting everyone he means business, Gilmour lets fly with an interesting lead part and flutters around with high notes before descending down the scale to a bluesy conclusion. As usual, Gilmour mixes an array of erratic music that vacillates between supplemental phrases, including distorted noise, and clean high-pitched lead that either resembles the melody closely or plays it outright note for note. Some of his best work may be found in “Signs of Life, Learning to Fly, On the Turning Away, Yet Another Movie, Terminal Frost and Suffer. “ Some of the guitar parts in these songs follow in the same vein as Gilmour’s work on previous albums but are only stylistic similarities. The actual notes and how they are arranged and blend in with each song can have radical differences. The songs that stand out on Momentary Lapse are “One Slip, Yet another Movie, and Terminal Frost.” “One Slip” had success on radio and was responsible for getting their work noticed. Remember, The Final Cut, a commercial disaster, preceded Momentary Lapse. The fans needed to be convinced. What better way than a song that had a lot going for it: a nice melody, guitar with delay effects sounding almost like Frippertronics, and Tony Levin playing the stick bass. “Yet Another Movie” is one of three songs that features the saxophone, but otherwise merits recognition for the guitar part. “Terminal Frost,” also featuring a saxophone, comes across as a long-awaited instrumental of such beauty and majesty. The piano/guitar combination by Wright and Gilmour creates a dreamy atmosphere as the song touches the heart of many while it follows a slow tempo and becomes a work of subtlety in a world of exhibition. Pink Floyd would release a concert filmed while touring for this album. “Delicate Sound of Thunder” contains many live songs from this and earlier albums. Even as far back as Dark Side. Fans will want to watch the video and keep in mind it can also be found on compact disc and vinyl but may take some looking for to find them.
Some might find sound effects excessive in Momentary Lapse. If a person is so critical as to deem this a problem, he best stay clear of this album. Not many elements of Momentary Lapse strike us as negative. Some may not care for the vocals on “Dogs of War.” Gilmour kind of shouts out the lyrics, but Waters certainly was guilty of doing the same on past albums. Even as far back as the Syd Barrett days and Meddle one may hear some exaggerated vocals. The spare use of acoustic guitar does cause some alarm. It has been part of Pink Floyd’s music since the old days. “On the Turning Away” is the only song where it may be found. The guitar part on “Round and Around” is weak, especially at the end. All in all, Momentary Lapse was a big success for Pink Floyd. I find very little fault in it. The band was distracted during the time they recorded and toured for the album. It was a tough time for them and they still were able to create a great album and please fans eager to hear from a band that had dropped out of sight for five long years.
The Division Bell
Those who liked the thickly layered texture of A Momentary Lapse of Reason are in for a real disappointment with this final Pink Floyd album. Between the two albums, an important event occurred in the music business. The compact disc replaced the LP completely as a medium. People demanded or preferred the sterile sound of digital. Where instruments had formerly blended if not bled together – they now sounded separate and coming from odd direction. Much music from this period of time can be criticized for purposefully following the regrettable trend. Pink Floyd had been recording with digital already, but the natural progression towards an awkward degree of clean sound proved unsuitable. Division Bell indulges in a passing trend of recording, and their songs end up sounding like demo recordings. They sound perfunctory much of the time as the tempos range from slow to medium. The instruments often play in a subdued, hushed manner. There is nothing wild or unexpected, nothing experimental or extravagant. Extravagance proved a vital part of their music from “Interstellar Overdrive” up to “One Slip.” Now, the band plays a laid-back group of songs that sounds inferior in terms of their composition. Why did the band choose to release this mediocre album, knowing that it would likely be their last? Why would they want to go out with a whimper instead of a bang? Why are there no eight minute songs, full symphony orchestras that can be heard instead of the one on “Poles Apart” that hardly fills the usual quota, much less salvage the song.
The Division Bell begins six of eleven songs with keyboard synthesizer introductions. Many songs employ a great many sound effects, yet these elements do not have the same impact they did on Momentary Lapse. Division Bell has no dreamy, atmospheric quality and instead adopts a straightforward sound that is simple as opposed to complex. None of the songs themselves, with the exception of “Keep Talking,” have any commercial value despite their being written to appeal to commercial demands instead of artistic achievement. Gilmour plays lead parts on most of the songs – some well and some not-so-well. His work on “Keep Talking” is the best on the album. Elsewhere he plays in a very high pitch, playing lead parts on “Marooned” and “High Hopes” for two examples. Gilmour weighs in successfully in “A Great Day for Freedom,” “Wearing the Inside Out,” and saves a really bad song called “Coming Back to Life, which is what you will be doing after the song ends.
Many other problems can be found on this last Pink Floyd album. The tempo seems like something the band stopped caring about before writing these songs. All are written either in a slow or moderate pace. A fast-paced out and out hard rock song never made its way on the album. The saxophone plays on “Wearing the Inside Out” but is confined to ineffectual limitations in the composition. Faring better, the piano plays in several songs (in a few intros) with good results in songs like “A Great Day for Freedom,” “High Hopes,” and “Marooned.” In most songs, the synthesizer has a big role but cannot make up for the poor quality of the songs. The deepest weakness of this album is the abundance of lackluster songs. Only “Keep Talking” and “High Hopes” justify their place on the playlist. “Lost for Words” lacks originality and, in fact, many songs do not sound like Pink Floyd except that Gilmour’s guitar is usually unmistakable. Gilmour’s presence is felt, except in “Take It Back” which sounds like programmed music without much guitar, and instead tries to fly on its own-- mainly with synthesizer.
Money can be better spent buying some other album than this one. Division Bell stands tall only compared to Atom Heart Mother and The Final Cut. But Animals sounds like a masterpiece compared to the Division Bell. The problem isn’t Gilmour’s singing or guitar playing. It isn’t with the musicianship of the other members. Composition falls flat and the sound is too clean which is a production problem. The album sounds as though it was created in a hurry even though they had seven years to get things right. Compared to much modern rock, the album turns out pretty well, but compared to Pink Floyd’s own music, Division Bell is nearly a failure with little listening pleasure to gain from it.
Conclusion
Certain labels need to be avoided as they are often applied to Pink Floyd: like psychedelic rock, acid rock, and classic rock. When I have used the label “modern rock” to describe them, it has been to avoid the oxymoronic term “classic rock.” Out of fourteen studio albums only two are not worth listening to, and they are Atom Heart Mother and the embarrassing album The Final Cut. I do not put into that category the albums some people would, such as Umagumma (disc two) and Division Bell. The album Relics is a must-have compilation as it contains six songs previously unreleased including B-Sides. The song “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” cannot be found anywhere else, though it is on the excellent video, I believe, Live at Pompeii.
The band Pink Floyd had four separate phases: the Syd Barrett album, the hippie music they played until Dark Side of the Moon, the golden age from Dark Side to The Wall, and everything after The Wall. No one seemed to mind using the name Pink Floyd after Barrett left the band, though he wrote most of the songs on Piper at the Gate s of Dawn. Nor, to my knowledge, did Barrett try to sue the band. Indeed, the band produced Syd’s two solo albums and they parted ways on amicable terms. He had no idea how Pink Floyd was going to hold him under the microscope later on and forge a commercial outlet in his memory. He may not have been able to appreciate fully the mythology about him that created a notorious identity that millions of people would become familiar with. Three of the four albums in the golden age were at least partly inspired by Barrett. They adopted a new style that was heavy on synthesizers and the use of sound effects. Gilmour started playing in a manner he had been working on ever since the Meddle and Obscured by Clouds albums. Nick Mason’s drumming style improved into a more complex style and was active in producing the numerous sound effects. Wright was always the best musician in the band and he came out of his meandering ways to contribute just what the modern rock style needed: organ, piano or synthesizer and especially the electric piano as in the song “Money.” And money is what it has always been about in my opinion.
After considering these albums (some for the first time), the band comes across as vital to the rock genre regardless of what phase is being scrutinized. The history of the band is hard to ignore, but the music is what counts in the long run. That the band could make such radical changes in their style and improve as musicians leads us to marvel at their ingenuity and persistence. Their success is due to those two qualities more than anything else. Like many bands, however, the success led to discord. The Final Cut album would have absolutely crippled any other band, especially coming on the heels of their three best albums, Animals excluded. But most of the band felt there was more music to make. I am grateful they did not give up, because the next album with a slightly new lineup proved to be one of their best.