Pink Floyd

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

A band that has been in my life for as long as The Eagles. They are my favorite band of all time. I don't know what many of you think of the band but I'd like your opinions.

Pink Floyd (unlike many of their contemporaries) shunned the spotlight, kept out of the media, refused their mugshots anywhere on their albums yet were one of the biggest bands in the world and had concerts that revolutionized the rock spectacle (inflatable pigs and families, crashing planes and beds, walls being built and torn down), saw their work as albums NOT SINGLES and also a band feud that made The Eagles look like comedy. Also, Roger Waters had a reputation of stopping concerts at the height of Floyd's fame due to rowdy fans lighting fireworks and even spat on a fan.

Syd Barrett was the man who started it all (Piper at the Gates of Dawn, first three singles) but sadly lost his mind and once David Gilmour came in transitioned from psychedelic rock band to prog rock legends (A Saucerful of Secrets, More and Ummagumma). Their best work was when Roger Waters' lyrics and ideas and the musical contributions of David Gilmour (who also had the best singing voice in the band and is one of the greatest guitarists in rock) and Rick Wright (God rest his glorious soul and whose keyboards and harmony vocals helped make the classic Pink Floyd sound) were balanced (Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, Obscured by Clouds, The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here). Once Animals rolled around, Waters became a power hungry madman who reduced Wright to a footnote and rejected his ideas and reduced Gilmour's musical ideas. The Wall was where Roger fired Wright (Rick, like Randy Meisner, was not a confrontational person) but Wright stayed as session man for The Wall shows but Gilmour helped make the album what it was (as well as Bob Ezrin). The Final Cut was a Waters solo album and replaced Nick Mason on the last track and Gilmour was nowhere to be heard. Momentary Lapse was an unofficial Gilmour solo album with minor bits from Mason and Wright who slowly got their confidence back (Delicate Sound of Thunder had Gilmour, Mason and Wright playing like the old days). The Division Bell was the perfect ending to Floyd as Wright and Gilmour collaborated like in the Atom Heart Mother through Wish You Were Here period and the live PULSE was proof.

My Top 14 Pink Floyd tracks (a song from each album) :
1) Shine On You Crazy Diamond (all nine parts)
2) High Hopes
3) Comfortably Numb
4) Echoes
5) Us and Them
6) Wots...Uh the Deal
7) Atom Heart Mother Suite
8) Dogs
9) Interstellar Overdrive
10) Remember a Day
11) On the Turning Away
12) The Narrow Way (all three parts)
13) Cirrus Minor
14) Not Now John

My Top 14 Pink Floyd albums :
1) Wish You Were Here
2) The Dark Side of the Moon
3) Meddle
4) Obscured by Clouds
5) The Wall
6) The Division Bell
7) Atom Heart Mother
8) Animals
9) The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
10) A Momentary Lapse of Reason
11) More Soundtrack
12) A Saucerful of Secrets
13) Studio Disc of Ummagumma
14) The Final Cut

Live Pink Floyd albums :
1) PULSE
3) Live at Empire Pool Wembley 1974 (the bonus discs on Experience Versions of Dark Side and Wish You Were Here)
3) Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81
4) Delicate Sound of Thunder
5) Live Disc of Ummagumma

Best solo studio albums :

SYD BARRETT :
1) Barrett
2) Opel
3) The Madcap Laughs

DAVID GILMOUR
1) self titled
2) On an Island
3) Metallic Spheres (with The Orb)
4) About Face

RICHARD WRIGHT
1) Wet Dream
2) Broken China
3) Identity (with Zee)

NICK MASON
1) Fictitious Sports
2) Profiles

ROGER WATERS
1) Amused to Death
2) The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking
3) Music From the Body (with Ron Geesin)
4) Radio KAOS

Best live solo efforts

1) DAVID GILMOUR - Live in Gdansk
2) ROGER WATERS - In the Flesh (I don't cound Wall in Berlin)

They won't reunite for the money (David Gilmour refuses, turned down $300 million for a reunion tour so he could do his On an Island solo album and tour). Plus the fact that co-founder/keyboard player/songwriter Rick Wright died and now Gilmour won't play certain Floyd songs live again and in fact broke down when he dedicated his Lifetime Achievement Award from Q Magazine to Rick.
Roger refused to show up for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but Gilmour, Mason and Wright all kindly acknowledged Roger and Syd and wasn't until 2005 that Waters mellowed out and reunited for Live 8 which was (as fate had it) the final Floyd performance.

Tidbits : The Eagles' Hotel California kept Pink Floyd's Animals from reaching #1 in the US in 1977 yet The Wall kept The Long Run from reclaiming #1 in early 1980. The Eagles have sold 20 million or so more albums than the Floyd in the US (100 million to Floyd's 80 million in US sales (the PF sales need to be re-certified)) yet those two bands have outsold The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queen but don't have a chance to catch Led Zeppelin nor The Beatles. Pink Floyd's Division Bell Tour outgrossed the Hell Freezes Over Tour (Floyd's ticket prices were lower than The Eagles and The Rolling Stones but Mick and Keith charged a house payment for their Voodoo Lounge Tour).

[TimothyBFan]

LOVE FLoyd!!!! I didn't start getting into them till I met my husband about 27 years ago or so. David Gilmour is a genius!! As far as favorites, I have many and I love the hits. I'd have to think about a list of favorites. I can say my favorite song of theirs is probably Young Lust.

[Troubadour]

Welcome to the board! I am also a big fan of Pink Floyd. I first heard Echoes when I was thirteen and was just completely in awe of that song. The strange, ethereal sounds, the long, quiet spaces and then the soothing, harmonious vocals... Hey You was also one of my early favourites. Very different in style to Echoes, but it made me realise the breadth of this band. I love Roger Waters' songwriting, coupled with David and Rick's vocals... Magical stuff. I was living in a rural part of South Africa when they reformed for Live 8 and my mum and best friend stayed up all night to record the performance for me. That's dedication! ;)

I'm so glad that you mentioned Young Lust, Willie... I love that song! It rocks, and David Gilmour's vocals are incredible.

[Freypower]

Wow, TJ, you write well.

You know a great deal more about them than I do. I really have only heard the 'big albums' and I have to say, I don't like The Wall very much. I am gratified that Wish You Were Here is your favourite album because it is mine too. I also really like The Division Bell.

I would have a very conservative Top 10 which would be:

1. Wish You Were Here
2. Money
3. Have A Cigar
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (both sections)
5. Brain Damage
6. Us & Them
7. Learning To Fly
8. Comfortably Numb
9. Welcome To The Machine
10. High Hopes

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Wow, TJ, you write well.

You know a great deal more about them than I do. I really have only heard the 'big albums' and I have to say, I don't like The Wall very much. I am gratified that Wish You Were Here is your favourite album because it is mine too. I also really like The Division Bell.

I would have a very conservative Top 10 which would be:

1. Wish You Were Here
2. Money
3. Have A Cigar
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (both sections)
5. Brain Damage
6. Us & Them
7. Learning To Fly
8. Comfortably Numb
9. Welcome To The Machine
10. High Hopes

I recommend the Meddle and Obscured by Clouds albums as they were precursors to Dark Side and Wish You Were Here. I prefer the live versions of Animals to the studio version.

The band as well as The Eagles have been the soundtrack to my life (I was raised on both by my parents as well as The Rolling Stones, AC/DC (from your native Australia), The Beatles, The Who, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Van Halen, Def Leppard (all thanks to my mom may she RIP) and some old R&B and soul (thanks to my dad) and then got into things like Ozzy, Dire Straits, Iron Maiden, Queen, Genesis, Dio all on my own). I have been questioned for liking the Floyd and Eagles as many picked on me for liking The Eagles and I said "I can like whoever and whomever". Plus the fact I'm a drummer, guitarist and keyboard player I am a fan of those who really crafted music (everything from 1997 forward has been garbage as far as I'm concerned).

[Brooke]

Wow, I can get an education here! Thanks for all the info tj!

I must confess that even though I'm old enough to know all about PF, I just never liked them until say the last 10 years or so. I absolutely love Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here as far as songs, but have never had one of their albums. (:blush:) I do have the dvd Pulsewhich I really enjoy, and another one which is a type of documentary done in Pompeii, I think. Some very weird stuff there.

Anyways, welcome to the Border! Glad to have ya! As you can see, it's a diverse group musically here!

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Wow, I can get an education here! Thanks for all the info tj!

I must confess that even though I'm old enough to know all about PF, I just never liked them until say the last 10 years or so. I absolutely love Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here as far as songs, but have never had one of their albums. (:blush:) I do have the dvd Pulsewhich I really enjoy, and another one which is a type of documentary done in Pompeii, I think. Some very weird stuff there.

Anyways, welcome to the Border! Glad to have ya! As you can see, it's a diverse group musically here!

As the great David Gilmour said it "Thank you very much indeed"

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Here is some rare live Pink Floyd from pre-Dark Side of the Moon with "Cymbaline" from the More Soundtrack (which was the band's third full length album though half instrumental).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl9JwM3MX4s

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Roger Waters claims David Gilmour has retired but Gilmour did record an album with The Orb in 2010 called Metallic Spheres which has Gilmour's guitars all over the where.

Here is a taster, this is "Hymns to the Sun" featuring some tasty lap steel/slide and Fender Stratocaster work from David debunking Roger's claim that David is retired. Hope Gilmour releases a new solo album in not so distant future. This piece may not be everyone's cup of tea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRyuWSjS7t8

[zeldabjr]

Welcome to the border TJ...I'd have to say my favorite Pink Floyd song is Us and Them...glad to have you here...hope you enjoy it!!!

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Welcome to the border TJ...I'd have to say my favorite Pink Floyd song is Us and Them...glad to have you here...hope you enjoy it!!!

I enjoy the forum so far and thankfully (unlike many forums I used to be on) is not clique ridden. My favorite bands are Pink Floyd (obvious), The Eagles, Rush, The Who, Genesis, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Black Sabbath and AC/DC.

Figured I'd share some rare Floyd tracks many never heard on this thread and also solo works which may have never been exposed before.

[sodascouts]

Thanks. I've never really listened to Pink Floyd but maybe it's time to see what the fuss is about!

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Thanks. I've never really listened to Pink Floyd but maybe it's time to see what the fuss is about!

They are the fourth highest selling band in US history just behind The Eagles, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles.

This was the song that paved the way towards what would pay off in spades with The Dark Side of the Moon nearly a year and a half later, the 23-minute "Echoes" from 1971's Meddle (the song was Side 2 of the original album).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsjIGxBkRk

[sodascouts]

A 23 minute song? Not sure I'm ready for that kind of time commitment. lol

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

A 23 minute song? Not sure I'm ready for that kind of time commitment. lol

Well, here is "Us and Them" which is a shorter song than "Echoes".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcG47CpsU6c

[sodascouts]

Thanks for the rec.

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Seeing Dark Side of the Moon turns the big 4-0 (already has in the States) I will be posting tracks and rarities from the album. This is the studio version of "The Travel Sequence" which would then be dropped for "On the Run" during the mixing sessions for Dark Side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXsYp9Ye2xg

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Now David Gilmour with techno outfit The Orb with a snippet from Metallic Spheres called "Hymns to the Sun" featuring David playing his black Fender Stratocaster and lap steel guitars. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but this is Gilmour's more recent project (which he served as a guest, the album is credited to The Orb featuring David Gilmour).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRjN7cBG3-s

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Well, for Freypower, this is "Echoes (Part 1)" performed in Pompeii, Italy in October of 1971 so I wouldn't expose you to all of Echoes in one chunk (some I know don't have 20 plus minutes for a side long piece, seeing I'm a musician I don't mind). RIP Richard Wright.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nJkgv9wpgU

[AstraeaLunaAvani]

Wow what a happy coincidence I found this thread...at this very moment I am listening to other artists' covers of Pink Floyd songs! These guys will always be in my top 3 favorite bands of all time. I enjoyed reading your post, I never knew David Gilmour turned down 300 million for a reunion tour, wow!!!

My favorite Floyd songs are (not in order):

Comfortably Numb
On the Turning Away
Fat Old Sun
Nobody Home
Brain Damage/Eclipse (These songs should ALWAYS go together!!)
Time
the entire Animals album (too hard to pick one song!)

I saw them live in '94 on the Division Bell tour, twice in the same week, and saw Roger solo a few times since then! I wish I had been born early enough to see them in the 70's though, all together!

[AstraeaLunaAvani]

Thanks. I've never really listened to Pink Floyd but maybe it's time to see what the fuss is about!

:stunned::stunned::stunned:

Please tell me it's because you lived in a remote village thousands of miles from civilization your whole life! LOL :lol:

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Wow what a happy coincidence I found this thread...at this very moment I am listening to other artists' covers of Pink Floyd songs! These guys will always be in my top 3 favorite bands of all time. I enjoyed reading your post, I never knew David Gilmour turned down 300 million for a reunion tour, wow!!!

My favorite Floyd songs are (not in order):

Comfortably Numb
On the Turning Away
Fat Old Sun
Nobody Home
Brain Damage/Eclipse (These songs should ALWAYS go together!!)
Time
the entire Animals album (too hard to pick one song!)

I saw them live in '94 on the Division Bell tour, twice in the same week, and saw Roger solo a few times since then! I wish I had been born early enough to see them in the 70's though, all together!

Was born in 1976 here so I missed the classic lineup. Got to see The Division Bell Tour in 1994 when it hit Foxboro, MA. Plus saw Roger five times (The Wall shows and In the Flesh 2000 were the best solo shows he did).

Animals I will listen to a live bootleg of before I play the album as Gilmour and Rick Wright played better on the songs in live performance than on the album.

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

A Pink Floyd tune which started as a David Gilmour acoustic ditty before Roger Waters decided to add lyrics and it became the title cut to Wish You Were Here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPL_SV3n7IU

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

Of course the song that is Pink Floyd's equal to "Hotel California" which is "Comfortably Numb" from The Wall which was performed in 1980 live at Earls Court in London.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv9wXMCvNHk

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

This is the 17 minute edit of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" from the 2001 Echoes compilation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv9wXMCvNHk

[chaim]

I love the early "pastoral" stuff like "Green is the colour". Beautiful stuff.
I have to say that Roger Waters seems to be slightly misunderstood. I can't say anything about him as a person, because I don't know him, but what no one ever says is that he has written some really moving and emotional stuff. Most people bash the Final Cut album, but it has some really moving stuff. Everyone says that he's a horrible singer. Maybe so, but he's a perfect singer for some of the stuff he writes.
Check out these two songs:

How many songs are there about being afraid of exposing your weak side and being totally withdrawn emotionally, that are this moving and genuine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e-yO6_FbtI

How about trying to understand what a guy that is/has been in a war goes through in his head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIJN6WWf3Rg

I can understand people saying that Waters is a cold, but don't say that his music is!

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

I love the early "pastoral" stuff like "Green is the colour". Beautiful stuff.
I have to say that Roger Waters seems to be slightly misunderstood. I can't say anything about him as a person, because I don't know him, but what no one ever says is that he has written some really moving and emotional stuff. Most people bash the Final Cut album, but it has some really moving stuff. Everyone says that he's a horrible singer. Maybe so, but he's a perfect singer for some of the stuff he writes.
Check out these two songs:

How many songs are there about being afraid of exposing your weak side and being totally withdrawn emotionally, that are this moving and genuine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e-yO6_FbtI

How about trying to understand what a guy that is/has been in a war goes through in his head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIJN6WWf3Rg

I can understand people saying that Waters is a cold, but don't say that his music is!

Roger just became powerful and domineering and drove David Gilmour and Rick Wright to seclusion and not contribute like they did on Atom Heart through Wish You Were Here.

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

This is an early live version of "Fat Old Sun" from July of 1970 and was written by David Gilmour (who also sings it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr8P-xQDKb0

[tjrrockandrollmaster]

A live version of "Wish You Were Here" from Pink Floyd recorded in Zurich, Switzerland in February of 1977. David Gilmour on electric guitar and vocals, Roger Waters on bass guitar and backing vocals, Nick Mason on drums, Rick Wright on keyboards, Snowy White on 12 string acoustic guitar and just a great version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqNHkNgEsjk

[cricrichan]

Thanks guys for sharing all these amazing videos! Pink Floyd are absolutely awesome! I've loved their songs since I was a child thanks to my father. He's got one of my favourite album ever, The Dark Side Of The Moon Vinyl ... would just listen to this from morning till night :heart:

[chaim]

Roger just became powerful and domineering and drove David Gilmour and Rick Wright to seclusion and not contribute like they did on Atom Heart through Wish You Were Here.

Yes, this is an interesting question, because while Gilmour and Wright have said at times that Waters didn't allow them to contribute, they have also actually admitted that they weren't pulling their weight. So the truth lies probably somewhere in between.

[Sebastian]

I'll bump this because I don't want to start a new topic when there's already one going on. Coincidentally, I happen to be listening to 'Watching TV' right now :p

Lately I've been listening to Pink Floyd a lot and watching documentaries, and that's sort of rekindled my interest in the band, in all of their incarnations.

[Jonny Come Lately]

I love Pink Floyd. I don't think any other act can touch their incredible run of 1970s albums from Meddle through to The Wall - 5 out of 6 of those albums are total classics in my book and the odd one out, the film soundtrack Obscured By Clouds, isn't exactly bad either.

As for the Waters v Gilmour debate - I don't think the band would have been as good without either, for Waters was the lyricist and ideas man whereas Gilmour was the superior musician, along with the late, great Rick Wright. I will admit that I probably side with Gilmour slightly, and I do rather like The Division Bell. However, the less said about A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (one of the most unfortunately titled albums of all time), the better...

My top five Pink Floyd albums are as follows:
1=) Wish You Were Here
1=) The Dark Side Of The Moon
(I prefer not to separate these two exceptional albums, which are probably my two favourites of all time. If pushed really hard I might just about go for WYWH).
3) Animals
4) The Wall
5) Meddle

I find it somewhat more difficult to rank the other albums, although I think the unfairly maligned Atom Heart Mother would come sixth - that's the album where their 1970s sound seems to fall into place. The title track isn't perfect but the best parts are stunning with some fantastic Gilmour guitar. I am partial to The Division Bell and while I would agree that it's not as lyrically strong as the Waters-era albums, I think it's a very solid and enjoyable Pink Floyd album in its own right and with Wright co-writing nearly half the songs I consider it to be a legitimate Floyd work.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, while undoubtedly being highly influential and possessing some great material (Astronomy Domine is my favourite) is a bit overrated. I don't care that much for Bike and there is filler, although ironically, the worst song is the Waters composition Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk. I actually prefer A Saucerful Of Secrets, which is the first album featuring Gilmour's guitar playing - he has a good solo on Let There Be More Light, and Waters penned the excellent Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun. Barrett also provided a great track in Jugband Blues, his final Floyd song, which is an insight into his condition at the time the album was being put together.

There was a surprise last year when after 20 years a new album, The Endless River, was released. I'm pretty happy with it myself although I say so as a big fan and especially so of Gilmour and Wright - I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't already into. The album is almost entirely instrumental and mostly ambient (although I think it is 'good' ambient music with a classic Pink Floyd atmosphere, not elevator ambient music).

[chaim]

I love Saucerful Of Secrets, but I'm probably the only one on the planet who loves it with the exception of Jugband Blues. It has never done nothing for me. Rick sort of disowned his songs from this era, but I like to think that it was because of his lyrics. Maybe he felt that he was trying too hard to write like Syd lyrically, and failing miserably. Musically I find Remember A Day and See-Saw fantastic.
At some point when Rick was knocking his old songs, he said that Roger's Corpolal Clegg is "just as bad", while Roger has said fairly recently that CC was a great piece of work. Roger was probably thinking that lyrically the song pointed him towards a future direction - sarcastic stuff like winning a wooden leg in the war! I remember Roger mentioned that line.

[Jonny Come Lately]

I had another listen to A Saucerful Of Secrets today - I agree it's a strong album, I certainly enjoyed listening to it. I also agree that Rick Wright was unduly harsh on his compositions on that album. Remember A Day and See-Saw may not be lyrical masterpieces but I would not say either that song was terrible in this regard and in any case the lyrics are not highlighted especially in the mix so are not that prominent. Out of the two I think I prefer Remember A Day - I really like the piano parts and also the slide guitar which I believe was played by Syd. It certainly sounds like his style rather than David's (which is clearly highlighted in Let There Be More Light). See-Saw is nice although the band did give it the alternative title of 'The Second Most Boring Song I've Ever Heard (Bar Two) - again, harsh. I wasn't too fond of it when I first heard it as I thought it was a weak Beach Boys pastiche, but now I'm sure why I ever thought that - it doesn't sound like The Beach Boys particularly.

I love Corporal Clegg. It has some great guitars but above all, it's funny - the lyrics make me smile and you can even hear the band laughing during the final kazoo solo! It's funny to think that Roger once wrote such a humorous and whimsical song about war when you consider the bleakness of songs from The Wall and The Final Cut covering similar themes. Having said that there is also Free Four from Obscured By Clouds which combines a happy, catchy tune with bleak lyrics from Roger about his father's death, and death in general. Returning to the lyrics, I think that 'winning' a wooden leg in the war is a clever yet funny lyrical idea, although I am also amused every time by the line about his medal, which he 'found in a zoo'. It doesn't make Clegg sound especially heroic, that's for sure!

It took me a couple of listens to get into the title track before I really appreciated but I do like it quite a lot now. Reading Nick Mason's comments about it being very carefully structured (I'm sure I read that Roger and Nick, unable to read sheet music, planned out the song using a sort of architectural diagram with a series of symbols). My favourite part of the song is the final section - Celestial Voices - I really like the combination of the organ with the wordless vocals. One other thought I have about this song is that if Pink Floyd hadn't worked out as a rock band, they could have turned to horror movie soundtracks, some of the sections of this song and other early compositions are kind of scary if listened to in the right circumstances!

I have to say I do love Jugband Blues myself. In just three minutes it chronicles the sad decline of Syd Barrett from rising star to the tragically erratic figure he became quite brilliantly. The moment when the Salvation Army band stops and the acoustic guitar comes in is chilling, especially when followed by the final lyrics. I think 'And what exactly is a joke' is a powerful closing line. Sadly, it wasn't a joke.

Having said that, I can understand why not everyone likes it - quite whether telling a Salvation Army to 'play anything' was a wise move I'm not sure, it's one think for a four- or five-piece rock band but another for that kind of musical group.

I won't discuss Let There Be More Light or Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun in as much depth as I mentioned those in more detail before although I do love both, I think they showed how Roger improved as a songwriter compared to his sole effort on Piper, with the former featuring some very memorable quirky limits about aliens landing in the Fens as well as a cool bass intro and vocals shared between Rick Wright and David Gilmour, while the very chilled atmosphere of Set The Controls combined with its introspective lyrics is classic Roger. I think as well as being a fine song in itself, marked the way forward to later, similarly immersive songs such as Welcome To The Machine.

[Freypower]

JCL, I decided to return to this thread because I just heard Lost For Words from The Division Bell. What a great song....especially the 'twist' at the end! :heybaby:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Mycieh-kE

[Jonny Come Lately]

Thank you for posting that. :-D I am very fond of Lost For Words too - it is like a dark version of the classic Wish You Were Here. I've always thought the lyrics are about Roger Waters, and I also think it's unusual in that the unexpected use of an obscenity ('tell me to please go f*** myself') actually benefits the song. It's more emotionally powerful than if they had simply read 'get lost' or something like that, it doesn't feel gratuitous at all.

One comparison I have often read is that The Division Bell album is to Waters what Wish You Were Here was to Syd Barrett. A look at the lyrics to songs like A Great Day For Freedom, Poles Apart and Wearing The Inside Out seem to validate this, although the central theme of The Division Bell is a lack of communication in general, even the instrumentals Cluster One (a 'conversation' between Gilmour's guitar and Rick Wright's piano) and Marooned (the music provides a clear sense of isolation, as much as the title itself) fit this theme. It is also probably the album which comes closest to WYWH in overall feel and sound.

My favourite song from The Division Bell has got to be High Hopes. It's a true epic with the ringing church bell, thoughtful lyrics and the slide solo is sublime. I find it quite moving - it's difficult for me to listen to it without thinking of all the great music that came before it. One clever thing is how the song's final line ('the endless river, forever and ever') echoes the early Syd-era single See Emily Play, which has the lyric 'Float on a river forever and ever'. A nice touch.

One 'Easter egg' you can find on High Hopes is that if you wait until the very end, and have the volume turned up sufficiently loud, you can hear an amusing phone call between the late Steve O'Rourke (Floyd's long-time manager) and Charlie Gilmour, who was three years old at the time.

If anyone's been wondering, part of the reason why I've decided to do Pink Floyd songs exclusively in the Never Ending Song Game is because it presents a bit of a challenge - off the top of my head I don't think there's a single Floyd song with 'love' in the title, for instance (Young Lust is the closest you can get) so I have to try and think of more unusual links. I've been having fun with it so far!

[chaim]

Yes, there is definitely an unbelievable change in Roger's songwriting from Piper to Saucerful. When you listen to LTBML with a guitar in hand, you'll notice that there are rather clever chord changes. I can't explain this in words, but it's also brilliant how the chorus appears from the verse in terms of harmony. No, I haven't analyzed what happens there, but I do know that that kind of harmony wasn't in every rock song - still isn't. Above all, it gives me a spooky feeling, which works perfectly with the lyric. Especially the chromatically descending chord movement that concludes the chorus (when Gilmour sings the word "hall"). A great piece of work, although it's not mentioned nearly as often as STCFTHOTS.

As for Division Bell, I still don't care for it, but Wearing The Inside Out is absolutely amazing, and High Hopes is great too. Lyrically High Hopes would have worked better on a Gilmour solo album at that point.

[MortSahlFan]

Pink Floyd is my favorite group ever... I know Roger and David liked the Eagles, Henley even sang with Roger Waters on an album..


Favorite Songs
1. Time
2. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
3. Dogs
4. Us and Them
5. Welcome to the Machine

Albums
1. Dark Side of the Moon (greatest ever)
2. The Wall
3. Wish You Were Here
4. Animals
5. Meddle

[chaim]

According to Roger it was Jim Ladd who suggested that Roger and Don sing together: http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/96.htm

Here Roger praises Don's work: http://www.rogerwaters.org/atdwestwood.html

I don't remember Roger saying that he loves the Eagles, but it's cool if he does.

[MortSahlFan]

I read Roger say it somewhere. I don't wanna guess, but I'm guessing it was around the time he got Don Henley, but I saw David say it on a 70's music documentary.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Interestingly, in this 1987 Rolling Stone article, Roger Waters borrows a lyric from Don's Long Way Home to describe his view on his departure from Pink Floyd. The line he uses is 'There's three sides to every story/ Yours and mine, and the cold hard truth'. This was when Roger was promoting Radio KAOS, so a few years before Don appeared on Amused To Death.

http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/rs1187.htm

MortSahlFan, I think we should get on well as I've noticed that your top five Floyd albums are the same as mine, although we differ slightly on in our order. I would definitely put Wish You Were Here in my top two but that is really the only major difference of opinion we have there. I'm delighted to see Time and Shine On as your top two songs, the former is my favourite from Dark Side and the latter is my overall favourite. I love the other three you mentioned too, although I should probably add that my favourite song from Animals is probably Sheep.

[Freypower]

I read recently that Polly Gilmour writes David's lyrics. I suppose his Floyd lyrics were written by Waters so this is the same. Has he written any lyrics himself?

Have any of you bought Rattle That Lock yet & what are your thoughts? I have been holding off while I have been so consumed with another British prog rock band.

Love both High Hopes & Wearing the Inside Out.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Although Polly has written most of Pink Floyd and David Gilmour's lyrics from The Division Bell onwards, the following non-instrumental Floyd tracks over the years have been written solely by Gilmour, meaning that he wrote the lyrics as well as the music:

- The Narrow Way (Ummagumma, 1969) (Although strictly speaking, only Part III of this piece has lyrics)
- Fat Old Sun (Atom Heart Mother, 1970)
- Childhood's End (Obscured By Clouds, 1972)
- A New Machine (Parts 1 and 2) (A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, 1987)
- Sorrow (A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, 1987)
- Coming Back To Life (The Division Bell, 1994)

Of these, I personally think Childhood's End is the pick of the bunch, although I'm also fond of Fat Old Sun and Coming Back To Life.

As far as I am aware, Gilmour also wrote the lyrics to One Slip on A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, where I seem to remember reading that Phil Manzanera's writing credit was for the music. He also wrote most of the songs on his first two solo albums alone - these being his self-titled release ( 1978 ) and About Face (1984), although he did work with a couple of collaborators on couple of tracks on both albums, notably Roy Harper on the former and Pete Townshend on the latter. However, to my knowledge Roger Waters wrote all of the Pink Floyd lyrics from The Dark Side Of The Moon up until The Final Cut.

As Waters gradually took more and more control of the band after Dark Side, Gilmour (and, to a greater extent, Rick Wright) contributed fewer and fewer songs. Having said this the following songs did feature music written by Gilmour:

- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Waters/Gilmour/Wright) (except for Part 9, solely credited to Wright)
- Wish You Were Here (Gilmour & Waters)
- Dogs (Waters & Gilmour)
- Young Lust (Waters & Gilmour)
- Comfortably Numb (Gilmour & Waters)
- Run Like Hell (Gilmour & Waters)

The original demo version of The Wall was recorded by Roger Waters alone and was presented in a rough form to the rest of the band. This was one of two album ideas that he brought at that time, the other would eventually become his first solo record, The Pros and Cons of Hitch-Hiking. The band preferred The Wall but the demos were sufficiently complete to leave little room for the others to add to the songs, hence why Waters dominates the album's writing credits. As for Gilmour's three songs, I think Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell originated from musical ideas he didn't use for his first solo album, whereas I believe Gilmour did not like Waters' chord sequence for Young Lust so came up with a different one. This might explain why the first two are credited Gilmour/Waters whereas the latter is Waters/Gilmour.

I haven't bought Rattle That Lock, although I have heard most of it. Two songs are a major departure from his previous work - one is the title track, which features a prominent sample of a SNCF jingle recorded at a French railway station and is probably the most danceable thing he's ever recorded, the other is the somewhat jazzy The Girl In The Yellow Dress. The rest is in his trademark style with his legendary guitar playing still evident. Most reviews I've read have been pretty positive, generally people are saying it's livelier than his last solo effort On An Island or the last Pink Floyd release The Endless River (I like it, but I will admit it's definitely fans-only).

[chaim]

I love to see opinions that differ greatly from mine! IMO the Childhood's End lyric is absolutely terrible. Just easy (and "wise" sounding) rhyming with nothing to say. As for Narrow Way, David has said that he asked Roger to write the lyrics, but he refused. I assume that Roger refused only because the studio side of Ummagumma was supposed to be solo numbers.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Although I don't agree about Childhood's End, I can see where you're coming from regarding the lyrics. I would agree it definitely isn't a great Floyd lyric, but by most standards I find it okay. It isn't not as well written as, say, Roger's Free Four from the same album, which I think is be the sharpest lyric on the Obscured By Clouds album, but I do think it's better than Roger's The Gold It's In The... lyrics which are weak by his standards. If I didn't know better and you asked me which vocal song Gilmour had written alone, I'd have said that one as the song is basically a vehicle for his guitar playing (Rick Wright doesn't feature on it at all - there are no keyboard parts). I enjoy the guitars on that track so I don't mind the lyrics too much there.

It always is interesting to read contrasting opinions, especially for a band like Floyd where there are quite a lot of albums to be discovered (I use this term because aside from the Big Three of Dark Side, The Wall and Wish You Were Here, not that many individual tracks get a lot of attention or airplay) and therefore different people tend to favour different tracks.

In all honesty, none of the songs Gilmour has written alone for Pink Floyd have great lyrics. I like all bar one the half dozen songs I listed to a greater or lesser extent (the exception is A New Machine - just awful IMO!) but I like them mainly because of their music rather than because of their lyrical content. Roger was clearly the best songwriter in the band and I think the Ummagumma studio album proved this, as I consider Grantchester Meadows to be the most complete and convincing song of the set (FWIW, The Narrow Way is my second favourite).

I was listening to the Obscured By Clouds album a while back and it suddenly occurred to me that although it seems like a fairly laid back album on the surface, several of the songs share similar themes of mortality (Wot's Uh The Deal and Free Four being two of the most obvious). It's actually quite dark when you listen to the lyrics closely, but it makes the album thematically cohesive.

[chaim]

Although I don't agree about Childhood's End, I can see where you're coming from regarding the lyrics. I would agree it definitely isn't a great Floyd lyric, but by most standards I find it okay. It isn't not as well written as, say, Roger's Free Four from the same album, which I think is be the sharpest lyric on the Obscured By Clouds album, but I do think it's better than Roger's The Gold It's In The... lyrics which are weak by his standards. If I didn't know better and you asked me which vocal song Gilmour had written alone, I'd have said that one as the song is basically a vehicle for his guitar playing (Rick Wright doesn't feature on it at all - there are no keyboard parts). I enjoy the guitars on that track so I don't mind the lyrics too much there.

It always is interesting to read contrasting opinions, especially for a band like Floyd where there are quite a lot of albums to be discovered (I use this term because aside from the Big Three of Dark Side, The Wall and Wish You Were Here, not that many individual tracks get a lot of attention or airplay) and therefore different people tend to favour different tracks.

In all honesty, none of the songs Gilmour has written alone for Pink Floyd have great lyrics. I like all bar one the half dozen songs I listed to a greater or lesser extent (the exception is A New Machine - just awful IMO!) but I like them mainly because of their music rather than because of their lyrical content. Roger was clearly the best songwriter in the band and I think the Ummagumma studio album proved this, as I consider Grantchester Meadows to be the most complete and convincing song of the set (FWIW, The Narrow Way is my second favourite).

I was listening to the Obscured By Clouds album a while back and it suddenly occurred to me that although it seems like a fairly laid back album on the surface, several of the songs share similar themes of mortality (Wot's Uh The Deal and Free Four being two of the most obvious). It's actually quite dark when you listen to the lyrics closely, but it makes the album thematically cohesive.

My favorite on Ummagumma (the studio record) is Rick's piece, then Narrow Way. I love Narrow Way, the song. The lyric doesn't bother me (although David thinks it's terrible), but maybe it's because I know the story - that David didn't want to write the lyrics in the first place. Also, the chorus is lyrically not "easy rhyming". I like the "for a little bit" that "rhymes" with "for a little bit".:cool: It also contains the most misheard line in the Pink Floyd discography: "Just close your ears and eyes, be on your way". You can't hear what the line is on the studio version, but it's very clear on bootlegs from that era, and when you check it on the album after that, it is the same line.

What is your opinion on Stay, lyrically speaking - who wrote it? The song is credited to Wright/Waters, but the lyric is very "Wrightish" - almost like Summer '68 part II. When I think of that lyric, the word "Waters" is the last thing that comes to mind. And yet it says "Wright/Waters".

I have never thought about the Gold It's In The.... lyric. Interesting observation. Maybe Roger's lyric was different (and rather lame), because he was trying to write it for a certain scene in the movie? However, I haven't seen the film, so I can't say whether it describes a scene or not.

[Jonny Come Lately]

With regards to Stay, my gut instinct would have been that it was written by Rick alone. This is probably partly because Rick usually only tends to sing lead on his own songs (e.g. Paintbox, Remember A Day), in contrast to Gilmour who sings lead on quite a few Waters compositions (e.g. Cymbaline, Money, Goodbye Blue Sky). I agree that it isn't a 'Roger' lyric and it is certainly quite comparable to Summer '68, except that it covers both 'the evening before' as well as the 'morning after', but his name is on there so he must have contributed something.

Based on the evidence of the genesis of The Wall and the demos I've heard of songs like Money, I think Roger tended to write most of his songs alone. I tend to think of him as more of a 'traditional songwriter' whereas I think Rick and David probably came up with musical ideas or riffs while jamming on their instruments. I therefore think it's unlikely that Roger would have contributed that much to the music of Stay and thus my best guess would be that he probably helped Rick complete the lyrics or made a few tweaks to them. To use an Eagles comparison, I think it may have been a bit like Don H's contribution to Visions (which I have always thought seems like more of a Felder lyric than a Henley one), where I believe that he contributed some of the lyrics but Felder all wrote the music.

That's a good point regarding the lyric from The Gold's In The..., I haven't seen La Vallée myself, but having read this plot synopsis I think the main characters go on a journey at one point in the film, so the ideas in the lyrics do fit that. I do know that the members of the Mapunga tribe that provide the vocals at the end of Absolutely Curtains appear in the film, but I think the band was given freedom to write pretty much anything they wanted for the soundtrack and it didn't have to fit with the movie to be included.

One other point of interest regarding songwriting credits on Obscured By Clouds is the pair of Burning Bridges and Mudmen - the former is credited to Waters/Wright, the latter to Gilmour/Wright. This difference rather surprised me when I first listened to the album, given that Mudmen is to all intents and purposes an instrumental reprise of Burning Bridges. This is actually quite useful as I think it can be deduced from this that Wright probably wrote the main chord sequence/theme that is on both pieces, whereas Waters' only contribution was the lyrics to the former while Gilmour was responsible for the extra guitar parts added to the latter.

[chaim]

I remember wondering about the Burning Bridges/Mudmen thing too. Since (IMO) David contributed nothing that could be described as "writing", I think his credit on Mudmen came from Rick being very generous indeed. However, it's possible that it was David's idea to take the chord progressions from Burning Bridges and play them in 4/4 (instead of the original 3/4). But still...an actual writing credit??

If David was credited for some guitar licks, Clare Torry should have been credited for her vocal melodies (which she came up with herself) on Great Gig In The Sky. I think her name is in the credits today, but it's not because the Floyd guys decided to be generous!

[MortSahlFan]

"Stay" was Rick's music, Roger's words.

To me, Waters and Gilmour are the most complementary musicians ever. John Lennon could write music just fine alone, and had an amazing array of solo albums when he left The Beatles, much better than the other guys. I think Roger's solo albums (or the others) weren't very good - Roger is very wordy, where Gilmour is the opposite.

I'm in a Pink Floyd forum, so we discuss contributions a lot. Roger actually wrote most of the music as well. David is a guy who would make the song sound better, regardless. Rick was instrumental in the atmosphere (listen to "Wet Dream").. Speaking of Rick's solo album, I know Roger had a quote asking why he had nothing to contribute, but then having some for his solo album. I have a feeling this led to his departure - thinking if I'm the guy writing almost all the music, and writing every lyric since Dark Side, why am I here?

A few of us separately went to count the contributions, and Gilmour really didn't write any music on "Dark Side of the Moon" besides the jamming which brought "Any Colour You Like" and "Breathe", but is credited to all members, as is "Time" though I know Roger wrote the music for the verse and chorus. I guess Nick got credit for the roto-toms in the beginning, and David plays the best solo and vocal of his life. Even Nick Mason's credit on "Speak To Me' was just a gift from Roger to his pal.

To me, the best PF was from 1973-1979. I don't care for the first album that much, seems to be the "cool" thing to say how much one loves Syd Barrett, but he had a few songs, some that I think were crap. Funnily enough, the good songs he did write weren't on the album and only released as singles.

The Final Cut isn't as great because Rick is gone, and it doesn't seem they were working together much except in the early stages, Roger and David playing Donkey Kong, but then having David removed as Producer under the agreement he would get paid the same. Gilmour didn't write any music, and only sings on "Not Now John".

Though Mason is the only guy on every PF album, on almost every album, they had to get a session drummer because he couldn't play certain songs, especially with timing like on "Mother" or "Two Suns in the Sunset".

AMLOR and TDB seem to have about 20 members, and not just writing. Carmine Appice plays on "Dogs of War", those two albums remind me of "The Final Cut" as solo albums that were de-facto PF, although with the "dry" albums (my nickname for Water-less), Rick and Nick don't play on a lot of songs. I think it's why "Endless River" is very good. I know it was all leftover material from 1994, but those guys were better at instrumentals. After Rick passed, I always dreamed that David would be in charge of overseeing the last tribute to Rick, and that maybe Roger could add to the songs with some lyrics, and have David singing. The only song that isn't too great is the only song with words. Polly writes a lot of lyrics, but she's not a good lyricist when it comes to music, and I never read her fantasy stuff. I think she was lucky to have been married to David, similar to Yoko Ono who forced her way onto "Double Fantasy".

Gilmour did write some lyrics on his last album, which is more diverse than "On An Island".

[Jonny Come Lately]

Thanks for the clarification about the writing of Stay. I love to know exactly who contributed what to each song.

I totally agree about Waters and Gilmour being extremely complementary. I think there was a quote from The Wall-era (I think it was from Mark Blake's Pigs Might Fly) where Roger said 'we make a great team'. The Wall would not have existed, let alone be the epic it is, without Roger, but David added so much to the album with his vocals and guitars. Indeed, I'd say their vocals were every bit as complementary as their contributions to the rest of the music - Comfortably Numb and Hey You, for instance, would not have worked as well with just one of them singing the whole song. FWIW, I listened to Gilmour's first solo album last week - I really like most of it musically, but the lyrics and songs for the most part can't touch the Floyd albums recorded in the same era (in fairness, I'd add that little music can...)

Just wondering, is it possible that Waters wrote all of the music for Time, and that Gilmour and Wright were credited for the Breathe (Reprise) section? I'd agree that Nick was probably credited for the famous drum introduction. I fully agree with you about David's performance on Time - the guitar solo is absolutely brilliant and a standout moment even by his standards.

I more or less agree with you on the 'golden era' for PF except that I personally think it started in 1971 and ended in 1980. I feel that Echoes was where it all came together for the first time, while I would extend it to 1980 simply to include The Wall tour. Obscured By Clouds prevents it from being sequence of truly great albums, but I think it's a pretty enjoyable release in itself (and especially not bad given that I believe the whole thing was made in a couple of weeks), and 1972 did bring Live At Pompeii, which I absolutely love. In fact, this summer I actually went to Pompeii and visited the amphitheatre where the film was recorded and sat down, and listened to the full studio version of Echoes. I think I will remember that experience for many years. :grooving:

I get what you are saying about Syd Barrett - I do really love Astronomy Domine and there a few others of his that I really like (Lucifer Sam and Jugband Blues spring to mind), but I think there is a tendency to overrate his work with the band due to his mental breakdown which curtailed his career, it could be said to be rather like the praise that is lavished on musicians who died young like Hendrix, Jim Morrison and others. I will happily admit that I don't listen to The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn as often as I listen to Atom Heart Mother or Obscured By Clouds, neither of which garners anywhere near the same level of acclaim, but I get more enjoyment from hearing them.

I'm glad to hear that you like The Endless River, I like it too but on starting to begin to wonder if I was alone. I tend to listen to it as a complete album from start to first, although my favourites as individual songs are It's What We Do and Surfacing. I also really like Talkin' Hawkin', which is funny as I'm not a great fan of Keep Talking, which is my least favourite from The Division Bell. I have to say I do quite like Louder Than Words, it's not great lyrically but it does fit the rest of the album musically. One thing I will admit though is that a lot of the references to earlier or more obscure Floyd works, such as the rather A Saucerful Of Secrets-like drumming on Skins, were probably lost on a lot of casual fans.

[chaim]

For me Endless River definitely works best as a complete album.

As for Stay, has it been confirmed by a member, or is it a generally accepted assumption based on the official credit, that Roger wrote (all) the words? The KISS world is full of assumptions that have become "facts" (especially when it comes to "who played what" stuff), so I've become a bit sceptical about everything. :cool:

[MortSahlFan]

Couldn't agree more.. There is a tendency to have a romanticism with those who die early, or go crazy. It allows us to live and appreciate what others endure, without necessarily going through it ourselves, as we're still living.

I also agree with "Echoes" - and almost mentioned "Meddle" but I guess I wanted to highlight the time where it was only Roger who wrote.

Again, I've only listened to "Endless River" as a whole. I haven't even dragged it to my mp3 section, I can't divide it up. I did listen to a few Gilmour songs.

Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking is a great album. I always wonder how Pink Floyd would have treated it.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Just thought I'd revive this thread by posting a link to a song from The Dark Side of the Moon I've just been listening to. In this sad time for all Borderers, I feel it is quite relevant.

The Great Gig In The Sky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T13se_2A7c8

All of the songs on the album deal with the major issues and problems of the modern world (part of what makes this album so great is that these themes resonate over 40 years later), and Great Gig addresses mortality and a fear of dying. Although the song is probably best remembered for Clare Torry's wordless vocal, and the piano, it also features a spoken word section at the beginning, which I believe is from Gerry O'Driscoll, the doorman at the Abbey Road studios where the album was recorded.

'I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do, I don't mind...'

Previously when I had been listening to this song while thinking about life and death, I always thought of the song's writer, Floyd's late great keyboardist Rick Wright. However, this time I also thought of Glenn.

[UndertheWire]

Dave Gilmour performing Comfortably Numb with Benedict Cumberbatch last month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaaoTvEdKtA

[Jonny Come Lately]

This is a rather timely thread bump - it's now just six days until I see the Australian Pink Floyd Show in Manchester! :yay: (thanks too for posting the video, will give it a watch later). Was listening to a bit of P.U.L.S.E. today in anticipation. I'll try and post a brief review either here or (probably better) in the Concerts thread.

What's strange is that I actually got tickets for this concert before I got my tickets to see Don, who I saw nearly four months ago! I'm quite lucky because their Manchester show is at the weekend, Liverpool would have been a lot easier to go to, but it's in the week when I'm away and can't go. I'm taking the opposite approach to the one I took with Don as I'm not reading reviews or set lists before the concert - I figure that I'm highly likely to recognise every song they'll play and I'd be prefer to be surprised! (by contrast with Don's show I found it helpful to find out what he was likely to play to give some idea of the flavour of the show, to know if he was doing any unusual covers or anything like, and to be able to know any songs my Dad wouldn't have recognised such as It Don't Matter To The Sun or I Don't Want To Hear Any More).

[Jonny Come Lately]

Okay, here’s my (not so brief) review of the Australian Pink Floyd show I saw on Saturday night! Here's the setlist:

Astronomy Domine
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
Time/Breathe (Reprise)
The Great Gig In The Sky
On The Turning Away
Wish You Were Here
Us And Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
---INTERMISSION---
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Learning To Fly
Hey You
The Fletcher Memorial Home
What Do You Want From Me
Sorrow
One Of These Days
Encores:
Comfortably Numb
Run Like Hell

It was a great setlist, with several surprises. It was quite funny to have a mix of songs from Animals and The Final Cut with those from Momentary Lapse and The Division Bell. I couldn't quite imagine Roger and David agreeing long enough to do that! :hilarious: Quite remarkably, they did not play Money! I’d assumed they were saving it for the encore. To be honest, it was only when they started Run Like Hell (which I knew would be the last song) that I realised they wouldn’t be doing it.

Band lineup:
http://www.aussiefloyd.com/the-band

The two guitarists – Steve Mac and David Domminey Fowler – both mostly played Fender Stratocasters, the former’s ‘favourite axe’ was black whereas the latter’s was cream. I was surprised when I found out they had a dedicated singer, who didn’t play any instruments save for acoustic guitar on Comfortably Numb. This seemed unusual for a Pink Floyd based show, but worked surprisingly well (he was off stage for the longer instrumental sections). They also had a saxophone player who only played on two tracks.

The only thing I did know in advance was that they would start with Astronomy Domine. This was great. It sounded most like the PULSE version, but had the mellow organ part in the middle like the Ummagumma version. Even better was to follow as the next song was Shine On You Crazy Diamond. As you probably know I absolutely love this song and it was great to hear the intro riff to part 2 (quite possibly my favourite bit of music, ever). Shine On had a video of a boy and a girl in a field and also photos of Syd. During the chorus they also showed an adapted version of the Wish You Were Here album cover with a pink kangaroo shaking hands with. The image disappeared and the sax player then came on stage.

This was a very difficult song to follow up, but Time was every bit as good. Like the main singer sung on the verses, the bassist on the chorus like David and Rick on the original. The guitar solo on Time was absolutely spot on! Spine-tingling stuff. I think it was probably my favourite performance of the night. Next was Great Gig In The Sky, and another very fine rendition. All three backing singers had parts on the screaming/wailing, and a great little film featuring ocean waves and photos of Rick Wright added more to the performance.

On The Turning Away isn’t really a favourite of mine – Pink Floyd and power ballads don’t mix well for me – but they did a pretty good job with it. I was a bit bemused by the intro to the next bit, which had film and audio clips of AC/DC, Kylie Minogue and Skippy the Kangaroo amongst others – the references were all clearly ‘Australian’ but it only then clicked that this meant the next song would be Wish You Were Here. I have to say that although they did it quite well, I think most of the other performances were a lot more impressive – because it was acoustic it was a bit more obvious than with most others that it wasn’t Pink Floyd themselves, I guess. Still very enjoyable though!

It was a return to Dark Side with Us And Them, which was a great performance. This was immediately followed by Any Colour You Like. This was more like the record and PULSE than the more bluesy extended jams of the mid-70s performances. This too flowed straight into Brain Damage. The video for this song featured both of the US presidential candidates (including a quite brilliant bit showing Trump on a golf course set to ‘the lunatic is on the grass’!) and also deserves a shout for a clip showing piles of tabloid newspapers. I think Don H would have liked this part!

They then introduced Another Brick by saying they were playing a song about school and teachers (it was obvious which song they meant, but I joked that they were going to play Welcome To The Machine!) I was delighted that they played Happiest Days in full as an intro, and even better they had a film during Happiest Days and Another Brick showed CGI animated versions of Pink, the teacher and the other schoolchildren based on Gerald Scarfe’s original animation. Overall it was most similar to The Wall tour version, but there were some similarities with PULSE; the backing singers sung the second verse. Uniquely, the lead guitar player used a Les Paul for the main guitar solo, not a Strat. Then went into an organ solo and then another guitar solo to end. The only slight shame was that it didn’t feature the teacher shouting ‘Wrong! Do it again!’ and the other bits at the end.

There was then a 15 minute interval. Me and my Dad both predicted that the first song after the intermission would be One Of These Days. We were very surprised when it turned out to be Pigs (3 Different Ones)! Interestingly, the main singer did the first part of each verse up to the second ‘ha ha charade you are’, then the bassist sung the rest of each verse. The song featured the talk box solo like the original record, and the middle section (my favourite part of the song) and final solo were immense.

Then came Learning To Fly, which I was impressed by – that song has only started to grow on me recently, but I really enjoyed their rendition. Next was The Fletcher Memorial Home. The guitar solo was great, but the vocals were even better, the singer really sounded like Roger in the way he veered from a quiet voice to an almost manically intense one. It was quite funny to hear this very Roger Waters track being immediately followed by two of the later Gilmour era songs, What Do You Want From Me and Sorrow. The latter was particularly good, to me the song itself isn’t that great but the guitar work is and that aspect of it meant it worked well live. On One Of These Days, they showed the bassist playing the one-note bass line on the big screen, which I thought was cool. In the background, a giant pink kangaroo (seriously, it was massive!) was inflated which spoke the threat just as the pig appears to do on Delicate Sound of Thunder, and then bounced up and down during the rest of the song. They had lap steel as played by Gilmour in the 1980s and 90s. It was a great end to the regular set ahead of the two encores.

The first encore was Comfortably Numb. What can I can say? Those guitar solos… wow! :rockguitar: David would have been proud. They did a much better job with the verse vocals than the post-Waters Floyd did too. Next up, as on the PULSE live album, was Run Like Hell. I’ve always found it to be terrific live and I took great pleasure in chanting ‘run, run, run, run!’ Luckily everyone else was singing, so hopefully no one had to hear my awful, awful singing voice. The vocals were shared as with The Wall tour, Delicate Sound and PULSE versions.

Overall it was a fantastic evening! The music, the band and the show were spectacular. It was a long set – they played for 3 hours with just a short break. It was also unique for me so far as it was the first big production rock show I’d seen. Of the only other two rock concerts I’ve been to, neither Don nor Neil Young had anything much in the way of videos, pyrotechnics or special effects. I really would recommend going to see them if you’re Floyd fan, it was a truly inspired salute to a great band. I didn't even hear anyone shout 'play Money!'

[NightMistBlue]

Has anyone here visited the Victoria & Albert Museum's exhibition on Pink Floyd? It's called Their Mortal Remains. Looks rather nice. https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/pink-floyd

[Dawn]

Has anyone here visited the Victoria & Albert Museum's exhibition on Pink Floyd? It's called Their Mortal Remains. Looks rather nice. https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/pink-floyd

No, but I would love to check it out because I love PF and the exhibit looks amazing!!! Thanks!!

[Dawn]

Okay, here’s my (not so brief) review of the Australian Pink Floyd show I saw on Saturday night! Here's the setlist:

Astronomy Domine
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
Time/Breathe (Reprise)
The Great Gig In The Sky
On The Turning Away
Wish You Were Here
Us And Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
---INTERMISSION---
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Learning To Fly
Hey You
The Fletcher Memorial Home
What Do You Want From Me
Sorrow
One Of These Days
Encores:
Comfortably Numb
Run Like Hell

It was a great setlist, with several surprises. It was quite funny to have a mix of songs from Animals and The Final Cut with those from Momentary Lapse and The Division Bell. I couldn't quite imagine Roger and David agreeing long enough to do that! :hilarious: Quite remarkably, they did not play Money! I’d assumed they were saving it for the encore. To be honest, it was only when they started Run Like Hell (which I knew would be the last song) that I realised they wouldn’t be doing it.

Band lineup:
http://www.aussiefloyd.com/the-band

The two guitarists – Steve Mac and David Domminey Fowler – both mostly played Fender Stratocasters, the former’s ‘favourite axe’ was black whereas the latter’s was cream. I was surprised when I found out they had a dedicated singer, who didn’t play any instruments save for acoustic guitar on Comfortably Numb. This seemed unusual for a Pink Floyd based show, but worked surprisingly well (he was off stage for the longer instrumental sections). They also had a saxophone player who only played on two tracks.

The only thing I did know in advance was that they would start with Astronomy Domine. This was great. It sounded most like the PULSE version, but had the mellow organ part in the middle like the Ummagumma version. Even better was to follow as the next song was Shine On You Crazy Diamond. As you probably know I absolutely love this song and it was great to hear the intro riff to part 2 (quite possibly my favourite bit of music, ever). Shine On had a video of a boy and a girl in a field and also photos of Syd. During the chorus they also showed an adapted version of the Wish You Were Here album cover with a pink kangaroo shaking hands with. The image disappeared and the sax player then came on stage.

This was a very difficult song to follow up, but Time was every bit as good. Like the main singer sung on the verses, the bassist on the chorus like David and Rick on the original. The guitar solo on Time was absolutely spot on! Spine-tingling stuff. I think it was probably my favourite performance of the night. Next was Great Gig In The Sky, and another very fine rendition. All three backing singers had parts on the screaming/wailing, and a great little film featuring ocean waves and photos of Rick Wright added more to the performance.

On The Turning Away isn’t really a favourite of mine – Pink Floyd and power ballads don’t mix well for me – but they did a pretty good job with it. I was a bit bemused by the intro to the next bit, which had film and audio clips of AC/DC, Kylie Minogue and Skippy the Kangaroo amongst others – the references were all clearly ‘Australian’ but it only then clicked that this meant the next song would be Wish You Were Here. I have to say that although they did it quite well, I think most of the other performances were a lot more impressive – because it was acoustic it was a bit more obvious than with most others that it wasn’t Pink Floyd themselves, I guess. Still very enjoyable though!

It was a return to Dark Side with Us And Them, which was a great performance. This was immediately followed by Any Colour You Like. This was more like the record and PULSE than the more bluesy extended jams of the mid-70s performances. This too flowed straight into Brain Damage. The video for this song featured both of the US presidential candidates (including a quite brilliant bit showing Trump on a golf course set to ‘the lunatic is on the grass’!) and also deserves a shout for a clip showing piles of tabloid newspapers. I think Don H would have liked this part!

They then introduced Another Brick by saying they were playing a song about school and teachers (it was obvious which song they meant, but I joked that they were going to play Welcome To The Machine!) I was delighted that they played Happiest Days in full as an intro, and even better they had a film during Happiest Days and Another Brick showed CGI animated versions of Pink, the teacher and the other schoolchildren based on Gerald Scarfe’s original animation. Overall it was most similar to The Wall tour version, but there were some similarities with PULSE; the backing singers sung the second verse. Uniquely, the lead guitar player used a Les Paul for the main guitar solo, not a Strat. Then went into an organ solo and then another guitar solo to end. The only slight shame was that it didn’t feature the teacher shouting ‘Wrong! Do it again!’ and the other bits at the end.

There was then a 15 minute interval. Me and my Dad both predicted that the first song after the intermission would be One Of These Days. We were very surprised when it turned out to be Pigs (3 Different Ones)! Interestingly, the main singer did the first part of each verse up to the second ‘ha ha charade you are’, then the bassist sung the rest of each verse. The song featured the talk box solo like the original record, and the middle section (my favourite part of the song) and final solo were immense.

Then came Learning To Fly, which I was impressed by – that song has only started to grow on me recently, but I really enjoyed their rendition. Next was The Fletcher Memorial Home. The guitar solo was great, but the vocals were even better, the singer really sounded like Roger in the way he veered from a quiet voice to an almost manically intense one. It was quite funny to hear this very Roger Waters track being immediately followed by two of the later Gilmour era songs, What Do You Want From Me and Sorrow. The latter was particularly good, to me the song itself isn’t that great but the guitar work is and that aspect of it meant it worked well live. On One Of These Days, they showed the bassist playing the one-note bass line on the big screen, which I thought was cool. In the background, a giant pink kangaroo (seriously, it was massive!) was inflated which spoke the threat just as the pig appears to do on Delicate Sound of Thunder, and then bounced up and down during the rest of the song. They had lap steel as played by Gilmour in the 1980s and 90s. It was a great end to the regular set ahead of the two encores.

The first encore was Comfortably Numb. What can I can say? Those guitar solos… wow! :rockguitar: David would have been proud. They did a much better job with the verse vocals than the post-Waters Floyd did too. Next up, as on the PULSE live album, was Run Like Hell. I’ve always found it to be terrific live and I took great pleasure in chanting ‘run, run, run, run!’ Luckily everyone else was singing, so hopefully no one had to hear my awful, awful singing voice. The vocals were shared as with The Wall tour, Delicate Sound and PULSE versions.

Overall it was a fantastic evening! The music, the band and the show were spectacular. It was a long set – they played for 3 hours with just a short break. It was also unique for me so far as it was the first big production rock show I’d seen. Of the only other two rock concerts I’ve been to, neither Don nor Neil Young had anything much in the way of videos, pyrotechnics or special effects. I really would recommend going to see them if you’re Floyd fan, it was a truly inspired salute to a great band. I didn't even hear anyone shout 'play Money!'

Wow, thanks for the indepth review sounds like quite a show! Glad you could go!

[Jonny Come Lately]

Has anyone here visited the Victoria & Albert Museum's exhibition on Pink Floyd? It's called Their Mortal Remains. Looks rather nice. https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/pink-floyd

I hope to go and see the exhibition at some point this summer - I think I will be going to London with my family at some point in the next couple of months, don't know when yet though.

Dawn - glad you enjoyed my Australian Pink Floyd review. They are very, very good (I believe they performed at David Gilmour's 50th birthday party, which must have been nerve-wracking for them!) I will be seeing them again in October this year, should be another great show and it will be interesting to see which things they change up this time.

[UndertheWire]

If you have access to Sky Arts, you'll probably enjoy Brian Johnson's "A Life on the Road" where he talks with Nick Mason.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Thanks for the recommendation - will definitely keep an eye out for it! It's funny you mentioned this as I was re-reading his book 'Inside Out - A Personal History of Pink Floyd' just a few days ago (which I'd heartily recommend, it's highly informative and also very funny). I always find Mason an engaging interviewee so it should be good.

On a vaguely related note, I've just remembered a funny video I've found from an old Top Gear episode, around the time Nick released his book - Nick agreed to let them borrow his Ferrari Enzo for their review of the car if they mentioned his new book. Jeremy Clarkson, a Pink Floyd fan, was only too happy to oblige and the end result is an 'endless river' of PF references throughout!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7jsauspMmU

[UndertheWire]

There's quite a lot of cars (and a helicopter) in the Brian Johnson interview, too, including the one that was used to back the first Pink Floyd tour without Roger Waters.

[NightMistBlue]

Here’s a very interesting interview with David Gilmour about him selling most of his guitars - over 100, many of them heard on Pink Floyd recordings - for charity. It also gives good insight into his songwriting process. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/pink-floyd-david-gilmour-interview-guitar-charity-auction-779721/amp/

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Thanks NMB - Haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it sounds very interesting.

[NightMistBlue]

Jiminy Christmas, I’d love to know who bought Gilmour’s black Strat for almost $4 million. Dang! https://www.guitarworld.com/news/david-gilmours-guitars-shatter-records-at-auction

[WalshFan88]

Jiminy Christmas, I’d love to know who bought Gilmour’s black Strat for almost $4 million. Dang! https://www.guitarworld.com/news/david-gilmours-guitars-shatter-records-at-auction

So would I. I'd like to ask to borrow it! :lol:

[WalshFan88]

Ok, my guitar circle on FB said they found out that it's Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team. He owns a LOT of celebrity guitars.

[CAinOH]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/colts-owner-jim-irsay-spent-record-dollar3975-million-on-guitar-owned-by-david-gilmour-of-pink-floyd/ar-AADdO5r?li=BBnbfcL

[NightMistBlue]

Ok, my guitar circle on FB said they found out that it's Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team. He owns a LOT of celebrity guitars.

Thanks, Austin!

[New Kid In Town]

Jiminy Christmas, I’d love to know who bought Gilmour’s black Strat for almost $4 million. Dang! https://www.guitarworld.com/news/david-gilmours-guitars-shatter-records-at-auction

I could not believe it when I heard that on the news last night ! I was shocked it went for so much. It is a beautiful guitar though.

[NightMistBlue]

I was pleased that the guy who bought it sounds like a genuine fan, not just someone who bought it as an investment. He praised Gilmour’s elegant phrasing and sounds thrilled to own an important part of the Floyd’s history. Gotta say I’m impressed with Mr. Gilmour’s generosity and choice of charity.

[Brooke]

:jawdrop::jawdrop: Absolutely amazing!