Now that I have finished reviewing Pink Floyd’s 15 studio albums, I thought it would only be fitting to write a piece about how I now feel about the band. It’s safe to say that before this project, my attitude to them was very mixed. However, I had listened to and enjoyed The Dark Side Of The Moon, the early Syd Barrett stuff I had heard and the first half of The Wall. However when I started listening to them when I was in high school, I was too impatient with their atmospheric sound.
I enjoy them a lot more now and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, but I can’t say that I honestly love them as a band. Maybe I wasn’t fully able to get into their style, but Pink Floyd did have some artistic issues that I couldn’t get past. Roger Waters was not a gifted songwriter or lyricist, most Pink Floyd songs drag on for too long and they suffered from having a largely subpar output. The great stuff is great, but the stuff that’s not good is really not good.
No one should be ashamed for liking the Pink Floyd albums that are popular such as The Wall or The Dark Side Of The Moon; they’re popular because they’re so great. The only album that could qualify as underrated in their discography is Obscured By Clouds. I almost would say The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is underrated, but that has an air of respect around it. In other words the stuff that you don’t know about, you don’t know about it for a reason.
The other slightly disappointing factor about Pink Floyd is for all of their experimental nature, their instrumentation isn’t experimental. Sure they used sound effects and tape loops, but they were pretty conventional in that sense; drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. However, this might have been part of their genius. The reason Pink Floyd was successful and other bands of the like, such as Genesis or Yes, weren’t as successful is because Pink Floyd was able to be commercial and experimental at the same time.
This is often why in some ways, Pink Floyd was The Beatles of the 1970s. They did have hits on the radio like “Money” and “Another Brick In The Wall Part 2” that did sound like hit songs, but had an experimental edge. A lot of bands like to say that their music doesn’t fit into a genre (but for most of them it does) and a lot of people say that Pink Floyd was progressive rock. Pink Floyd didn’t sound like progressive rock; they sounded like Pink Floyd.
If I had to rank Pink Floyd on a scale of 1–10 with 10 being the highest, I would give them a 7. They were a good band and even with that rating, I would still put them in my top 10 bands of all time. That being said, they would be number 10.
Now because everyone likes lists, what follows is a breakdown of each of the band members, every Pink Floyd album ranked and finally, my choice of the top 10 Pink Floyd songs.
Syd Barrett: The most innovative member of Pink Floyd and the band’s best songwriter, it’s a shame that Barrett’s nervous (possibly drug-induced) breakdown forced him to leave the band so early. However if he had stayed, the band never would have written The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here or The Wall because all of those are ostensibly about Barrett and his breakdown. While he was with them, his songwriting and guitar playing took them through arguably their most innovative period. While “Arnold Layne,” “See Emily Play” and The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn were unmistakably psychedelic, they didn’t sound quite like anything that was coming out at the time. Admittedly though, his work isn’t the most accessible music Pink Floyd made and his erratic guitar playing takes some getting used to.
Richard Wright: While not always the first thing you notice when you hear a song by Pink Floyd, Wright’s subtle keyboard textures provided the right kind of otherworldly quality needed for Pink Floyd’s sound; he was a far cry from the bluesy and hard-driving Ray Manzarek of The Doors. He was also a gifted singer and songwriter; his soothing voice heard on “Time,” “Echoes” and “Remember A Day” (his highlight as a songwriter) felt much more suited to the ethereal nature of Pink Floyd. The only fault I can really find is the fact that he wasn’t very prolific in either category and while appropriate, his keyboard textures are often hard to notice.
David Gilmour: A 180-degree turn from Syd Barrett in terms of guitar playing, he’s a very good guitar player but often his solos are indistinguishable; the ones that are however, (“Comfortably Numb” for example) are outstanding. It was his guitar playing that did save Pink Floyd from becoming too experimental and he gave them the necessary rock edge; I think one of his best songs in this regard was “Young Lust” and to me he was the musical mastermind behind Pink Floyd’s albums. A lot of people talk about his guitar playing, but I think he was a really underrated and talented vocalist; he makes Waters’ often bland lyrics sound very convincing (“Money” for example).
Roger Waters: Try as he might, Roger Waters was just not a gifted songwriter or singer. You can tell he he worked hard at it, but unlike Syd Barrett he was not a poet; he seemed to be more of a philosopher than anything. That being said, on a conceptual level he was talented but fell into the trap of not always being able to properly execute his ideas. However, this was where Gilmour, Mason and Wright stepped in and compensated. His bass playing is quite good, though I think he did his best bass work on The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.
Nick Mason: Without a doubt the most unpretentious drummer ever to step behind a drum kit. This is not a criticism at all. Mason came of age when every drummer wanted to be a showman soloist like Ginger Baker, Keith Moon or John Bonham. While Mason credits Baker as his biggest influence, he was the best drummer since Ringo Starr to really understand the feel behind a song. He never tried to get in the way of a song and provided a very solid backbone. You also have to admire his work ethic; he appeared on every single Pink Floyd album.
Pink Floyd Albums (Ranked Strongest To Weakest)
- The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
- The Dark Side Of The Moon
- The Wall
- Obscured By Clouds
- Meddle
- Wish You Were Here
- A Saucerful Of Secrets
- Ummagumma
- The Endless River
- Animals
- The Division Bell
- Atom Heart Mother
- A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
- The Final Cut
- More
Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs
- See Emily Play
- Arnold Layne
- Echoes
- Wish You Were Here
- Mother
- Breathe (In The Air)
- Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
- The Gold It’s In The…
- Another Brick In The Wall Part 1
- Goodbye Blue Sky
