PINK FLOYD

"More" and "Obscured by Clouds" (Pink Floyd's other soundtrack album) are often regarded as side notes to the band's primary development as represented on their true studio albums - and consequently not worthy of the same consideration as the albums proper. I couldn't disagree More, no pun intended.

Obscured by Clouds and More represent a critical component of the Floyd sound that would emerge whole by the early seventies. Whereas the 1968-'71 albums proper are harder and more psychedelic/progressive in their orientation, the two soundtracks are largely acoustic (with some striking exceptions) with strong melodies and great singing (individually and in harmony). Importantly the material on More (and Obscured by Clouds) displays that subtly menacing edge that Floyd's peak work is known for. In fact that combination of a soft melodic veneer with a cold, menacing undercurrent is - I would argue - the essence of Pink Floyd and is demonstrated much better on the two soundtracks than on any of their pre-1973 or post-1975 albums.

The true songs and instrumentals here are all outstanding. The playing is great, the arrangements are really enjoyable and the whole album sounds like a live band recording - not as much like a studio recording. This also has quite a bit of great guitar work from Gilmour.

Strongly recommended for early and mid-seventies Floyd fans. Truthfully you can only listen to Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon so many times before getting tired of them - here are two albums that share many of those qualities that you've never heard once. 4.0

I've been listening to this album since I first bought it for 50p, in 1974, from a class mate in school, when I was 14 years old. Sadly, that original 1973 pressing is long gone. I think that I sold it on to another mate around1978/79 for £1. Nowadays, I've got a very nice 1977 vinyl pressing which still sounds fantastic, as well as a 1994 digital remaster on CD and both the 2016 remaster and the 2023 50th Anniversary remaster on vinyl. I've also got another digital version downloaded from Apple Music onto my phone. My 1977 reissue is probably the best sounding version of all the versions that I've got. I've consistently maintained that this is probably the most cohesive and coherent album that any rock/pop artiste has ever created. From start to finish, it's musicality, electronic invention, melody and social relevance remains unmatched. The manner in which it flows, from soft to loud, from slow to fast, from vocal to instrumental, and all else in between, was never achieved before and hasn't been since, by any other artiste. (Several have approached this level of perfection but none have ever actually reached this zenith - e.g. the utterly magnificent The Lamb Lies... by Genesis, CTTE by YES, Aqualung by Jethro Tull and perhaps a few others, despite their brilliance, still remain in the shadow of DSOTM). As well as all that, the time period (early 1970's) just happened to be the perfect time for this album to be unleashed upon the world. If it had been released in the 1990's or in the 2000's etc, it possibly wouldn't have had the same impact on the world. But ironically, because of it's quality and because it was so successful in the 1970's, that has meant that it has endured up to now in 2025. This is an album which, I suspect, will never go out of fashion or sound tired. It will endure and will still be listened to for a long, long time to come.

The second Pink Floyd live release in less than ten years, Pulse is a marginal step above the overproduced Delicate Sound of Thunder. The recordings and performances have more room to breathe which is a welcome change of pace, and the cover art is very unique. However, like its predecessor, it struggles with a mixed bag of a setlist that suffers whenever the band tries to tackle anything from The Wall and forward. Gilmour as a vocalist can't match the rage and fury of Roger Waters, so when he tries to take on tracks like "Hey You" and "Run Like ****" they lose the paranoia and danger which makes them such powerful songs and just end up sounding way to sedate. There's also the major push of material from the lackluster Division Bell and Momentary Lapse of Reason albums. Understandable Gilmour wanted the focus to be what the current lineup of the band was accomplishing which some of it was pretty good, but those albums have never been amongst the Floyd's greatest work.

The big selling point for this album at the time was that it contained for the first time a full-album length performance of the iconic Dark Side of the Moon. And to their credit, they deliver a pretty decent facsimile of that classic album. Sure, it a bit glossier than the original 70s recording, but on the whole decent enough. However, with the trickling out of high-fidelity live tapes of the same material being performed by the Floyd in their original mid-70s peak by the definitive lineup on recent reissues of Dark Side and Wish You Were Here 5.0 One of my favorite live performances.

Definitely not Floyd's best, but its musical redemption from the "Final Cut" and "Momentary Lapse of Reason" not bad considering that by this point their top songwriter was long-gone and their second best was trying to sue them dry. Some of the songs are actually very good, and none are terrible - that aspect alone seperates this album from A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Marooned and Cluster One, both instrumental, feature some great guitar work from David Gilmour, and High Hopes and Lost For Words are solid lyrically as well as musically. But, as is always the case with the post-psychedelic Floyd, the music needs the sweet-and-sour balance of Gilmour and Waters to stand up. In this case it is Gilmour's blandness which rules the day, and while this is more accessible for most listeners than Roger Waters' whining, it doesn't make for a classic album. If you have all the work from Floyd's golden era and are looking to expand your collection, then this would be one place to start. But don't go judging the band on this release alone. 4.0 the quartet was done by this moment in time but make one last hoorah.

What is there left to say about this masterpiece that hasn't already been said? It's incredible to think that this album was such a massive success, especially when compared to today's popular records. Could an album this ambitious still become a cultural phenomenon today? Unfortunately, I don't think so.

The strength of Dark Side of the Moon doesn't lie in a single track but in the harmony and seamless flow of all its pieces. The only real break in this journey comes with Money, which I find to be the weakest track. Yes, it's catchy, but its style and length make it stand out too much from the rest.

Aside from that, the album slowly immerses us in an almost astral voyage. It's a contemplative record, one that takes its time to convey a wide range of emotions. Probably the best album to unwind with after a stressful day!

Pink Floyd's 'Atom Heart Mother" made in 1970 is perhaps their most progressive record. The title song suite on the first side could easily be categorized as avant garde-prog. On this track the band enhances its psychedelic song- writing with the soulful guitar of David Gilmour, the beautiful Hammond organs by Richard Wright, a layer of orchestration (mostly copper), a very modern choir performance in the middle section and one of the most psychedelic recording sounds ever. The orchestration by Ron Geesin sounds modern/atonal and fits in perfectly with the abstract sound of the music. Like most epics the songs has a dark/horror section in which a bomb seems to explode. After it the band launches a section of studio manipulations that allows them to create an explosion of parts that are fading in and out. More compelling than any tape manipulations ever done by Zappa. The ending section of the 'Atom Heart Mother' combines the band, the orchestra, the philip Jones brass ensemble and the choir in order to maximize on its main theme; not unlike the beautiful ending of 'Tubular Bells'. Its such a journey to listen to this. This Pink Floyd masterpiece has such a distinct atmosphere that there is simply almost no recording that sounds anything like it. I only used it once as a reference in a review, for the Italian 'Il Paese dei Belocchi' album, which I can also warmly recommend. I also like the fact that not even all Pink Floyd fans seem to like Atom Heart Mother that much, whereas this is not at all like their post-Meddle smooth recordings. Instead, this album is recommended to listener of psychedelic (acid) music, eclectic prog and Avantgarde-prog

"If" is a nice English folk-style song with a hint of Pink Floyd vibes. "Summer '68" and "Fat Old Sun" are also beautiful, sweet melodies that continue to evoke the pastoral vibe of this album. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" is the worst track on here. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, but it's a little tedious and doesn't seem very planned out. Plus, the breakfast noises are sort of off-putting for the casual listener. Anyway, the last track is worthy of existence, but probably not worthy of being on this excellent album. The first four tracks are better than Pink Floyd's first two psychedelic albums, Meddle, Wish You Were Here, Ummagumma, and any post-The Wall albums, mainly because the first four tracks evoke such a unique mood and stick to it. With the last track, it's about the same as WYWH, Meddle, the debut album, and the sophomore album. 5.0 definitely one of their trade mark albums, and along with Animals both are my favorite offerings by Pink Floyd. Lulabelle the third looks like she likes the album too.

Leftover bricks from "The Wall"

This would have been the third disc for the Wall. Pretty substandard album, Pink Floyd only in name. The problem by now was Roger Waters humongous ego running roughshod over the rest of the band. He had Nick Mason and David Gilmour relegated to the role of studio musicians, and poor Rick Wright wasn't even on the album, Waters had already had him removed. It was Roger Waters that tore Pink Floyd apart and on this album the music suffered for it. There are, in my opinion, only two great songs on The Final Cut, but they are so great they make the album worthy of ownership, by far. They are the roaring Not Now John, and , Two Suns In The Sunset, which is a very chilling song . A sad end for a truly great band. But Division Bell would in my opinion be musical redemption. 2.5 not somewhere to start with Floyd.

In 1945 George Orwell published his allegory on communism, the acclaimed Animal Farm. 32 years later Pink Floyd took the idea of portraying humans as animals to criticise society and politics for this concept album, proving that Orwell's ideas are timeless and effective, by simply changing communism for capitalism, observing greedy businessmen, fake people, mindless sheep and others. Fun fact when I first listened to animals I never even knew it was an album based on George Orwell's "Animal Farm"

The album consists of five songs, two of them 1 1/2 minutes and the other three at least 10 minutes long. The album opener and closer Pigs on the Wing doesn't quite fit into the concept, it's a rather positive song that's played on an acoustic guitar. The main focus lies on the three tracks in between which have long and indulging instrumental parts and a rather bleak and pessimistic focus. Just like "The Wall" this album is basically Roger Waters' album and he proves that he can write brilliant tracks on his own which would lead some to say that "Roger Waters is Pink Floyd" .David Gilmour's only lead vocals are on Dogs, but there they are some of his finest ever and his guitar work is flawless on the entire record.

While this album is consistently great and has no low points like some of Floyd's filler tracks off of other albums, there's nothing that strikes me as absolutely outstanding, some of the songs are a bit lengthy and the concept of the album doesn't always work with most listeners. Nevertheless, these are 42 minutes of terrific music and Pink Floyd's Magnum Opus without a doubt. 5.0

It's almost universally agreed that Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here is a masterpiece in '70s progressive rock. To me, this is an album that can go toe-to-toe with The Dark Side of the Moon - which isn't an easy feat. Lyrically, Dark Side might be arguably better, according to the listener, but the commentary on the music industry and the tribute to the legendary bandleader who formed Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, proves that the songwriting here is quite formidable. To fans of Syd Barrett especially, this album is sure to be an impressive and melancholic listening experience.

WYWH is also among the most 'progressive' albums by Pink Floyd, from a musical standpoint. The only other album that embraces progressive rock better than this is probably 1977's Animals - which is a masterpiece in its own right.

The soundscape of WYWH, especially the two longest tracks: parts 1 & 2 of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, is quite psychedelic, like Dark Side was; Pink Floyd was always presented a highly psychedelic take on prog rock. It is also a relatively approachable record that'd be quite accessible for even those who aren't usually fans of the genre.

A tribute to Syd Barret.

It's about time I dive into one of rock music's most praised and celebrated albums of all time, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. If some of you don't know by now, Pink Floyd is easily one of my favorite bands of all time (top 3 actually), and their four-album run from 1973's "The Dark Side of the Moon" to 1979's "The Wall" is one of the greatest runs in music history. But today we are talking about Wish You Were Here, because... s incredible.

Wish You Were Here is the band's seventh studio album. Its predecessor "The Dark Side of the Moon" is obviously one of the most iconic albums of all time, arguably Pink Floyd's most celebrated effort in their discography, and also their commercial breakout, gaining the band massive recognition. Dark Side of the Moon was the band first true masterpiece, and it resonates with listeners even 50 years after its initial release So yeah, after such an enormous success with Dark Side Of The Moon the expectations were high, and the band's label pressured them to deliver another great project sooner rather than later. Of course, Pink Floyd blew expectations out of the water, and answered their label in a classic Pink Floydish way, with an album mainly revolving around the corruption of the music industry. The album is now considered one of the most essential albums of the 70's.

Production-wise, this album is prog rock at its peak. Although arguably not as ambitious as the band's predecessor, on a technical level, this album is more impressive, displaying even further the band's talent in creating complex compositions, intricate song structures and of course it showcases David Gilmour's stellar guitar work, with chord progressions that are more adventurous than the ones presented on Dark Side Of The Moon. The band is genuinely the definition of a musical machine on the project, forming sonic highs and dense dynamics that are so mind bending that they almost didn't manage to deliver such a cohesive project musically once again in their career (Animals exists).

Some of the most timeless melodies of all time are on this album, if we are talking about the band's most popular song with the title track "Wish You Were Here", which features some of David's most memorable melodies, or the 9- part opus "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", that you'll recognize immediately thanks to its repeated musical motifs, iconic riffs and transcendent melodies. Talking about musical motifs, the album is a masterclass at creating these repeating nuances that are giving the album its personality sound-wise, like the bombastic noisy synthesizers on tracks like Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar, the blues elements or the similar melodic lines throughout most of the songs.

The vocal performances from the band are stunning. There are three vocalists throughout the project, which are the two band leaders David Gilmour and Roger Waters, and there is also a guest appearance on the song Have a Cigar, that features the amazing Roy Harper. The three of them did an impeccable job, each one delivering a different type of emotion according to the song, if it's Roy's mockery vocal delivery on Have a Cigar, David's hunting singing on Welcome to the Machine or Roger's gorgeous vocals on Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Thematically, the album is presenting a loose yet clear concept revolving around the exploitative nature of the music industry. Now, I want to get something out of the way, many people believe that this album is a tribute to the band's past member Syd Barrett, who was the lead singer of the band on their debut, then later replaced with David Gilmour, because he suffered from serious mental health issues. But he was always a source of inspiration for the band.

Syd Barrett certainly influenced Wish You Were Here, , the 9-part Shine On You Crazy Diamond is clearly a homage to him. However, Syd is only playing a role in the concept of the album, he represents what can happen to a musician due to the merciless and carless nature of the music industry. Wish you were here is an important commentary on the exploitative music industry, labels are seeing the musicians as dollar bills, and not as human beings. It's also about the alienation, loneliness and disconnection from society that one can experience from stardom, losing yourself in the industry and in the fame. It's represented through Syd's experiences as well, alongside Roger's own feelings of alienation on the title track Wish You Were Here. It's Syd Barrett work with them and the band saying "We Wish You Were here"

Wish You Were Here is an essential listen, a larger than life masterpiece by one of the best bands of all time. It's a crucial fearless commentary about the exploitatively soulless use of the music industry in its artists, and it's an emotionally powerful expression of longing for a lost friend and for the innocence before stardom.