Pink Floyd Retrospective: Album 08- Dark Side of the Moon

 

You may have heard of this album...

Album:  Dark Side of the Moon

Year Released:    1973

Lineup:

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – guitars, vocals, EMS Synthi AKS
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape effects
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, EMS VCS 3, tape effects
• Richard Wright – organs (Hammond and Farfisa), piano, electric pianos (Wurlitzer and Rhodes), EMS VCS 3, EMS Synthi AKS, vocals

Additional musicians Dick Parry – saxophone on "Money" and "Us and Them" Clare Torry – vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky" Doris Troy – backing vocals Lesley Duncan – backing vocals Liza Strike – backing vocals Barry St. John – backing vocals

Production

• Alan Parsons – engineering
• Peter James – assistant (incorrectly identified as "Peter Jones" on first US pressings of the LP)
• Chris Thomas – mix supervisor

Design

• Hipgnosis – sleeve design, photography
• George Hardie – sleeve art, stickers art

Track Listing:

Side one

No. Title                                                                           Length

1. "Speak to Me"                                                           1:07

2.     "Breathe (In the Air)"                                                 2:49

3.     "On the Run"                                                             3:45

4.     "Time"                                                                        6:53

5.     "The Great Gig in the Sky"                                        4:44

Total length: 19:18

Side two

No. Title                                                                          Length

6. "Money"                                                                  6:23

7. "Us and Them"                                                  7:49

8.     "Any Color You Like"                                                3:26

9.     "Brain Damage"                                                       3:46

10.   "Eclipse"                                                                   2:12

Total length: 23:36

Album Length:  43:09

Overall Thoughts:

For the eighth album, Roger Waters wanted to build around a theme- things that "make people mad".  Syd Barrett and his mental issues were the inspiration for Waters.  It's the first album Pink Floyd wrote centered around a single theme, and this seems to provide the focus that was lacking on their earlier albums.

Unlike the previous albums (which had different members of the group each writing songs), Roger Waters wrote every song on Dark Side of the Moon.  The others concentrated on playing.  Pink Floyd has already been a mixture- Waters writing songs that were cynical and dark, and the rest of the group performing etherial music.  Sometimes the combination failed; in this album, it worked perfectly.

The album is full of short songs that run together, instead of the longer tracks from previous albums.  The songs are full of sound effects that accentuate the music- cash registers ("Money"), clocks ("Time"), background sounds of an airport ("On The Run").  They hit the sweet spot on this album- the sound effects add to the songs without distracting from the music.

It is an album about stress, anxiety and mental health- and it is full of beautiful songs on cynical and bitter lyrics.  The album received almost unanimous critical praise, and was on the US Billboard LP and Tape Chart for 990 weeks (that's over 19 years on the charts), a record by over 100 weeks.  

Pink Floyd hit their apex with this album- and it continued for the rest of the decade.

Ranking of Pink Floyd Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Dark Side of the Moon
2. Meddle
3. A Saucerful of Secrets
4. Obscured by Clouds
5. Ummagumma
6. More
7. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
8. Atom Heart Mother

Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs (changing as more albums are reviewed):

1. "Money", Dark Side of the Moon
2. "Us and Them", Dark Side of the Moon
3. "Time", Dark Side of the Moon
4. "Fearless", Meddle
5. "The Great Gig in the Sky", Dark Side of the Moon
6. "Brain Dmaage", Dark Side of the Moon
7. "Let There Be More Light", A Saucerful of Secrets
8. "Eclipse", Dark Side of the Moon
9. "Set The Controls For the Heart of the Sun", A Saucerful of Secrets
10. "Childhood's End", Obscured by Clouds

Pink Floyd Retrospective: Album 07- Obscured by Clouds

 

Pink Floyd nears their peak...

Album:  Obscured by Clouds

Year Released:    1972

Lineup:

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitars, VCS 3 synthesiser, bass guitar, vocals
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
• Richard Wright – Hammond organ (2, 3, 5–7, 10), piano (5, 6, 9, 10), Farfisa organ (10), VCS 3 synthesiser, electric piano, vocals

Additional personnel

• Hipgnosis – album cover
• Mapuga tribe – chant on "Absolutely Curtains"

Track Listing:

Side one

No. Title                                                                           Length

1. "Obscured by Clouds"                                           3:03

2.     "When You're In"                                                       2:18

3.     "Burning Bridges"                                                      3:29

4.     "The Gold It's in the..."                                              3:07

5.     "Wot's... Uh the Deal?"                                             5:08

6.     "Mudmen"                                                                 4:20

Total length: 21:25

Side two

No. Title                                                                          Length

7. "Childhood's End"                                                  4:31

8.     "Free Four"                                                               4:15

9.     "Stay"                                                                       4:05

10.   "Absolutely Curtains"                                                5:52

Total length: 23:30

Album Length:  46:47

Overall Thoughts:

The seventh album by Pink Floyd, Obscured by Clouds, was a soundtrack for a French film, La Vallée.  It's an album filled with instrumentals and short songs, instead of the longer progressive tracks they were known for.  

The music is good (better than 'More', their previous soundtrack)- more direct and focussed.  And there's some great ideas for songs (my favorite is probably "Childhood's End").  "Free Four" is a cheery sounding song about death and depression, a theme Waters will go back to often.  "Stay" is another Richard Wright song about treating groupies like trash (I sense he had issues...)

But the entire album feels rushed, and the songs would have been better if they had taken more time to develop.  Then again, their focus was probably on the album they were writing and interrupted to write this soundtrack.  We'll get to that album- Dark Side of the Moon- next time.

Ranking of Pink Floyd Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Meddle
2. A Saucerful of Secrets
3. Obscured by Clouds
4. Ummagumma
5. More
6. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
7. Atom Heart Mother

Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs (changing as more albums are reviewed):

1. "Fearless", Meddle
2. "Let There Be More Light", A Saucerful of Secrets
3. "Set The Controls For the Heart of the Sun", A Saucerful of Secrets
4. "Childhood's End", Obscured by Clouds
5. "Wot's.... Uh the Deal", Obscured by Clouds
6. "San Tropez", Meddle
7. "Remember A Day", A Saucerful of Secrets
8. "Cirrus Minor", More
9. "Flaming", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
10. "One of Those Days", Meddle

Pink Floyd Retrospective: Album 06- Meddle

 

Pink Floyd starts rounding into their peak form...

Album:  Meddle

Year Released:    1971

Lineup:

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – electric guitars (1–4, 6), acoustic guitars (2, 3, 5), bass (in unison with Waters) (1), harmonica (5), vocals (2, 3, 5, 6)
• Nick Mason – drums (1, 3, 4, 6), percussion (2–4, 6), vocal phrase (1)
• Roger Waters – bass (all tracks), acoustic guitar (3, 4), vocals (4)
• Richard Wright – piano (1, 3–6), Hammond organ (1, 2, 6), Farfisa organ (6), vocals (6)

Additional personnel

• Rob Black – engineering (Morgan Studios)
• Peter Bown – engineering (Air and EMI Studios)
• Peter Curzon – design on album remaster
• Bob Dowling – outer sleeve photos
• Doug Sax, James Guthrie – 1992 remastering at The Mastering Lab^[54]
• James Guthrie, Joel Plante – 2011 remastering at das boot recording^[55]
• Hipgnosis – band photo
• John Leckie – engineering (Air and EMI Studios)
• Tony May – inner sleeve photos
• Pink Floyd – album cover design
• Roger Quested – engineering (Morgan Studio)
• Seamus the Dog – vocals on "Seamus"
• Storm Thorgerson – design on album remaster

Track Listing:

Side one

No. Title                                                                           Length

1. "One of These Days"                                           5:57

2.     "A Pillow of Winds"                                                    5:13

3.     "Fearless"                                                                  6:08

4.     "San Tropez"                                                             3:44

5.     "Seamus"                                                                  2:15

Total length: 23:17

Side two

No. Title                                                                          Length

6. "Echoes"                                                                  23:30

Total length: 23:30

Album Length:  46:47

Overall Thoughts:

The sixth album by Pink Floyd, Meddle, shows the group growing from their pure Psychedlic Rock roots from Syd Barrett.  There's more energy in the songs, and more focus, while still keeping their roots.  The group is levelling up, and while they haven't hit their peak yet, you can see the direction.

They start off with 'One Of Those Days', an instrumental that evokes anger and violence.  It's well done, and clocking in under 6 minutes, short for an instrumental.  'A Pillow of Winds' is softer and folkier, a strong contrast to their first song (a theme that resonantes throughout Pink Floyd as they move away from Syd Barrett's influence).  "Fearless" is an excellent song about being yourself even in the face of society (and ends with Liverpool fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone").  "San Tropez" is a timeless jaunt and could have been a hit 30 years earlier. 

The album finishes with "Echoes", a 23 minute epic.  It's like most Progressive Rock epics- a decent song that is too long.  If it stopped at the 11 minute mark the song would be better.  

On an unrelated side note- this is truly a hideous album cover.  It manages to be ugly and not really look like anything (the idea was supposedly 'An ear underwater'.

Overall, it's an excellent album- the best one the band had created to date.  

Ranking of Pink Floyd Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Meddle
2. A Saucerful of Secrets
3. Ummagumma
4. More
5. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
6. Atom Heart Mother

Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs (changing as more albums are reviewed):

1. "Fearless", Meddle
2. "Let There Be More Light", A Saucerful of Secrets
3. "Set The Controls For the Heart of the Sun", A Saucerful of Secrets
4. "San Tropez", Meddle
5. "Remember A Day", A Saucerful of Secrets
6. "Cirrus Minor", More
7. "Flaming", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
8. "One of Those Days", Meddle
9. "Astronomy Dominé", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
10. "A Saucerful of Secrets", A Saucerful of Secrets

Pink Floyd Retrospective: Album 05- Atom Heart Mother

 

Pink Floyd is a very experimental band.  Sometimes, the experiment blows up...

Album:  Atom Heart Mother

Year Released:    1970

Lineup:

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 5), slide guitar (1, 2), pedal steel guitar (4, 5), acoustic guitar (3–5), bass and drums (4), vocals (4)
• Nick Mason – drums (1–3, 5), percussion (1, 3, 5), sound effects (1, 5)
• Roger Waters – bass (1–3, 5), acoustic guitar (2), vocals (2), sound effects (1, 5)
• Richard Wright – piano (1–3, 5), Farfisa organ (1, 4), Hammond organ (1–5), Mellotron (1), vocals (3)

Additional musicians

• EMI Pops Orchestra – brass and orchestral sections (uncredited)^[12]
• Hafliði Hallgrímsson – cello (1) (uncredited)^[70]
• John Alldis Choir – choir (1)
• Alan Styles – voice and sound effects (5) (uncredited)

Production

• Ron Geesin – orchestration and co-composition (1) (uncredited)^[71]
• Peter Bown – engineering
• Alan Parsons – engineering (misspelled as "Allan Parsons" on the original sleeve)^[72]
• Doug Sax, James Guthrie – 1994 remastering at The Mastering Lab, L.A.^[73]
• James Guthrie, Joel Plante – 2011 remastering at das boot recording^[74]

Track Listing:

Side one

No. Title                                                                           Length

1. "Atom Heart Mother"                                          23:44

Total length: 23:44

Side two

No. Title                                                                          Length

2. "If"                                                                          4:31

3. "Summer '68"                                                    5:29

4.     "Fat Old Sun"                                                           5:22

5.     "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"                                13:00

Total length: 28:22

Album Length:  52:06

Overall Thoughts:

The fifth album by Pink Floyd is broken into two halves.  The first half, the title track 'Atom Heart Mother', is a single song taking up the entire side of the record.  It has an 'everything and the kitchen sink' feeling about it- it's a progressive rock instrumental with orchestral backing.  You do hear the journey that Pink Floyd is making from mere meandering music, but they still haven't found their focus yet.  It's not tedious- musically, the group remains excellent.  But it's a 23 minute instrumental that would be better if it was half the time.

The second half of the album is four songs.  The first three are written by different members of the group.  Waters composed "If", Wright wrote "Summer '68", and Gilmour was behind "Fat Old Sun".  "If" is the first (of many) song Waters writes about mental illness.  "Summer '68" is about a one night stand with a groupie (and makes the protagonist out to be an ass).  "Fat Old Sun" is a song about the countryside, and might have been cleaner if it was just an acoustic guitar song without any other instruments.

The final song is "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"- and the album falls off a cliff here.  Pink Floyd has always added unusuaul sound effects to their music- but hearing close up of someone eating breakfast and drinking coffee is nauseating and unpleasant.  I hate hate HATE it.  The rest of the album is mediocre- but the final song is such utter shit that it makes it the worst album that the band has created.

Ranking of Pink Floyd Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. A Saucerful of Secrets
2. Ummagumma
3. More
4. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
5. Atom Heart Mother

Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs (changing as more albums are reviewed):

1. "Let There Be More Light", A Saucerful of Secrets
2. "Set The Controls For the Heart of the Sun", A Saucerful of Secrets
3. "Remember A Day", A Saucerful of Secrets
4. "Cirrus Minor", More
5. "Flaming", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
6. "Astronomy Dominé", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
7. "A Saucerful of Secrets", A Saucerful of Secrets
8. "The Narrow Way", Ummagumma
9. "Crying Song", More
10. "If", Atom Heart Mother

Pink Floyd Retrospective: Album 04- Ummagumma

 

 

Ummagumma is both a live album and a showcase for each of the individual members.  In trying to be everything, it misses being anything great...

Album:  Ummagumma

Year Released:    1969

Lineup:

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – lead guitar, vocals (live album); voices on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict";^[46] acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and vocals on "The Narrow Way"
• Nick Mason – drums (live album); percussion, effects on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" parts 1 & 2
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals (live album); acoustic guitars and vocals on "Grantchester Meadows", voices on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"
• Richard Wright – keyboards, vocals (live album); organ, piano, Mellotron and percussion on "Sysyphus"

Additional personnel

• Lindy Mason – flutes on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" Parts 1 & 3 (uncredited)^[18]
• Brian Humphries – engineering (live album)
• Pink Floyd – production (live album)
• Peter Mew – engineering (studio album)
• Norman Smith – production (studio album)
• Hipgnosis – sleeve design and photographs

Track Listing:

Live Album

Side one

No. Title                                                                           Length

1. "Astronomy Domine"                                          8:25

2. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene"                          8:47

Total length: 17:12

Side two

No. Title                                                                          Length

1. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"         9:21

2. "A Saucerful of Secrets"                                   12:51

Total length: 22:12

Album Length:  39:24

Studio Album

Side three

No. Title                                                                           Length

1. "Sisyphus"                                                          13:32

2. "Grantchester Meadows"                                  7:23

3.     "Several Species of Small Furry Animals                 4:47

          Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"

Total length: 25:42

Side four

No. Title                                                                          Length

1. "The Narrow Way"                                                 12:14

2. "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"                         8:55

Total length: 21:09

Album Length:  46:51

Total Length:     86:32

Overall Thoughts:

The fourth album by Pink Floyd is "Ummagumma", a double album.  The first album is a live recording of their previous songs, and the second album is a studio recording of new material- but with each member of the band writing a track without the others.

The live album is... fine.  There doesn't seem to be anything added to the music by performing live- the audience is barely heard, and the songs don't seem to be significantly different than the studio versions.  There is one unreleased song ("Careful With That Axe, Eugene") that sounds like the spiritual sequel to "The End" by the Doors- long bits of organ music punctuated by screaming and yelling.  The other songs are just longer versions of the songs already released on other albums.

The studio album is more interesting, but it's not a group project- rather, it's each member tackling their own song (Waters has two 'shorter' songs instead of one long song).  

Richard Wright has the first song of the studio album, "Sisyphus".  It's New Age music-instrumental, fine, far too long and forgettable.

Roger Waters wrote a pair of songs- "Grantchester Meadows" and "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict".  "Granchester Meadows" is a nice, sweet song that Waters ruins by ending with the sound of a fly being swatted.  "Several Species..." is as pretentious and obnoxious as the endless title suggests.  It's not even a song- just a bunch of sounds put together.  

David Gilmour composed "The Narrow Way", a guitar- focussed song.  It plays to his strengths, and the song works- especially the opening shuffle.  It's the best song on the studio tracks.

Nick Mason wrote "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"- a strange combination of Folk music, New Age music, and vocal effects.  Mason's drumming holds it together.

 

In a way, "Ummagumma" is Pink Floyd, deconstructed.  Roger Waters had a ton of ideas but needed the other members of the band to pull them off musically and reign in his worst impulses.  Richard Wright is an excellent keyboardest who meanders without a good direction.  Mason and Gilmour are fine but incomplete.  Pink Floyd is defnitely a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  

Ranking of Pink Floyd Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. A Saucerful of Secrets
2. Ummagumma
3. More
4. Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs (changing as more albums are reviewed):

1. "Let There Be More Light", A Saucerful of Secrets
2. "Set The Controls For the Heart of the Sun", A Saucerful of Secrets
3. "Remember A Day", A Saucerful of Secrets
4. "Cirrus Minor", More
5. "Flaming", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
6. "Astronomy Dominé", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
7. "A Saucerful of Secrets", A Saucerful of Secrets
8. "The Narrow Way", Ummagumma
9. "Crying Song", More
10. "The Nile Song", More