It started on Friday ay about ten in the morning... Deep tracks, channel 27 on the XM radio dial started playing Pink Floyd, and will until Monday night.. And then again around the fourth of July do the same thing.. So here we go.. The band I liked a shit load and still do.. My first listening came when a friend left his tape collection with me while he served his time in the service, he didn't want his sisters to get their grubby paws on these tapes.. There were several Pink Floyd tapes in the collection; Obscured by Clouds, Relics, Umma Gumma.. The early stuff.. I listened to them and really at first didn't get what was so special about the music.. Then a few more listenings and I found myself looking forward to listening to these tapes.. Umma Gumma it particular sold me, as strange as that might be to say because this album really showed how far out they could be.. So when I heard the more tame (Meddle onward) Pink Floyd albums I really understood how great they really were..
THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN: the first time I heard this album it was in a compilation set called A Nice Pair and included the live Umma Gumma version of Astronomy Domine, rather than the original studio version.. The Barrett years were the more interesting and made you wonder what the vision of the band was at first or was there a vision beyond the first album.. Beyond a meltdown into a drug culture that claimed Syd as it's victim.. The rest of the band would trudge along without him shortly after the second album, A Saucerful of Secrets..
When I listened to Umma Gumma after getting into the band pretty heavy it changed from the early times when I had no clue who these guys were.. A favorite song for me is The Narrow Way on the David Gilmour part of the solo sections.. The latest reissue still doesn't have the lyrics printed on it and for good reason.. You can't understand anything he is saying.. (singing)
The Pompeii show was an amazing set of "live" songs because it was true live but without a crowd.. So strange and yet to know Pink Floyd this is exactly how they are.. Do the unexpected.. When Echoes came on the radio yesterday I thought for sure mom would shut it down.. Echoes was one of those songs that, because it is the full second side of the Meddle album, I didn't originally listen to it.. To invest a half an hour (about) to listen to a single song?? Seriously?? Then one Sunday I put the record on and listened to it and can understand why it is a fan favorite.. But then there was Atom Heart Mother with the Atom Heart Mother Suite that took the entire side one of the album, that the band as a whole pan as one of the biggest waste of time and effort and I have always said it was a way to get to the latter albums, Dark Side Of The Moon and beyond.. Sort of like NASA having to go from Mercury to Gemini to Apollo, I felt like they had to learn how to do the quad track then eight track and beyond..
The soundtracks to the movies seem like they get passed over by most fans.. More and Obscured By Clouds were really good albums in my books.. Childhoods End from Obscured being a really good Gilmour song as well as Wots.. Uh The Deal.. I think country artists have covered that one.. They later rereleased everything several times including the reissue sets and now the immersion sets.. Including everything they can to make them sell and not be pirated or downloaded via i-tunes..
When I went to buy the first compact disc it was to be The Dark Side Of The Moon but in fact the very first compact disc I bought was Tom Petty's hits album.. I wanted to get the Shine On box set but when I found it was just the biggest selling albums of the Gilmour albums of the Floyd I initially passed and got the albums one by one.. Later I got the Shine On box as a gift for Christmas.. I already had everything but early singles disc, and all the little goodies that came with it..
If someone were to ask me what my favorite Floyd album is I would say Wish You Were Here, tied with Meddle.. What is my favorite song and I would have to pass because at any given time I could be into any one song.. What's my least favorite PF song? Probably something from The Final Cut, in fact that entire album is a depress festival.. It can be a good album but it was just a Roger Waters solo album with the Pink Floyd tag on it.. The pros and cons of hitch hiking was supposed to be a Pink Floyd album but thankfully the band had a choice to have either The Wall or that album and they chose The Wall.. Wise choice..
After Roger left I felt like the dynamic was gone from the band.. Sure they fought a lot but that seemed to make some of the best music they ever produced.. Dave couldn't write lyrics very well so he got several people to help with that end..
Animals is the album I listen to when I get frustrated or got frustrated at work and wanted to tell someone to go fuck themselves in no uncertain terms.. Roger's frustration with elements within the band and frustration with ever aspect of the business are evident in the album.. No wonder what happened did to drive him to write the next album..
The Wall was at the time a favorite and when it was released I instantly fell in love with it.. The lyric line "We don't need no edu ca shun was right up there with my hatred of going to school.. But now I had an anthem that made going to school alright.. Another Brick in The Wall pt. ii... I liked the wall right up until the trial.. Then it gets too heavy.. Truth is I didn't understand the album completely but liked it enough to nearly need to buy a new copy before cds were released..
When the Division Bell was released I just thought it might be yet another album with another to follow not knowing that this would be the last album ever to be released by the band.. I swore I heard they hand enough material for one more album to be released at the milleniumm but that never happened and won't..
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