Pink Floyd – well, what can you say about this band?  I first saw them in 1967 at Stowmarket…I got blind drunk and was blown away by them.  Then again when they did The Wall live at Earls Court.   I used to have almost all the early albums, but somehow I have never bothered to get them on CD…may still get them someday…who knows

We start with a film score Obscured By Clouds (1972) – this was the album they made a year before their first Masterpiece…and pretty good it is too; their signature (post Syd) sound was settling in; rather than the histrionics and experimentation of earlier albums they had with and just after Syd left the band – or rather the band left Syd.  A lovely lyrical album with that instrumentation which lulls you beautifully and before you know it the album is finished and you want to hear it again.  Best tracks are the title track, ‘What’s the Uh Deal’ and ‘Stay’.   They took a break from recording their next album to write and record Obscured…and in some ways the albums are similar.   Then came their first and possibly greatest masterpiece – The Dark Side of The Moon (1973) – it soon went to number 1 and has sold over 45 million copies since then.  It is usually acclaimed as their finest album.  There is a cohesion to the album, although not exactly a concept album, it tends to deal with the pressures of touring and the resulting madness (in part) of Syd Barrett, who had left the band five years earlier.  Not a poor song on the record really, but if I must choose – ‘Breathe’, ‘Us and Them’ and ‘Eclipse’.  It was truly and probably their last real group song-writing album too, with keyboardist Rick Wright at least co-writing about half the songs.  Roger Waters provided many of the lyrics, and he would go on to be the main songwriter, whether through overwhelming force of his character or talent is debateable.   They followed this with two years later with Wish You Were Here – an album devoted to the memory of Syd; all 5 tracks written at least in part by Roger.  The opening track ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’ continues as the closing track, both around 12 to 13 minutes long, it may well be their best single piece of music and is a collaboration between Rick, Dave and Roger, which has rarely been repeated.  The songs also reflect the band (or Roger’s) dissatisfaction with the demands of the music business itself (biting the hand that feeds them maybe).  The band were by now absolute superstars and could do exactly as they liked, which thousands of other artists must have envied.  The earlier hints of paranoia in Roger’s writing became more obvious with ‘Welcome To The Machine’ and ‘Have A Cigar’.  But maybe the overriding brilliance of the record is down to the piercing and poignant dripping guitar notes of Dave Gilmour, especially on the opener, when it is 10 minutes before Roger starts to sing the song.  In some ways this is my favourite Floyd record.   Animals followed and I never really liked it, it seemed harsh and musically not as interesting, and the lyrics (all by Roger) just bored me – so I have never bought it on CD.  So, no review this time.  1979 however saw the release of their third Masterpiece The Wall.  Almost a solo effort, at least in the conception and song-writing – this is a monster of a concept double album and is best listened to at one sitting.  Almost impossible to pick out best tracks because it is really all of one piece – but of course, ‘Comfortably Numb’ stands out, but I also like ‘Mother’ and ‘The Thin ice’ and later ‘The Trial’ and ‘Waiting For The Worms’ are incredible.   Much later they released (for the money I expect) a live recording of the album – maybe the one I saw; they only did a few performances – called Is There Anybody Out There. I bought it, partly for the lavish packaging and as a souvenir.  The live version is pretty much the same as the studio one, except for a new intro and outro.  So, I play it now and again, for the memories.  Their next studio album was really the straw which broke the camel’s back, as Roger’s hatred of almost everything reaching boiling point.  The Final Cut (1983) was really the final cut that this incredible band recorded; Rick Wright was side-lined to be a paid session player; Dave Gilmour reconciled himself to be a non-contributing guitar player and the drummer drummed on regardless.  After this album Roger left the band for good.  The album itself has a few good moments but really is poor, filled as it is with Roger’s almost snivelling laments; to be honest they should have called it a day after The Wall.  The band did limp on, and made 2 more albums, which I bought, but which didn’t really excite me at all.  I haven’t been tempted to buy them on CD.  I did however buy their (to date) latest offering Endless River. This is a collection of what can best be called ‘leftovers’, various noodlings from their long career which never made it into real pieces or on to albums.  A pretty pointless exercise, except for the revenue it must have made.  My last offering in one of the many greatest hits Echoes…which does cover their early albums quite well; fave tracks – ‘Astromine Domine’, ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’ and ‘See Emily Play’.  A great band, who, had they been able to settle their internal differences could have gone on and on, instead of barely making it through the early eighties.  Oh Well….of course Roger has gone on to make a handful of excellent albums in the complete Pink Floyd style (see W) but even he makes a fortune by touring his (admittedly superb) version of their classic albums.