The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) - 8.5 - CD
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is Pink Floyd's debut album, and, unfortunately, the only one made under founder member Syd Barrett's leadership. Almost all the songs were written by him. Not surprisingly then, this is very different from what Pink Floyd would be known for. The debut album is essentially psychedelic rock with hint of progressiveness like in the excellent "Interstellar Overdrive" and the jazzy "Pow R. Toc H.". Both being the only 2 songs written by the whole band. I'm not into psychedelic music, but this is still a great album, full of hidden gems and a unique sound in their discography.
A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968) - 8.0 - LP
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is Pink Floyd's debut album, and, unfortunately, the only one made under founder member Syd Barrett's leadership. Almost all the songs were written by him. Not surprisingly then, this is very different from what Pink Floyd would be known for. The debut album is essentially psychedelic rock with hint of progressiveness like in the excellent "Interstellar Overdrive" and the jazzy "Pow R. Toc H.". Both being the only 2 songs written by the whole band. I'm not into psychedelic music, but this is still a great album, full of hidden gems and a unique sound in their discography.
A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968) - 8.0 - LP
Following Syd Barrett's health issues, he was replaced by David Gilmour during the recording sessions. As a result, A Saucerful of Secrets is the only album on which all five band members appeared, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" was the only song all five members played together and it's my favorite song from the album. The great melody, atmospheric nature and the pounding drums makes it a great track. Roger Waters wrote 4 songs and Wright other 2. The title song is the only one written by the new four members together, being therefore Gilmour's first contribution. "Jugband Blues" is the last song of the album and the last credit to Syd Barrett. This all means that this is a transitional album with some psychedelic elements still but much more progressive and influenced by the guitar style and solos from Gilmour. The opening track, for example, features a great riff and a catchy chorus. And the title track was their longest song to date with 12-min and a very experimental instrumental intro that eventually turns into a beautiful keyboard melody, almost in church-style pipe organs. This is a great album that set the foundation of what Pink Floyd would sound like and it's a highly underrated work.
More (1969) - 7.0 - CD
More is a soundtrack album that contains some of the band's "heaviest" recordings, such as "The Nile Song" and "Ibiza Bar". Also Pink Floyd experimental phase continued with several instrumental tracks and acoustic folk ballads. For the most part the song writing was split between Waters alone and the four members together. But the instrumental 1:05 min long "A Spanish Piece" is the first song to be solely credited to Gilmour. He was also responsible for all vocals. Still a transitional album with some good moments and adding new elements, heaviness counter balanced by the acoustic folk ballads, and Gilmour gaining prominence with singing and guitar style.
Ummagumma (1969) - 9.0 (live) / 6.5 (studio) - CD
Ummagumma is a strange album. The first disc is a live album that contains part of their normal set list of the time, while the second contains solo compositions by each member of the band. I really like the live versions of the 4 songs that are great to begin with. But the studio disc is a "failed experiment" according to Mason himself. Ummagumma marks PF fully diving into progressive music and showed to the band their way forward was a group and not individuals. If they had combined the efforts instead of individual composition, they would have come up with what ended up being the following album.
Atom Heart Mother (1970) - 8.0 - CD
The 5th studio album was Pink Floyd's first commercial success, specially in the UK. It was the first one to not feature the band's name on the cover, or contain any photographs of the band anywhere. This was a trend that would continue on subsequent covers throughout the 1970s and beyond. The title track which is a 24-min instrumental. Atom Heart Mother certainly confirms the progressive tendencies from previous records. Side B with "If", "Summer '68" and "Fat Old Sun" each by Waters, Wright, and Gilmour respectively shows the individual power of those guys creating beautiful music. The 3 tracks are more on the lines of More and are fantastic. The album closes with "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", another instrumental full of sound samples. The production is also much better and the sound of Gilmour guitar in the title track is foreshadowing what he would sound like in future albums. Certainly an album for the fanatics and not for everyone.
Meddle (1971) - 9.0 - LP
There's no concept or central theme but the album flows very nicely and as opposed to previous records, there are no weak points or bad songs. However, each has its own feeling. Meddle balances the voices of Gilmour and Waters, and also the song writing is spread across the band members. The album opens with the instrumental masterpiece "One of These Days" and follows with "A Pillow Of Winds" and "Fearless" showing their folk side highlighted by unique melodies as we had seen in More and Atom Heart Mother. "San Tropez" shows their jazzy side and "Seamus" a short bluesy song. The B side features the 23-min masterpiece "Echoes" with great melodies (vocal lines and the awesome bass line), instrumental bridges, and solos (Gilmour and Wright stepping up their game). Meddle is the best album from their transitional years leading to The Dark Side of the Moon. And together with the debut album, the two essential records of this period.
Obscured by Clouds (1972) - 7.5 - LP
The seventh studio album by Pink Floyd is based on their soundtrack for the French film La Vallée, by Barbet Schroeder. This brings a different flavor to this record compared to the last, no long songs and less experimental. It's almost a regular rock album with 10 songs and in 40 min, the longest being the "Absolutely Curtains" and it's under 6 min. It's a simpler album with great melodies and very enjoyable. Obscured by Clouds has a lot in common with the predecessor's side A.
The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) - 10 - LP
After more than 40 years - what can we still say about this masterpiece? Everything in Pink Floyd's career up to this point culminated to this perfect record: from the art work to the last note. One of the best rock albums ever, period. Albeit strong contribution from Waters, the song writing is well spread across the 4 members and so is the lead vocals. The experimentation with sounds and noise gave room to experimenting with female singers, saxophone, sampling and a funky guitar beat. The production is outstanding - All instruments sound awesome throughout the record. The Dark Side of the Moon features two of the most fantastic guitar solos ever recorded: "Time" and "Money". The album is emotional, beautiful, explosive...each song has its character and yet the album flows almost as if it's a single song. You put this vinyl to turn and it's a unstoppable magical journey. And the lyrics...whenever I hear "And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes. I'll see you on the dark side of the moon" I have goosebumps. There's only a handful of albums that I consider worthy of 10 and this is one of them.
After more than 40 years - what can we still say about this masterpiece? Everything in Pink Floyd's career up to this point culminated to this perfect record: from the art work to the last note. One of the best rock albums ever, period. Albeit strong contribution from Waters, the song writing is well spread across the 4 members and so is the lead vocals. The experimentation with sounds and noise gave room to experimenting with female singers, saxophone, sampling and a funky guitar beat. The production is outstanding - All instruments sound awesome throughout the record. The Dark Side of the Moon features two of the most fantastic guitar solos ever recorded: "Time" and "Money". The album is emotional, beautiful, explosive...each song has its character and yet the album flows almost as if it's a single song. You put this vinyl to turn and it's a unstoppable magical journey. And the lyrics...whenever I hear "And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes. I'll see you on the dark side of the moon" I have goosebumps. There's only a handful of albums that I consider worthy of 10 and this is one of them.
Wish You Were Here (1975) - 9.5 - LP
How do you follow up a masterpiece? Well according to Pink Floyd, with another one. Just 2 years later, they released Wish You Were Here. With The Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd found their classic sound and Wish You Were Here builds on some of the same principles from its predecessor, starting with the amazing album cover. The clean production, fantastic guitar sound and solos, including the funky beat, female backing vocals and saxophone solos are all present. But Wish You Were Here also brings back elements pre-dark side, such as longer songs and acoustic elements. The album is slightly more dominated by Waters on the writing and lead vocals. He alone also wrote the conceptual theme of the album as a tribute to Syd Barrett. Wish You Were Here is also one of the best rock albums of all times and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is simply a perfect prog song.
How do you follow up a masterpiece? Well according to Pink Floyd, with another one. Just 2 years later, they released Wish You Were Here. With The Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd found their classic sound and Wish You Were Here builds on some of the same principles from its predecessor, starting with the amazing album cover. The clean production, fantastic guitar sound and solos, including the funky beat, female backing vocals and saxophone solos are all present. But Wish You Were Here also brings back elements pre-dark side, such as longer songs and acoustic elements. The album is slightly more dominated by Waters on the writing and lead vocals. He alone also wrote the conceptual theme of the album as a tribute to Syd Barrett. Wish You Were Here is also one of the best rock albums of all times and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is simply a perfect prog song.
Animals (1977) - 9.5 - LP
Animals follows beautifully its predecessor but it marks the begging of Waters taking over control of the band. Except for "Dogs" which is shared with Gilmour, all other lead vocals were performed by Waters and all songs were written and composed by him. Musically and lyrically Animals is darker than previous albums. A concept album, it provides a scathing critique of the social-political conditions of late 1970s Britain. The album has essentially 4 songs. The intro and closer "Pigs on the Wing" parts 1 and 2 are short, acoustic and light-themed, as apposed to the other 3 songs. With 17 min, "Dogs" is the longest song in the album and among my top songs of all times. I love the lyrics, the melody and specially the guitar solos from Gilmour - perfection! "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and "Sheep" are the other two songs that while not as perfect as "Dogs" are also very good. I simply can't understand how a true Pink Floyd doesn't rate this masterpiece high in their favorite Pink Floyd albums.
The Wall (1979) - 9.5 - LP
The Wall is Pink Floyd's second best selling album under The Dark Side of the Moon. But in many ways even more popular. Probably because the band's only single to top various charts, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" and the massive tour that followed the album, not to mention the movie. The Wall is a double concept album, exploring themes of abandonment and personal isolation. It is a rock opera that follows the character Pink. Almost all songs are written and composed by Waters, the exceptions are some of the best ones "Young Lust", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell" which are co-credit with Gilmour. It's obviously a brilliant album but too much Waters, specially in the second disc. The first disc is perfect. And disc 2 features one of the best songs of all times: "Comfortably Numb" with its great vocal lines shared by Waters/Gilmour and one of the best guitar solos ever recorded. The Wall is a classic, is essential and really great, but just short of perfect.
The Final Cut (1983) - 7.0 - CD
All songs were written and composed by Waters. He also sings almost every song, David Gilmour provides vocals on one track only (the best on the album: "Not Now John") and it is also the only Pink Floyd album that does not feature keyboardist Richard Wright. Consequently, it's not difficult to understand why some people refer to The Final Cut as essentially a Roger Waters solo album. When compared to the previous album The Wall, The Final Cut is really bad. That's not by chance, many songs on the album were a rewritten version of songs rejected for The Wall. But when you put it in isolation, The Final Cut is not all that bad in addition to "Not Now John", also "Your Possible Pasts" and "The Hero's Return" are good tracks. Musically the album is very simplistic and Waters can't really sing with a full range. I mean in some tracks is fine, like in The Wall, but for a whole album, no.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) - 7.5 - CD
A Momentary Lapse of Reason should have been a Gilmour solo album but money talks and they released it as a Pink Floyd album. That doesn't mean it's a bad album, I actually like it a lot and it was the first Pink Floyd album I bought when it was "new". With that said, it doesn't really sound like the Pink Floyd from the glory 70's, so you can't really compare to the classic albums. Mason drumming is flat and Wright's keyboards are almost out of the picture. Neither participated on the writing process. But it was nice to hear Gilmour singing again and listing to Pink Floyd without becoming depressed by it. There are some bright moments like "Learning to Fly" or "Sorrow" but also some very average songs, specially the instrumentals.
The Division Bell (1994) - 8.5 - CD
I find this album quite enjoyable and it's the closest thing to classic Pink Floyd since 1979's The Wall. We certainly miss Waters from the 70s but at least we have the other 3 members fully engaged under Gilmour's leadership. Wright even sings a full song, "I'm Wearing the Inside Out" which is actually my favorite of the album. Gilmour riffs and solos are quite decent. On the flip side, the album has some pop tendencies and doesn't really challenge the listener. A good album that only suffers by being at the shadow of how amazing their discography is.
The Endless River (2014) - 8.0 - CD
Never thought to be listening to a new Pink Floyd album again! Really enjoyed the experience - a journey through their own sound, almost like a self tribute. Even more satisfying is the fact that makes you want to go back and listen to the really old stuff...Endless River brings back moments from the first albums, from Wish You Were Here and The Wall, and obviously Division Bell. Not exactly original but still who in 2014 writes a 47-min instrumental intro for a 6 min song with vocals ( which is brilliant by the way)? Very nice closing album to one of the best bans of all times.
In the end, if I were forced to rank them in order, it would look like this:
1. The Dark Side of the Moon (100)
2. Wish You Were Here (96)
3. The Wall (94)
4. Animals (93)
5. Meddle (91)
6. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (87)
7. The Division Bell (84)
8. A Saucerful Of Secrets (82)
9. The Endless River (79)
10. Atom Heart Mother (78)
11. Obscured by Clouds (76)
12. A Momentary Lapse of Reason (75)
13. More (72)
14. The Final Cut (70)
15. Ummagumma (studio) (63)
Animals follows beautifully its predecessor but it marks the begging of Waters taking over control of the band. Except for "Dogs" which is shared with Gilmour, all other lead vocals were performed by Waters and all songs were written and composed by him. Musically and lyrically Animals is darker than previous albums. A concept album, it provides a scathing critique of the social-political conditions of late 1970s Britain. The album has essentially 4 songs. The intro and closer "Pigs on the Wing" parts 1 and 2 are short, acoustic and light-themed, as apposed to the other 3 songs. With 17 min, "Dogs" is the longest song in the album and among my top songs of all times. I love the lyrics, the melody and specially the guitar solos from Gilmour - perfection! "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and "Sheep" are the other two songs that while not as perfect as "Dogs" are also very good. I simply can't understand how a true Pink Floyd doesn't rate this masterpiece high in their favorite Pink Floyd albums.
The Wall (1979) - 9.5 - LP
The Wall is Pink Floyd's second best selling album under The Dark Side of the Moon. But in many ways even more popular. Probably because the band's only single to top various charts, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" and the massive tour that followed the album, not to mention the movie. The Wall is a double concept album, exploring themes of abandonment and personal isolation. It is a rock opera that follows the character Pink. Almost all songs are written and composed by Waters, the exceptions are some of the best ones "Young Lust", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell" which are co-credit with Gilmour. It's obviously a brilliant album but too much Waters, specially in the second disc. The first disc is perfect. And disc 2 features one of the best songs of all times: "Comfortably Numb" with its great vocal lines shared by Waters/Gilmour and one of the best guitar solos ever recorded. The Wall is a classic, is essential and really great, but just short of perfect.
The Final Cut (1983) - 7.0 - CD
All songs were written and composed by Waters. He also sings almost every song, David Gilmour provides vocals on one track only (the best on the album: "Not Now John") and it is also the only Pink Floyd album that does not feature keyboardist Richard Wright. Consequently, it's not difficult to understand why some people refer to The Final Cut as essentially a Roger Waters solo album. When compared to the previous album The Wall, The Final Cut is really bad. That's not by chance, many songs on the album were a rewritten version of songs rejected for The Wall. But when you put it in isolation, The Final Cut is not all that bad in addition to "Not Now John", also "Your Possible Pasts" and "The Hero's Return" are good tracks. Musically the album is very simplistic and Waters can't really sing with a full range. I mean in some tracks is fine, like in The Wall, but for a whole album, no.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) - 7.5 - CD
A Momentary Lapse of Reason should have been a Gilmour solo album but money talks and they released it as a Pink Floyd album. That doesn't mean it's a bad album, I actually like it a lot and it was the first Pink Floyd album I bought when it was "new". With that said, it doesn't really sound like the Pink Floyd from the glory 70's, so you can't really compare to the classic albums. Mason drumming is flat and Wright's keyboards are almost out of the picture. Neither participated on the writing process. But it was nice to hear Gilmour singing again and listing to Pink Floyd without becoming depressed by it. There are some bright moments like "Learning to Fly" or "Sorrow" but also some very average songs, specially the instrumentals.
The Division Bell (1994) - 8.5 - CD
I find this album quite enjoyable and it's the closest thing to classic Pink Floyd since 1979's The Wall. We certainly miss Waters from the 70s but at least we have the other 3 members fully engaged under Gilmour's leadership. Wright even sings a full song, "I'm Wearing the Inside Out" which is actually my favorite of the album. Gilmour riffs and solos are quite decent. On the flip side, the album has some pop tendencies and doesn't really challenge the listener. A good album that only suffers by being at the shadow of how amazing their discography is.
The Endless River (2014) - 8.0 - CD
Never thought to be listening to a new Pink Floyd album again! Really enjoyed the experience - a journey through their own sound, almost like a self tribute. Even more satisfying is the fact that makes you want to go back and listen to the really old stuff...Endless River brings back moments from the first albums, from Wish You Were Here and The Wall, and obviously Division Bell. Not exactly original but still who in 2014 writes a 47-min instrumental intro for a 6 min song with vocals ( which is brilliant by the way)? Very nice closing album to one of the best bans of all times.
In the end, if I were forced to rank them in order, it would look like this:
1. The Dark Side of the Moon (100)
2. Wish You Were Here (96)
3. The Wall (94)
4. Animals (93)
5. Meddle (91)
6. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (87)
7. The Division Bell (84)
8. A Saucerful Of Secrets (82)
9. The Endless River (79)
10. Atom Heart Mother (78)
11. Obscured by Clouds (76)
12. A Momentary Lapse of Reason (75)
13. More (72)
14. The Final Cut (70)
15. Ummagumma (studio) (63)
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