Pink Floyd's best album

cloptrop

Alot of real Floyd fans will tell you its not the dark side.
I like wish you were here but I will admit I havnt been through every single album , I have however just aquired the last few and now have every album , even the live stuff and rare stuff and so on so forth .
Im looking foreward to working my way through it , Id love to know where to start , and what to look for . Has anyone got a favourite?

Rothko

My top 5:
Dark Side Of The Moon
Meddle
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Wish You Were Here
A Saucerful Of Secrets

If you like they're early stuff you should check out Syd Barrett's solo albums too.

mikom

"Wish You Were Here" gets the most rotation........ here.

Shane St.

Wish you were here for me

K.Flyer

Personally I enjoy listening to all PF albums, from The Piper to The Bell and everything in between and beyond, it just depends on the humour I'm in.
But if I had to lose all my PF albums, but was allowed keep one, it would have to be Meddle.
I just cannot imagine a world without Echoes.

Temaz

The Wall for me.

littlejp

Top 3 for me would be:
Dark Side of the Moon
The Wall
Wish You Were Here

The order would depend on my mood but I've listening to a lot of The Wall lately. Actually prefer the live version, Is There Anybody Out There, to the studio version.
Also a big fan of Animals and Meddle but would rank them slightly lower.

mike65

The Final Cut (controversial!) there is something about Waters obsessive 'quiet desperation' that is quite compelling. Not a party album.

delbertgrady

I find that because they're so diverse, it's very difficult to have an overall favourite, 'cos it really depends what mood you're in. Years ago, I had Animals and The Final Cut on either side of a ninety minute tape (home taping is killing music), both of which I loved, and which I played incessantly, but you could hardly pick two more different albums.

I suppose my top five would be (in alphabetical order):
Animals
Dark Side of the Moon
Early Singles (from the Shine On box)
The Final Cut
The Wall

Welsh Megaman

Add a poll, OP

Dyr

mike65 wrote: »

The Final Cut (controversial!) there is something about Waters obsessive 'quiet desperation' that is quite compelling. Not a party album.

My favourite, though its years since I listened to any of 'em

Always have a soft spot for Relics too

jonniebgood1

Atom heart mother. Unbelieveable.

Irish Guitarist

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. I love it so much I have two copies on CD; the standard version and a mono edition that came out in 1997 for the thirtieth anniversary. There are noticeable differences between them so it's worth having both of them.

If it's not cheating to include a compilation album my joint favourite would be Relics. It was the first Pink Floyd album I ever owned. I bought it on cassette when I was about thirteen or fourteen. I knew nothing about Pink Floyd at the time but I used to keep rewinding the tape and listening to Remember A Day and See Emily Play over and over again. It was a cheap tape (which is the reason I bought it) and had very little information. It did list the songwriters though and the name 'Barrett' appeared after a lot of the song names. I thought he must be an interesting chap but I didn't learn much about him until a few years later. I gave away the tape years ago and I still regret it. I have it on CD and vinyl but I wish I had kept the tape for nostalgia.

After that my favourites are Music From The Film More and Obscured By Clouds, which are shunned by the band themselves. I find them far more interesting than their later albums though.

pedigree

How about:
Early-Mid-
Obscured by Clouds
Meddle
Soundtrack "More"
Darkside

Late-
Wish you were here
Aanimals




Pedigree

JerryHandbag

littlejp wrote: »

Top 3 for me would be:
Dark Side of the Moon
The Wall
Wish You Were Here

Same 3 for me, but probably with The Wall 3rd.

I'll never tire of hearing all those background voices on Dark Side

"I've been mad for ****ing years..."
"That geezer was cruisin for a bruisin..."

The Obscured by Clouds soundtrack is the most recent Floyd album I've discovered, starting to like it a lot.

R P McMurphy

meddle, mainly because of strange memories it elicits from years gone by in altered states listening to it

vider12

Wish You Were Here

K.Flyer

Although sometimes hard to decide which one !!

nlgbbbblth

#1 The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
#2 Animals
#3 The Dark Side Of The Moon
#4 Wish You Were Here
#5 Atom Heart Mother

Nice Martyr

A tie between Wish You Were Here and Animals.

cloptrop

I think Ill try meddle today .
Its the most recommended one Im not familiar with. The extra 6 minutes on Echoes compared to the greatest hits version sounds interesting too.

K.Flyer

cloptrop wrote: »

I think Ill try meddle today .
Its the most recommended one Im not familiar with. The extra 6 minutes on Echoes compared to the greatest hits version sounds interesting too.

If you are going to listen to Echoes, its best done with a good set of comfortable headphones, on a very comfy armchair with your feet up and a big Do Not Disturb sign. Close your eyes, lie back and enjoy the trip.
Follow it up with Atom Heart Mother pts 1 to 6.

Shine On !!

mike65

Play the funky breakdown section at 11!

CountryJoe

My top 5 would have to be :

Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Animals
Saucerful of Secrets
Meddle
Atom Heart Mother

cloptrop

Not a big fan of meddle

Rented Mule

1A) Animals
1B) Wish You Were Here
3) The Wall

Ormus

1. Dark Side
2. Wish You Were Here
3. The Wall
4. Meddle
5. Animals
6. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Jim_Kiy

1) Final Cut
2) The Wall
3) ummagumma
4) Meddle
5) DSOTM

Stavro Mueller

My top 5 depends on my mood as well. I like music off all of their albums but some of them are a bit uneven.

My favourites are

• Meddle
• Dark Side of the Moon
• Atom Heart Mother
• The Wall/Is There Anybody Out There (The Wall live)
• Animals (that one's a grower)

I'm quite partial to the More soundtrack (hence my username ). The proper songs on it are great but I'm not as keen on the more sketchy soundtrack bits.

The two albums I like the least are the two that came out in the 80's. The Final Cut and A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The former sounds like a Roger Waters solo album that David Gilmour happened to play some guitar on. The latter sounds like it was cobbled together from some scraps on the studio floor. That's not to say there aren't a handful of OK songs from both but they just don't measure up to the Floyd's 70's input.

Also worth checking out is the Live at Pompeii DVD. It's worth ripping the audio of that to mp3 if you can - great show.

cloptrop

Ive gone through piper at the gates , more , meddle and a saucer full of secrets and Im not finding anything near as good as wish you were here yet ,
Meddle would be a great album but there is a bit of filler in there and to be honest Im never gonna enjoy the liverpool chanting .

Chevolution

Meddle, no argument!

Zulu

Meddle is my number 1 every time.

Paparazzo

Tough decision. I'd go with:
Animals
Wish you were Here
Meddle
The Wall.

Have to throw in The Wall because it has so many childhood memories.

mightysurveyor

1. The Wall
2. Animals
3. Wish you were here
4. Dark side of the moon
5. Final cut

After seeing Waters doing The Wall live it really jumped into pole position

James T Kirk

Temaz wrote: »

The Wall for me.

The Wall is the one that will blow your ears off and make you want to die.

So yes, it's The Wall for me too.

Armin_Tamzarian

1. Meddle
2. Dark Side

James T Kirk

Just discovered this, but The Wall album appears to be up on YouTube.

Complete, and apparently unhindered by boring copyright stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLA66VsYbHE

cloptrop

Ive been going through them in chronological order , I skipped ummagamma by mistake Ill get on that one next but Atom Heart Mother has been the first really good one for me , its no wish you were here but its a start. I was beginning to think they just had the few albums Id heard that were good.

Bluefoam

Meddle for me...

There are some great memories attached to that album...

K.Flyer

Does anyone remember watching Live in Pompei in the "movie room" of McGonagles when they put it on a few times in the early 80s ??

howtomake

JerryHandbag wrote: »

The Obscured by Clouds soundtrack is the most recent Floyd album I've discovered, starting to like it a lot.

For me that album really straddles the old and the new sounds, but probably because of the timing that I got into them, who knows.

Would still have to say that I probably return again and again through the decades to Animals more than the others, but I really can't pick a favourite. Then again like everyone else I do love Wish You Were Here, ah can't decide, all could easily change.

nlgbbbblth

The Obscured By Clouds and More films are well worth a look - bought them both recently.

JerryHandbag

James T Kirk wrote: »

Just discovered this, but The Wall album appears to be up on YouTube.

Complete, and apparently unhindered by boring copyright stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLA66VsYbHE

Be great if the Earls Court 1980/81 gig could be remastered and given a DVD release at some stage.

eviltimeban

cloptrop wrote: »

Alot of real Floyd fans will tell you its not the dark side.

Well that's sort of missing the point, because, and let's face it hardcore fans, its most probably IS their best album, it certainly was up to that point and most albums after it were in its shadow.

It might be "hip" to say its not their best, but the music, lyrics, performances and packaging all clicked into place on this one, can't really say that about the others.

But having said that! I do think some of their other albums are up there. Mine would be:

- Obscured By Clouds: Sort of like a mini-Dark Side, sounds much the same, lots of organs and sweeping slide guitar. And its probably the only post-Syd Floyd album that's made up of "normal" length songs. Burning Bridges and Childhood's End are great songs, all in all its a great skinning up record.

- Animals: This is awesome purely for Dogs, which is just amazing. Sheep is great too, but Dogs alone is worth it. Its like a more palatable Wall (an album I never really loved).

- Meddle: Everyone goes on about this album but its not their best by a long way, still good though. However I prefer the Pompeii version of Echoes.

- Division Bell: I always think this album is better than it is, but there are some good tracks on it. High Hopes, Marooned, Poles Apart - nice Gilmour-y stuff and big guitar workouts, gets tiring after a while and some of the songs are a bit dodgy!

- Wish You Were Here: Again not as good as people think, most of the synth sounds are very dated, however Shine On You Crazy Diamond can't be ignored. The "side 2" songs aren't that great, with the exception of the title track. The live version of Shine on the "Immersion" CD is awesome.

- Piper At The Gates of Dawn: No Floyd fan should be without this album, where it all began. It sounds awful, i mean its mixed awfully, but it does show you what all the Syd Barrett fuss is about.

howtomake

eviltimeban wrote: »

- Wish You Were Here: Again not as good as people think, most of the synth sounds are very dated, however Shine On You Crazy Diamond can't be ignored. The "side 2" songs aren't that great, with the exception of the title track. The live version of Shine on the "Immersion" CD is awesome.

But but but but the bass on Have a Cigar:(:(, c'mon

Zulu

eviltimeban wrote: »

...its most probably IS their best album... ...and most albums after it were in its shadow.

And the joy of opinions is?

It might be "hip" to say its not their best...

That's pretty dismissive & insulting right there.

I think Meddle is their best album. Why? Because I think it is. Not because I'm trying to be hip. :rolleyes: It had the most impact when I listened to it. Starting out with "one of these days" (a song I always felt could be the soundtrack to the movie maxium overdrive) and running through to the EPIC echoes. It's a divine album. It's simply always going to be in my top three. Far above all other Floyd albums.

Dark side is great and all, but it's not as good - genuinely - in my opinion.

Ormus

Zulu wrote: »

And the joy of opinions is?

That's pretty dismissive & insulting right there.

I think Meddle is their best album. Why? Because I think it is. Not because I'm trying to be hip. :rolleyes: It had the most impact when I listened to it. Starting out with "one of these days" (a song I always felt could be the soundtrack to the movie maxium overdrive) and running through to the EPIC echoes. It's a divine album. It's simply always going to be in my top three. Far above all other Floyd albums.

Dark side is great and all, but it's not as good - genuinely - in my opinion.

I agree he has been a bit dismissive of other's opinions, it can never be that cut and dried.

But there is always gonna be a musical phenomenon with cool bands that if the world at large considers one album to be their best, the hardcore fans will always look for a different one to make their own, whether that's a conscious or subconscious choice.

Meddle is very good but it's clear as day to me that Dark Side is superior in every way (in my opinion). The music is beautiful throughout and everything falls into place so perfectly. It sounds like a new album almost 40 years on and it's that rare album that you can listen to over and over and always hear it differently.

nlgbbbblth

In my experience the hipsters go for Piper as their favourite LP. A lot of them dismiss the rest of the catalogue though.

It's mine too but I like all Pink Floyd's LPs in varying degrees.

cloptrop

animals is great , its the only one id put with wish you were here so far ,
The pig man pig man ahaaaaaaa sure a ,,,,,,,, or whatever he is really saying is quality

The Trashcan Man

Piper at the gates... Is good some unique sounds goin on. sid hadn't suffered his breakdown till after so It took the band a few more albums to find there grove after his exit. I like meddle, dsotm, wuwh, animals & the wall. The final cut is difficult to listen to it's essential a roger waters solo album any album after waters left sounds a bit tacky. Glamour is a great guitar player but needed waters lyrics.

delbertgrady

cloptrop wrote: »

animals is great , its the only one id put with wish you were here so far ,
The pig man pig man ahaaaaaaa sure a ,,,,,,,, or whatever he is really saying is quality

"Big man, pig man, ha ha, charade you are".