Tough call between Meddle, Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, or Animals. Ultimately I chose Wish You Were Here, because that was the first song I taught myself to play on the guitar.
I like The Wall, but have just never held it in the same regard as those others.
For me, The Wall, DSotM, and WYWH are really too close to call, but WYWH gets the nod, at least today.
Let’s hear it for the recordings that weren’t commercial releases…
Pompeii
Playhouse Theatre London 9.16.1970
Oakland 5.9.77
Total Eclipse
The Top Gear Sessions
The BBC Archives 1967-74
Live at Wembley
PF at Saarlandhalle
PF at Montreaux
Concert at Fillmore West
Concert at Earl’s Court 1973
Concert at Tarrant County Convention Ctr
Live at the Rainbox Theatre
The Wall at Nassau Coliseum 1980
I had the movie Pink Floyd in Pompeii on VHS.
It was excellent and very trippy.
Well, I just watched a bunch of Floyd videos, including Pompeii, and they were great. It made me a little teary to see Rick Wright at work, particularly on Echoes. He really was amazing.
As I said in the Yes thread: Meddle.
Another vote for Meddle here. I remember listening to One Of These Days on my FM stereo in high school using the detachable speakers as headphones. Hearing San Tropez always brings to mind the photo of the group on the beach there, with future best actress nominee Naomi Watts in her mother’s arms (her father Peter was Floyd’s road manager). I don’t think I’m alone in considering Echoes as the crown jewel of their oeuvre–I only wish they would release the song and the rest of the album in surround officially (as opposed to being an Easter egg in the “Early Years” set)
I really enjoy Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and Dark Side of the Moon. I have those three as individual albums, plus the Echo album for best of, which covers most of my favorite songs.
And I utterly agree, which is best is mostly about the sort of mood I’m in when it comes time to play an album.
But if I were trapped on a desert island with the ability to pick only one of those CDs, I’d probably pick The Wall. Everything on WYWH is good, but it’s so short that it keeps you wanting more, and DSotM has songs I love plus ones that are good, but don’t normally speak to me. The Wall always feels complete in and of itself, tells a story (always a plus for me), and all the songs affect me, although not all equally. So it juuuust squeaks out the win.
As a side note, I also recommend Gov’t Mule’s ‘Dark Side of the Mule’ for those who want their Floyd with a twist!
I have to say I’m surprised that The Wall didn’t rate higher among Dopers – to me it’s a real classic. But my second choice would have been Dark Side of the Moon which seems to be a popular choice.
It was a tough choice as The Wall was my introduction to Floyd, but when I think of the group, I think Dark Side of the Moon.
I just can’t vote yet. The music to The Wall is the one piece of music in the past 100 years that I would say deserves to be timeless: it is just that powerful yet sublime. But I need some time to process whether Roger Waters’ heel turn negates any positives of the erstwhile universality of the lyrics. It turns out that, despite his father dying, he wasn’t really saying that we should end war so that the common people won’t suffer, he was saying that we should end war except when it’s a warlord he likes.
Needless to say I’m very disappointed in Rogers Waters’ politics, but that doesn’t change my view of his musical accomplishments.
Side note. A friend used to keep his boat on the southern part of Georgian Bay, and some summers we’d go off on a week-long cruise across Georgian Bay and the North Channel. Not long after leaving the marina, we’d pass this magnificent area of well-manicured lawn on the north shore with an imposing building off in the distance. This was a mental health institution with some euphemistic name, but we just called it the lunatic asylum. I always insisted that “Brain Damage” from Dark Side of the Moon be playing on the boat’s stereo system as we sailed past this strange and haunting vista on the distant shoreline.
Meddle has some amazing tracks on it — “Echoes” is spectacular and epic, and “One of These Days” is among their best. Somewhat less grand but a decent track is “Fearless”. But “San Tropez” is kind of bland and boring, and then you land on “Seamus”, god help me.
I’m sure there are sincere fans of “Seamus” and I won’t fault them, as I’m rather fond of “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict”. Be that as it may, I rush to the skip button whenever it gets to “Seamus”. The only PF track that can compete with it for bottom of the barrel honors is “Absolutely Curtains”, and that’s only for the exotic non-western-music ending that wears out its welcome long before it stops.
Meddle is great and I love it but for me not a contender for best.
More is underrated. It isn’t much for individual standout tracks (although I do love “Green Is the Colour”) but there’s an overall dreamy floatiness about it that’s grown on me.
As others have said, it’s the cumulative accomplishment that’s most amazing. That they put forth all these really amazing albums. So many of them all by themselves would have established them as a great band.
I went with Wish You Were Here. To me, it’s the one that hangs together best as a “whole album experience”–one I’d want to sit and listen to, beginning to end, as a single piece of music. I guess it helps that that the “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” suite, altogether, accounts for more than half of the total running time, but still.
Also, one of the things I find really striking about this one is how well it expresses sadness without being overly sentimental or maudlin. That’s a very delicate balance, and the boys nailed it beautifully.
Animals is a close second, but it’s a heavy-handed album. I would allow that that’s necessary to convey the message as intended, and there are times when heavy-handedness just hits the spot. But that’s the factor that would give WYWH the edge in my mind.
Very slightly off topic, I’m not as versed on PF as some of you are here, and know most of, but not all of their work.
One time on a camping trip, long ago, a friend brought along a compilation of the complete works of PF, and had it playing through the night on shuffle. We were under the influence of some fun things that made it even more interesting.
At a certain point, I was not actually sure if I forgot how to listen to music, or if they forgot how to play it, as it went into just complete random noise almost, including what sounded like a piano falling down the stairs. When I mentioned this to my friend later, he didn’t know what I was talking about, and I’ve done some level of searching to find this song or album, but no luck.
Anyone have any idea what I’m talking about, or did I imagine the whole thing? (Which is possible.)
I’m thinking you’re looking for something on Atom Heart Mother. I recall playing this around a camp fire while we were under the influence of some fun things. In the pre-dawn light I saw the dew of the Pine Tree I was under turn purple or maybe ultraviolet.
Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast has some interesting sounds in it.
Another possibility would be something off the Zabriskie Point soundtrack.
Possibly “A Sacuerful of Secrets”? I don’t know how to cue it up to the right place in the video, but if you skip ahead to about 3:56, you’ll be at the beginning of a section that includes, among other things, Wright banging away on a piano.
At the end of your link, add the time in this format: ?t=2297
example: https ://youtu.be/Pzx3xE74a_8?t=2297
This section is a candidate for what you remember k9bfriender. At some point there is an explosion on the sound track, but I can find the moment.
Pink Floyd has actually released 5 live albums. Ummagumma in 1969, Delicate Sound of Thunder in 1988, Pulse in 1995, The Wall Live in 2000 and Live at Empire Pool in 2011. The Live at Empire Pool was recorded in 1974, it included songs recorded on later albums. I wasn’t aware of this album till a few months ago when I heard a version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond I have never heard before on XM radio. This version contains lyrics not included in the studio version of the song released on the album of the same name. It also has the only recording of the entire DSotM album live with the 4 main members of the band. Some of this album is sampled on a couple songs on The Wall.
Not officially on this list but I have on my computer and on CD to listen to while driving is Live from Pompeii which was recorded in 1972 for a documentary movie. I also have Live from Gdansk from 2016, it was recorded for a TV series on BBC then later released on DVD. Also, the DVD version of Pulse contains 3 songs not included on the CD, one is what I consider the best version of One of These Days, David Gilmour plays a steel guitar instead of his black Fender Strat he used on the 2 other live versions of that songs that I have seen.
Ummagumma. “The Grand Vizier’s Party”. Most likely at any rate.
ETA: see below