2) Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd is one of those bands that revolutionized music. Their ability to be inventive and constantly changing their sound and image while keeping their core soul intact is unparalleled to any band. Anyone can easily follow the progression of Pink Floyd music throughout their career from the outlandish psychedelia of Piper at the Gates of Dawn to what would become the most commercially successful Progressive Rock album ever, Dark Side of the Moon. Many will argue the merits of whether or not Floyd is a true prog band, but how can anyone deny their influence on the genre? Their crisp sonic textures, long experimental works, and concept albums scream prog. In fact, where would prog be without Pink Floyd?Sure, many bands encompass the characteristics more purely than Floyd, but Floyd made prog a legitimate genre. Without Floyd, we could have quite possibly written off prog as some overly bombastic and pretentious genre. Sure, albums like Yes' Fragile and King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King were released before Dark Side of the Moon, but neither of those quintessential albums made their ways into the homes of such a vast and diverse population. Pink Floyd had recorded some of the most ethereal and spacey music that has some how found a medium between being extremely grandiose and overly simplistic, this perfect positioning made Progressive Rock accessible. Even the twenty-three minute Echoes finds a way to attract casual listeners. During their prime, Floyd undoubtedly recorded some of the strongest progressive material to date, with works like Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals. There are a handful of other albums which can be debated into that list, but to the average critic, those are the must have albums.
One of the most under appreciated factors which makes Floyd fit into the prog category is the guitar playing of David Gilmour. A Gilmour solo is quickly recognizable, it has an unbelievably clean sound-- it's polished and meticulously thought out, each note having just as much importance as the last. His authentic playing leaves the listener in a state of utter euphoria, with each note carrying the listener off in space.
Floyd's ability to release consistently inventive music which has such a high level of musical savvy leaves them as one of the strongest Progressive Rock bands in history. How people can argue that Floyd has no place in the Progressive Rock genre is mind boggling to me. They have all of the important traits and helped lay the foundation for progressive bands to follow.
Essential Albums: Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here
posted by Jeff at 1:00 AM
6 Comments:
David Gilmour is one of my favorite guitarists. I need to listen to more PF so I can hear all the great Gilmour solos I haven't already heard.
I think Pink Floyd, beginning with Dark Side, made prog less esoteric. It's true that Yes also did this to some extent, but they almost always compromised the rock part which Floyd didn't do in their prime. That's not to say there were no missteps, just that those weren't compromises.
I also agree that Gilmour is an amzing guitarist. Unfortunately, he's not always a great writer. Perhaps he and Waters are like Lennon and McCartney in that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Still, Gilmour has released one decent solo album (his first) and one decent Floyd album (Division Bell) and the rest has been mostly crap. Waters hasn't even done that well. Beginning with The Wall, he's released nothing but crap.
No argument here. Like Bob said, I wouldn't base Floyd's later work to make the case for them, but the majority of their early and middle work is clearly prog. And yes, for as many times can be repeated, Gilmour is fucking delicious. Along with Fripp, they are two of the most underrated guitarists ever, I think.
Russ - Gilmour is hands down my favorite guitarist. His solo's get me so into the music.
Bob - No doubt about Gilmour and Waters' writing ability. I mean, Gilmour's lyrics especially are so laughable, I guess that's why his wife writes most of them now. I really liked Gilmour's last solo album though. For me his solo work is pretty good, definitely superior in comparisons to Waters.
Mad Hatter - Not only is Fripp underrated but so is King Crimson.
Great post. You know I love Floyd! They are in a category of their own. Dark Side and Wish You Were Here are perfect.
I've always appreciated PF, but never truly loved the band. That said, what amazes me about Floyd is the diversity, the clear differences between Piper, Dark Side, and Animals, for example. It's hard to believe it's the same band.
Of course, a big part of that is Syd's decline and fall ... but few other bands have such a range of complex styles regardless of membership changes.
I agree with Bob that Gilmour leaves something to be desired as a writer. I actually hold up the post-Waters album you praise, Bob, as evidence of your point; I find most of The Division Bell to be schlock. "Keep Talking" is kind of embarrassing.
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