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PINK FLOYD - READER COMMENTS
THE
PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (1967)
A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS (1968)
MORE (1969)
UMMAGUMMA (1969)
ATOM HEART MOTHER (1970)
RELICS (1971)
MEDDLE (1971)
OBSCURED BY CLOUDS (1972)
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (1973)
WISH YOU WERE HERE (1975)
ANIMALS (1977)
THE
WALL (1979)
"Three Different Ones" - Nice
review. I disagree with part of it. And I disagree with a lot about what
you said regarding records 1 and 2. Besides that, good review.
Ian's Music Reviews - Thanks for
reading the review. What parts did you agree with? Disagree with?
"Three Different Ones" - Ok first,
I never saw the story as he "stopped his wall" in Empty Spaces, he talks about
losing contact with his wife, and he goes out to find a groupie to take home
(Young Lust) but finds out that his wife is cheating on him. The groupie tries
to get through to him...and he just sits there, his mind in another place. He
explodes...and then Don't Leave Me Now is his final plea...etc., so he never
really stops the building per se
Second his singing on the second disc is phenomenal. His
vocals on Hey You, Nobody Home, In the Flesh, Waiting for the Worms and the
Trial are phenomenal. Especially "The trial" I'd like to see Gilmour imitate
that. He couldn't to save his life
His singing on "Vera" and "Bring the Boys Back Home" are
great and full of emotion. Both tracks essential to the story
The only song that has nothing to do with the story that
jumps out as weak filler is Run Like Hell. It's boring to me, and it's just a
bad filler song that has nothing to do with anything.
I disagree that Comfortably Numb is the best song on record
2, and I think that song doesn't feature Dave's best solo (that honour goes to
"Dogs") I, in fact, think "The Trial" is easily the best song on Record 2, and
easily the most important song to the story on disc 2
I do agree disc 1 is great, but I think Part II is the
weakest of the "Another Brick in the Wall" trilogy, with the best being III, and
second best being 1.
Ian's Music Reviews - Fair enough.
I'm sure that everyone has a different spin on the storyline, and its entirely
possible that my interpretation is wrong.
I still stand by my opinion of Roger's vocals though. I don't
like his over-the-top, put-on, show tune voice on The Wall (or The
Final Cut). I've always preferred Gilmour's singing, but at least on past
Floyd albums Rogers sounded pretty good when singing. On The Wall I
sometimes find his phrasing/intonation to be a bit annoying.
Can we at least agree that Comfortably Numb is ONE of the
best Gilmour solos though?
Esal -
Note: this is a reader's response to my question: "have you read any of the Pink
Floyd reviews yet?" Yes, I've read some of your reviews
particularly THE WALL which sort of holds a special place in my own music
collection and in my heart. It's a very difficult work (for me anyway) to write
about without becoming very long winded so I made a point of not commenting on
your review at first for exactly that reason. Much of what you say is dead on
(IMO) but we disagree on a few major things. Rather than get into a long and
involved discussion it seemed better to just leave it. Personally there isn't a
thing about the album I would change in the slightest even if it is probably the
most depressing thing I've ever heard. It's a frightfully disturbing statement
about society in general and an entire generation in particular. It was/is
obviously something very personal for Roger Waters and because it's genius works
on so many levels (socially, artistically and personally) it's just too much to
write a brief yet insightful overview of. I'm glad he left Floyd when he did as
his demons probably would have damaged him badlyotherwise.
As for Syd... you're right about his talent being all over
the place and it is too bad. Unfortunately sometimes we're stuck with what is
rather than what should have been. I have no doubt that some of what you might
be mistaking for "poor Roger" (on The Wall) is actually poor Syd. However, from
what I understand, he spent his last years being much more contented and
comfortable than he ever could have been in the spotlight. In that respect I'm
happy for Syd in that he didn't waste his life banging his head against some
madbugger's wall.
Ian's Music Reviews - You might be right about me mistaking "poor Roger"
for "poor Syd" in The Wall storyline. I do think there are some elements of
Roger in the Pink character, but now that I think about it you are probably
correct in discerning bits of Syd's story too. Regardless, I think you hit the
nail on the head when you pointed out that Syd "didn't waste his life banging
his head against some mad bugger's wall." That is very true, and in that respect
he may have lived a happier life than some of the other member of Pink Floyd
that (at least on the surface) seemed to have their lives in better order. Roger
in particular strikes me as being a miserable individual. Syd was nuts, but at
least he lived life the last years of his life on his own terms.
A
COLLECTION OF GREAT DANCE SONGS (1981)
THE FINAL CUT (1983)
WORKS (1983)
Pink Floyd Page
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