need help with Pink Floyd

[punkinhead]

I'm trying to make the ultimate sleep playlist for when i go to bed.
I've got all my quiet favorites.
My problem is, I have Floyd's discography, and I'm having trouble finding quiet tunes to pick for my playlist.
Every single song I love that starts out or has a quiet part always gets loud....pretty much all of Darkside is loud at some point on each track...I'd love to hear some suggestions.

the only one I have on my playlist by PF is Pow R. Toc H.

[Jason]

Cirrus Minor
Crying Song
Green Is The Colour
Cymbaline
Grantchester Meadows
If
Summer '68
Fat Old Sun
A Pillow Of Winds
Echoes
Stay
When The Tigers Broke Free
Cluster One
Poles Apart
Marooned
A Great Day For Freedom
Wearing The Inside Out
Coming Back To Life

[Roger Ryan]

As much as I admire the track, I would have to say that "When The Tigers Broke Free" would definitely shock me out of my sleep after being lulled by "Fat Old Sun" and "Pillow of Winds"!

[Mike's Beard]

Julia Dream and if you can find it Embryo.

[punkinhead]

Julia Dream and if you can find it Embryo.

I have Embryo from the Works album/compilation.
BTW, when was Embryo recorded and what album was it suposed to be for or what album era was it?

[Roger Ryan]

Julia Dream and if you can find it Embryo.

I have Embryo from the Works album/compilation.
BTW, when was Embryo recorded and what album was it suposed to be for or what album era was it?

"Embryo" was never actually finished and certain members of Floyd were not that happy to have it released on WORKS. The studio recording dated back to 1968 (after A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS but prior to the UMMAGUMMA sessions) and it was performed live a few times in 1970 and '71, often as part of a longer instrumental piece.

[Mahalo]

Perhaps some of My compadres need to hear a live version of embryo, which is super awesome...just to compare to the Works version, which sounds more contrived.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

As for quiet:

Nobody Home
Goodbye Blue Sky
Signs Of Life
Is There Anybody Out There
Paranoid Eyes
Southampton Dock
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (Saucerfull Of Secrets version)
Seamus
San Tropez
Sysyphus (kinda scary though)
Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (very relaxing actually)

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Real Beach Boy:

Happy to see you list so many Division Bell songs!

I listened to that album (clear vinyl version ) last night and was frankly amazed at how good it hangs together all these years later. It really is a quite fitting final album from The Floyd. And it's sooooooo awesome that Rick's all over it.

[Jason]

I will happily defend The Division Bell; not since The Wall had they sounded so good on record. And the best part of The Division Bell was the fact that they took their sound on that album with a hint of the pre-DSOTM sound. There's a lot of Meddle and Obscured By Clouds on there.

[punkinhead]

I will happily defend The Division Bell; not since The Wall had they sounded so good on record. And the best part of The Division Bell was the fact that they took their sound on that album with a hint of the pre-DSOTM sound. There's a lot of Meddle and Obscured By Clouds on there.

Speaking of Division Bell sounding so good on record at that time, does anyone get such an 80's feel on Learning to Fly(and yes, I know it's not on division bell)?

[pixletwin]

I will happily defend The Division Bell; not since The Wall had they sounded so good on record. And the best part of The Division Bell was the fact that they took their sound on that album with a hint of the pre-DSOTM sound. There's a lot of Meddle and Obscured By Clouds on there.

Its an ok album and has it's moments. But ultimately it doesn't really sound like Pink Floyd to me. It sounds like an over produced album by a group of sessions musicians trying to sound like Pink Floyd. I have never liked an album where it takes 3 or 4 or 5 people to write a song. Thats a big tip off right there.

It is miles better than MLoR though.

[Roger Ryan]

I agree that THE DIVISION BELL is much better than A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON. For me, the first non-Waters Floyd album sounded like an attempt to imitate the sound of a Floyd album whereas BELL sounded more like a straight Gilmour solo album with Wright guesting, which is what makes it more palatable to me.

As I recall reading a couple of decades back, the first version of AMLOR was rejected by Columbia for "not sounding enough like a Pink Floyd album" which resulted in the team of outsiders being brought in to give it that "Floyd flavor". "Learning To Fly" is just alright, but it really is done in by the ugly 80s-style production. Some of the album's other tracks have acceptable melodies/performances, but the lyrics are uniformly atrocious.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I will happily defend The Division Bell; not since The Wall had they sounded so good on record. And the best part of The Division Bell was the fact that they took their sound on that album with a hint of the pre-DSOTM sound. There's a lot of Meddle and Obscured By Clouds on there.

Its an ok album and has it's moments. But ultimately it doesn't really sound like Pink Floyd to me. It sounds like an over produced album by a group of sessions musicians trying to sound like Pink Floyd. I have never liked an album where it takes 3 or 4 or 5 people to write a song. Thats a big tip off right there.

It is miles better than MLoR though.

Are you talking about A Momentary Lapse of Reason? Because yeah, that basically was a bunch of session musicians brought in to "sound like" Pink Floyd" with Gilmore admitting to playing the keyboards and "Trying to sound like Rick"

Although, Nick Mason is quoted as claiming to have played on every track regardless of there being another drummer. He talked about how him and Jim Keltner, for instance,  would arrange on the tracks for one guy to play straight time and fills while the other would provide color and percussive flourish.

In the case of The Division Bell: that record was really made by a band. Gilmore and Polly Sampson wrote the lyrics, you had Nick on drums with some additional percussion from Gary Wallis, Rick on keyboards with some additional keys/piano from Jon Carin, Gilmore on guitar and various instruments, and Guy Pratt on bass.... According to lore, Nick, Rick, Gilmore and Pratt (and sometimes Bob Ezrin on bass) recorded all the basic tracks and the touring Floyd guys augmented with later overdubs. In a way, it was really a stripped down version of the touring family of Pink Floyd gathered to make an album. In reality, this WAS Pink Floyd at the time, and it's a fantastic record.

[TdHabib]

have never liked an album where it takes 3 or 4 or 5 people to write a song. Thats a big tip off right there.

"Friends" anyone??

[pixletwin]

Are you talking about A Momentary Lapse of Reason? Because yeah, that basically was a bunch of session musicians brought in to "sound like" Pink Floyd" with Gilmore admitting to playing the keyboards and "Trying to sound like Rick"

Although, Nick Mason is quoted as claiming to have played on every track regardless of there being another drummer. He talked about how him and Jim Keltner, for instance,  would arrange on the tracks for one guy to play straight time and fills while the other would provide color and percussive flourish.

In the case of The Division Bell: that record was really made by a band. ....Polly Sampson ...Gary Wallis, ...Jon Carin, ... Guy Pratt on bass.... According to lore, Nick, Rick, Gilmore and Pratt (and sometimes Bob Ezrin on bass) ....touring Floyd guys augmented with later overdubs. In a way, it was really a stripped down version of the touring family of Pink Floyd gathered to make an album. In reality, this WAS Pink Floyd at the time, and it's a fantastic record.

Exactly my point.This was a stripped down version of the Pink Floyd Touring Band. Not Pink Floyd.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

But that WAS Pink Floyd at the time, just as The Wall with Jeff Procaro, Bob Ezrin, Freddie Mandel, Lee Ritnour, Bruce Johnston, Tony Tennill, WAS Pink Floyd at that time. Actually that really WAS just a bunch of session musicians being brought in. By the time of The Division Bell, Guy Pratt, Jon Carin, Gary Wallis etc had been with Floyd for over 8 years, so yeah, that was the band by that time. Not saying it's better than the Mason, Waters, Gilmore, Wright core, but that it was by no means some studio hack steeped fraud..... They didn't have to bring any of these guys in for Division Bell but they knew them, had toured the world twice with them, and had more fun on those two tours than on any before, liked their playing and creativity, so why not? Guy Pratt's Rick Wright's son-in-law for Christ's sake! This WAS Pink Floyd circa 1994!

[Mike's Beard]

Is anybody else's favourite era of Floyd pre "Dark Side of the Moon"? It seems that after that the records became a bit more even and steady sounding but as a result lost a lot of that wacky experimental style in the process.  Give me "Atom Heart Mother" or "Ummagumma" anyday!

[pixletwin]

Is anybody else's favourite era of Floyd pre "Dark Side of the Moon"? It seems that after that the records became a bit more even and steady sounding but as a result lost a lot of that wacky experimental style in the process.  Give me "Atom Heart Mother" or "Ummagumma" anyday!

My fave is actually Piper era.

And Eric I understand your point of it DB being an accurate portrait of PF at that moment, but to my ears that doesn't mitigate the fact that it is still the second worst album they ever put out (to my ears).

[Music Machine]

Get a hold of the outtakes from the Zabriskie Point sessions to hear Fingal's Cave, and Richard Wright's piano instrumental versions of the Love Theme and The Violent Sequence which later formed the basis for Us and Them.

My view on the post Roger albums is that I could cull the few songs I like on both of them together and make one 45 minute album I wouldn't mind listening to. I find mostly the songs and atmosphere sound forced on those albums. My overall favorite post Roger song is Wearing the Inside Out.

My other favorite post Roger Floyd moment isn't on an album or from one of the live shows, it's footage of them rehearsing Echoes for the '87 tour that's on Youtube. They reach a good blend of emulating the original and adding some minor 80's rock touches here and there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVyV-LNM1Ug

[TheLazenby]

God, I should send you my "lost Pink Floyd album" that I pieced together... I cut half the songs out, and it's still an utter snore.  This is the tracklist...

SIDE ONE
01) Heart Beat, Pig Meat
02) Crumbling Land  [with truncated sound-effects ending]
03) The Red Queen  [with full Gilmour solo]
04) Rock Intro  [allegedly part of a Crumbling Land outtake, but it fits right onto...]
05) Fingal's Cave  [okay, THIS isn't quiet.]

SIDE TWO
01) Embryo
02) Oenone  [not the take where Rog and Dave act out a sex scene, thankfully.]
03) Biding My Time

SIDE THREE
01) The Red Queen Interlude  [a harpsichord rendition]
02) The Violent Sequence (Us and Them)  [edited down a little bit]
03) Rain In The Country  [aka Unknown Song - later reused as part of 'Atom Heart Mother']
04) Pink Blues

SIDE FOUR
01) Love Scene  [Richard's piano instrumental]
02) Sleep  [another 'Love Scene' improv, cut down by half... just boring vibes!]
03) Come In No. 51, Your Time Is Up  [Roger wakes you up!]
04) The Red Queen (Reprise)

Since all of this material (save the two Ummagumma-era outtakes) was written to score a movie about hippies in a desert, I gave it the Floydian title of "A Vast Expanse Of Freedom."  The cover art is Floyd floating above a desert, from the French soda ads they did.

[bgas]

Guess I've missed out on a lot!  
Grew up listening to Saucer and Piper, Umma, moved onto Meddle and the Dark Side, and stopped listening to Floyd, tho I still hear Flashbacks in my mind

[punkinhead]

Since this thread, I've been listening to Division Bell like crazy! From watching/listening to Pulse, I've come to love Keep Talking and especially What do You Want From Me, I love the bass feel on the latter song. Always been a fan of High Hopes. Poles Apart and Cluster One have grown on me. Marooned has always been a favorite instrumental since I heard it on the Echoescompilation, which btw, for what it's worth, Echoes is BRILLIANTLY put together, the way the tracks are pieced together are amazing! Great album cover too.

I'm still having a fight (internally) between the Final Cut and A Momentary Laps of Reason, are those the two division albums when it comes to favoring (as a fan) the Waters' Pink Floyd or Gilmour's Pink Floyd?

Would I be wrong is saying Floyd is more unified on A Momentary Laps of Reason than the Final Cut?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Would I be wrong is saying Floyd is more unified on A Momentary Laps of Reason than the Final Cut?

Sort of, in that it's about the same. Both were solo albums put out as Floyd albums. Despite the booklet credits, Wright is on neither album. Mason drummed on every cut save the final one (see what I did there?) on TFC, but was barely on Lapse (heavy use of drum machines on that one), so by that you can actually argue TFC is more of a Floyd sounding album.

But that WAS Pink Floyd at the time, just as The Wall with Jeff Procaro, Bob Ezrin, Freddie Mandel, Lee Ritnour, Bruce Johnston, Tony Tennill, WAS Pink Floyd at that time. Actually that really WAS just a bunch of session musicians being brought in. By the time of The Division Bell, Guy Pratt, Jon Carin, Gary Wallis etc had been with Floyd for over 8 years, so yeah, that was the band by that time. Not saying it's better than the Mason, Waters, Gilmore, Wright core, but that it was by no means some studio hack steeped fraud..... They didn't have to bring any of these guys in for Division Bell but they knew them, had toured the world twice with them, and had more fun on those two tours than on any before, liked their playing and creativity, so why not? Guy Pratt's Rick Wright's son-in-law for Christ's sake! This WAS Pink Floyd circa 1994!

That's the thing...Animals was the last Floyd album I truly loved (actually TFC is one of my favorite albums of all time, but I consider it a Waters album). I actually feel the Wall is overrated to be honest. For me, the magic starts to go when a band has more session musicians playing on the album (and the live shows) than the actual band members (much like when the Beach Boys started bringing in more people to sing...it took away from the natural blend of their voices IMHO). Usually the kiss of death is female backup singers on every song live, even for songs that didn't originally have backups. Just a huge pet peeve of mine.


For the record, my favorite PF period is Saucerful thru Obscured by Clouds.

[TdHabib]

Wright is on a bit of Momentary Lapse, he's singing backup on "Sorrow" at least.