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Pink Floyd Studio Albums, My Ranking


RussTCB

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For no particular reason, I thought I'd share my rankings of all the Pink Floyd studio albums:

01 The Wall

02 Wish You Were Here

03 Animals

04 The Dark Side of the Moon

05 Meddle

06 The Final Cut

07 The Division Bell

08 Obscured By Clouds

09 A Saucerful of Secrets

10 More

11 Ummagumma

12 The Endless River

13 Atom Heart Mother

14 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

15 A Momentary Lapse of Reason

 

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4 hours ago, RussTCB said:

For no particular reason, I thought I'd share my rankings of all the Pink Floyd studio albums:
-list- 

Cool thread! Let me be (one of) the first to disagree! 

 

01 The Dark Side of the Moon (and probably, in my opinion, the best album ever made) 

02 Wish You Were Here

03 Animals (Pigs On The Wing part 1 and 2 are my favourite tracks on it actually, it's so simple but so fragile yet depressing yet at peace. I love this!)

04 The Wall

05 Meddle (I kind of want to put this higher on the list, but I can't decide which one I'd trade it with. Such an overlooked gem of an album!)

06 The Final Cut (underrated, but it should be a Waters album)

07 Atom Heart Mother

08 Obscured By Clouds

09 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (I love it like I love Syd's solo stuff, the long version of Interstellar Overdrive is awesome too)

10 More

11 The Endless River (Beautifully atmospheric, but not the most exciting piece)

12 The Division Bell

13 A Momentary Lapse of Reason

14 Ummagumma (I'm only counting the studio part, the live part is better)

15 A Saucerful of Secrets (I could just never get into this)

 

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01 - The Final Cut

02 - The Dark Side of the Moon

03 - Animals

04 - Wish You Were Here

05 - The Division Bell

06 - Ummagumma

07 - The Wall

08 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

09 - A Saucerful of Secrets

10 - Meddle

11 - More

12 - Obscured By Clouds

13 - Atom Heart Mother

14 - The Endless River

15 - A Momentary Lapse of Reason 

 

1-11 are all tied for number 1 or 2.

The Division Bell is likely ranked higher on my list then it would be on many peoples. Making it odd that Endless River is so low. I dunno, my ears are in charge, lol.

The Final Cut at number 1 is likely controversial, but I love it. The quality of the audio is stunning, imo. The arrangements are so big and creative. I love Mason, but I dont miss him when he's not on this one.:smiley-confused2:And when Gilmour shows up his presence is huge - his best solos!! He'd perfected that Strat tone, too.

 

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For my own tastes;

1. The Wall

2. Animals

3. Wish You Were Here

4. Dark Side of the Moon

5. The Final Cut

6. Meddle

7. Ummanguamma

8. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

9. A Saucerful of Secrets

The other's I either can't really remember or don't count "Gilmour circa"

Edited by AtariLegend
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18 hours ago, username said:

Cool thread! Let me be (one of) the first to disagree! 

 

01 The Dark Side of the Moon (and probably, in my opinion, the best album ever made) 

02 Wish You Were Here

03 Animals (Pigs On The Wing part 1 and 2 are my favourite tracks on it actually, it's so simple but so fragile yet depressing yet at peace. I love this!)

04 The Wall

05 Meddle (I kind of want to put this higher on the list, but I can't decide which one I'd trade it with. Such an overlooked gem of an album!)

06 The Final Cut (underrated, but it should be a Waters album)

07 Atom Heart Mother

08 Obscured By Clouds

09 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (I love it like I love Syd's solo stuff, the long version of Interstellar Overdrive is awesome too)

10 More

11 The Endless River (Beautifully atmospheric, but not the most exciting piece)

12 The Division Bell

13 A Momentary Lapse of Reason

14 Ummagumma (I'm only counting the studio part, the live part is better)

15 A Saucerful of Secrets (I could just never get into this)

 

I like that you've got WYWH and Animals ranked so high. It's also interesting that we've got The Wall and Dark Side swapped. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the importance of DSotM and I do think it's amazing. However, I feel like it's just the beginning for Floyd doing everything right. The Wall gets a LOT of points from me for being so ambitious. I often refer to DSotM through The Wall as "the golden run". I feel like The Wall is the exclamation point on that run of albums. I think The Wall says everything Roger was trying to say and then he adds a lot more to it. I also think it gets points for being so amazing musically given the completely disfunctional state of the band by that point. 

Couldn't agree more about Meddle. I had a buddy recently become a big Floyd fan by way of WYWH and he asked me where to go next. I immediatetly recommended Meddle because it's the perfect gateway between pre-DSotM and later Floyd IMO. There's not a bad track on it and I think songs like Fearless are criminally under rated. I feel the same way about Animals with respect to Pigs On The Wing as well. It starts the album off so delicately and fragile. Then the album gets way over the top and agressive (in a very good way), then it's capped off with that same fragile feeling. Just an amazing bookend to an incredible experience. 

Also agree about Ummagumma. I would have rated it higher if I was counting the live part but since I was trying to just rank the studio albums, it fell lower. I have to say that I'm surprised by aMLoR being 

17 hours ago, soon said:

01 - The Final Cut

02 - The Dark Side of the Moon

03 - Animals

04 - Wish You Were Here

05 - The Division Bell

06 - Ummagumma

07 - The Wall

08 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

09 - A Saucerful of Secrets

10 - Meddle

11 - More

12 - Obscured By Clouds

13 - Atom Heart Mother

14 - The Endless River

15 - A Momentary Lapse of Reason 

 

1-11 are all tied for number 1 or 2.

The Division Bell is likely ranked higher on my list then it would be on many peoples. Making it odd that Endless River is so low. I dunno, my ears are in charge, lol.

The Final Cut at number 1 is likely controversial, but I love it. The quality of the audio is stunning, imo. The arrangements are so big and creative. I love Mason, but I dont miss him when he's not on this one.:smiley-confused2:And when Gilmour shows up his presence is huge - his best solos!! He'd perfected that Strat tone, too.

 

I can't say I'm mad about The Final Cut being ranked so high. I agree with everything you said outside of Mason. Gilmours solos on this record (when he bothered to play one) are AMAZING. The only song Nick isn't on is Two Suns In The Sunset but I do miss him even on the one track. The drumming is too tight and lacks Nick's feel. If anything, I miss Rick across the whole record. Michael Kaman (sp?) does some amazing work but I really wish Rick had played some of his amazing, jazzy keys on stuff like The Gunners Dream or even One Of The Few. 

7 hours ago, AtariLegend said:

For my own tastes;

1. The Wall

2. Animals

3. Wish You Were Here

4. Dark Side of the Moon

5. The Final Cut

6. Meddle

7. Ummanguamma

8. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

9. A Saucerful of Secrets

The other's I either can't really remember or don't count "Gilmour circa"

Interesting that our Top 4 is so close except for swapping WYWH for Animals. Out of curiosity, what makes you rank Animals over WYWH? 

Also, as you probably saw on my list, I put aMLoR as my least favorite Floyd album. It's not because it's "Gilmour Era", it's just because it's a REALLY bad album. I think The Division Bell is every bit as much as a classic Floyd album as many of the Waters Era albums but I just can't get down with aMLoR. The two things that make it bad IMO are the production followed by the lyrics. While The Division Bell still isn't on par with Roger lyrically, it's still got the right production and the genuine Floyd feel in the music. 

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5 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Out of curiosity, what makes you rank Animals over WYWH? 

...Because Animals is closer to the person I am offline. A paranoid cynic who despise's Thatcher. Dogs is also one of the best tracks ever imo.

As for Wish You Were Here, I love it too. However it's more of I wish that I was that person kinda thing. It's an album by rockstars about a rockstar. Animals is abit more real.

From 1-5 I've probably listened to those more than any Guns N'Roses album.

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1 hour ago, AtariLegend said:

...Because Animals is closer to the person I am offline. A paranoid cynic who despise's Thatcher. Dogs is also one of the best tracks ever imo.

As for Wish You Were Here, I love it too. However it's more of I wish that I was that person kinda thing. It's an album by rockstars about a rockstar. Animals is abit more real.

From 1-5 I've probably listened to those more than any Guns N'Roses album.

I hear what you're saying about Animals. I actually feels bad for others like me who truly get the lyrics on that album. 

Couldn't agree more about Dogs. Everything is perfect on that track. IMO, that's every member of Floyd doing what they do best, all in one spot. 

1 hour ago, moreblack said:

I don't think I've even heard them all. Meddle might be my earliest.

Oh wow. Depending on how deep you wanna go, I'd tell you to check out Obscured By Clouds at a minimum. Then maybe dig into A Saucerful of Secrets after that.

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The Wall is a good album, but it's got to be one of the most overrated albums of all time, IMO.

My ranking:

1. Wish You Were Here

2. Dark Side of The Moon

3. Animals

4. The Wall

5. Meddle

6. Obscured by Clouds

7. A Saucerful of Secrets

8. The Final Cut

9. Piper At The Gates of Dawn

10. Atom Heart Mother

11. Ummagumma

12. The Division Bell

 

Can't say I've listened to the others enough to rank them.

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20 hours ago, RussTCB said:

I like that you've got WYWH and Animals ranked so high. It's also interesting that we've got The Wall and Dark Side swapped. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the importance of DSotM and I do think it's amazing. However, I feel like it's just the beginning for Floyd doing everything right. The Wall gets a LOT of points from me for being so ambitious. I often refer to DSotM through The Wall as "the golden run". I feel like The Wall is the exclamation point on that run of albums. I think The Wall says everything Roger was trying to say and then he adds a lot more to it. I also think it gets points for being so amazing musically given the completely disfunctional state of the band by that point. 

Couldn't agree more about Meddle. I had a buddy recently become a big Floyd fan by way of WYWH and he asked me where to go next. I immediatetly recommended Meddle because it's the perfect gateway between pre-DSotM and later Floyd IMO. There's not a bad track on it and I think songs like Fearless are criminally under rated. I feel the same way about Animals with respect to Pigs On The Wing as well. It starts the album off so delicately and fragile. Then the album gets way over the top and agressive (in a very good way), then it's capped off with that same fragile feeling. Just an amazing bookend to an incredible experience. 

Also agree about Ummagumma. I would have rated it higher if I was counting the live part but since I was trying to just rank the studio albums, it fell lower. I have to say that I'm surprised by aMLoR being 

If I'd have to compare Dark Side vs The Wall, they're two wildly different animals. In my opinion Dark Side has a better balance between music and message than The Wall. In The Wall I'm missing some elements that I've always associated with Floyd up to that point. Or at least they're less prominent. Plus I've always felt that on Dark Side every piece in itself is stellar, whereas The Wall also has some pieces that are there to serve in the whole, but aren't all as strong on their own. In terms of message and meaning I'm 100% with you on The Wall and I do think it's absolutely amazing. 

I've always been slightly bummed about Animals' production. I feel it could have been mixed better. But it's still a brilliant piece. And slightly overlooked between the other 3 somehow. 

Come to think of it, Meddle is like The Stones' Beggars Banquet. Pretty much flawless in itself, but still overlooked due to the golden run that came after it. ;) 

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15 hours ago, AtariLegend said:

As for Wish You Were Here, I love it too. However it's more of I wish that I was that person kinda thing. It's an album by rockstars about a rockstar. Animals is abit more real.

For me WYWH is more about the fake destructive and deceptive side of rockstardom. And to me that makes it even stronger. There's a certain magic and desillusionment to it. I really love that. 

I'm still with you on Animals being more grim and real when it comes down to it though. 

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14 hours ago, moreblack said:

I don't think I've even heard them all. Meddle might be my earliest.

Thing is, before Meddle it all gets a bit complicated. There's the really messy and experimental period that produced Atom Heart Mother, Ummagumma and More. And maybe Obscured By Clouds had some leftoevers of that too, despite being released after Meddle. Then there's Saucerful, which is ehrm... out there. And then the completely different Piper album with much more Syd-driven work, with Relics offering some of that as well. They all have their ups and downs, but in a way all of that was still Floyd becomming Floyd. It went in wildly different directions. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just to be slightly different..

1. The Wall

2. Wish you were here

3. Dark side of the moon

4. Animals

5. The final cut

These would be the ones I listen to enough to rate. I believe they were all released consecutively (not in above order) and this would be my 'golden' period of Pink Floyd. I'd have Dark side and WYWH tied for second but WYWH edges it for Shine on you crazy diamond and the title track which would be my two favourite Floyd songs. As others have said I've tried listening to the early Syd, experimental, and post Waters stuff but it's just wasnt my cup of tea, that was 25 years ago though so maybe it's time to give it another chance....

I understand 'The Wall is overrated' comments, however to me it's like no other album I've ever listened to, yes some of the songs aren't their best work but as a whole I think it's great. It's an album I wouldnt start listening to if I wasn't going to finish it.

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