Floyd Discussion

[RussTCB]

6 hours ago, jamillos said:

Well, now that I’ve recently discovered this thread, I also wanted to say how thrilled I was when I first saw David’s Live at Pompeii 2016, particularly the Comfortably Numb solo. Because apparently, he basically sort of got back to the PULSE version, i.e. the best version (although I’m aware there is quite a number of differences between the video and the audio versions of that concert, with some parts of the solo having been edited out). Because when you look at some earlier versions (not to mention when he guested at Roger’s shows in 2011), he’d usually butcher it quite a lot. It got significantly better again after some years, and I’m really glad for that. (I understand we're talking about one-off shows in many cases.) And playing it AFTER Run Like Hell, that takes balls. Awesome. 
Secondly, I have to praise that Roger’s The Wall tour version from 2011 though – I mean the whole David’s random surprise presence. When I saw the video for the first time (especially David emerging on the top, playing the solo, and people going nuts, and then the end too), I cried like a baby. After all those years. I didn’t cry when I saw Axl and Slash together again for the first time in 2016, but I did when seeing these two guys. And then Nick Mason joining them at the end, that was just pure bliss. Only one guy was missing, but oh well, we can’t change that, can we, so let’s be glad for what we have/had. It was downright cathartic.
Thank you, off the soapbox now.  Sorry for my English, haven't had a coffee yet either, got a hangover etc. 
Good morning, everyone. 

I'm not afraid to admit that I wept openly when I watched the Live 8 performance live on TV.  I never expected to see the 4 of them play together in my lifetime, but it was happening and I couldn't believe it. 

I really like that the others have done some one offs here and there since then. Of course David & Nick showing up for Roger's performance of The Wall was the big one though. I totally agree that David biffed the solo that night too. 

I've seen Gilmour in person three times. Twice with Floyd and once solo. He did an excellent job on the solo both nights with Floyd, but just did OK at his solo show. I think sometimes he's just bored with it maybe? Like he hits the first couple of notes everyone wants to hear, then just screws around entertaining himself. 

[username]

2 hours ago, RussTCB said:

I'm not afraid to admit that I wept openly when I watched the Live 8 performance live on TV.  I never expected to see the 4 of them play together in my lifetime, but it was happening and I couldn't believe it. 

Likewise. I remember it well. We were at my ex her house, but when we heard the local pub was showing it on the big screen and went there. In hindsight I should've stayed at her house with her sister's boyfriend and her dad, who also were huge Floyd fans. But at least I was with my mates having beer. I pretty much sat there in silence feeling everything was as it should be Floyd-wise. 

[RussTCB]

On 11/30/2019 at 2:07 PM, username said:

Likewise. I remember it well. We were at my ex her house, but when we heard the local pub was showing it on the big screen and went there. In hindsight I should've stayed at her house with her sister's boyfriend and her dad, who also were huge Floyd fans. But at least I was with my mates having beer. I pretty much sat there in silence feeling everything was as it should be Floyd-wise. 

I had an all day party at my house. We had London on the main TV in the living room, but were streaming other continents around the house. 

It was a really fun day. I heard a ton of music and artists I'd never heard before which was great. Floyd went on around 3 or 4pm local time, so of course everyone stopped everything just to watch them. 

One thing I loved was that every artist had an introduction throughout the day, but not Floyd. The stage went dark, the heartbeat started and they were off to the races. It was such a cool move to have no intro. They were just like "Look, we know everyone is here just to see us" lol

[username]

3 hours ago, RussTCB said:

One thing I loved was that every artist had an introduction throughout the day, but not Floyd. The stage went dark, the heartbeat started and they were off to the races. It was such a cool move to have no intro. They were just like "Look, we know everyone is here just to see us" lol

This. Pink Floyd being at Live8 was practically bigger than Live8. And it was epic. 

[jamillos]

So I’ve heard the new On the Turning Away, and so far, there are more things I dislike about it than those I like. 
I understand they wanted to make it more modern, relevant. And it does sound good in general. But the song’s sort of shrunk, especially with the different snare drum and vocals. Other stuff is different, too. Now it sounds more like something off David’s solo record than that huge, hope-eliciting song. I don’t know, man. 
This difference might be similar to what that Appetite 99 vs the original could be all about as well. 
Maybe I need to let it grow on me, but I’m afraid the original surpasses this version in any case. 

[RussTCB]

6 hours ago, jamillos said:

So I’ve heard the new On the Turning Away, and so far, there are more things I dislike about it than those I like. 
I understand they wanted to make it more modern, relevant. And it does sound good in general. But the song’s sort of shrunk, especially with the different snare drum and vocals. Other stuff is different, too. Now it sounds more like something off David’s solo record than that huge, hope-eliciting song. I don’t know, man. 
This difference might be similar to what that Appetite 99 vs the original could be all about as well. 
Maybe I need to let it grow on me, but I’m afraid the original surpasses this version in any case. 

That's exactly how I felt about the material I'd heard so far. The 2 CD / 2 LP The Later Years sampler is out now on streaming and I still felt the same way about the Momentary Lapse tracks as well as the Delicate Sound remixes on streaming. 

I bought the 2 LP version and spun it straight through last Friday. For whatever reason, everything sounded much better on the LP version than the streaming versions of the same tracks. Vinyl isn't practical or the choice of format for many, so it's such an odd, weird thing to deal with.

Mt biggest problem across any listening device is that snare though. Like you said, it just seems small. They almost sound like drums from a demo track or something. 

[jamillos]

Wow. I definitely hope it won't be all like this. 

[RussTCB]

3 hours ago, jamillos said:

Wow. I definitely hope it won't be all like this. 

The smaller (2 LP thing) had On The Turning Awsy and Sorrow from the new mix of A Momentary Lapse. They both sounded like the more hollow / thin mix to me. 

It also had Learning To Fly, Us & Them and Run Like Hell from the new mix of Delicate Sound. I did like those much better overall. 

[RussTCB]

This is random but I listened to Cluster One for the first time in a while last night. What a great way to start that album. 

[Gordon Comstock]

 

 

 

[RussTCB]

The audio contents of the new set are on streaming today. 

I breezed over it. I love that they put Welcome To The Machine in Delicate Sound, but HATE that they changed the second Comfortably Numb solo. 

[jamillos]

I don't know this version too much, always been more hooked on Pulse so far, so I can say I like this one, apart from the weird drum trip in the second part. 

Impeccable David (as usual). 

[jamillos]

I’m listening to some of the others, and personally I have to say that I think that the huge snare drum change was a mistake. I understand why they did it, but think they should have met both these approaches halfway, make a compromise. Or not touch it at all. The rest is usually cool, but this thing... And I’m not saying this because I’m a former drummer. I mean, this is a huge change. We’ll see, these are just some yt videos after all.

[RussTCB]

The more I listen to the "remix" / remaster of Delicate Sound, the less I like it. They REALLY fucked up everything about the album. WAY too many huge changes from the original :/

[Grant Chester-Meadows]

Floyd was the first band I got into as a youngster in 1976 who was just discovering rock music for the first time. Wow, that was an exciting time! A friend sent me a cassette in the post of Dark Side and Wish You Were Here. I'd heard of them, but not heard any of their songs. They didn't get played on mainstream radio in the UK. Even though I could only listen on a tiny one speaker cassette player, it blew my mind. So I rushed out and bought the albums, then Animals happened to get released a few weeks later. They've been my no.1 band ever since. Favorite song? Probably Echoes, but it keeps changing. I went to see them in London in 1980 for The Wall shows. And I also saw Roger in London in 1984 for the Pros & Cons shows

I'm not so keen on the Syd era, but I love Astronomy Domine. After Syd left the band, bringing in David Gilmour must be the best selection of a musician in the history of music. 

 

 

[RussTCB]

31 minutes ago, Grant Chester-Meadows said:

Floyd was the first band I got into as a youngster in 1976 who was just discovering rock music for the first time. Wow, that was an exciting time! A friend sent me a cassette in the post of Dark Side and Wish You Were Here. I'd heard of them, but not heard any of their songs. They didn't get played on mainstream radio in the UK. Even though I could only listen on a tiny one speaker cassette player, it blew my mind. So I rushed out and bought the albums, then Animals happened to get released a few weeks later. They've been my no.1 band ever since. Favorite song? Probably Echoes, but it keeps changing. I went to see them in London in 1980 for The Wall shows. And I also saw Roger in London in 1984 for the Pros & Cons shows

I'm not so keen on the Syd era, but I love Astronomy Domine. After Syd left the band, bringing in David Gilmour must be the best selection of a musician in the history of music. 

 

 

I dont like Syds material with Floyd, but I do love his solo work. 

Side note; I had to remove your second post because we can only allow YouTube links from official sources. The video in this post is fine because it's from the Floyd YouTube page, but the Atom Heart video was from an unofficial source, so I had to remove the post. 

In any case, big Floyd fan here. I'm always looking to discuss them. 

[soon]

49 minutes ago, Grant Chester-Meadows said:

Floyd was the first band I got into as a youngster in 1976 who was just discovering rock music for the first time. Wow, that was an exciting time! A friend sent me a cassette in the post of Dark Side and Wish You Were Here. I'd heard of them, but not heard any of their songs. They didn't get played on mainstream radio in the UK. Even though I could only listen on a tiny one speaker cassette player, it blew my mind. So I rushed out and bought the albums, then Animals happened to get released a few weeks later. They've been my no.1 band ever since. Favorite song? Probably Echoes, but it keeps changing. I went to see them in London in 1980 for The Wall shows. And I also saw Roger in London in 1984 for the Pros & Cons shows

I'm not so keen on the Syd era, but I love Astronomy Domine. After Syd left the band, bringing in David Gilmour must be the best selection of a musician in the history of music. 

 

 

Just getting into Floyd and then Animals comes out must have been incredible! Relatively few people saw the Wall Pros and Cons live. Wish I was there. Id love to hear more about both shows, I dont think Ive ever spoken to anyone who saw Pros and Cons live? I know it was a huge production. Did you get to see Rogers The Wall in 2010's, as well? 

I love the live Astronomy on Umma Gumma. Which is got to be the Floyd album I listen to most lately. 

Great screen name btw 

[Grant Chester-Meadows]

37 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I dont like Syds material with Floyd, but I do love his solo work. 

Side note; I had to remove your second post because we can only allow YouTube links from official sources. The video in this post is fine because it's from the Floyd YouTube page, but the Atom Heart video was from an unofficial source, so I had to remove the post. 

In any case, big Floyd fan here. I'm always looking to discuss them. 

Thanks for the clarification and explaining that to me. In future, I will do my best to be more careful and ensure that any You Tube links are from the official channel of the band/artist.

[Grant Chester-Meadows]

46 minutes ago, soon said:

Just getting into Floyd and then Animals comes out must have been incredible! Relatively few people saw the Wall Pros and Cons live. Wish I was there. Id love to hear more about both shows, I dont think Ive ever spoken to anyone who saw Pros and Cons live? I know it was a huge production. Did you get to see Rogers The Wall in 2010's, as well? 

I love the live Astronomy on Umma Gumma. Which is got to be the Floyd album I listen to most lately. 

Great screen name btw 

Yes, Animals came out at the start of 1977, about a month after my first listen to the band. An amazing piece of luck. I can still remember holding the album in my hand in the record shop. I've still got the tickets from the two shows I went to. But I can't see a way to post photographs of them on here. Both were at the Earls Court venue in London. The Pros & Cons show had Eric Clapton on guitar, Mel Collins on sax, Roger had a top band with him. A big selection of Floyd songs, the Pros & Cons album, and more Floyd for the encore. It was a long show! Those were the only times I've seen either Floyd, Roger, David.

Yes, my screen name ha, ha! I worked it so it sounds like a real persons name and not a song name. There's a weekend rock festival held in Cambridge every year that I go to most years. I've not been there, but Grantchester is 2 miles from Cambridge.

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by Grant Chester-Meadows
updated

[moreblack]

Did anyone catch Roger's Us + Them movie?

[RussTCB]

16 minutes ago, moreblack said:

Did anyone catch Roger's Us + Them movie?

I haven't yet, which is crazy. Normally I'd be all over something like that but I was too busy when it was released. I'm assuming it'll be released as a blu-ray or something, so I'll just pick it up then. 

[soon]

22 minutes ago, Grant Chester-Meadows said:

Yes, Animals came out at the start of 1977, about a month after my first listen to the band. An amazing piece of luck. I can still remember holding the album in my hand in the record shop. I've still got the tickets from the two shows I went to. But I can't see a way to post photographs of them on here. Both were at the Earls Court venue in London. The Pros & Cons show had Eric Clapton on guitar, Mel Collins on sax, Roger had a top band with him. A big selection of Floyd songs, the Pros & Cons album, and more Floyd for the encore. It was a long show! Those were the only times I've seen either Floyd, Roger, David.

Yes, my screen name ha, ha! I worked it so it sounds like a real persons name and not a song name. There's a weekend rock festival held in Cambridge every year that I go to most years. I've not been there, but Grantchester is 2 miles from Cambridge.

 

Must have been magical buying Animals. We hardly get albums good rock albums anymore and even less so getting to go to the the shop and hold it in your hands.

That band Roger had! Iirc Clapton didnt finish the tour? Or maybe Im confusing that. Clapton is almost never a side man, you got a show, man 

Would love to hop the pond and see places like Grandchester meadows one day.

(if you do wanna post those pics, you just need an account on a photo sharing site such as pintrest or imgur. Then you post the links from those sites here.)

[soon]

24 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I haven't yet, which is crazy. Normally I'd be all over something like that but I was too busy when it was released. I'm assuming it'll be released as a blu-ray or something, so I'll just pick it up then. 

Exactly the same for me. Now that I think of it, it seems completely wrong, but I dont remember being too fussed about missing it if Im honest. Looking forward to seeing it though!

[Grant Chester-Meadows]

6 minutes ago, soon said:

Must have been magical buying Animals. We hardly get albums good rock albums anymore and even less so getting to go to the the shop and hold it in your hands.

That band Roger had! Iirc Clapton didnt finish the tour? Or maybe Im confusing that. Clapton is almost never a side man, you got a show, man 

Would love to hop the pond and see places like Grandchester meadows one day.

(if you do wanna post those pics, you just need an account on a photo sharing site such as pintrest or imgur. Then you post the links from those sites here.)

I think that Clapton played some of the 1984 shows, but was not in the band after that. I don't have an account on any photo sharing sites, but thanks for the info. I might look into it. I always tried to keep all of my gig tickets from the old days. I've still got about half them. Luckily, the two I mentioned here are among them. So I scanned them all in case more of them disappear!

[soon]

Can we talk about Pink Floyd's folk music influences?

Calling folk a mere influence actually seems wrong imho since we could take all their folk songs and likely have a GNR sized catalogue. It's there from the start and carries through until The Wall.

Its on Piper, though in a lysergic form, in songs like Scarecrow. But they do a lot of very pure, English folk the wake of Syds departure. I kind of subscribe to the notion that there was a Rick-led period directly after Syd. His soundscapes, such as Saucerful and Quicksilver, or his major impact on all of Obscured By Clouds and the track Echoes. But at the same time both Roger and David were writing a fair bit of pure folk music. Davids Fat Old Sun, his songwriting debut iirc, and Rogers' Crying Song both spring to mind, but there are a lot of such pieces during this time. Roger worked on the Music For The Body soundtrack with Atom Heart Mother collaborator Ron Geesin, where it seems Geesin did the sound effect tracks and Roger brought more English folk (an odd addition to such a film imho). I could go on, but it would be more fun to explore what I'm calling their English Folk Period together! 

And the folk influence remains after the English Folk Period...

I'll take a bit of a risk here and suggest that some of the chord shapes and progressions used on Dark Side are a marriage of Ricks sound scape's and the Roger/David folk sensibility. I'd point to Brain Damages' chords as being a perfect example of folk shapes being applied to a space aged song. Just imagine it on acoustic guitar.

From Dark Side we're onto Wish You Were Here, with the title track being the clear folk touch stone. (now almost presented as though the folk aspect is a historical note - on the radio. And with a 12 string electric twang that harkens to the Byrds electrified folk music)

Animals is book ended by a folk song, Pigs On The Wing.

The Wall not only features english folk like Good Bye Blue Skies, but also Is There Anybody Out There which, on a Spanish guitar is likely a more 'worldly' folk sound and once again marries the synth soundscape with folk. Not only that but there is the shoutout to English Singer Vera Lynn, whom Ive heard some folk songs from (not sure if she does others forms as well?).

The Final Cut might be the least folk involved LP but at the same time it has that acoustic guitar theme, playing around on the low notes of a G-chord that harkens back to The Wall. And that very guitar motif is the central musical theme that ties Pros and Cons together...

Pros And Cons has so much folk influences. And when its not folk, its often blues, another traditional form (along with show tunes - which has origins in minstrel, which is a folk form). Unless Im forgetting something, Pros and Cons seems to be the last album by any of them to embrace folk music? Maybe Gilmours On an Island with Crosby and Nash on harmony vocals??

Anyways I think its cool that this so called 'space rock' band is perhaps just as much a part of the ongoing history of English Folk as it is a rock band? What do you think?

 

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by soon