Pink Floyd - The Studio Albums

[Slim]

Animals [January 1977]

I briefly pondered buying this album a few times in my early 20s, while browsing the racks in Hartlepool's various record shops. But I didn't. I bought the 1994 CD remaster about twenty years ago and that's what I listened to today, for probably the third or fourth time.

In my previous piece in this modest thread I opined that Wish You Were Here is the overextended product of a band short of ideas. That's even more obviously true here. In fact a large proportion of the album (more than twenty-seven minutes of it, no less) is reworked from material that was considered for the previous album (Dogs and Sheep).

Apart from Dogs which was co-written with Gilmour, the entire album is written (and sung) by Waters. Rick Wright later claimed that Rog wouldn't let him write material for it - which does ring true, doesn't it? To be fair Gilmour was supposedly distracted by the arrival of his first born. I suspect that this is the point in the Pink Floyd story at which Roger's ego kicks in and he takes charge, so much so that he starts to think of the other three as his backing band. Personally I've always thought of him as the critical creative force in the band anyway but there's no doubt that Gilmour and Wright made important contributions to their best albums.

The album is bookended by two versions of a simple but effective acoustic ditty called Pigs On The Wing. Exactly the same tactic as the last album; the same tune offered twice at opposite ends of the record - but to be fair it's only about 85 seconds long, in both versions.

Dogs is just over seventeen minutes long; you might assume that it's an 'epic' in the grand tradition of Atom Heart Mother or Echoes, but it isn't. It's just a fairly straightfoward song, padded out with long and not-very-interesting subdued instrumental parts. I do like it, but I'd like it a lot more if it lasted for about six minutes. Very nice vocal by Gilmour, clever lyrics, lovely chord changes, nice guitar part.

Pigs is at least only eleven minutes long (ish) but it's a very ordinary tune that would struggle to sustain three minutes. Sheep I do quite like, albeit not a lot. There's just about enough variation and energy to justify its ten minute duration. I like Gilmour's shimmering broken chords toward the end.

I've always felt that there's something depressingly low-key about this album. I get that it's supposed to be "dark". The subject matter is supposed to reflect the grim sociopolitical conditions of mid '70s Britain, and as far as I can tell the animals represented by the various tunes are allegories of social classes, a bit like Animal Farm. But the production feels really flat. There does exist a 2018 remix that supposedly addresses this. I've never liked the tunes enough to bother with it. The bigger problem is that there are none of the irresistible melodies or sophisticated instrumental passages that the previous two albums had. A bit of the trademark wash of atmospheric synth or a few delicately plucked echoey guitar arpeggios might have improved the long tedious part in Dogs, for example.

Anyway - more positively, that cynical, astringent edge in Waters' vocal really starts to come to the fore on this album. I like that.

Glad I had a listen one more time, but there's nothing to draw me back to Animals. I can't see myself investing forty-one minutes in it again. It ought to be an EP, really. In truth there's about fifteen minutes of worthwhile music on the whole record. Maybe even less.

[Thenop]

I like Animals, the long winding songs suit me. Not always, but I do return to this one a bit. The double guitar solo in Dogs is great, in fact Gilmours solos shine quite a bit on this album. I guess I am more a long form song guy than a short form. Always have been, long intros, extended solo parts - bring it on. Probably why this one resonates.
Dogs I like best, but really all three songs are great to me.

[dom]

I enjoyed Shine On for the first few times I listened to it, but nowadays find it too repetitive.

Never understood why Roy Harper was brought in to sing Have A Cigar.  An outward sign of the power struggle between Waters and Gilmore. Perhaps they both wanted to sing it, couldn't agree in who would so they got a third party in.

Welcome to the Machine and Have A Cigar are essentially the same song

Overall WYWH is a drop in standard between the 2 albums either side of it

[Slim]

The Wall [November 1979]

I never much liked The Wall. I'd been listening to Dark Side Of The Moon a lot when it came out and it seemed singularly lacking in the aural qualities I'd come to expect from the Floyd: the atmospheric soundscape, the lush wash of keyboards, the soaring melodies. Instead it had a sort of brash immediacy that didn't appeal to me.

I'll never forget the first time I heard Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) which was the lead single from the album. It came on the radio in the kitchen I shared with 20 other students in a large house in Huddersfield. The pounding disco beat .. the kids' chorus. I couldn't believe it. And I didn't like it.

There was a sense, at that time, that the old guard had run out of steam at the very moment the New Wave had arrived to usurp them. Zeppelin and Yes had put out awful, tired, flaccid records. Genesis seemed to have gone a bit commercial and ordinary. And unfortunately, it seemed to me that Floyd had jumped the shark as well. I recall that a lot of rock fans felt the same way. I recall a conversation with one of the old rockers down the basement boozer I used to frequent in Hartlepool, just after the album came out. "All in all, Jim", he remarked, "I'm just another prick who bought The Wall".

Despite that, I did listen to, or at least hear this album dozens of times back then. My first girlfriend had a copy and she was fond of it. I did buy it myself eventually at some point early in the present century, but I've only played it a few times.

But I gave it a proper listen today and I must say I definitely got a new perspective on it. Firstly and most obviously, compared to the two albums which precede it and which are in my opinion woefully short of ideas and conspicuously padded out, this one definitely, emphatically isn't. Even at 81 minutes, it's absolutely chock-full of inspiration and ideas, both thematic and musical. Sure - some of the ideas are repeated but that's done to great effect, to maintain and reinforce the theme. Generally speaking the musical content is pretty diverse here, even though it all hangs together very nicely. It holds on to the sense of being a single coherent statement; a proper rock opera.

It's clear that Waters is completely in charge by now and this is definitely his own record. I think he's had a lot of help from Bob Ezrin to be fair, especially conceptually. But Waters is clearly possessed here of an idea and the need to express it. And my word, he certainly does express himself. I had forgotten about The Trial, which is a powerfully dark, extremely theatrical piece. His intense, dramatic vocal brings to mind Ron Moody prowling the boards on the West End. Lionel Bart would have been proud.

I did miss the old Floyd sound and mood but you can't really blame them, although I did at the time, for embracing a more modern feel. The chorus and echo effects in the rhythm guitar, the punchier, more rhythmic bass, for example. And it's a shame that I don't really have a lot to say about Rick Wright's contribution. There are keyboards all over the album of course but on the whole they aren't really distinctive. Accompaniment, really.

Like many another "double album" I'm sure, The Wall really benefits from the CD format, and not just for the audio quality. I'm sure that even if I'd liked the record back in the day, the irritation of having to flip a side or change a record three times would have spoiled the fun a bit. It obviously flows more nicely without the interruptions, which of course is just what you want for an album with a conceptual narrative like this.

Roger Waters is reported to have declared in 1992 that The Wall was "stupefyingly good" and you know what? I think he was right. But I still don't like it as much as Dark Side Of The Moon.

Here's a fun fact that I read a few months ago. Gilmour composed a guitar solo for Another Brick in the Wall but painted himself into a corner .. he couldn't work out a good way to get back into the verse. So Ezrin brought in Lee Ritenour, a renowned session player best known for smooth jazz, to coach him and show him how to finish off his solo. Rit also plays some rhythm guitar parts elsewhere on the album that Gilmour struggled with.

[Slim]

The Final Cut [March 1983]

Dark. That's the first word that comes to mind to describe this one. I never paid it much attention when it came out, although I did buy Roger's solo album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking when it emerged a year later. But I think that had something to do with Eric Clapton being on it. Eric was going through something of a renaissance at the time.

This album too is a Roger Waters solo album in all but name. It's his concept, he's written all the words and music himself and he sings the lead part on all of them as well (except that Gilmour has a co-lead vocal on Not Now John). These are really strong compositions, with a very sombre mood. Once again the album feels like a single statement that's supposed to flow in a particular order. It's not a rock opera per se but it does have a unifying theme and a loose narrative.

It doesn't sound like Pink Floyd at all until a typical Gilmour guitar solo kicks in during The Fletcher Memorial Home, which would have been the second track on Side Two back in the day. The (very effective) orchestration arguably plays a bigger musical part than the rest of the band.

So much so that when Gilmour's vocal cuts in during Not Now John it honestly feels a bit out of place. I remember that that one was the single off the album, and on Top Of The Pops. But the version that was broadcast to the nation had the words "fuck all that", which are repeated a few times, replaced by the title, ie "not now John". Although it's a tune that I like a lot the whole thing feels a bit odd in the context of the rest of the album, it's much more conventional rock. A bit jarring.

I can't remember what prompted me to buy this record, in the late '90s I think. I've always liked and respected it but it's what you might call a "demanding listen". It's just so intense, so wilfully bleak. Bordering on disturbing, at times. Roger puts so much cynical feeling and subdued anger into his vocal that it's almost a voyeuristic experience. It's as though he's trying to disturb you by baring his emotional wounds; by exposing his bitter resignation. It's certainly a heartfelt performance. The album is, of course, about his father's death at Anzio in 1943, and Roger's disappointment with the way the world turned out since then.

One thing I didn't know until recently - the fourth piece on the CD, When The Tigers Broke Free wasn't on the original vinyl release. Odd because it feels like a key moment on the record, probably the most personal piece of all of them.

I'm not keen on Roger's sentiments about Mrs Thatcher and the Falklands war. But apart from that this is a pretty special album. I'm not sure I could say that it's a fitting way to close out the Floyd's career given that it's not a Pink Floyd album in a meaningful sense, but it's definitely the end of the road for me. This is the last chapter in the canon.

I may listen to the later faux-Floyd albums out of curiosity. Probably not. I did buy the first one when it came out and still have the vinyl in the loft. But I can't honestly think of a good reason to upgrade it to FLAC or high-quality MP3.

It's been said that Floyd without Roger Waters is something like The Beatles without Lennon. In truth, it's more like The Beatles without Lennon and McCartney. Like George Harrison, Gilmour made some important, memorable contributions to his band and constituted a distinctive part of it. But he wasn't its creative essence (and certainly, Nick Mason wasn't either).

[The Picnic Wasp]

Paradoxically, The Division Bell is my favourite Pink Floyd album. It's actually one of my favourite all-time albums, so maybe I'm more of a Gilmour fan than a PF one.

[dom]

Floyd lost all their bite and edge when Waters left. All very supine and limp wristed after.

The Final Cut is probably the bitiest and edgiest, certainly the lyrics.  I think it really doesn't deserve the panning it gets.

Nice review Slim!

Gilmour and Waters had some chemistry between them though.  I don't think either came anywhere near to creating anything as good when they were solo to what they managed as part of PF.

The ambition and execution of Waters live shows puts him ahead of Gilmour though.

[Nickslikk2112]

I must say that the Final Cut is my least favourite Floyd album. Got it for my 20th Birthday. Worst birthday ever.

I suppose when your favourite Floyd album is the Psychedelic Whimsy of Piper, then the abject misery of a polemical Water's Floyd isn't going to float you punt. When I eventually got round to listening to the Watersless Floyd albums I found them a much more palatable echo of the Floydian past.

[Fishy]

Always remember listening to the Saturday Rock show or whatever it was called then with Richard Skinner playing I think it was the first 2/3 tracks from side one then Two Suns in the Sunset then after playing saying something along the lines of . Well I hope that's cheered everybody up..

It's pretty grim listening tbh . With rehashed songs that weren't good enough for The Wall.. just more of moany old Rog banging on about the war.. his father etc etc

I doubt I'll ever listen to it ever again

[David L]

Always remember listening to the Saturday Rock show or whatever it was called then with Richard Skinner playing I think it was the first 2/3 tracks from side one then Two Suns in the Sunset then after playing saying something along the lines of . Well I hope that's cheered everybody up..

It's pretty grim listening tbh . With rehashed songs that weren't good enough for The Wall.. just more of moany old Rog banging on about the war.. his father etc etc

I doubt I'll ever listen to it ever again

I'm on a Facebook group where we post what we are listening to and some guy, whenever playing any Roger Waters, just writes 'Dead dad klaxon' 

[Thenop]

I usually like darker albums, TFC is not my least favorite Floyd album, but like said it's really a Roger solo outing. Just like the subsequent efforts are Gilmour albums in all but name. I like those albums - I already mentioned that -  and Gilmour may have less to say, the way he packaged it appealed to me.

From Waters' solo albums I really enjoy Amused to Death for more than one reason. Beck's guitar on here is fantastic but also it's simply a demo record. Any new piece of kit I get I plat this album on just to hear what it can sound like.