If I say "Pink Floyd", what comes to your mind?
Most likely Dark Side Of The Moon and/or The Wall. Maybe, just maybe, Animals or Wish You Were Here. Perhaps images of flying pigs and elderly citizens with a lot of nose hair playing songs at 40 bpm at Live 8 flash before your eyes. And if you know anything about rock history, you might be thinking of Syd Barrett.
But what were these four upper middle class British gents doing for all those years between Syd Barrett leaving/being sacked in 1968 and the release of Dark Side Of The Moon in 1973? Ladies and gentiles, I give you: Pink Floyd's Lost Years, aka Pink Floyd's Glory Years For Dummies.
I say "glory years" for a reason. I'm a rabid Pink Floyd nerd (got all the albums, all the movies, all the books, all the documentaries, all of everything) and this is without a shadow of a doubt my favorite era in the history of Pink Floyd. I've never subscribed to Syd Barrett's genius. Yes, he wrote some good tunes, but what he was doing simply wasn't my cup of tea. Their big bloated, over produced, stadium rock era started with the monumental success of Dark Side Of The Moon, and while I like their work from that album on, that wasn't my bag either. Nope, I prefer the shit that was going on inbetween when the band was left to experiment and try to find their voice. The guided tour starts here:
A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)
In 1967, Pink Floyd's debut album Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was released. It is said that The Beatles eavesdropped on what the Floyd was doing while recording the album at Abbey Road, and then ripped the concept off and called it Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but I doubt it. The album (and a few hit singles like Arnold Layne and See Emily Play) made Pink Floyd psychadelic superstars and the world seemed to be their oyster.
Unfortunately, lead guitarist, lead singer, frontman and main song writer Syd Barrett was becoming increasingly unreliable. Some say it was all of the LSD and Mandrax he was putting into his system, others (like bassist Roger Waters) say it was schizophrenia. Either way, it was obvious he couldn't write songs anymore, and he certainly couldn't be trusted at live gigs. Therefore, David Gilmour was brought in to take over guitar and vocals duties, and the band functioned for a short period of time as a quintet. The photo at the top of the post is one of the few taken with both Syd and David in the band.
One day in Janurary of 1968, sick of Syd erratic behavior, the other four members decided to simply not pick up Syd for a gig and thus Syd Barrett tenure with the Pink Floyd was over. Apparently, he would occasionally show up at gigs and stand in front of the stage, staring David Gilmour down. Before he left though, he participated in the recording of Pink Floyd's second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets. The final track Jugband Blues is all Barrett, but apart from that no one seems to be able to agree on exactly what he played on the album. It's obvious he plays on Remember A Day (anyone could recognise that trademark, spacey guitar of his) but he may also play on some of the other songs, such as Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun.
Let there be more light (highly recommended!)
Remember a day
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
More (1969)
Pink Floyd's first endevour without Syd was the soundtrack for Barbet Schroder's film More. The album is quite different from everything else Pink Floyd ever released. There's two heavy, rock songs (Ibiza Bar and The Nile Song, which are really the same song), and quite a few acoustic, almost country-ish, folk tunes like Cymbaline, Green Is The Colour, Cirrus Minor and Crying Song. There was also a few exercises in electronic, experimental music. It remains one of my all time favorite Floyd albums, and Cymbaline could very well be the best Pink Floyd song ever written. Unfortunately they stopped playing it live as early as 1971.
Green is the colour
Cymbaline (highly recommended!)
Ibiza bar
Ummagumma (1969)
Ummagumma is definitely the band's most experimental work. Released as a double album - one record of studio recordings, the other of live recordings. I gotta be honest: I only ever listen to the live album. You see, on the studio half the band didn't work as a band. No, each of the four members recorded their contribution individually. The "songs" by drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright are completely unlistenable, and Roger Waters' songs are just silly. The only proper song on it is David Gilmour's brilliant The Narrow Way Part Three. The live half however, is near flawless. Amazing live renditions of Astronomy Domine, Careful With That Axe Eugene, Saucerful Of Secrets and Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun. All four of them even better than any studio takes ever released.
Careful with that axe, Eugene (highly recommended!)
The narrow way part three
Atom Heart Mother (1970)
For the next album, the band teamed up with composer Ron Geesin to create the 23 minute title track, a track which I absolutely love. Like Ummagumma, this album also featued more prominent individual song writing from the band members. Roger Waters' If is mindnumbingly boring and the closer, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, is a bad joke gone too far. David Gilmour's beautiful Fat Old Sun and Rick Wright's nostalic Summer '68 are much better. Plus, it has the best album cover ever.
Summer '68
Fat old sun (highly recommended!)
Meddle (1971)
1971 saw the release of Meddle, mostly known for containing the 23 minute epic Echoes. A Pillow Of Winds is a soft acoustic piece that wouldn't have sounded of place on More, San Tropez is a tropical sounding song with a shuffle beat and Fearless is most notable for ending with the fans of the Liverpool football team singing You'll Never Walk Alone.
A pillow of winds
Fearless (highly recommended!)
San Tropez
Obscured By Clouds (1972)
Obscured By Clouds was yet another soundtrack album for a rubbish Barbet Schroder film, this time La Vallée. It remains Pink Floyd's most overlooked album, and it's hard to see why. Fans of Dark Side Of The Moon should love this, as it has a very similar production and similar song structures. Childhood's End for example, can easily be seen an early, rough version of Time (off Dark Side). The only real difference is that Obscured By Clouds doesn't have that pretentious over-all theme that Dark Side had, and it also lacks all those samples of voices, thunder, cash registers and god knows what. Basically, Obscured By Clouds is Dark Side Of The Moon with all the bullshit left out.
Wot's... uh the deal
The gold it's in the... (highly recommended!)
Stay (highly recommended!)
The following year Dark Side Of The Moon was released, and you probably know the rest. As always, if you like what you hear buy the damn albums and support the artist. Because Pink Floyd needs your money. They live on the streets, wearing rags, eating out of trash cans, roasting rats over campfires, selling their arses to strangers for a Guinness. You have this one chance to save them from poverty. Take it.
Ah, yes! It's the Peter Dolving post at last! An amazing performer I bet not even 
