Pink Floyd: Albums Collection (1967 - 1994) [Japanese Pressing] Re-up

The title of Pink Floyd's debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barrett's favorite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD. Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences – "Astronomy Domine" is a poppier number in this vein, but tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" are some of the earliest forays into what has been tagged space rock. But even though Barrett's lyrics and melodies are mostly playful and humorous, the band's music doesn't always bear out those sentiments – in addition to Rick Wright's eerie organ work, dissonance, chromaticism, weird noises, and vocal sound effects are all employed at various instances, giving the impression of chaos and confusion lurking beneath the bright surface. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation – the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barrett's subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time.

by Steve Huey, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Astronomy Domine 4:12
02. Lucifer Sam 3:08
03. Matilda Mother 3:09
04. Flaming 2:46
05. Pow R. Toc H. 4:27
06. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk 3:06
07. Interstellar Overdrive 9:41
08. The Gnome 2:14
09. Chapter 24 3:42
10. Scarecrow 2:11
11. Bike 3:22

A transitional album on which the band moved from Syd Barrett's relatively concise and vivid songs to spacy, ethereal material with lengthy instrumental passages. Barrett's influence is still felt (he actually did manage to contribute one track, the jovial "Jugband Blues"), and much of the material retains a gentle, fairy-tale ambience. "Remember a Day" and "See Saw" are highlights; on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," "Let There Be More Light," and the lengthy instrumental title track, the band begin to map out the dark and repetitive pulses that would characterize their next few records.

by Richie Unterberger, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Let There Be More Light 5:38
02. Remember A Day 4:33
03. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun 5:28
04. Corporal Clegg 4:13
05. A Saucerful Of Secrets 11:57
06. See-Saw 4:37
07. Jugband Blues 2:59

Commissioned as a soundtrack to the seldom-seen French hippie movie of the same name, More was a Pink Floyd album in its own right, reaching the Top Ten in Britain. The group's atmospheric music was a natural for movies, but when assembled for record, these pieces were unavoidably a bit patchwork, ranging from folky ballads to fierce electronic instrumentals to incidental mood music. Several of the tracks are pleasantly inconsequential, but this record does include some strong compositions, especially "Cymbaline," "Green Is the Colour," and "The Nile Song." All of these developed into stronger pieces in live performances, and better, high-quality versions are available on numerous bootlegs.

by Richie Unterberger, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Cirrus Minor
02. The Nile Song
03. Crying Song
04. Up The Khyber
05. Green Is The Colour
06. Cymbaline
07. Party Sequence
08. Main Theme
09. Ibiza Bar
10. More Blues
11. Quicksilver
12. A Spanish Piece
13. Dramatic Theme

For many years, this double LP/CD was one of the most popular albums in Pink Floyd's pre-Dark Side of the Moon output, containing a live disc and a studio disc all for the price of one (in the LP version). The live set, recorded in Birmingham and Manchester in June 1969, is limited to four numbers, all drawn from the group's first two LPs or their then recent singles. Featuring the band's second lineup (i.e., no Syd Barrett), the set shows off a very potent group, their sound held together on-stage by Nick Mason's assertive drumming and Roger Waters' powerful bass work, which keep the proceedings moving no matter how spaced out the music gets; they also sound like they've got the amplifiers to make their music count, which is more than the early band had. "Astronomy Domine," "Careful with That Axe Eugene," "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," and "A Saucerful of Secrets" are all superior here to their studio originals, done longer, louder, and harder, with a real edge to the playing. The studio disc was more experimental, each member getting a certain amount of space on the record to make his own music – Richard Wright's "Sysyphus" was a pure keyboard work, featuring various synthesizers, organs, and pianos; David Gilmour's "The Narrow Way" was a three-part instrumental for acoustic and electric guitars and electronic keyboards; and Nick Mason's "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" made use of a vast range of acoustic and electric percussion devices. Roger Waters' "Grantchester Meadows" was a lyrical folk-like number unlike almost anything else the group ever did. In 1994 the album was remastered and reissued in a green slipcase, in a version a lot louder and sharper (and cheaper) than the original CD release.

by Bruce Eder, AMG

Tracklist CD1 - Live Album:

01. Astronomy Domine 8:30
02. Careful With That Axe, Eugene 8:51
03. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun 9:12
04. A Saucerful Of Secrets 12:48


Tracklist CD2 - Studio Album:

01. Sysyphus (Part One) 1:09
02. Sysyphus (Part Two) 3:30
03. Sysyphus (Part Three) 1:50
04. Sysyphus (Part Four) 7:00
05. Grantchester Meadows 7:26
06. Several Species Of Small Furry Animals
Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict 5:00
07. The Narrow Way (Part One) 3:28
08. The Narrow Way (Part Two) 2:53
09. The Narrow Way (Part Three) 5:57
10. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Part One - Entrance) 1:00
11. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Part Two - Entertainment) 7:06
12. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Part Three - Exit) 0:39

Appearing after the sprawling, unfocused double-album set Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother may boast more focus, even a concept, yet that doesn't mean it's more accessible. If anything, this is the most impenetrable album Pink Floyd released while on Harvest, which also makes it one of the most interesting of the era. Still, it may be an acquired taste even for fans, especially since it kicks off with a side-long, 23-minute extended orchestral piece that may not seem to head anywhere, but is often intriguing, more in what it suggests than what it achieves. Then, on the second side, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Rick Wright have a song apiece, winding up with the group composition "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" wrapping it up. Of these, Waters begins developing the voice that made him the group's lead songwriter during their classic era with "If," while Wright has an appealingly mannered, very English psychedelic fantasia on "Summer 68," and Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" meanders quietly before ending with a guitar workout that leaves no impression. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast," the 12-minute opus that ends the album, does the same thing, floating for several minutes before ending on a drawn-out jam that finally gets the piece moving. So, there are interesting moments scattered throughout the record, and the work that initially seems so impenetrable winds up being Atom Heart Mother's strongest moment. That it lasts an entire side illustrates that Pink Floyd was getting better with the larger picture instead of the details, since the second side just winds up falling off the tracks, no matter how many good moments there are. This lack of focus means Atom Heart Mother will largely be for cultists, but its unevenness means there's also a lot to cherish here.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Atom Heart Mother 23:44
02. If 4:30
03. Summer '68 5:29
04. Fat Old Sun 5:22
05. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast 13:00

Since Relics is a compilation and not a regular studio album, it tends to be overlooked when thought of as one of Pink Floyd's better releases. It might not be regarded as a classic psychedelic masterpiece in the manner of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and it certainly won't ever achieve the multiple platinum status of Dark Side of the Moon, but it's a pretty good place to start with the band's early catalog. Originally issued in 1971, Relics culls from the band's first five singles (two A-sides and three B-sides, including the non-album pop classics "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne") and picks album material that capitalizes on the band's versatility while making it a thoroughly palatable listen. From Piper, you get the goofy childishness of "Bike" and the mesmerizing "Interstellar Overdrive," one of the band's trademark instrumental freak-outs; "The Nile Song," taken from the More soundtrack, is one of the heaviest songs the band recorded. A little bit of everything that made early Pink Floyd can be found here. Without a doubt, the disc is an essential part of the band's discography, not to be disregarded due to its overlap with studio album material.

by Andy Kellman, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Arnold Layne 2:57
02. Interstellar Overdrive 9:43
03. See Emily Play 2:54
04. Remember A Day 4:29
05. Paintbox 3:33
06. Julia Dream 2:37
07. Careful With That Axe, Eugene 5:46
08. Cirrus Minor 5:18
09. The Nile Song 3:26
10. Biding My Time 5:18
11. Bike 3:22

Atom Heart Mother, for all its glories, was an acquired taste, and Pink Floyd wisely decided to trim back its orchestral excesses for its follow-up, Meddle. Opening with a deliberately surging "One of These Days," Meddle spends most of its time with sonic textures and elongated compositions, most notably on its epic closer, "Echoes." If there aren't pop songs in the classic sense (even on the level of the group's contributions to Ummagumma), there is a uniform tone, ranging from the pastoral "A Pillow of Winds" to "Fearless," with its insistent refrain hinting at latter-day Floyd. Pink Floyd were nothing if not masters of texture, and Meddle is one of their greatest excursions into little details, pointing the way to the measured brilliance of Dark Side of the Moon and the entire Roger Waters era. Here, David Gilmour exerts a slightly larger influence, at least based on lead vocals, but it's not all sweetness and light – even if its lilting rhythms are welcome, "San Tropez" feels out of place with the rest of Meddle. Still, the album is one of the Floyd's most consistent explorations of mood, especially from their time at Harvest, and it stands as the strongest record they released between Syd's departure and Dark Side.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

Tracklist:

01. One Of These Days 5:57
02. A Pillow Of Winds 5:13
03. Fearless 6:08
04. San Tropez 3:43
05. Seamus 2:15
06. Echoes 23:27

Obscured by Clouds is the soundtrack to the Barbet Schroeder film La Vallée, and it plays that way. Of course, it's possible to make the argument that Pink Floyd's music of the early '70s usually played as mood music, similar to film music, but it had structure and a progression. Here, the instrumentals float pleasantly, filled with interesting textures, yet they never seem to have much of a purpose. Often, they seem quite tied to their time, either in their spaciness or in the pastoral folkiness, two qualities that are better brought out on the full-fledged songs interspersed throughout the record. Typified by "Burning Bridges" and "Wot's…uh the Deal," these songs explore some of the same musical ground as those on Atom Heart Mother and Meddle, yet they are more concise and have a stronger structure. But the real noteworthy numbers are the surprisingly heavy blues-rocker "The Gold It's in The…," which, as good as it is, is trumped by the stately, ominous "Childhood's End" and the jaunty pop tune "Free Four," two songs whose obsessions with life, death, and the past clearly point toward Dark Side of the Moon. ("Childhood's End" also suggests Dark Side in its tone and arrangement.) As startlingly advanced as these last two songs are, they're not enough to push the rest of Obscured by Clouds past seeming just like a soundtrack, yet these tunes, blended with the sensibility of Meddle, suggest what Pink Floyd was about to develop into.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

Tracklist:

1. Obscured by Clouds – 3:03
2. When You're In – 2:30
3. Burning Bridges – 3:29
4. The Gold It's in the… – 3:07
5. Wot's… Uh The Deal – 5:08
6. Mudmen – 4:20
7. Childhood's End – 4:31
8. Free Four – 4:15
9. Stay" – 4:05
10. Absolutely Curtains – 5:52

By condensing the sonic explorations of Meddle to actual songs and adding a lush, immaculate production to their trippiest instrumental sections, Pink Floyd inadvertently designed their commercial breakthrough with Dark Side of the Moon. The primary revelation of Dark Side of the Moon is what a little focus does for the band. Roger Waters wrote a series of songs about mundane, everyday details which aren't that impressive by themselves, but when given the sonic backdrop of Floyd's slow, atmospheric soundscapes and carefully placed sound effects, they achieve an emotional resonance. But what gives the album true power is the subtly textured music, which evolves from ponderous, neo-psychedelic art rock to jazz fusion and blues-rock before turning back to psychedelia. It's dense with detail, but leisurely paced, creating its own dark, haunting world. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracklist:

1(a).Speak To Me
1(b).Breathe
2. On The Run
3. Time
4. The Great Gig In The Sky
5. Money
6. Us And Them
7. Any Colour You Like
8. Brain Damage
9. Eclipse

Pink Floyd followed the commercial breakthrough of Dark Side of the Moon with Wish You Were Here, a loose concept album about and dedicated to their founding member Syd Barrett. The record unfolds gradually, as the jazzy textures of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" reveal its melodic motif, and in its leisurely pace, the album shows itself to be a warmer record than its predecessor. Musically, it's arguably even more impressive, showcasing the group's interplay and David Gilmour's solos in particular. And while it's short on actual songs, the long, winding soundscapes are constantly enthralling.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part One) 13:40
02. Welcome To The Machine 7:31
03. Have A Cigar 5:09
04. Wish You Were Here 5:34
05. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part Two) 12:31

Of all of the classic-era Pink Floyd albums, Animals is the strangest and darkest, a record that's hard to initially embrace yet winds up yielding as many rewards as its equally nihilistic successor, The Wall. It isn't that Roger Waters dismisses the human race as either pigs, dogs, or sheep, it's that he's constructed an album whose music is as bleak and bitter as that world view. Arriving after the warm-spirited (albeit melancholy) Wish You Were Here, the shift in tone comes as a bit of a surprise, and there are even less proper songs here than on either Wish or Dark Side. Animals is all extended pieces, yet it never drifts – it slowly, ominously works its way toward its destination. For an album that so clearly is Waters', David Gilmour's guitar dominates thoroughly, with Richard Wright's keyboards rarely rising above a mood-setting background (such as on the intro to "Sheep"). This gives the music, on occasion, immediacy and actually heightens the dark mood by giving it muscle. It also makes Animals as accessible as it possibly could be, since it surges with bold blues-rock guitar lines and hypnotic space rock textures. Through it all, though, the utter blackness of Waters' spirit holds true, and since there are no vocal hooks or melodies, everything rests on the mood, the near-nihilistic lyrics, and Gilmour's guitar. These are the kinds of things that satisfy cultists, and it will reward their attention – there's just no way in for casual listeners.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Pigs On The Wing 1 1:25
02. Dogs 17:04
03. Pigs (Three Different Ones) 11:22
04. Sheep 10:24
05. Pigs On The Wing 2 1:25

Roger Waters constructed The Wall, a narcissistic, double-album rock opera about an emotionally crippled rock star who spits on an audience member daring to cheer during an acoustic song. Given its origins, it's little wonder that The Wall paints such an unsympathetic portrait of the rock star, cleverly named "Pink," who blames everyone – particularly women – for his neuroses. Such lyrical and thematic shortcomings may have been forgivable if the album had a killer batch of songs, but Waters took his operatic inclinations to heart, constructing the album as a series of fragments that are held together by larger numbers like "Comfortably Numb" and "Hey You." Generally, the fully developed songs are among the finest of Pink Floyd's later work, but The Wall is primarily a triumph of production: its seamless surface, blending melodic fragments and sound effects, makes the musical shortcomings and questionable lyrics easy to ignore. But if The Wall is examined in depth, it falls apart, since it doesn't offer enough great songs to support its ambition, and its self-serving message and shiny production seem like relics of the late-'70s Me Generation.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

Tracklist CD1:

01. In The Flesh? 3:20
02. The Thin Ice 2:30
03. Another Brick In The Wall - Part 1 3:10
04. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives 1:50
05. Another Brick In The Wall - Part 2 3:59
06. Mother 5:34
07. Goodbye Blue Sky 2:48
08. Empty Spaces 2:08
09. Young Lust 3:31
10. One Of My Turns 3:37
11. Don't Leave Me Now 4:16
12. Another Brick In The Wall - Part 3 1:15
13. Goodbye Cruel World 1:14


Tracklist CD2:

01. Hey You 4:42
02. Is There Anybody Out There? 2:40
03. Nobody Home 3:25
04. Vera 1:33
05. Bring The Boys Back Home 1:27
06. Comfortably Numb 6:22
07. The Show Must Go On 1:36
08. In The Flesh 4:17
09. Run Like Hell 4:24
10. Waiting For The Worms 3:58
11. Stop 0:30
12. The Trial 5:20
13. Outside The Wall 1:43

A David Gilmour solo album in all but name, heavily featuring the kind of atmospheric instrumental music and Gilmour guitar sound typical of the Floyd before the now-departed Roger Waters took over, but lacking Waters' unifying vision and lyrical ability.

by William Ruhlmann, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Signs Of Life 4:26
02. Learning To Fly 4:53
03. The Dogs Of War 6:08
04. One Slip 5:08
05. On The Turning Away 5:39
06. Yet Another Movie/Round And Around 7:28
07. A New Machine, Part 1 1:47
08. Terminal Frost 6:17
09. A New Machine, Part 2 0:39
10. Sorrow 8:49

In one respect, it's hard to fault David Gilmour for retooling Pink Floyd as a neo-oldies act with Momentary Lapse of Reason, since Roger Waters took the band over the brink with his obsessive, nonmusical The Final Cut. Fans were eager for an album that sounded like classic Floyd, which is what Momentary Lapse was. But what they really thirsted for was a live spectacle from Floyd, where they could hear the old tunes and see all the old stunts. That's what they got on the 1987/1988 Pink Floyd world tour, which is documented on the double-disc set The Delicate Sound of Thunder. Gilmour's reunited Floyd was intent on recreating the sound and feel of classic Floyd, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the oldies feel like the classic records, only with Gilmour taking each vocal. He and Floyd deliver well, but this is a recreation that makes less sense on record than it did on-stage, where the nostalgia was justified. Here, it feels passable but never compelling. This is professional, competent, and, often, even enjoyable music, yet, like many souvenirs, it never once feels necessary.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

Tracklist CD1:

01. Shine On You Crazy Diamond 12:02
02. Learning To Fly 5:23
03. Yet Another Movie 6:17
04. Round And Around 0:34
05. Sorrow 9:29
06. The Dogs Of War 7:20
07. On The Turning Away 7:59


Tracklist CD2:

01. One Of These Days 6:16
02. Time 5:25
03. Wish You Were Here 4:41
04. Us & Them 7:22
05. Money 9:52
06. Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) 5:34
07. Comfortably Numb 8:56
08. Run Like Hell 7:09

The second post-Roger Waters Pink Floyd album is less forced and more of a group effort than A Momentary Lapse of Reason – keyboard player Rick Wright is back to full bandmember status and has co-writing credits on five of the 11 songs, even getting lead vocals on "Wearing the Inside Out." Some of David Gilmour's lyrics (co-written by Polly Samson and Nick Laird-Clowes of the Dream Academy) might be directed at Waters, notably "Lost for Words" and "A Great Day for Freedom," with its references to "the wall" coming down, although the more specific subject is the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism. In any case, there is a vindictive, accusatory tone to songs such as "What Do You Want From Me" and "Poles Apart," and the overarching theme, from the album title to the graphics to the "I-you" pronouns in most of the lyrics, has to do with dichotomies and distinctions, with "I" always having the upper hand. Musically, Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Wright have largely turned the clock back to the pre-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd, with slow tempos, sustained keyboard chords, and guitar solos with a lot of echo.

by William Ruhlmann, AMG

Tracklist:

01. Cluster One 5:58
02. What Do You Want From Me 4:22
03. Poles Apart 7:04
04. Marooned 5:28
05. A Great Day For Freedom 4:19
06. Wearing The Inside Out 6:50
07. Take It Back 6:12
08. Coming Back To Life 6:20
09. Keep Talking 6:11
10. Lost For Words 5:15
11. High Hopes 8:33



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