Why not?

Maybe he or she is insane.

Because they are simply not that progressive!
They have so many simple, emotional songs.... never realized why people consider them prog-rock.

Does it mean that you like the two Gilmour albums (Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell) more than the two Waters albums (The Wall and the Final Cut). If so, we are on the same page. I do appreciate Waters' work and his sometimes truly genius lyrics, but it can really overload your brain with his personal problems, just like you said. On the other hand, Gilmour's stuff isn't bad lyrically at all, and musically is better, especially than The Final Cut (The Wall has some of their best songs musically, though).

I don't see how someone could listen to a song like "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" or "Sheep" and not think it's prog.

Looks like I need some Division Bell in my life!

Prog bands are not immune to doing emotional and simple songs either.

why Pink Floyd are progressive and Radiohead not? Kid A is a ****ing complex album

Good question but Radiohead are most definitely prog in my mind and so are Pink Floyd for that matter.

Im my mind, both of them are not prog, but alt rock. (Radiohead is alt rock+ electronica)

Cool. In my mind Michael Jackson is death metal.

Omg Pink Floyd is 60's and 70's version of pearl jam~ x.x

What? ... how?

What just happened?

Jackass.

I am a Pink Floyd fan and came at them from their peak albums, Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon. In their wake were Relics and Embryo (on the Harvest sampler, Picnic). I also remember Alan Freeman playing Astronomy domine on his Saturday Rock Show on BBC Radio One.

I wouldn't say I was a Syd Barrett fan, but Piper at the Gates has some great tracks in Interstellar Overdrive, Astronomy Domine and . . . Bike! Astronomy Domine was hugely influential and was the template for most progressive rock. Ian McDonald said King Crimson took their cue from Sgt Pepper and Pet Sounds, but they must also have heard Astronomy Domine.

Saucerful of Secrets has Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, which is very atmospheric and ahead of its time (1968). I'm a Rick Wright fan, so I like Remember a Day too.

Umma Gumma is a pretty good live album, but the only strong solo piece is Waters' Grantchester Meadows. It makes me feel that Waters was behind the idea of solo tracks, as the rest are messy. Atom Heart Mother has standouts in Gilmour's Fat Old Sun and Wright's Summer '68, but really has too much brass.

Meddle is Pink Floyd's best album, despite containing their worst track, Seamus. The latter apart, every track is good, especially Echoes, which is fantastic. What makes the side-long epic is the interplay between Gilmour and Wright. Following Wright's tragicaly premature death, Gilmour said he could not play Echoes without him. To his credit, Waters, while not my favourite person, does add some funky bass playing. There is a stupendous version on Gilmour's Live in Gdansk album, which also, of course, features Wright, and almost reduced me to tears. One of These Days has Waters and Gilmour playing driving bass guitars, along with backward cymbals and a distorted voice. Pillow of Winds, the excellent Fearless and St Tropez are equally strong, although it has become fashionable to knock St Tropez for some reason.

I do not think I have ever heard Obscured by Clouds. Dark Side of the Moon is a great album, despite everyone saying it is a great album. Time/Breathe Reprise, Us & Them and Money are perfectly constructed tracks, but you have to hear the album as a whole to get the full effect. On the Run, Any Colour You Like and Brain Damage, along with the abstract voices and sound effects, serve to enhance the the main tracks. DSOTM is certainly Pink Floyd's most refined album by the time it was released.

Wish You Were Here was a disapointment to me after Dark Side, because it sounded flat and in need of editting with some added punch. On reflection, the band felt guilty at their success without Barrett, but Waters was not to be troubled by his conscience again. Although dominated by Waters, Animals is actually a very good album, (a) due to the instrumentation and (b) despite the writer's attempt at right-on social comment.

Waters managed to sack the band's best musician, Rick Wright, for The Wall album, which turned out to be one long self-pitying whinge. On the live version, the most innovative playing is (needless to say) from Wright, by then a session musician and upon whom it was encumbent to come up with linking passages. There are a couple of tracks salvaged by Gilmour, namely Comfortably Numb and the great Young Lust. These days, I cannot bring myself to listen to The Final Cut without Rick Wright, which is just a collection of outttakes from the already overlong The Wall.

When Roger Waters left Pink Floyd, they did not miss him at all. Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell are both in my collection.

My Pink Floyd Top 10 therefore is:

1. Dark Side of the Moon (for sentimental reasons and consistency)
2. Meddle (the best album, but contains Seamus)
3. Animals (the calm before the storm)
4. Umma Gumma (good live material, but messy solo tracks)
5. The Division Bell
6. A Momentary Lapse of Reason
7. Wish You Were Here (how could it follow DSOTM?)
8. Relics (compilation of early tracks)
9. Atom Heart Mother (experimental and brass-y)
10. Pulse or Is There Anybody Out There?

True. But their earlier stuff was more overrun by Psychedelic Rock and only small amounts of Prog Rock. Interstellar Overdrive is probably their most Progressive Rock song at the time. Hell, even Sysyphus was more Prog Rock than a lot of the other stuff.

Sheep is probably their most Progressive Rock sounding song in my opinion.

Roger was behind the solo tracks because I don't know if you know but with The Narrow Way, David asked Roger to write the lyrics for him but Roger heavily declined and made sure a lot of them were working by themselves.

I think Wish You Were Here is much greater than Dark Side (obviously.). None of the Floyd albums sound alike, the second half of Dark Side in my opinion is just boring, Speak To Me, Breathe, On The Run just takes too long and feels like build up songs.

Momentary Lapse of Reason and Division Bell are still on my no-no list.

Alright list you have there. Glad to see Meddle is up there, same with Ummagumma.

I also like Dave Gilmour's solo albums, although they sound like the guitar parts from Pink Floyd. Rick Wright's Wet Dream is excellent. Waters's solo albums are the no-no for me. I have seen some great footage of Pink Floyd live at KQED Studios in San Francisco in April 1970, but I do not know if the material is available.

I'm just glad you put The Wall and WYWH over DSotM.

For me,

1. WYWH
2. Meddle
3. Animals
4. Atom Heart Mother
5 Piper

I feel like updating the list because it has changed over time, but some new viewers might be confused with the comments. So I'll just leave it for now.

A Saucerful of Secrets is the first PF LP I bought (I had to order it without knowing what to expect, 'cause you couldn't find any PF album on the shelves back in '67!) – right after I had heard the amazing "See Emily Play" on the radio. Can you imagine the thrill of a lifetime this was for the teenager I was then!? It was love at first sight – or at first hearing I should rather say. NO ONE in my classroom or in the schoolyard - including myself! - new anything about PF at the time. Compared to what the musical scene had to offer in the late sixties, it was just mind-blowing, incredibly out of this world! Truly my best musical experience ever! If I were ever to "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" or have a trip in a Flying Saucer, this is THE album I would take with me. In my opinion, SOS is number ONE for ever – nothing less! And PF will always remain my all-time favorite band, even though I was less impressed with – and finally lost interest in – what they did afterwards. Anyway, here's my personal top 10 choice (not an easy one, for every single album contains songs that give me the chills and others I hardly can stand):

1 – A Saucerful of Secrets
2 - Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (I know, it's a concert film, but still...) – and/or Ummagumma (both studio and live versions) if we are to stick to albums only
3 – Meddle
4 – Atom Heart Mother
5 – Wish You Were Here
6 – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
7 – The Dark Side of the Moon
8 – Delicate Sound of Thunder (again, it's music taken from a concert, but still...) – and/or A Momentary Lapse Of Reason if we are to stick to studio albums only
9 – The Wall
10 – Obscured by Clouds

Norm

To make a top 10 pink Floyd albums list . Is a hard task and no matter what you put you are always going to have someone who dislikes or hates the fact you like the sid era. . I always say that the early pink Floyd is still relevant and import. Because without Sid. There would be no pink Floyd. Personally I love everything pink Floyd has made all but the final cut. Which has some great songs on it but not a great album. Love the division bell though I would say you miss the great lyrics of waters. Great list I don't agree with your number one i would put the wall as number one.

Pink Floyd came onto the scene at a great time in music history. A decade earlier or later, and this would probably not have been quite the same band. With that said, and first album by a band is often their best in many ways, because it's usually an introduction to their own original sound. I mean who else sounds like Pink Floyd?

Thanks for posting this thoughtful post!

Mostly Autumn and Airbag sound like Pink Floyd. The former are pretty good, but I do not care for the latter. Airbag is not a great name for a band anyway.

Meddle #1. Nuff said

I know someone is going to kick me.....I LOVE The Division Bell....auch...there kicking me.

Pink Floyd is still my favorite band although I only listen once or twice a year now. I tend to disagree with almost everyone on this but I believe The Final Cut is their finest album, hands down. The music, lyrics, and message are all nearly perfect for me. I consider it to be one of the greatest and most underrated albums in history. Having said that.....

1. The Final Cut
2. The Wall
3. Wish You Were Here
4. Meddle
5. Dark Side of the Moon
6. Atom Heart Mother
7. More
8. Animals
9. A Momentary Lapse of Reason
10. Obscured by Clouds

^You have The Wall way too close to your #1 spot and you have Animals way too close to your least favorite. I can't decide if I want to take you seriously or not. Speaking from experience, Animals has been able to do more in 5 tracks than The Wall could ever do in whatever amount of tracks it has.

I didn't realize there were correct answers here, so I went back to page one to confirm. Now that's out of the way so what do we do now? You obviously love Animals. I'm quite fond of The Final Cut. Perhaps we can carry our respective torches and still get by.

1) Dark Side
2) Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
3) Wish You Were Here
4) The Wall
5) Ummagumma

Dark Side Of The Moon - best of the best !!!

The original post is an interesting way to look at this whole ranking business. It is very difficult to rank Floyd's albums. But if somebody holds something like Ummagumma so close to their heart, then so be it. I love 'em all. :)

favorite pink floyd albums.
 

I can only go with ones i grew up with. Of course Dark side of the moon was just a mind blowing album for me. I remember getting into animals and wish you were here. I member racing out to get the wall and listening to it cover to cover like it was some story and i was taken away somewhere. I like albums like ummagumma and meddle but i did also like one of their later albums i think when roger waters left called a momentary lapse of reason which had some good songs on it. I also loved pulse especially the video version.

Animals
The Wall
The Dark Side of the Moon
Obscured by Clouds
Meddle
The Final Cut
Wish You Were Here
More
A Saucerful of Secrets
Piper at the gates of dawn

And everything else, and then way at the bottom of the list:

A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987)
The Division Bell (1994)

WYWH
Animals
DSotM
Meddle
Wall

then you dont like or understand physcheledic rock, these albums are masterpiece especially A Saucerful of Secrets

how I feel at the moment....

1. Animals
2. Wish You Were Here
3. The Dark Side of the Moon
4. Ummagumma
5. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
6. Atom Heart Mother
7. The Wall
8. A Saucerful of Secrets
9. Meddle
10. The Final Cut

Or I just don't like Syd Barrett's voice. I understand and like psych rock just fine.