Top 10 Pink Floyd Albums
 

Top 10 Pink Floyd Albums

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I like to consider myself a massive fan of Pink Floyd, I love all of their work (well, the majority anyways.) So I decided to make this top 10 albums list, because I thought songs would be extremely difficult to create.

I also cannot stress enough that this is my opinion, and you will realize that when you read the list. It's just what I like about Pink Floyd.

Pink Floyd has done a lot with genres: Psychedelic Rock, Psychedelic Folk, Avant-Garde, Experimental, Opera Rock, Symphonic Rock, Progressive and even Egyptian music.

MY. OWN. OPINION. Go read Rolling Stones magazine if you want a more critique approach.

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10 - Obscured By Clouds
A really under rated album, I felt that this album was skipped by many. I didn't hear a lot of people talk about this, even today. I listened to the album on YouTube and I found that a lot of people were claiming it to be under rated like such. (With only a few amount of comments). I must say, I don't really like it THAT much... It has a few good memorable songs though I quite enjoy a heap like, "The Gold It's In The...". This is also where I felt the Progressive Rock approach kick in, it feels more of a modern Pink Floyd album than an earlier one. I don't know if the song, "Absolutely Curtains" had an impact because it's such a short song. And I feel Pink Floyd makes way better instrumentals when they're longer. It has quite a fast start when I feel it should be longer with the synthesizer coming across. David Gilmour in, "Childhood's End" I felt he made his mark with Pink Floyd, like really showed his full extent of guitar playing. Nick Mason's drumming is there, as usual. Nick Mason, in my opinion, didn't really have his drumming to seemingly count. Like as if he wasn't really needed for the band, and someone could just replace him. Even with their earlier songs by Floyd it still lacked what Nick Mason could of done.

OVERALL: The album isn't bad, but it just felt plain with some songs being too short, I feel that there should be just one extended song at the end of a Floyd album. But that's just me...

9 - Dark Side Of The Moon
Surprised? Probably not. I'm acting like such a hipster you're probably mad. I really don't have much to say about this album, it's not the best, it's not the worst. But it does include one of the greatest Pink Floyd songs their is, and that would be, "Money." Such a beautiful tenor saxophone solo by Richard Parry. It what made the album and in my opinion, the hallmark of this album. Time is also another fantastic song on this album, I wasn't much of a fan of the Breathe Reprise. I felt as if it was a theater play with that in there, maybe the Floyd boys ran out of ideas and decided to make a reprise. I understand that some people have Breathe has one of their favourite Pink Floyd songs. And I understand, it makes a connection with the first song, "Speak To Me." Which Nick Mason wrote, but it didn't have much of a purpose and should of just been one song altogether. I don't know why that had Nick decide to write the song, possibly due to him lacking in writing songs. Maybe it was to give him a chance, but it seems that it was the most "Avant-Garde" piece on the album, and I didn't like the jumble up they did, with the rest of the album being so modern.

OVERALL: Dark Side Of The Moon is arguably the second or the most popular Pink Floyd album today. For good reasons too, it has a great mix of everything and every member got together for this one.

8 - The Wall
Definitely the most commercially successful. It is such a perfected album, (even though Wright quit in the production.) I don't particularly enjoy this album except for a few songs, which I can name right here: Comfortably Numb, Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, In The Flesh? and Mother.. All these songs are in the top 20 Floyd songs of mine, even if they are far down. I think the album might be popular just for those two first songs I mentioned. I listened to the entire album and they are all enjoyable songs. But as it tells the story, it jumps from a fast motion to a more funky song to a slow and gentle song. It's too much to prepare, as I like most Floyd songs that somewhat tell a little story. "Run Like Hell" Seems to be a more or rather popular song on this album, it's a song you either love or hate. Like with Roger Waters, you love him or hate him. What sucks is because he has such a crappy attitude, but he is right. Even though David Gilmour is a better vocalist. He brings that special presents to this album, he is great in Mother and yes, even Run Like Hell.

OVERALL: It speaks for itself, it's kind of over rated but it's got phenomenal songs that even the slightest fan has got to love.

7 - Animals
Seems unpopular around the teenage generation for some reason, I find it quite a lovely album. Sheep is my favourite song on this, it's got a ringing Bass line which sets it up. It's at just the right time to fill in from the more popular songs like, "Pigs (Three Different Ones) and "Dogs". "Dogs" though, I think was a bit excessive and that "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" was the main song to capture the listeners, it's such a well recorded song but, near the end it does get a little slow with such a fast beginning, which to some is great because it's a rest and is expected to have an impact in the end, which it does but, it doesn't work out perfectly like I would have liked. But hey, I love all the songs on these albums, even though "Pigs On The Wings" are both really short and I don't know why they were split up for, maybe they could of shortened "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and extended, "Pigs On The Winds.) instead of the split up, either way it's such a well put album.

OVERALL: Classic album, beautiful pieces like Sheep. I'd like to see some more exposure on that song, because it's blocked out with the two more popular songs on this album.

6 - A Saucerful Of Secrets
I didn't like this album when it first came out, I overlooked it which is sad, because I really adore this album. I love hearing all five members of Floyd on, "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun." It is so nostalgic and it's our final goodbye to Syd Barret before Acid took over his entire life. Now, this new comer David Gilmour served well actually. Even though he wasn't noticed, there was a massive change in tone from the first album. This was more of a darker album with Roger Waters vocalizations, which aren't that bad to be honest. It's just unfortunate we couldn't hear Gilmour's full vocal range. Corporal Clegg is quite diverse due to the fact that we hear Nick Mason on vocals for a change and for the first time, we don't hear most of him but it's still nice to hear his voice, it's actually not that bad... for the drummer.

OVERALL: I can't say a whole lot about this album, it's quite short but leaves a good impression. Some songs might be carried on for a bit, but who cares? It's a great piece.

5 - Wish You Were Here
My favourite commercially successful album by Pink Floyd, it's got such a "groovy" feeling which is so memorable. "Wish You Were Here" (song), makes this album. Honestly, even though "Have A Cigar" is my favourite song on the album. The album is paced so nicely, starting off with, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", (which is based off Syd Barret, who unintentionally, coincidentally showed up in the studio.) which builds up quite nicely. I do feel that Welcome To The Machine is a bit awkward from the rest, though I hear a lot of people like it so I guess it's not that much of a problem. "Have A Cigar", is by my favourite. Funny enough it doesn't have a Floyd member singing on this one. It's Roy Harper, and I'm a big fan of him. This is the first song I heard him sing, he sounded so clear and up with tune. It has a flowing stream of all the instruments. As I said, "Wish You Were Here", is probably the most famous song on the album, and one of the most famous ever. If you count all the videos of the song on YouTube, it's got over a hundred million. That's a lot aye? It made such an impact. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", ends the album off perfectly fading out. Not even EMI could pop out enough copies to satisfy demand. Ha.

OVERALL: Almost the perfect album in my opinion, I just felt that Welcome To The Machine is a bit of a let down, I didn't like it all that much.

4 - Meddle
Ahh, Meddle. Probably the most famous, non-commercially successful album they have. And most likely for one reason - Echoes. That song is so beautiful, the album would be completely lost with out it. It starts off slow, but it's a 23 minute song, so it has permission. David Gilmour's guitar solo is just absolutely superb. If you listen to the Live At Pompeii version... Just wow, I'm at a lost for words. As for the other songs, "Seamus" is considered to be the worst Pink Floyd song of all time. In my opinion, it's the worst song on the album but it's definitely not the worst song by Pink Floyd of all time. I think of much worse ones. It's got a ringing tune with the piano and acoustic guitar. And that dog barking through the entire song, it's a nice little tune. Only running at 2 minutes 16 seconds. I find that, "Fearless" is such a beautiful piece. It's so calm and peaceful, it could even be arguably better than, "Echoes." Gilmour did a fantastic job on this album, and it's great to see him and not Roger Waters on the lead vocals all the time. Wright harmonizing with Gilmour on, "Echoes." Is interesting and great.

OVERALL: Phenomenal job the boys did with this album, it serves well and is a hallmark in Pink Floyd.

3 - Atom Heart Mother
Very interesting album, the beginning song, "Atom Heart Mother" is absolutely hated by Gilmour and Waters. I kind of see why, the song lacks with the all the parts. It's the main composition, but me personally, I love it. "Mind Your Throats, Please" Is my favourite part. It's quite scary with the violins, Wright created something unique. It's such a shame that the other songs have a piece from each member, except for Mason. Even if it wasn't a song with vocalizations, I'd like to hear more from Nick Mason individually instead of always playing in the background of each song. Some people consider this to be the closing end of Pink Floyd's experimental days and I agree, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"'s first part is lovely to hear. Wright's piano skills has basically paid off because of his solo in this. Though, "If", "Summer '68" and "Fat Old Sun." don't seem unique from each other, and serves as bookends to, "Atom Heart Mother." and, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast." A lot of people have those three songs as their favourites, I could understand why, we hear more of Wright on vocals, and he's my favourite singer with the Pink Floyd band. And I'm not kidding.

OVERALL: Fantastic piece from Pink Floyd, it's just a hair grain better than Meddle due to a proper individual piece (besides Mason) from each Floyd boy.

2 - Ummagumma (Studio Version)
Yes, that's correct. The STUDIO version, not the one with, "A Saucerful of Secrets" or "Careful With That Axe, Eugene". This album, I absolutely adore. I'm literally at a lost for words. It's so beautiful and delicate. "Sysyphus" by Wright is so fantastic and well-put. The Egyptian sound starting off and with a mind-bending piano on the second part, it's so acid-worthy and amazing. Th The Floyd boys claimed it was all desperation and said it was a piece of crap. I see why, it's extremely different from all the other albums and some consider it to be, "too experimental." Maybe they're right, but I love it. I consider David Gilmour's solo in, "The Narrow Way." To be much better than soloing big time in, "Comfortably Numb". The second part of the song has a fantastic riff that I can't get out of my head. "Grantchester Meadows" is by far my favourite song on the album, it's so calm and peaceful. You could fall to sleep to it, (in a good way.). The only complaints I have is that, "The Narrow Way" and "Sysyphus" may be extended too long for the songs of what they are. But that's it, I'd still listen to them fully without any doubt or such. Grantchester Meadows is paced so slowly that it's such awesome. Hearing the rodents and birds start off the song and Waters actually having a fantastic vocalization on this piece. Not to say Waters and Gilmour didn't have their equal share, we got to hear both artist sing very clearly in their individual songs. All the members had to compose a piece differently, and this is where Nick Mason put his skills to his test, what came out was possibly the worst song on the album but a great song none the less. The flute in the beginning is so peaceful and memorizing and the scary drumming at the end adds to the dark story that is produced here. This album was even good enough to land a #1 spot on the billboards in the UK. And that's saying a lot, I hear a lot of folky texture on this album. A lot of Psychedelic Folk on, "Grantchester Meadows" and "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party." but that's okay, because I like Folk. "Several Species Of Small Fury Animals Gathered Together In A Cavie Grooving With A Pict". is a funny and unique song, is speeds up really well in the beginning. The Scottish blur is hilarious to be honest, and Waters cries out with the most exotic accent I've heard. All the songs on this album are magnificent.

OVERALL: It's amazing what they accomplished, and even if the band thought it was a piece of effing shizen houzen. I still love it personally, like Atom Heart Mother it has the great experimental and avant-garde pieces of Psychedelic Rock and Folk that mixes together nicely.

1 - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
First time ever we hear Pink Floyd, first time ever we hear Syd Barret's trippy lyrics. It's.. the perfect album. The debut album of Pink Floyd is so, so wonderful. It's Psychedelic Rock and Slide Guitaring at it's absolute best. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" is my favourite, I'm a massive fan of Waters writing skills and here is the first time we hear them, with Syd Barret singing in a mad and insane tune, bringing a lot of madness in the song. I bet the people of the late 1960s had never heard anything like it, I bet it would of been something to listen to. Love it or hate it. You have to respect these guys for taking the risk, I don't know. I didn't grow up in the 1960s, so I didn't know what music was like. But I suppose it was a lot different from what Syd Barret and that produced. Sorry I couldn't write any more, but you really have to listen for yourself. No one is a better critique than yourself.

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Pink Floyd is my favourite band, all the albums are great. (Except for The Division Bell and The Final Cut.)

Thanks for reading.

I can't stand A Saucerful of Secrets and The Piper At The Gates of Dawn. Than again, I don't really like Syd Barrett so I suppose that has something to do with it. I prefer Pink Floyd after that era which well...is pretty much every other album after Syd. I'm surprised you have Piper at number 1 and Animals at number 7.

I'm in this boat. A Saucerful of Secrets is my worst Floyd album probably.

Really? It's not my favorite but has some great songs on it. It's certainly a hell of a lot better than Momentary Lapse of Reason or The Division Bell. My only really gripe with it is that it's kind of uneven.

I just can't stand the vocals. I'm sure the songs would sound better had Syd not been involved. To be fair though, I listened to Saucerful and Piper after I had heard their later releases, so going to Syd from later Pink Floyd, is different than going from Syd to later Pink Floyd, I think.

Syd actually didn't have much involvement with Saucerful of Secrets. "Jugband Blues" is the only song he wrote, and also the only track on which he sang, on the entire album.

Weird. I just remember not liking it.

Good list! I may disagree with Atom Heart Mother, but the rest are good picks. As for Atom Heart Mother, at least there's "If" and "Summer '68." The title epic had a lot of potential, but was a little too under-developed in my opinion. The era was interesting, but more to read about.

Sauerful to me was really a transitional album, but I still like it for a number of reasons, the main one being that it started to build the bridge from Piper to what they were going to be more famous for later on. I like the title track, although I prefer the live version on Ummagumma's live disc. Maybe Richard Wright did not have the voice or the strong songs, but there were some good Production tricks in his tracks that make them seem fine for a listen. "Let There Be More Light" is a wonderful track (also one that I think has been covered by a number of Underground Metal bands in the last decade or two...), and "Jug Band Blues" was alright, although I like the Syd era a lot.

To me, the whole of Ummagumma is pretty good, although I'm more for the live part although Roger's and David's sections on the studio set were good (Roger's screaming on "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" is classic!). The live disc is excellent, and a solid document of their "trying to get it together" years where things were starting to fall into place after the departure of Syd. Meddle is still possibly among my top 3 Floyd albums mainly for "Echoes" and also for "One of These Days" and "Fearless."

Post-Roger, I don't think about it much. If others dig it, that's cool with me, as it was obvious that they were going to continue on anyways. I already had my Pro-Roger time back when the arguments were raging when they were happening. As it stands, at least David, Nick, and Richard kept their craft going in their style.

I hate A Momentary Lapse of Talent and The Division Hell.

Maybe one or two good songs but man, they're so different. (In a bad way.)

I agree, the only songs I truly enjoy on Atom Heart Mother is, Atom Heart Mother, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. The others sound too much alike, half of this album is experimental and the other half is all the same.

I use to hate A Saucerful Of Secrets when I bought it, but then I started to develop an appreciation for it. I agree, Richard didn't have the strong songs, "Let There Be More Light" and "Corporal Clegg" are my favourite songs on the album. I thought "Jugband Blues" would be, since I'm a fan of Syd Barret and his work.

I loved Ummmagumma (Studio) since I first listened to it, it was truly life changing. But I also love the live album, Careful With That Axe, Eugene is one of the best Pink Floyd songs. It was played all through the early 1970s. A Saucerful Of Secrets was very well recorded, (even though David and Roger seem to disagree.) "Syncopated Pandemonium" is my favourite part on there, Nick's Drumming was amazing.

1. Wish You Were Here

2. Dark Side Of The Moon

3. The Wall

4. Animals

5. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

I think your top 10 is nice, but it's hard to not make a respectable top ten for Pink Floyd.

However, it seems like you tried to not have The Wall or DSOTM high on the list to avoid being predictable. Those two albums were exceptional, like everything Floyd recorded essentially from "Piper" on through The Wall.

Point being, it's hard to come up with any satisfying top ten.

Okay, DSOTM is indeed exceptional, but The Wall is just mediocre. I mean seriously. Like, three good songs out of 20+?

Gonna have to disagree. The Wall is a fantastic concept album which I find more and more interesting each time I listen to it. I've seen a lot of people here mention The Wall as one of the worse Pink Floyd albums, which I never could really understand.

However, Forward to Death puts Animals below The Wall, which is a bit ludicrous.

Same here. It was one of favorite albums when I was younger. I've always been surprised by how much people on here knock it.

Don't get me wrong, I love those both. But It's something I couldn't connect with, Piper and Ummagumma were the first albums I listened by them and it was nothing I had ever heard before. I'm not the biggest fan of Progressive Rock, but the three songs on the Wall I freakin' love. I don't know why but I just couldn't fall in love with DSOTM. Time & Money, two great songs. But that's it, maybe Breathe but... I can't say I love the other songs. And, not every Floyd fan has The Wall and DSOTM as their top 2.

I think the only think "ludicrous" is your dismissal that The Wall could be better than Animals. Animals isn't produced as well, and doesn't flow the same way for two discs like The Wall does. That said, on any given day I could say Animals is the best Pink Floyd album, because it's very difficult to choose between any of them.

No, I know DSOTM and The Wall aren't set in stone as one and two. I just think they're the two most complete albums. Piper is definitely a good choice for #1, so is almost everything else that has Waters on it.

I actually apologize if I sounded douchey on that last bit, I agree they seem like more "set" albums. I only really like the few songs on there, I'm more of a Psychedelic type of guy.

there can only be one - Animals

MEDDLE - 'Echoes' is one of the all time great trip-out records. Many's the time I had a headful of LSD and someone would put that album on and...well never mind. GREAT album though. Even sounds good sober...

Everything Pink Floyd did was psychedelic. Haha, if anything they got trippier after Piper.

The thing about The Wall that gets me is that it's too deep of an exploration into the dark side of Roger Water's psyche. Sure, it's definitely a brilliant conceptual masterpiece; it always will be, but listening to it is, well, a bit morose and depressing.

Ha, I only really considered the first album and maybe the second one and a bit of the third one to be Psychedelic.

nice. glad to see another person who loves Piper. I am a fan of Pre-Dark Side era, so this makes me happy.

Yeah, and this is why everyone's going to have gripes about people's music lists.

i'm more post-Saucerful pre-Dark Side and Animals kinda guy

I am not a Pink Floyd fan.

That being said, I totally adore their debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It is among the most enjoyable albums that I know. I can see some people being bored while listening to Instellar Overdrive. But the rest of the album is to die for! Naive, blatant, thought provoking, mad entertaining lyrics. Catchy, likeable, yet very complex and surprisingly good music and awesome sound effects. My personal favourite is probably the last track, Bike. I consider this album a groundbreaking masterpiece, which puts all other Pink Floyd work to shame (no offense intended, personal opinion only). Please, make yourself a favor and go listen to this excellent piece of art.

P.S. Dont forget to listen to the 1967 single See Emily Play. This track is not included on the album.

Yeah, that's why it's #1 in my opinion. I do agree with Interstellar Overdrive might being a bit boring in the middle. I still enjoy though, Pink Floyd's other work is still legendary but their debut album takes the cake!

I would take Animals over The Wall also. The Wall has some lovely bits but is also weighed down by truckloads of Roger Waters insufferable BS. Animals is one of the most Proggy albums I think the Floyd ever did and it really holds up. An overlooked gem, in my opinion.

i doubt that - serious music listeners usually view it as their best album

it's just the misinformed ones who think the wall is their best

Sorry Howard. No offense. I'm a big reader of music press and have been for many years and I often see Animals getting short shrift. I remember when it got released, it didn't get very good reviews at all. As a result, based on MY experience, in MY universe, I think my statement is perfectly justified.

Granted, I don't seem to spend a lot of time surrounded by 'Serious' music listeners. Most of the ones I know either enjoy a good joke or are socially inept and tend to babble incessantly about Baseball for some reason. And THAT might be a good topic for discussion - Why is it that so many music fanatics, especially VINYL fanatics are also fanatical baseball fans? I'm thinking maybe it's a link between catalog numbers/song listings and baseball statistics maybe? Hmmmm.

Anyway, I digress and I must admit, most of the time spent 'deep listening' to Floyd usually occurred when I was also wanged out on some substance or other. It WAS the 70's after all. I guess that doesn't qualify me as being very Serious either.

i don't even read the music press nowadays

they're getting it all wrong - best place to be are still music forums like this one

i've only been buying MOJO for the CDs, not its contents

professional music writers usually dunno what good music really is

*cough* *hack* Rolling Stone *cough*

Their newest issue of the top 500 albums had Kid A pretty high, somewhere in the top 100. Then again, they have 3 or 4 Beatles albums in their top 10 so I guess they have like 1 or 2 writers that do have taste and the rest is a bunch of nostalgia***s.

Putting "KID A" on a list of greatest albums is pretty much mandatory now.

Even Pitchfork would do the same.

considering that "Amnesiac" is the better album

I must say , the Wall for me is the best Album , as someone has said here it shows the dark side of Roger waters psyche but its the depth and the ability it has to still reveal new things each time you listen to it which i think is what makes it so great... there's real thought in the Wall , something i fear most music these days lacks.

it's better if halved

That's like saying a book is better if you stop in the middle.

The Wall is a story and a full listen will give you the full story.

I've always thought The Wall had too much filler. That's the only problem I see.

you can always condense or abridge a book

The Wall has a lot of unnecessary clutter

If it doesn't send you to sleep first.

I'll admit that it is pretty boring. I prefer to call it calming though.