Pink Floyd (Official Thread)

[Jonny Come Lately]

Speaking of Floydian acoustic material... I always thought Floyd should have done an Unplugged. Particularly in the mid-90s when Floyd was very active with Division Bell and the big tours. That happens to be the exact same time that Unplugged was really hot and you had Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Kiss all doing Unplugged.

For a band with such an abundance of clips, effects, and studio tricks, yet with such a spectacular and undeniable level of raw talent, I think it would have been a unique majesty and a true testament to their versatility for them to do a nice stark Unplugged, just a handful of guys on stage with acoustic instruments seeing what they can do. That's probably #1 on my list of concerts I wish would have happened,

PF cover band The Machine released an Unplugged record but it was unfortunately very middling -- mostly Syd Barrett songs and doesn't feel at all like a Pink Floyd show.

That would have been really good, I think - of course Roger Waters wouldn't have been around but I don't think that would have been too much of an issue.

I've found a video of an acoustic version of Echoes which gives us a bit of an idea of what such a concert might have sounded like, I did post this video in this thread a while back although I think it's worth showing again for anyone who missed it first time.



Having said that, there are certain songs of theirs which I simply couldn't imagine being played in an acoustic performance - I couldn't imagine Any Colour You Like without the heavily distorted guitar solo, and Welcome To The Machine without the synths, which are so essential to the concept of the song, would be odd.

 

[architect]

David Gilmour's acoustic set at Robert Wyatt's Meltdown in 2001 is probably the closest we'll ever get to Pink Floyd Unplugged.


The first song is a cute little version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond with just David on guitar and Dick Parry on Sax.

 

[AboutAGirl]

Nice! That's exactly the kind of stuff I'm talking about.

 

[LG]

David Gilmour's acoustic set at Robert Wyatt's Meltdown in 2001 is probably the closest we'll ever get to Pink Floyd Unplugged.


The first song is a cute little version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond with just David on guitar and Dick Parry on Sax.

I have a DVD of David playing a set at King's Court and it's mostly acoustic material Architect...haven't listened to it for a couple years so I'll dig it out later this week.

 

[architect]

I have a DVD of David playing a set at King's Court and it's mostly acoustic material Architect...haven't listened to it for a couple years so I'll dig it out later this week.

Nice, LG! I don't believe I've ever seen or heard that.

 

[Shackles]

So I've been working on The Wall film album. It'd be great if someone has the studio version of What Shall We Do Now lying around. I'd also appreciate someone sending me a detailed list of differences (like which lines/solos got cut in each song, which parts got mixed) and I'd love it if someone has a high quality audio rip of the film.

I'm still deciding whether or not to have transitions and ambience like the original album.

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

I have been listening to Obscured By Clouds over the last day or so. It is quite a mellow, chilled-out album but the songs are just not there sometimes.

The first 2 instrumentals are pretty cool but they are not very substantial, both together totalling to about 5 min.

Burning Bridges is very nice and dreamy and is reminiscent of the previous album's A Pillow Of Winds, only not as good. Similarly, Mudmen... which follows a similar chord progression as Bridges, is quite good also in a typical Gilmour sort of way.

Free Four is probably one of the best songs here. At least it feels like it has some meat in it. The Gold It's In The... is pleasant enough but again feels a little insubstantial. Wots Uh The Deal is nice.

Childhood's End is okay but I've never been a huge fan of this track. It is like an inferior version of "Time".

Stay is okay... again not much substance to it. This is the running complaint for me regarding this album. Absolutely Curtains is............... lol, experimentation for the sake of it?

Overall, the album's a mixed bag. Wonder how the movie is. Anyone here seen it? An arty French movie with a lot of nudity?

I've just listened to this album in full now, have to say I thought it was generally pretty good (I'd probably give it about 7.5/10, not as high as I'd give Meddle or DSOTM though). I could definitely do without Absolutely Curtains, that song's a bit...different, and the two opening instrumentals seemed to mesh into one, but I enjoyed all the middle tracks. Wot's...Uh The Deal is a highlight for me, as is Free Four, although I also liked Childhood's End (I can certainly see the comparison with Time here though).

Recently I've been quite busy but I now have a bit more time on my hands so I've been able to explore some of the less well-known Floyd material (currently listening to the Ummagumma version of 'Careful With That Axe...', I've seen the live performance on Pompeii but never heard this before, scary as anything when Roger screams but great stuff!).

 

[Musikwala]

I've been listening to The Wall again over the past day or so. Man, it still sounds so iconic!... like an epic from 1979. In The Flesh? is probably one of the greatest intros ever on a Floyd album. And something like Goodbye Blue Sky has that perfect mix of happy chords and gloom n' doom in the same song. Don't Leave Me Now sounds like the ultimate pit of despair that Pink finds himself in. Brilliant songwriting!

But this album is also extremely depressing. So I don't give it frequent spins on my player. Waters really controlled and dominated the band to a ridiculous extreme! As a result, I almost never listen to The Final Cut anymore. I think The Final Cut could very well be my least favourite Floyd album. It is also probably the least listened to album in my collection. I don't even remember when I last listened to the Final Cut. I have mixed feelings on Roger Waters. The last 2 Waters-less albums were a welcome relief to me.

 

[Musikwala]

Recently I've been quite busy but I now have a bit more time on my hands so I've been able to explore some of the less well-known Floyd material (currently listening to the Ummagumma version of 'Careful With That Axe...', I've seen the live performance on Pompeii but never heard this before, scary as anything when Roger screams but great stuff!).

Eugene is an interesting track. I like the version on Relics too.

The other day I saw the Zabriskie Point soundtrack on sale at a local CD store but didn't buy it because it was still a bit expensive for my budget. I might just buy the download sometime. I'm also curious to hear the version of Eugene on there. I think it is titled differently on Zabriskie Point. I've also always been curious about the movie but never got around to watching it.

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

Couldn't agree more about In The Flesh? (the power chords and organ combination is brilliant) and Goodbye Blue Sky (the lyrics 'the flames are all long gone but the pain still lingers on' are . I don't tend to listen to The Wall in full that often, although unlike DSOTM or WYWH I find I can dip into and out of it (e.g. I might listen to side 3 in full, for instance). I think because it's a rock opera I tend to think of it like a film, whereas the other two are 'just' concept albums.

I can see why people find The Wall depressing, I don't have too many problems with it myself apart from the end of side 2 which is very bleak after One Of My Turns, and the middle of side 3 (the sequence of Nobody Home, Vera and Bring The Boys Back Home). I don't think there's anything depressing on side 4, although it certainly is quite horrifying, especially Waiting For The Worms.

I'll share a video I've been enjoying lately - here is 'Pink Floyd' performing In The Flesh? on The Wall tour (it might not be what you expect to see!):