Below, I rank the Pink Floyd studio albums (not counting The Division Bell, The Final Cut, or soundtracks) and place them in one of four categories from best to worst. Oh My God
represents the best of the best, the cream of the crop, what is or should be considered among the greatest albums of all time. Kick Ass
is for creative genius and musical brilliance with some imperfections. Not Too Shabby
contains albums with a mix of songs ranging from pretty good to totally forgettable. What The Fuck?
is for albums that tried hard, but failed big. Selections will then be explained briefly.
- Oh My God: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here
- Kick Ass: Saucerful of Secrets, Meddle, Ummagumma, The Wall
- Not Too Shabby: Atom Heart Mother, A Momentary Lapse of Reason
- What the Fuck?: Animals
Oh My God
Piper and Dark Side need no explanation. The music on Wish is just as good as Dark Side, perhaps even better, but doesn’t cohere as a whole as well as Dark Side.
Kick Ass
Saucerful contains one major flop (See-Saw) and its version of Set The Controls is not as good as Ummagumma’s, but the rest of the songs are sonic gold. Meddle, unfortunately, suffers from several songs that just aren’t up to snuff (San Tropez and Seamus). What it lacks, however, is more than made up for by One of These Days and Echoes, which are, in my opinion, the best songs ever created by Pink Floyd, period. Ummagumma is Pink Floyd at their most avant-garde, experimental peak. The live tracks are as good if not better than the album versions and the studio tracks break musical conventions in a way that is intellectually and affectively stimulating, but not always accessible. The Wall is simply incredible. The music is beautiful and the artistry masterful. Unfortunately, it is stretched out too much, changes styles too frequently, and therefore never reaches a tight cohesiveness or is able to really get going and build up to something more than the sum of its parts.
Not Too Shabby
The first track of Atom Heart, a 24 minute, six part suite of music, is really good and so is Summer ‘68, but the rest is mediocre filler. Pink Floyd made a jarring departure from their usual quality of sound and artistry for unsophisticated ‘80s pop rock in Lapse of Reason (an appropriate title). And yet for what it is, it’s not that bad, especially compared to music in the same vein elsewhere.
What The Fuck?
Pink Floyd flunked out on Animals, which has only one descent song (Sheep). Pigs (Three Different Ones) is listenable thanks to its political angst and groovy chorus, but the rest of the album is worthless. Ha ha, charade it is.