Boycott Pink Floyd

I’m probably in a massive minority here, but I think Pink Floyd are ****

 

I’m not sure I agree there, to be honest. There was a lot of music between Piper and DSOTM and each record moved the sound on, although it’s fair to say that there was a bit of a leap between Meddle and DSOTM, conceptually, as the band improved musically and became more confident in the studio. I don’t really think there was a sudden change of direction in style until Waters left though. There’s a big shift in sound between The Final Cut and Momentary Lapse of Reason, and not a change for the best, and I say that despite not being particularly fond of Final Cut.

Your Beatles timeline appears very simplistic too. The Beatles were never a straight rhythm and blues band for starters. Not in the way, say, that the Stones or the Animals were. The Beatles were mixing rock and roll, pop, country and show songs when they were still playing in Hamburg or at the Cavern. There’s a variety of styles on pretty much all of their albums. And whilst they did make some psychedelic tracks and some heavier tracks I wouldn’t even say they went psychedelic or heavy, cos there was so much more going on throughout both periods. There’s only a handful of fully psychedelic songs or heavier songs. Sgt. Pepper alone had music hall, Indian influences, rock and roll and whatever the hell Fixing a Hole is. Revolver before it had even more different styles, from a children’s singalong to big soul number. And as for the White Album, I don’t think there’s another album in history that comes close to matching the amount of styles on that one. In the 60s only The Kinks really came close when it comes to the variety of styles, and they were way behind the Beatles, although to be fair to Ray Davies, he accounted for about 95% of the Kinks output and he didn’t have a songwriting partner like John and Paul did, and John and Paul also had the two Georges’ creative input behind them…and Ringo.

Back to Floyd, if there are any other fans of The Wall/Final Cut era Floyd, there’s an excellent bootleg out there, called The Final Cut in the Wall. It mixes The Wall and The Final Cut together, along with missing tracks like When the Tigers Broke Free, but it also uses alternative, extended or live versions of most of the songs, so it’s a long old listen, but a great alternative to the released albums, particularly if you’re like me and have listened to The Wall enough times that it’s practically hard wired into my head.

 

I've been proper schooled there. Great read enjoyed it. It's nice to learn from someone who clearly knows their stuff.

 

Not sure what he's ever said about Israel, but this was about Russia and Putin, he was invited to speak (via video link) to the UN by the Russian Delegation and went on about Putin being a good leader. I can't for the life of my understand where he's coming from with this, unless he's got a lot of money tied up in the former Soviet Union...

 

Still think this is the best James Bond film.

 

To be fair to him he did say it’s an illegal war but he thinks he’s a peace envoy, his ego has made him a bit delusional, Gilmore isn’t that far behind him . It will go on until they both snuff it , then their relatives will carry it on squabbling over Pink Floyd’s royalties

 

I knew where he lived, I often cycled past the house (late 70s/early 80s) but I never saw him. I knew people who occasionally saw him in Cambridge city centre though.

 

He is quoted as saying on the call that the Russian invasion was illegal.

 

Glad you didn’t take it in a way that I was having a pop at you, cos that wasn’t my intention at all, and I should have said as much. I was actually thinking about that and worrying about it when I was lying in my hospital bed after I came back from theatre this afternoon, whilst waiting for my daughter to fetch my iPad in!

 

No worries mate. I didn't take offence at all. When someone genuinely knows their stuff like you @Mr C, @Brush and @John Peachy. I'm happy to take a step back and go wow. I regularly run ideas about music, railways and science by the above posters.

Hope you have a swift recovery mate .

 

Yes, totally agree. John and Paul, and to a lesser extent George, weren’t bad lyricists, although sometimes a bit lazy with them, and have written plenty of great lyrics, but their main concern wasn’t even so much the music, but the overall sound of the tracks (with a lot of help from the real 5th Beatle, Sir George). Generally speaking, it’s the overall sound of songs that usually appeals to me the most, and lyrics themselves are less important to me, with some obvious exceptions, like Dylan, Jimmy Webb, Paddy McAloon, Stephen Duffy, etc, and when it comes to the overall sound nobody comes close to the Beatles. But as a lyricist, there are several as good as Ray Davies (the aforementioned, for starters - and minus one mark for anybody who throws ‘Hot dog, jumping frog’ at me!), but I can’t think of anybody consistently better than him. Maybe Dylan, but Davies doesn’t, ahem, ‘borrow’ as much as Dylan does!

Furthermore, although Dave Davies’ lyrical contribution to the Kinks’ imperial phase was minimal, his brother’s talent certainly rubbed off. One of my favourite lines in any song is ‘The trainer of insects is crouched on his knees, frantically looking for runaway fleas’ from the brilliant Death of a Clown.

 

Me and Mr. C bonded over music on the day we met, many years ago, especially when he told me he knew one of my idols!

 

Who was your idol? I don't really have an idol. Just an era.

 

Idol is too strong a word, but I am a big fan of Stephen Duffy, who Paul knew through Dave Kusworth.’Idol’ just fit better in the sentence. That’s why I’m not a great lyricist!

 

Not really into eighties full stop. I don't know if it was techno sound or symphonic sound. I just didn't like everything being done on keyboards and computers. The likes of Rainbow, Queen and even Status Quo changed their sound. It seemed less rough and ready.

I don't hate that music. It just doesn't turn me on. It's probably good by my gauge. If you can put it on in the background and not want to turn it off it's o.k.

Musically. I wouldn't have a clue if it's good or bad but just doesn't hit the spot for me.

A good analogy for me would be. I can't listen to Rod Stewart without thinking "cough you *******" .

 

And this.