Discovering Atom Heart Mother,Meddle.Umma, and Obscured by Clouds

superdog

superdog

AK Member
I been listening to Pink Floyd since probably 1975.It was DSOTM,WYWH then Animals and on to The Wall.While these satiated my desire for PF for 35 years I never felt the need to look into their older offerings.That was until I found a copy of Obscured By Clouds at a thrift store about a year ago.All I can say is Wow! Listening to these have opened my ears up to a whole new dimension of the Floyd.While I don't think that every lp is strong as a whole there are some real diamonds in there.
Kind of glad i didn't know about these until recently because now with some quality equipment I am in sonic heaven once again.
 
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much more relaxed music-making. the dark side, animals, wish you were here, wall era is all very focused on making some point or other. great music included to pull you along. but the earlier stuff seems much more fun to me.

"one of these days i'm going to dance with the may queen"?? from track 1 on meddle. what is the point of that. but great music.
 
A couple months ago, I came to the same realization. (that I had only listened to a small portion of Pink Floyd's albums) I purchased every album I was missing and began listening to them in order by release date. Some of the early stuff was a little tough getting through, but for the most part very good.

I think I am up to the fourth or fifth album.
 
Listened to them all back in the day, along with a copy of "Music From The Body" on Japanese vinyl. I love Floyd, but those early albums do nothing for me. Dark Side of the Moon and newer for me, up to and including The Final Cut. Nothing after that, either.
 
Then you should check out:

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
A Saucerful of Secrets
Soundtrack from the Film More

I personally love the early psychedelic Floyd better than the commercial hit Floyd.
 
Fearless is probably my single favorite Pink Floyd song.

FWIW (warning! gratuitous, egocentric and pointless aside... comin' right up), I played "Fearless", loud, on the lab hifi the morning before my thesis defense:

Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd,
Smiling...
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:-)
 
mhardy6647 said:
Fearless is probably my single favorite Pink Floyd song.

FWIW (warning! gratuitous, egocentric and pointless aside... comin' right up), I played "Fearless", loud, on the lab hifi the morning before my thesis defense:



:-)
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Yeah my favorite Meddle track.
Roger your right about the more relaxed aspect of it.That is exactly the way I feel also.It's almost like they were going backwards with the older Floyd being a more mature Floyd up to a point.I was listening to "Alans Psychedelic Breakfast" last night it gave me the ambiance of being in a comfy cozy living room with friends coming off a good mellow acid trip in the dawn hours somewhere in 1970.A real good feeling it was.
I love all the other Floyd as well it was just nice to finally hear this pre DSOTM music.Extremely talented group I must say.
 
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meggy said:
I love them both. But I keep coming back to Atom Heart Mother. Even shelled out for a sealed MFSL.
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I have been listening to the remastered cds from the 90s.I have a Harvest lp but it is noisy so I stick to the cd.Have you compared both?
AHM is the latest for me to discover so I am still on the fence on most songs except "Alans...." Love that song.
 
You are just a step away from discovering Floyd's true classics: the lp's and singles with founding member Syd Barrett in the band. Actually, I'm not a PF fan at all...but I just can't get enough of those early 45's!
 
I used to listen to all the early PF albums in my teens. I finally gave up with this band because (a) the Waters-Gilmore battle of ego got old and (b) Gilmore's songwriting was embarrassing. The tipping point was seeing their dismal live performances around '89-ish.

Obscured is garbage. Meddle is excellent. More is garbage. Saucerful is a mixed bag, arguably worth it. Piper is excellent but gets old. Ummagumma is a mixed bag but def worth it. Atom heart mother is excellent. The albums covering their early singles (e.g., Dark Side of the Moo, Relics) are good, but like Piper, get old.
 
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Raynie said:
I used to listen to all the early PF albums in my teens. I finally gave up with this band because (a) the Waters-Gilmore battle of ego got old and (b) Gilmore's songwriting was embarrassing. The tipping point was seeing their dismal live performances around '89-ish.

Obscured is garbage. Meddle is excellent. More is garbage. Saucerful is a mixed bag. Piper is excellent but gets old. Ummagumma is a mixed bag but worth it. Atom heart mother is excellent. The albums covering their early singles (e.g., Dark Side of the Moo, Relics) are good, but like Piper, get old.
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Tell us how you really feel. Don't hold back.
 
Raynie said:
I used to listen to all the early PF albums in my teens. I finally gave up with this band because (a) the Waters-Gilmore battle of ego got old and (b) Gilmore's songwriting was embarrassing. The tipping point was seeing their dismal live performances around '89-ish.

Obscured is garbage. Meddle is excellent. More is garbage. Saucerful is a mixed bag, arguably worth it. Piper is excellent but gets old. Ummagumma is a mixed bag but def worth it. Atom heart mother is excellent. The albums covering their early singles (e.g., Dark Side of the Moo, Relics) are good, but like Piper, get old.
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I like "Obscured""wots a deal" has to be one of their best songs.I am skeptical of the earlier Floyd.I ain't that psychedelicized anymore.
 
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Also should mention, the Live at Pompeii film is the best live recording they ever offered. Unfortunately it was never officially released simply as an album, to my knowledge.
 
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rogerfederer said:
"one of these days i'm going to dance with the may queen"?? from track 1 on meddle. what is the point of that. but great music.
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I believe the line is "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces"

Great album, Echoes on side 2 is a little long but love the first and last movements
 
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superdog said:
I like "Obscured""wots a deal" has to be one of their best songs.I am skeptical of the early Floyd.I ain't that psychedelicized anymore.
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+1 on Obscured. It sure ain't garbage to my ears. I think Animals is my favorite album followed by DSOTM. I wasn't a big fan back in the day, but in the last year they finally won me over. A day rarely goes by that I don't have some Floyd playing.
 
meggy said:
I love them both. But I keep coming back to Atom Heart Mother. Even shelled out for a sealed MFSL.
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Mind saying what that set you back.There is a sealed MFSL on the bay right now for a pretty penny.Way out of my price range.
 
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