How good were Pink Floyd?

[-nibz-]

I've tried a few times to listen to them, but I just don't enjoy them at all.

I don't think you deserve ears

: )

 

[jacko74]

Don't like their early stuff or their later stuff but their 'middle' period is fantastic.

I find Animals so relaxing I don't think I've ever listened to it all the way through without nodding off.

And I love Wish you Were Here... so dark and cynical, full of bitterness and resentment, that's my kind of music!

 

[Bald fraud]

Pretentious shite

 

[Bill Walker]

David Gilmour is a fantastic guitarist. There are many others out there who may be faster etc, but there are few that even come close to his level of expressiveness.

Richard Wright was a talented musician. I don't think you could say he was one of the greatest technically, but he had a fantastic understanding of harmony and knew exactly what was needed. The end of Shine on You Crazy Diamond is a good example of the dramatic tension he could bring to a piece.

Nick Mason never really shone for me as a live performer, but he wasn't bad. He did the job and no doubt also contributed a lot in the creative process in the studio.

Roger Waters is a shite bass player, however, he more than makes up for it with his song writing abilities, as well as his creativity in his experimentation with unusual recording techniques and early synthesisers.

The important thing is the end result. Pink Floyd created a lot of self-indulgent shite, but the likes of Darr Side, Wish You Were Here, the Wall etc. were masterpieces. If I wanted to listen to people purely for their musical talent, there are plenty of videos of people fret-wanking on YouTube.

Stuuuuuu makes a good point about Oasis - pub rock is pretty accurate in my opinion. There's no end of love on here for them, but nobody ever complains that as musicians, they are average at best.

Nimrod - your point about 'unknown' session musicians - that was a David Gimour solo performance - not a Pink Floyd one. The session musicians are all credited and all selected for their musical ability. The drummer (Steve DiStanislao) was working with Crosby Stills & Nash, and David Gilmour said he was 'too good not to nick'. The other keyboard player is John Carin, who has worked with post-Waters Pink Floyd and both David Gilmour on recordings and tours for many years and also with Roger Waters as part of his touring band. He has also worked with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Pete Townsend and The Who, and Kate Bush. The sax player is Dick Parry, who performed on Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and the Division Bell, and was a member of Joker's Wild with Gilmour before Pink Floyd. The bass player is Guy Pratt, who has worked with Pink Floyd since Roger Waters departed. The other guitarist should need no introduction - it's Phil Manzanera.

If you were in Gilmour's shoes, and you were embarking on a world tour, where you are performing your new album in its entirety, along with old favourites off DSOTM, WYWH and The Wall, you cannot do it on your own and you are not going to play along with a backing tape. Would you carefully select some of the world's best musicians, or would you ring John from the Nag's Head to see if he's got his bass back from Cash Converters yet?

I know its a Dave solo gig my point is that they do this as Pink Floyd, I have Pulse and theres about 10 muso's on stage, I saw them in Oz and it was the same.

The OP asked 'how good were PF' ? in my post I said they had made some great records but not that great musicians, Gilmour plays tasteful guitar (I acknowledged that) but the rest are very average and none of them can sing well since Syd Barrett left.

If were talking 'live' I prefer a band who can really play, like Weather Report, Yes or Led Zep ...or Deep Purple (as was)

 

[dan_bo]

Up till the Wall they were well up there, 'Atom Heart Mother' being a personal favourite.

Roger Waters is a black hearted bastard though mind.

 

[The Silver Surfer]

Really taken aback by some comments about them not being very good musicians.
Nobody needs to be a virtuoso on their instrument in any band, indeed it can make the music boring but the craft they had, using a subtle key change, in timing, knowing when to bend a note or hold one for me, is where they are the elite.
I never see anything special with Clapton. But I do with Hendrix and I do with Gilmour.

For shit, run of the mill, nothing special "musicians" plying their trade look no further than Blink 182 et al. 4 chords and a 5 note tune and you're genius. Thats shit that anyone with a few weeks practice can do.
I played for 6 years, had a break of 14 then picked it up again this summer and im still better than those knobs.

I suppose people like what they like though.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

David Gilmour is a fantastic guitarist. There are many others out there who may be faster etc, but there are few that even come close to his level of expressiveness.

Richard Wright was a talented musician. I don't think you could say he was one of the greatest technically, but he had a fantastic understanding of harmony and knew exactly what was needed. The end of Shine on You Crazy Diamond is a good example of the dramatic tension he could bring to a piece.

Nick Mason never really shone for me as a live performer, but he wasn't bad. He did the job and no doubt also contributed a lot in the creative process in the studio.

Roger Waters is a shite bass player, however, he more than makes up for it with his song writing abilities, as well as his creativity in his experimentation with unusual recording techniques and early synthesisers.

The important thing is the end result. Pink Floyd created a lot of self-indulgent shite, but the likes of Darr Side, Wish You Were Here, the Wall etc. were masterpieces. If I wanted to listen to people purely for their musical talent, there are plenty of videos of people fret-wanking on YouTube.

Stuuuuuu makes a good point about Oasis - pub rock is pretty accurate in my opinion. There's no end of love on here for them, but nobody ever complains that as musicians, they are average at best.

Nimrod - your point about 'unknown' session musicians - that was a David Gimour solo performance - not a Pink Floyd one. The session musicians are all credited and all selected for their musical ability. The drummer (Steve DiStanislao) was working with Crosby Stills & Nash, and David Gilmour said he was 'too good not to nick'. The other keyboard player is John Carin, who has worked with post-Waters Pink Floyd and both David Gilmour on recordings and tours for many years and also with Roger Waters as part of his touring band. He has also worked with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Pete Townsend and The Who, and Kate Bush. The sax player is Dick Parry, who performed on Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and the Division Bell, and was a member of Joker's Wild with Gilmour before Pink Floyd. The bass player is Guy Pratt, who has worked with Pink Floyd since Roger Waters departed. The other guitarist should need no introduction - it's Phil Manzanera.

If you were in Gilmour's shoes, and you were embarking on a world tour, where you are performing your new album in its entirety, along with old favourites off DSOTM, WYWH and The Wall, you cannot do it on your own and you are not going to play along with a backing tape. Would you carefully select some of the world's best musicians, or would you ring John from the Nag's Head to see if he's got his bass back from Cash Converters yet?

I know its a Dave solo gig my point is that they do this as Pink Floyd, I have Pulse and theres about 10 muso's on stage, I saw them in Oz and it was the same.

The OP asked 'how good were PF' ? in my post I said they had made some great records but not that great musicians, Gilmour plays tasteful guitar (I acknowledged that) but the rest are very average and none of them can sing well since Syd Barrett left.

If were talking 'live' I prefer a band who can really play, like Weather Report, Yes or Led Zep ...or Deep Purple (as was)

If you'd have seen them in 1971 or 1972 they were just a four piece band. Have you watched the Live at Pompeii DVD? That was recorded in October 1971 before they became a supergroup, just the four of them!! When I saw them in 1977 they had Snowy White as a second guitarist but were still just a 5 piece band!!

 

[Didsbury Dave]

David Gilmour is a fantastic guitarist. There are many others out there who may be faster etc, but there are few that even come close to his level of expressiveness.

Richard Wright was a talented musician. I don't think you could say he was one of the greatest technically, but he had a fantastic understanding of harmony and knew exactly what was needed. The end of Shine on You Crazy Diamond is a good example of the dramatic tension he could bring to a piece.

Nick Mason never really shone for me as a live performer, but he wasn't bad. He did the job and no doubt also contributed a lot in the creative process in the studio.

Roger Waters is a shite bass player, however, he more than makes up for it with his song writing abilities, as well as his creativity in his experimentation with unusual recording techniques and early synthesisers.

The important thing is the end result. Pink Floyd created a lot of self-indulgent shite, but the likes of Darr Side, Wish You Were Here, the Wall etc. were masterpieces. If I wanted to listen to people purely for their musical talent, there are plenty of videos of people fret-wanking on YouTube.

Stuuuuuu makes a good point about Oasis - pub rock is pretty accurate in my opinion. There's no end of love on here for them, but nobody ever complains that as musicians, they are average at best.

Nimrod - your point about 'unknown' session musicians - that was a David Gimour solo performance - not a Pink Floyd one. The session musicians are all credited and all selected for their musical ability. The drummer (Steve DiStanislao) was working with Crosby Stills & Nash, and David Gilmour said he was 'too good not to nick'. The other keyboard player is John Carin, who has worked with post-Waters Pink Floyd and both David Gilmour on recordings and tours for many years and also with Roger Waters as part of his touring band. He has also worked with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Pete Townsend and The Who, and Kate Bush. The sax player is Dick Parry, who performed on Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and the Division Bell, and was a member of Joker's Wild with Gilmour before Pink Floyd. The bass player is Guy Pratt, who has worked with Pink Floyd since Roger Waters departed. The other guitarist should need no introduction - it's Phil Manzanera.

If you were in Gilmour's shoes, and you were embarking on a world tour, where you are performing your new album in its entirety, along with old favourites off DSOTM, WYWH and The Wall, you cannot do it on your own and you are not going to play along with a backing tape. Would you carefully select some of the world's best musicians, or would you ring John from the Nag's Head to see if he's got his bass back from Cash Converters yet?

I know its a Dave solo gig my point is that they do this as Pink Floyd, I have Pulse and theres about 10 muso's on stage, I saw them in Oz and it was the same.

The OP asked 'how good were PF' ? in my post I said they had made some great records but not that great musicians, Gilmour plays tasteful guitar (I acknowledged that) but the rest are very average and none of them can sing well since Syd Barrett left.

If were talking 'live' I prefer a band who can really play, like Weather Report, Yes or Led Zep ...or Deep Purple (as was)

Punk rock was supposed to kill you off.

And I love 70s pink floyd. But it's nothing to do with their musicianship. Any fool can play guitar.

 

[Damocles]

Any fool can kick a ball. But not everybody is Lionel Messi

 

[1961_vintage]

As musicians, pretty average, instrumentally Gilmour was the most talented

They usually had a bunch of very talented session musicians on stage on theyre big tours

I don't really get this, especially as you are a musician yourself.

If a band spends a year creating an album in the studio using all of the technology available to produce something that is complex, multi-tracked and multi-layered, it stands to reason that to take that and re-produce it on the road would need elements of it to be either pre-recorded or, if not, to be performed by the band supplemented by additional musicians. This latter option to me seems a far more honest approach?

So I just don 't understand your inferred criticism that to do so is a reflection of their ability as "pretty average" musicians.