Which era of Floyd is the best?

Syd Barret is the craziest/weirdest of them, but maybe not enough to make it the best. Roger Waters it is.

Waters era is far and away my personal favourite, I'm not so hot on a bunch of their other work.

Syd Barrett was a bat-shit crazy genius, but when I think of Pink Floyd I think of the Roger Waters incarnation.

Funny enough, my favorite Floyd album is Wish You Were Here, which is part of the Waters-era but has connections to Barrett.

I chose Waters over Gilmour but to me they are both great.

I voted option 4 even though I do know who "these" people are. I've just never really actually listened to Pink Floyd. I don't know why because I've always liked what I've heard from them. When I was younger I sort of had a thing against bands with 12 minute songs, but I've been meaning to eventually listen to Pink Floyd because they always seemed like the only psychedelic or long form rock band that was actually interesting. I know Syd Barrett was in the band when they were more of a 60s psychedelic flower group. What's the distinction between Waters and Gilmour?

What's a "pink floyd"?

Please tell me you're trolling.

whaaaat .. ummagumma kill you all

Which Pink Floyd album should I listen to while I try to understand and play Eve?

Yes

I mean i couldn't tell you the name of a single song other than The Wall (or maybe that's the album and there's no song called the wall?). Of course i would recognize plenty of others i'm sure. I just never listened to anything they did.

The one where "The Wall" was released, Gilmour?

Been a fan for years, but never paid much attention to aras. Wikipedia turned this up:

• 1 1963–67: early years
  • 1.1 Formation
  • 1.2 Signing with EMI
  • 1.3 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
• 2 1968–77: transition and international success
  • 2.1 Gilmour replaces Barrett
  • 2.2 A Saucerful of Secrets
  • 2.3 Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother and Meddle
  • 2.4 The Dark Side of the Moon
  • 2.5 Wish You Were Here
  • 2.6 Animals
• 3 1978–85: Waters-led era
  • 3.1 The Wall
  • 3.2 The Final Cut
  • 3.3 "A spent force"
• 4 1986–95: Gilmour-led era
  • 4.1 A Momentary Lapse of Reason
  • 4.2 The Division Bell

So, assuming this is true, Waters really only led with The Wall and The Final Cut, and Gilmour led with AMLOR, and TDB. If this is correct, why do you associate Dark Side of the Moon with Waters, and if you are correct to do so, why doesn't Wikipedia reflect that?

At any rate, I've never been able to get into The Wall or much past that, and my favorite albums have always been Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, and Wish You Were Here.

@Oldirtybearon Just for the sake of curiosity, what are you using to rip your albums to your PC? Assuming "albums" means vinyl, of course. I'm looking to do the same and trying to figure out if I should just overhaul my whole signal chain or what.

Voted for Gilmour but he and Waters shares my vote.

Waters era by far. Animals is the best Floyd album, hands down.

Roger Waters even though he is an asshole.

And now you have.

Not really a fan of Pink Floyd and was pleasantly surprised when I started listening to the Syd Barrett era stuff. Much more my speed.

Waters era, even though I think it has always been Gilmour's guitar that gives Pink Floyd its classic sound.

If by Gilmour era, you mean Dark Side/Wish You Were Here/Animals, then Gilmour definitely. I really like the wall, but everything after that was pretty lackluster. Think Animals might be my favorite floyd album, and Gilmour's voice is a lot more appealing to me.

@mirado said:

didn't mean to give the impression I was ripping vinyl. Just plain ol' CDs here. I've got vinyl albums but they're framed and hanging around my house.

Wikipedia is good for an overview of stuff, but it never reflects the entire picture in its accuracy.

The thing about DSotM, Wish You Were Here, and Animals is that yes while Gilmour and company shared writing credit on songs and indeed wrote a lot of music, Roger Waters was more or less the gatekeeper that determined what made the albums and what didn't. Listening to Gilmour and Wright talk about Pink Floyd after the fact, Waters treated Floyd like it was "his" band after Syd Barrett met his illness and fell out of life. And to a degree it certainly was, considering a lot of music and lyrics that people associate with Pink Floyd comes straight from Waters. Those same interviews indicate that the other band members put up with Roger's shit because he was acting as a creative juggernaut during the seventies. For instance, Wish You Were Here (my personal favourite Floyd album even if The Wall is the most "special" to me) is one 40+ minute love letter to Syd, written by Waters. Just because Gilmour sang doesn't mean he wrote the majority of the material.

Source: a fuckton of Pink Floyd documentaries and interviews with the band members.

I agree entirely. The thing about Pink Floyd is that you can't point to one member and say "that's why the band is so good." It really is the collective that is more than the sum of its parts.

my pink floyd interest starts at piper and ends at animals i think.

but mostly i really like meddle and the live at pompeii thing they did.

This. But I must say that Gilmour's guitar greatness is integral to those albums being as awesome as they are.

It's fine, my mistake. I just assumed pre-80s band + term "album" = vinyl. Cool idea to frame them and hang them about, although I'm not sure I could stop myself from playing them! Thank god my father bought multiple copies of all of his favorites; he knew how they'd wear and made sure to have at least one sealed.

I'm prepping to drop a couple grand on the proper materials and methods to immortalize the hundreds that I have, but not without good intel. Alas, my search continues.

Dark Side of the Moon to The Wall. Meddle is pretty good too.

Came expecting a "Money" Mayweather thread :(

Piper, Dark Side of the Moon, and Wish You Were Here are the only of their albums I've regularly listened to. Good stuff, but I have a real fondness for the insanity of the Barret stuff, and his story interests me, as well.

I said Waters, but I consider that the Waters/Gilmour era. Neither is amazing on their own, both being too wrapped up in their own thing. But together they forged the perfect balance of music and lyrics.

I love everything from Ummagumma to The Final Cut. Meddle is by far my favorite album. I do kinda find Waters intolerable at times, but his latest The Wall tour was fantastic.

I consider Waters and Gilmour both too important to split them up.

Gilmour, definitely.

Whichever era was responsible for Meddle-Dark Side-Wish You Were Here-Animals. Don't really care for Syd Barrett's insanity or Roger's self-indulgent The Wall and The Final Cut.

Atom Heart Mother is pretty great too.

Waters. But I do like Gilmour more. Seeing that Comfortably Numb performance in 1995 during the Division Bell Tour on the Pulse album is the sole reason why I picked up a guitar when I was young. I respect the creativity and writing of Roger Waters but he just never really did it for me personally as a musician.

I mean FUUUUUUUUUUUCK that's a good solo.

Meddle through The Final Cut, but not including Obscured by Clouds or The Dark Side of the Moon.

NOT including Dark Side Of The Moon?

I have to ask why.

WHAT

I think there was an era, basically from Saucerful of Secrets to Wish You Were Here, where no one single person's vision was driving the band, I don't consider any of those albums to be part of the Roger Waters regime at all, for a good long while they really were an ensemble in the truest sense of the word. And that's when they were at their best, no question.

I just think that album is uninteresting both musically and conceptually (and not to mention way, way overrated).

Animals is easily the definitive ambient experience. It's an album that's staying power and continuity are rarely matched.

The Waters stuff is a little melodramatic for my taste.

the division bell + dark side of the moon. Therefore, gilmour

I voted Waters, if only because Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall were formative albums of my appreciation of music. The Division Bell is probably my favorite Floyd album, however.

Waters and Gilmour both come to mind when I think of "Wish you were here" which is my favorite.

Waters is the mind behind Division Bell, Wall and Final cut which are my 2nd favorites from them, so I guess id say I like the Waters era best.