Pink Floyd -The British rock band, famous for its philosophical texts, acoustic experiments, innovations in the design of albums and grandiose shows. It is one of the most influential and successful groups in rock music-74.5 million sold albums in the United States (seventh place), while about 300 million were sold in the world (not counting solo works). The most famous work of the group is the album The Dark Side of the Moon, The total number of copies sold is over 45 million copies, but more on that later.

It was brief. And now in detail ..

A brief biography of group members usually begins here, but due to the fact that Pink Floyd has a rather difficult story, and I began to experiment with the design, I decided to weave a biography of the participants into a story, also with discography. Otherwise you will get a torn canvas.

In 1963, Nick Mason and Roger Waters met at the Westminster University at the Architectural Department.

Nicolas Berkeley Mason — British musician, architect, motorist, music producer. The most modest, according to Mason himself, the drummer Pink Floyd.

Born in Birmingham January 27, 1944. The only son in the family of Billy and Sally Mason (they already had three daughters) hardly knew about the problems of the middle class, especially in spacious mansions on Downshire Hill, in the most expensive area of ​​Hampsted.

In London, he studied in the privileged school “Frensham Heights School”, where he was instilled with the ability to handle the violin and piano. Also played very well on drums. The other hobby of Mason was Formula 1 races and collecting old cars.

George Roger Waters -British rock musician, vocalist, bass player, composer, poet.

Born on September 6, 1943 in Bolshoi Kurmam — the village in Surrey — was the second son in the family. Father Eric Flather Waters and Mary’s mother, school teachers by profession, were communists and Christians. His father was originally a conscious refuser, drove an ambulance carriage. But later he reviewed his eyes and went to the army. He fought in the Second World War and died in the battle of Anzio, when Roger Waters was 5 months old. Mom after that kept her son in severity.

Waters grew up in Cambridge and studied at the same school with Sid Barrett and David Gilmor — they will be described later. Roger with enthusiasm listened to blues and jazz performed by Lidbelli, Bessie Smith and Billy Holide. From childhood he loves sport, especially swimming, he has been under the football team “Arsenal” (London). At 15, he headed the youth department of the campaign for nuclear disarmament in Cambridge. After graduating from school, Waters moves to London and enters the Polytechnic Institute for the Architectural Department.

Both comrades decided to form their musical group, t.To. Everyone was fond of music. They began to play together in a team formed by a certain Keat Nobl and a wedge metalf. Later, Richard Wright joined them.

Richard William Wright (Rick Wright) — British pianist, keyboard player, songwriter and singer.

Rick was born in the family of a biochemist (who worked at Unigate Dairs) on July 28, 1943 in a hatch end, the northern suburbs of London, where he spent his childhood. At four, he began to play the piano; Later — he mastered a guitar, a pipe and a thrombone, but he did not receive a musical education itself.

In 1962, Wright entered the Polytechnic Institute for Rigent Street at the Architectural Department. Here he met Roger Waters and Nick Mason.

Soon, having lost interest in architecture, Wright left the London Polytechnic and moved to the London Musical College. At this time, he already wrote songs, moreover, one of them, “You’re the Reason Why”, suggested the Liverpool pop group Adam, Mike & Tim, which released her single.

A new group has formed — Sigma 6. Girl, and later wife, Wright — Juliet Gail — was a frequent guest at the rehearsals of the group. Roger Waters, before switching to a bass guitar, played a rhythm gitar. The group mainly played the cover of The Searches and songs invented by student Ken Chan Chapman, who became the manager of the group and the author of the songs.

Throughout the performances, the name of the group has changed repeatedly, and Sigma 6 eventually renamed Tea Set. By that time, Metalf and Noble left the composition. And t.To. Both were responsible for the vocals, then it was necessary to find vocalists. And how successfully, in 1963, the old friend of Roger — Sid Barrett came to London.

Roger Kit Barrett — British musician, poet, composer, artist.

Born in Cambridge, in a family of middle -class representatives. Father was a pathologist, but he loved classical music and played the piano. Because of this, he always encouraged his son for musical achievements. At the age of 10, Sidu was presented with Ukulelet, a year later Bango, and finally, at the age of 14, they bought an acoustic guitar Hofner. At the age of 15 he already owned an electric guitar and a home -made amplifier.

There are two versions how Roger Barrett became Sid Barrett: 1) In Cambridge there was such an old jazz musician — Sid “Bit” Barrett (Sid “The Beat” Barrett) — from which our hero borrowed a name; 2) Once, Roger came to a scout gathering in a flat cap, and he looked like a typical worker from the factory, so friends and classmates called him Sida, t.To. This name was widespread among the working class people.

In 1961, the father of Sid dies from cancer. For Barrett, this was a real shock, so my mother supported her son in every possible way (unlike Waters, by the way, by the way). Around the same time, SID forms his group — "Geoff Mott and the Mottates". Speeds of this group were visited by Roger Waters, who was a school friend. He even organized a concert of the Barrett group on March 11, 1962: CND benefit in the House of Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends. Shortly after this, Geoff Mott and the Mottoes ceased to exist, t.To. One of the participants left the team.

In September 1962, Barrett entered the University of Englia Raskin at the Faculty of Art, where he met David Gilmor. At the same time, it begins to actively be inspired The Beatles, The Rolling Stones And Bob Dilan, who at that time were terribly popular. An interesting fact is connected with this: Sid decided to act in the art college in London, but, as is usually the case, the interview was put on the same day with a concert The Beatles In Cambridge. But the musician chose an interview, despite the desire to get to the concert. And did not lose, t.To. was accepted.

Roger meets Sid and invites him to Tea Set. He agrees with this proposal. Such people are already formed in the group: Roger Waters (bass gitar), Nick Mason (drums), Rick Wright (keyboards), Bob Close (Guitar), Chris Dennis (vocals) and Sid Barrett (guitar). Over time, Bob and Chris left the team and, thus, Sid became the leader of the group.

At one of the performances, Barrett noticed that the TEA Set group performs together with their team — they had exactly the same name and they had. Sid in a hurry decided to change the name. The idea is spontaneous: to combine the names of two blues musicians whom Barrett listened at that time — Pink Anderson and Floyd Ca Until — and get the name The Pink Floyd Sound.

The newly formed group performed mainly with rhythm-n-blinker causes in clubs. In 1966 they were noticed by Peter Jenner, a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. He liked the sound quality of the group and he decided to become their manager. From this moment on, The Pink Floyd Sound began to experiment with music: add more psychedel. Led by Jenner, the group began to perform at London underground concerts in clubs such as UFO, and the producers of the group organized a managerial company for rock groups called BlackHill Enterprises. During 1966, the cooperation of The Pink Floyd Sound and BlackHill Enterprises has turned into a full partnership, each participant of which owned the sixth part of the enterprise. On the advice of Jenner, the group removed the word "Sound" from the name, turning into Pink Floyd.

The first single was the song Arnold Layne, recorded at Polydor in January 1967, and later, after the Pink Floyd signed a contract with EMI, appeared already on the EMI plates.

The song was contradictory: it was a story about Transvest by the name of Arnold Lane, who at night in the light of the moon stole women’s linen from the ropes, and then dressed up in a stolen mirror in front of the mirror. Such music with similar content was almost immediately forbidden to twist on the radio, but the single took the 20th place of the British chart.

In fact, the song was based on a real episode from Cambridge youth Barrett and Roger Waters. The mothers of both future “Floyds” rented out rooms for students of the local college, and in the garden behind the house on the ropes the garlands of female underwear were dried. The entire local public was excited when suddenly at night it began to disappear.

The second single was the song See Emily Play. The song tells of a girl named Emily, who, according to Barrett, he saw in a dream, in the forest, after the adoption of hallucinogen. Barrett later said that the story of sleep and observation in the girl’s forest was compiled “… exclusively for advertising”.

The single has become extremely popular in the UK. See Emily Play for a while fell on the upper lines of the British chart. Pink Floyd played this song on television in the program "Top of the pops" three times. It was after it that the group became known throughout the UK.

In 1967, the group released its debut album — The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

Genre: Psychedelic rock
List of compositions:
Side a
1.Astronomy Domine (Barrett)* — 4:12
2.Lucifer SAM (Barrett) — 3:07
3.Matilda Mother (Barrett) — 3:08
4.Flaming** (Barrett) — 2:46
5.Pow r. TOC H. (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason) — 4:26
6.Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk (Waters) — 3:05
Side b
7.Interstellar Overdrive (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason) -9: 41
8.The Gnome (Barrett) — 2:13
9.Chapter 24 (Barrett) — 3:42
10.The Scarecrow (Barrett) — 2:11
11.Bike (Barrett) 3:21

For Americans, the album looked like this:
Side a
1.See Emily Play (Barrett) — 4:12
2.Pow r. TOC H.(Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason) — 4:26
3.Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk (Waters) — 3:05
4.Lucifer SAM (Barrett) — 3:07
5.Matilda Mother (Barrett) — 3:08
Side b
6.The Scarecrow (Barrett) — 2:11
7.The Gnome (Barrett) — 2:13
8.Chapter 24 (Barrett) — 3:42
9.Interstellar Overdrive (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason) — 9:41

*The author of the composition is indicated in the brackets
** So the singles are noted

The release occurred on August 5, 1967 and immediately became popular. What is the reason for this success? Firstly, Pink Floyd was already popular in Britain, thanks to the single. Secondly, Sid Barrett was already recognized as a magnificent songwriter. And without jokes, this album is considered the great work of Barrett. Thirdly, at that time the songs had high-quality sound, especially this was revealed in stereo.

Each song had an interesting story. For example, Lucifer Sam is named after the Barrett cat, and in the text of the song “Matilda Mother”, Sid Barrett conveys his “impressions of magical mysterious trips” in the form of a child’s story, which asks her mother to read another fairy tale before bedtime. I lead to the fact that each song had a main idea and a certain metaphorical.

The album received its name, which is often translated into Russian as “Volynik at the gates of the dawn”, from the name of the 7th chapter of the fairy-tale story “Wind in the willows” of the Scottish writer Kennet Graham, the favorite book of the founder of the group of the group of Sid Barrett.

The recording of the album began on February 21, 1967 in the third studio Abbey Road, where at that time the group The Beatles recorded her famous album "SGT. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ". The producer of the album was Norman Smith, known for his work with The Beatles.
As a result, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn received positive reviews of critics and listeners and took 6th place in the British chart. To this day, the album is considered a classic of psychedelic rock. In 2003, the Rolling Stone magazine placed The Piper at the Gates of Dawn for 347 place of his list “500 greatest albums of all times”.

My opinion about the album: the album is delightful, although I’m not a fan of psychedelic rock. Astronomy Domine and Lucifer Sam liked the most. Although, to be honest, it was not comfortable for me to listen to “Bike” because of cacophony at the end of the song. But in any case, the album leaves behind a positive impressions, for which he receives “amazing” (steam the SG assessment system for games to evaluate music, made!).

After the release of the album, the third single came out Apples and Orange, who did not bring anything special to the life of the group, but later the song was included in various Pink Floyd collections.

The popularity of the group grew. However, fame adversely influenced Sid Barrett. He began to use narcotic substances more often, in particular LSD. Sid took a lot of things before, but the main problems began after a stunning success.

For example, many eyewitnesses noticed … not that a strange, rather frightening Barrett’s behavior at concerts. Then he screamed one chord on the guitar, then he slowly upset this very guitar. In various interviews, the SID was laconic, or even did not answer at all. There was a void in his eyes, and the appearance resembled a zombie. Before the performance at the end of 1967, Barrett poured into his hair tablets of tranquilizers and methalon, abundantly doused it with a tube of gel for hair styling. Subsequently, all this melted on his face under the scorching lights of the sofits, which made him similar to a “branded candle”. For what? And just Sid’s colleagues went on stage without him, t.To. tired of waiting for him, and Barrett thus decided to repay. It was the case of the frontman of the group played the guitar with a lighter, after which the scene, of course, was ignited.

Almost every Pink Floyd concert after such exits was a failure. Each participant understood that Barrett should be replaced. And the substitution was found in the person David Gilmore.

David John Gilmore — British composer, guitarist, vocalist.

Gilmore was born in Cambridge. His father, Douglas Gilmore, was a senior teacher of zoology at the University of Cambridge. Mother, Sylvia, worked as a teacher and editor. Parents adhered to socialist views and elected the Labor Party. The son was also a supporter of these views.

David studied at Pers-Skul on Hills Road in Cambridge. There he met Sid Barrett and Roger Waters, who studied at Higher School for Boys Cambridge, also located on Hills Road. Gilmore became friends with Sid and learned with him to play the guitar after dinner. However, in one group they did not play.

In 1964, Gilmore played in the Joker’s Wild group. In 1966, he left her and went with friends to wander around Spain and France with street musical performances. They did not success the musicians, in fact, barely reducing ends meet. For David, it all ended in the hospital, in which he fell due to exhaustion. In 1967, Gilmore and friends returned to England by truck transporting fuel, which they stole from construction in France.

David accepted a proposal to https://noverificationcasinos.co.uk/review/bull-spins/ replace Barrett, because it was his childhood friend, after all. Gilmore played and sang on several shows, while Sid wandered around the stage, occasionally joining the performance. It reached the point of absurdity: Barrett stopped taking it to concerts, t.To. Everyone is tired of his antics. Sid remained in the group only because he tried to write songs.

However, the final chord was Barrett’s song “Have You Got it yet?". At first it seemed simple, but Sid at rehearsals almost every minute changed the arrangements, which is why the musicians did not understand that playing. And Barrett played, and asked the question: “It dawned on you? ("Have you get it yet?")"). Waters could not stand it, answered: “But it dawned on me” — put the guitar and left the studio.

After another 5 concerts, Waters, Gilmore, Wright and Mason understand that it’s time to say goodbye to Sid. But before, in 1968, the new Pink Floyd album was released — A sauskerful of secrets.

A sauskerful of secrets (1968)

Genre: psychedelic rock, spaces

List of compositions:
Side a:
1.Let the be More Light (Waters) — 5:38
2.Remember a Day (Wright) — 4:33
3.Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters) — 5:28
4.Corporal Clegg (Waters) — 4:12
Side b:
5.A saucerful of secrets (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 11:59
6.See-Saw (Wright)-4:37
7.JugBand Blues (Barrett) — 3:00

The album record took place on August 7-8, 1967 and January 18-May 3, 1968 at the studio of Abby Road in London and October 9-11 and 19, 1967 on de Lane Lee Lee Lee. The album itself was released on June 29, 1968.

Due to an unstable state, SID practically did not take part in writing the album. Roger Waters wrote almost all of the material, and David Gilmore performed guitar parties. Only one Barrett’s song — JugBand Blues got into the album.

The album was distinguished by one composition — A sauskerful of secrets — the length of which was approximately 12 minutes. Unlike other songs, it had its own concept, its own structure, its own experimental solutions. For example, Roger Waters discovered that the recording of the sound of a plate along which is slightly tapped with soft hammer, with a close microphone pulled to it, retains all those tones that are lost when hit on a plate in full force. Using this find and experimenting with it, other musicians of the group connected and began to contribute to work and began to contribute to work.

David Gilmore explained the concept of songs as follows: “The first part is stress, the construction of fortifications, fear. The middle, with all the bang and roar — this is military operations. The final part is something like a requiem."

The song, like the album itself, was met positively. Many noted that the group began to gradually depart from the psychedelic genre, although a Saucerful of Secrets was called one of the greatest works of psychedelic rock. The album took 9th place in the chart of Great Britain. Nick Mason enthusiastically spoke about the song a saucerful of secrets, calling it “cornerstone in the history of Pink Floyd” (and for a reason).

My opinion about the album: the album sounds good. I really liked Riff’s songs very much Let the be More Light. However A sauskerful of secrets I didn’t like it right away, because I didn’t understand her at all. Then he began to listen again … and yet … and in the end, the composition went with a bang! A well -verified suite with its structure sounds good. Well, the last song of Sid Barrett is what everyone needs to listen to, as for me. Therefore, amazing, but this is not the most outstanding album of the group in my modest look.

On April 6, 1968, the group officially announced that Barrett is no longer a participant in Pink Floyd. Sid could not imagine himself without a group for some time, and therefore constantly came to the concerts of Pink Floyd, occupied the first rows and looked at the new guitarist. Later, Barrett distance from society. EMI and Harvest Records will ask Sid to start a solo career, but it will not last long.

Meanwhile, Pink Floyd has released another single Point Me at the Sky, who did not gain fame, according to the group, due to an unsuccessful recording. Unlike Careful with that axe, eugene, which was on the side B. The song immediately became a hit and was performed at all concerts. However, the main guideline was on Point me at the Sky. After that, Pink Floyd refused to release single.

In 1969, Pink Floyd writes for the director Barba Schröder Soundtrack for More. Accordingly, the group releases a new album.

Music from the Film More (1969)

Genre: Psychedelic rock

List of compositions:
Side a
1.Cirrus minor (Waters) — 5:18
2.The Nile Song (Waters) — 3:26
3.Crying Song (Waters) — 3:33
4.Up the Khyber (Mason/Wright) — 2:12
5.Green Is the Color (Waters) — 2:58
6.Cymbaline (Waters) — 4:50
7.Party Sequence (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 1:07
Side b
8.Main Theme (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 5:28
9.Ibiza bar (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 3:19
10.More Blues (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 2:12
11.Quicksilver (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 7:13
12.A spanish piece (Gilmore) — 1:05
13.Dramatic Theme (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 2:15

I went out on June 13, 1969. This album was the first without the participation of Sid Barrett and was a classic soundtrack for the film.

The More film itself talks about a young German who gets acquainted with a pretty, independent American. Soon they become lovers, and he follows her on Ibiza, the Spanish Island, where they enjoy the idyll in the house on the beach. The film itself was estimated at 6.5 points for IMDB.

The album was met negatively, calling no outstanding. Yes, and to be honest, there is actually nothing to tell about it.

My opinion about the album: Here I have to agree with criticism, the album is really like that. Two songs that have come to me very well: The Nile Song And Cymbaline. The first was remembered by the fact that this is the only song Pink Floyd in the Hevi-Metal genre, but the vocals of the heavy. Cymbaline has a good and memorable song that I recommend to listen. Otherwise, meh … so we pass by.

But in parallel with the soundtrack, Pink Floyd worked on another album. However, for a short time we leave this group alone, because in the world of music there is an extremely important event: on October 10, 1969, King Crimson releases its debut album in the Court of the Crimson King. Why is it so important? Because this album influenced the development of such a genre as Progressive rock.

What was so special in progressive rock? This genre made it possible to complicate the musical form of the composition: to combine such genres as rock, classical music, jazz, etc.D.; lengthen the melody; create songs with a hidden meaning and basic idea. The consequence of this was long compositions (from 10 to 50 minutes), which were divided into parts, as well as conceptual albums. You can read in detail about all this here. In the Court of the Crimson King is not the first album, but it is thanks to it that progressive rock became mega-popular.

In the same year, Pink Floyd comes out a new album.

Genre: psychedelic rock, experimental music, sleeping, progressive rock.

List of compositions:
Disk 1
Side a
1.Astronomy Domine (Sid Barrett) — 8:29
2.Careful with that axe, Eugene (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 8:50
Side b
3.Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters) — 9:12
4.A saucerful of secrets (Waters/Wright/Gilmore/Mason) — 12:48
Disk 2
Side a
1.Sysyphus: Part 1 (Wright) — 1:03 (4:29)
2.Sysyphus: Part 2 (Wright) — 3:30 (1:49)
3.Sysyphus: Part 3 (Wright) — 1:49 (3:07)
4.Sysyphus: Part 4 (Wright) — 6:59 (3:38)
5.Grantchester Meadows (Waters) — 7:26
6.Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Picts (Waters) — 4:59
Side b
7.The Narrow Way Part 1 (Gilmore) — 3:27
8.The Narrow Way Part 2 (Gilmore) — 2:53
9.The Narrow Way Part 3 (Gilmore) — 5:57
10.The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party: Part 1 (Entrance) (Mason) — 1:00
11.The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party: Part 2 (Entertainment) (Mason) — 7:06
12.The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party: Part 3 (Exit) (Mason) — 0:38

The album was double: 1 disk contained group concert entries, 2 disk — studio songs.

Presumably, the word "ummagumma" on the slang of Cambridge students means "having sex". After the release of the album, the group members said that the name of the album does not mean anything at all, but simply sounds interesting.

2 The disc was divided into 4 parts, according to the number of group members. Everyone wrote their own compositions. “Sysyphus” was exclusively the song of Wright, “Grantchester Meadows” and “Several Species. "Exclusively Waters," Narrow Way " — Gilmore and" The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party " — Mason. Everyone performed his song alone, and then added to the album. A good idea.

Also, the album had an unusual cover, the design of which was engaged in the HipGnosis studio Storm Torgeson. It contains several photographs of the group located in such a way that the effect of the distort is created.

The album received mainly positive reviews of critics, but there were negative reviews. In the UK reached 5th place in charts, and in the USA-73rd place.

In 2015, in honor of the album, a new species of Umma Gumma dragonfly-dyes was named after the album.

My opinion about the album: a good album, everyone is better than the previous one. But it seems to me that he is somehow pulling and long. Although the sound is quite lively and intense. From Sysyphus, goosebumps go every time, because the composition is painfully crypt. But still, I can’t call an album amazing. It is rather “commendable”, which is trying to be “amazing”, but this does not work out, in my opinion.

After the release of Ummagumma, apparently, seeing the success of King Crimson, Pink Floyd decides to change the genre: psychedelic rock for progressive. The consequence of this solution is a new album — Atom Heart Mother.

Atom Heart Mother (1970)

Genre: Progressive rock

List of compositions:
Ctoron a
1.Atom Heart Mother (Gilmore/Waters/Wright/Mason/Gisin) — 23:45
Ctoron b
2.If (Waters) — 4:31
3.Summer ’68 (Wright) — 5:29
4.Fat Old Sun (Gilmore) — 5:24
5.Alan’s PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST (Gilmore/Waters/Wright/Mason) — 13:01

So, the group decided to smoothly move to progressive rock. However, Pink Floyd decided to make music more classic, t.To. It was at that time, primarily among the performers of progressive rock, an interest in classical music grew. It was also decided to make a song that will be the main one in the album.

To create the main track, the musicians already had some achievements. First of all, this is a sequence of chords that David Gilmore composed. He gave her the name "Theme from An Imaginary Western". Waters, the first to hear how David Gilmore played this sequence of chords during a break in a rehearsal, suggested using it as the main musical theme and a starting point for building a new composition. The idea was also proposed to combine classical music and rock music. So they began to write music.

However, due to concert tours in the United States, Pink Floyd did not have time to write such a powerful composition. Roger turned to his friend Ron Gisin to finalize the composition, record orchestral music with choral singing. Ron agreed. The result was a written orchestra score. When the group returned from the United States, it was decided to record the composition.

But the recording of the song was still this test: it was hard for session musicians to play Gisin’s music, and the composer himself was exhausted, as if not enough. Confusion with the new equipment that EMI purchased, because of this it was impossible to mount the old version of the composition, and it was necessary to record the song from the very beginning to the end unmistakable. There was another problem — background noises, from which the group could not get rid of. The song was exhausted, but in the end it was completed. True, the sound quality did not suit musicians, but there was no time.

The name of both the song and the album were originally called "Untitled Epic" and "The Amazing Pudding". But these options seemed too simple. Ron Gisin suggested looking for a suitable name among the headings in the newspaper "Evenging Standard". As a result, Nick Mason proposed using the heading of the article “Nuclear Drive for Woman’s Heart”, who talked about a 56-year-old woman who was installed “atomic pacemaker”. So the name was born Atom Heart Mother.

After writing the suite, it was necessary to record more songs on the second side. And so were recorded “if”, “Summer ’68”, “Fat Old Sun” and “Alan’s PSYCHEDELIC BREAKFAST”. The last song is of greater interest, because it also has its own structure and an interesting sound. The composition consists of a combination of instrumental music with a record of voices, sounds and noise made by one of the technical workers of Pink Floyd, whose name is mentioned in the name of the composition, Alan Stiles during breakfast during breakfast.

The album was designed by the HipGnosis Studio Storm Torgeson. For the cover, a cow named Lalabel III was chosen. The cow was chosen because the Pink Floyd musicians wanted to get rid of the reputation of the group performing “space” rock, and tried to make the album design so that it was not connected with music, after a long search for the images, one of the friends of Torgerson remembers the famous wallpaper with the cows of Andy Warhol’s cows. Storm went to Essex and photographed the first cow hit. As a result, according to him, it turned out, “… the most general image of the cow. This is a cow as such ".

The same wallpaper with cows

The album was released on October 10, 1970 and received mixed reviews. First of all, the authors themselves critically respond to “atom heart mother”. Roger Waters generally said that even for a million dollars would not play Atom Heart Mother. Rather, negative than positive reviews prevail in professional musical critics. The song was called not outstanding and unsuccessful. But the songs went very well to fans, and in various tops of the “best songs Pink Floyd” Atom Heart Mother falls. And in the 21st century, the song began to be overestimated and called almost classics. And 1 place in British charts makes a lot of felt.

I studied at a music school twice, and I have never taught me the music of the 20th century, although I would like to.To. there is something to disassemble. But this is in Russia so. Since 2012, the Ministry of Education has included in the program of training on the subject “Atom Heart Mother” to analyze and study the subject of learning.

My opinion about the album: The album is good and not so bad as to criticize it so. However, the album lived and lives only thanks to the main song. The rest of the compositions are some strange … I did not particularly remember any of them, except, perhaps, “Alan’s Psyedelic Breakfast”. So with my love for Atom Heart Mother, as a song, the album turned out to be just normal, and worthy of praise.

The director Stanley Kubrick wanted to use the composition of Atom Heart Mother in his film "Clockwork Orange" — Pink Floyd did not allow this because they did not know what he was going to do with their creation. Kubrick’s revenge followed twenty years later: he refused Roger Waters to use excerpts from the film “Cosmic Odyssey of 2001” in the Amused to Death album (1992).

Genre: Progressive rock

List of compositions:
Ctoron a
1.One of these Days (Waters, Gilmore, Wright, Mason) — 5:57
2.A pillow of winds (Gilmore, Waters) — 5:10
3.Fearless (including You’ll Never Walk Alone) (Gilmore, Waters) — 6:08
4.San Tropez (Waters) — 3:43
5.Seamus (Gilmore, Wright, Waters, Mason) — 2:16
Ctoron b
6.Echoes (Wright, Gilmore, Waters, Mason) — 23:29

After the release of Atom Heart Mother, it was decided to record a new album, similar in structure, but not by musical content. The scheme is the same: the main song on one disk, the rest are on the other. The main song will be Echoes. When recording this song, the group members took into account past experience with A Saucerful of Secrets and Atom Heart Mother and decided to record a long composition without invited musicians and with their instruments. When recording this album, the group first used 16-road tape recorders instead of eight and four-channel.

Record of the new Pink Floyd album, and with it Echoes, began on January 4, 1971 in the studio of EMI Ebby Road. However, before the recording began, the group did not have any new songs and musical ideas, so Pink Floyd participants had to spend part of the studio time to compose music. Every time any idea appeared, it was fixed on the film. As a result, the appeared musical fragments were collected together and entitled as “Nothing, Parts 1-24”. After “Nothing, Parts 1-24”, musical fragments appeared “Son of Nothing” and “Return of the Son of Nothing”.

The unusual sound of a number of musical topics of “Echoes” was often created as a result of these experiments spontaneously. So, an arrangement of entry to the composition was accidentally created, sounding like a squeak of Sonara. Such a sound effect arose after the group of the group, Richard Wright, connected the piano to the Leslie amplifier. Subsequently, the sound of these notes, especially the specific resonance between the piano and the dynamic of Lesli, was not possible during the record in the studio, a fragment from one of the demonstration films was taken for the album.

Unlike Atom Heart Mother, the recording of both the album and the composition took place without any problems. The only thing-the song was written for a long time, because of touring trips to the UK, other European countries, the USA and Australia. However, this misfortune survived.

November 13, 1971 album Meddle went into release. And unlike AHM, warmth was met by listeners and critics. The Echoes song became one of the most discussed: everyone liked it, everyone considered it a breakthrough for the group. We can say that only at the expense of this composition Meddle took 3rd place in the British chart. The recording participants also liked Echoes. Richard Wright called her the best song Pink Floyd. No wonder she played at all group concerts.

The EchoES song is one of the songs that was part of the concert where Pink Floyd was “melting the fish”: the concert was held in the middle of the lake, the sound was so loud that the performers were wearing the headphones, so as not to deaf. The fish in this lake could not withstand low frequencies and died. For this, the group had to pay a fine.

My opinion about the album: The album is really good. The songs of the first disk are much better than songs from Atom Heart Mother, as well as Echoes. It is immediately obvious that the group was in no hurry and everything was smooth and clearly. Therefore, the album turned out to be excellent! I recommend for everyone to listen to, the album really deserves this.

In 1992, Roger Waters, during his solo work, Amused to Death gave an interview to Q, in which he argued that Andrew Lloyd Webber used the guitar riff from the Echoes composition in his musical The Phantom of the Opera (Ghost of the opera) in the same tact size 12/8, with the same structure and notes. However, Waters did not apply to the court for plagiarism.
Previously, Roger Waters sarcastically responded about Andrew Lloyd Webber in his work. In the lyrics “It’s a Miracle” from the Amused to Death album, the image of the “terrible sweet maestro” was included, which the falling lid of the piano breaks his fingers.

We will take a step away from Pink Floyd again, and look a little at the activities of another group — The Beatles. It would seem, what do they have to do with it? But the fact is that the film was released back in 1964 A Hard Day’s Night, named after the album of the same name, which was popular for a very long time, and each group tried to copy this idea.

Pink Floyd participants, of course, saw this film, and also decided to make something of their own. However, they did not choose the Beatles path, and decided to record something special. So the film was born Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii.

Watch the movie
The performance was recorded from October 4 to 7, 1971. The place was chosen by director Edian Maben — an amphitheater in Pompei. As the director himself said:

It was quiet, dark and very gloomy. And I thought: “This is exactly the place where there should be Pink Floyd”. Because it suits them the most. It has death in it. It has sex in it. And something still lives in it. Pink Floyd will be able to breathe life again into this amphitheater.

The film is an mounted Pink Floyd concert without spectators. The group just plays songs. It would seem that there is so interesting? Firstly, the film is very well filmed and mounted. Any Kungurov Films will tell you this. The amazing game of the group goes well with the ruins of an abandoned city, volcano and frescoes. Secondly, Pink Floyd, like any other concert, dragged exclusively on their enthusiasm. It was nice to see how Roger Waters during Careful with that Ax, Eugene naturally yelled. And with what force he beat the gang during a saucerful of secrets … This moment was even placed on the cover how you could notice. David Gilmore and Richard Wright sang Echoes perfectly, and Nick Mason fell on the drums as best he could. Well, a song with a dog is a tower.

You might not have noticed, but during the performance of “One of these Days” the main time was devoted to the game of Nika Mason. The fact is that after the filming it was found that the recordings from the cameras of other Pink Floyd participants disappeared … there was only Mason’s entry remained. ¯ \ _ (ツ) _/¯

And most importantly: all the songs recorded at this "concert" were performed live. Waters cries, Gilmore, Wright and Dogs were not a studio record. And this is really worthy of respect.

As a result, the film was released successful. In 1974, the theater version for VHS and other carriers was released, and in 2003 the directorial version was published, in which various interviews with the group were added. And in principle, you can recommend to view any Pink Floyd fan, as well as people who have just decided to get acquainted with the group to understand how the concerts of this group took place.

In 1972, another Pink Floyd soundtrack was released — OBSCURED BY CLOUDS.

OBSCURED by Clouds (1972)

Genre: progressive rock, psychedelic rock

Side a
1.OBSCURED by Clouds (Gilmore, Waters) — 3:03
2.When you’re in (Gilmore, Waters, Wright, Mason) — 2:30
3.Burning Bridges (Wright, Waters) — 3:29
4.The Gold it’s in the … (Gilmore, Waters) — 3:07
5.Wot’s … uh the deal (Gilmore, Waters) — 5:08
6.Mudmen (Wright, Gilmore) — 4:20
Side b
7.Childhood’s End (Gilmore) — 4:31
8.Free Four (Waters) — 4:15
9.Stay (Waters, Wright) — 4:05
10.Absolutly Curtains (Gilmore, Waters, Wright, Mason) — 5:52

The already familiar Barbe Schroider again turned to Pink Floyd to record the soundtrack for his new film — Valley. The essence of the film: Vivien is the wife of the French consul in Melbourne, who joins the group of researchers in search of a mysterious hidden valley in the jungle of New Guinea, where she hopes to find feathers of an extremely rare exotic bird. On the way through the dense jungle of Papua — New Guinea and at the peak of Mount Jilow, she and a small group of researchers come into contact with the Mapug tribe, one of the most isolated groups of people on Earth, the customs of which include a vow of eternal silence.

The last song of the album was performed by the Mapug tribe, which in the film appears. Quite an interesting connection.

The disk was recorded in six days in France, in Chateau d’Eruville, and on June 3, 1972 he was released. There is nothing special to tell again. Critics came together that this album is much better than "More". OBSCURED by Clouds reached a sixth place in charts in the UK and 46th place in the United States. But the fans of particular glory did not gain. However, Nick Mason called this album his beloved.

My opinion about the album: Definitely better More, but not amazing enough. However, “Wot’s … uh the deal” is a very good song, I highly recommend listening. And in general, the album sounds good, so it remains only to praise the group for a well -made album.

We rewind the time for 1971-1972. Between the release of Meddle and another concert tour in the UK, the group has free time to record new material. Roger Waters has been carrying an idea with him for a long time: to make a conceptual album. He advanced this idea to the group, and the participants decided to support it in this. Thus, Roger Waters became the driving force Pink Floyd.

The concept of the album was as follows: as the basis for the texts of the new project, Waters proposed to take those phenomena that “drive people crazy”, focusing at a pressure tested by the group in the first years of existence, as well as problems with the psyche of the former Pink Floyd leader Sid Barrett. Having accepted his proposal, the musicians made a list of phenomena of modern life during the discussion, which most strongly influenced the human psyche. The list includes “harsh terms, long trips, fear of flight, seduction of money, fear of death, mental stress on the verge of madness” and so on. Taking this list as a basis, Roger Waters began composing song texts. So was born The Dark Side of the Moon.

The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Genre: Progressive rock

List of compositions:
All texts are written by Roger Waters
Side a
1.Speak to Me (Mason) — 1:30
2.Breathe (Gilmore, Wright) — 2:43
3.On the Run (Gilmore, Waters) — 3:36
4.Time (includes Breathe (Reprise)) (Mason, Gilmore, Wright) — 7:01
5.The Great Gig in the Sky (Wright, Claire Torry) 4:36
Side b
6.Money (Waters) — 6:22
7.Us and them (Wright) — 7:46
8.Any Color You Like (Gilmore, Mason, Wright) — 3:25
9.Brain Damage (Waters) — 3:48
10.Eclipse (Waters) — 2:03

Pink Floyd participants sporadically on the album recording in January and February 1972, but the musicians were able to start a full -fledged recording and information process only in late May — early June 1972. This is due to the record of Obscined by Clouds. Three -day and weekly sound recording sessions were held in EMI Ebbie Road. Working on The Dark Side of the Moon, the members of the group themselves performed the duties of producers, so they set the work schedule in such a way as to systematically record the track behind the track and not to move on to the next composition, not having previously achieved the desired quality from the current track. The place of the sound engineer was taken by the EMI employee Alan Parsons, who previously performed the duties of an assistant engineer of recording when working on Atom Heart Mother.

During rehearsals, they decided to name the album The Dark Side of the Moon, But later they found that the album with the same name was released by the Medicine Head group. In this regard, the musicians Pink Floyd had to change the name of their album on Eclipse (“Eclipse”), but after the output of the Medicine Head disc was unnoticed, the group returned to the original version of the name.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the first conceptual work of the Pink Floyd group. The unifying topic for all compositions has become oppressed by various circumstances and phenomena of modern life on man. This idea has become a powerful Pink Floyd creativity catalyst. For each composition of the album, the musicians chose a certain topic, and some topics were revealed without poems by Roger Waters, only with the help of music. A distinctive feature of compositions is the connection not only conceptual, but also musical. Each song smoothly goes into another, without breaking off. The exception, perhaps, is only The Great Gig in the Sky and Money, due to the fact that these songs were on different sides of the album.

1)Speak to Me — Enterprise, you can hear samples from the subsequent compositions of the album in it.
2)Breathe — This song reflects the problems of "the beginning of life in social terms". How a person enters society, and what problems faces.
3)On the Run — instrumental composition, but due to music you can understand that the problem of paranoia is revealed here. People are too distrustful to others, and therefore just run away from them.
4)Time — Song about the speed of time. We spend most of our time on the usual things, not even trying to understand why we need all this, and we find ourselves on the verge of madness when we suddenly understand that life is in vain.
5)The Great Gig in the Sky — The song expresses an appeal to death. You can’t be afraid of her — this will happen to everyone sooner or later. The vocals were performed by Claire Torry. It is worth a little dwell on the recording of this song. Claire did not write her vocals, and no one prescribed. The entire vocal party is improvisation. Torry even thought that this was a bad idea, but having entered the room to the group members, she saw: everyone was completely delighted with the vocal party.
6)Money — ridicule of people’s greed. We want too much money, and because of this a person has a lot of problems.
7)Us and them — represents the "anti -war and anti -suirarchical" mood of Roger Waters. Generals who, preparing for military operations, forget that “the front line drawn from the edge to the edge” is also people.
8)Any Color You Like — The instrumental, expresses the lack of choice, a sentence of choice where it is not. Anyway, in our time there is too little choice, which really discourages.
9)Brain Damage — describes a mental disorder on the basis of great popularity and success. Just a song about Sid Barrett. The line “See you on the dark side of the moon”, indicates that Waters felt a mental connection with Barrett, from the point of view of psychological characteristics.
10)Eclipse — The final of the album. Speaks of more general things, completing the album not on such a gloomy note.

The idea of ​​each song was simple and understandable, but touched everyone. Sooner or later, everyone is faced with these problems. And the songs, as it were, support us in this. This is probably the main idea of ​​The Dark Side of the Moon, which is still amazing, although the album is already 46 years old.

Irony of Fate: Money’s song, released as a single, has become commercially successful in the United States. Now catch the irony: the composition that makes fun of the greed of money brought the group more than all this very money … amazing.

The HipGnosis design studio was engaged in the album cover for the album. Many options were proposed, but it was decided to dwell on dispersion. The reverse side of the cover depicts the convergence of the spectrum through the inverted prism, which allows, connecting the ends of the deployed covers together, to achieve an optical effect that is repeating to the ring closed into the ring. This image fully reflects the idea of ​​the album. After a year, this cover is recognized as the best. According to the storm of Torgerson-the main designer-three main elements are laid in the prism on the cover: firstly, this is a reminder of the light effects, which are the most important part of the Pink Floyd concert performances; Secondly, on the cover there is a symbolism of the triangle, denoting ambitiousness, one of the main topics of the songs of the album; Thirdly, this is the simplicity of the image-the answer to Richard Wright, who asked to portray on the cover something “simple, bold and dramatic”.

It is worth paying attention to Pink Floyd concerts. Before that, the performances were excellent, the sound quality on each was struck by the imagination. But with The Dark Side of the Moon it has become even cooler. A lot of special effects were added, including a round screen, which became the main element of all subsequent Pink Floyd performances on stage. Also at concerts were used: signal missiles, burning gong, clouds of smoke from dry ice, smoke bombs, a fifteen -foot aircraft flying over the audience and exploding on stage during the “On the Run” execution. By 1975 to the festival in Nebworth (Hartfordshire) The Dark Side of the Moon was performed by the group 385 times. After this concerts for this album was not held

The same round screen

March 10, 1973 in the United States and March 23, 1973 in the UK, the album was released. A real splash occurred: in the US chart, the album rose to 1st place, in the chart of Great Britain-to 2nd place. Already in April, the disc became gold, both in the UK and in America. In the USA, The Dark Side of the Moon was the first Pink Floyd album to fall into the top 40 and at the same time immediately in the first place. The album was among the forty-best in the American hit parade for 15 months. The Pink Floyd album did not leave the British top 40 in general from 1973 to 1978. The world sales volume The Dark Side of the Moon exceeded 25 million copies at that time. At the moment, about 50 million copies have been sold, which makes the album one of the best -selling albums in history, and is inferior only to “Thriller” Michael Jackson (110 million).

Of course, criticism was extremely positive. Rolling Stones magazine placed The Dark Side of the Moon in the list of “500 best albums of all time and peoples” for 43 positions. Everyone talked about good texts and music that correctly convey the concept of the album. Many critics called The Dark Side of the Moon "The best album of all times and peoples". Pink Floyd participants are also positive about this creation.

My opinion about the album: What else can you say? The album is really beautiful! I have never heard such beautiful music, probably never. I initially did not particularly pay attention to the texts, t.To. I’m a little bad in English. But I began to listen more and realized how much this album is. I recommend that you listen to The Dark Side of the Moon to absolutely every living person on this sinful earth.

This ends I part of the story of Pink Floyd. Many will ask: why do you need a separation? According to economic calculations, the blog turned out to be extremely huge due to a large amount of interesting information and material. And in such a text, I can get confused, lose the structure and generally destroy the final in the trash (hello, blog about David Bowie). Therefore, it was decided to divide this blog into two parts. When the sequel comes out, it’s hard to say. This blog has been made for about 4 months (due to the exam), but I hope that 2 part will be released soon. Plus — a small announcement — in the break between this a certain blog will be released, which will be completely different in the subject.

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