I'm a bit sleep-deprived today, so I'll be doing another fairly simple post- sharing my thoughts on Pink Floyd.
Pink Floyd falls under the category of "bands I like but need to listen to more". As of writing this post, I've listened to The Wall (quite a few times), Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals (only once though, and to be honest, I hardly remember it). I've also heard a couple of songs on the side- See Emily Play, Learning to Fly, and Echoes, and probably a few others that aren't coming to mind right now.
I first heard this album on the drive home from a concert- I think it was Ozzy, about 6 or 7 years ago. My dad put it on for my brother at what must have been midnight or later. I remember falling asleep for the last third of the drive (which was a few hours long), so I only consciously heard the first side of the album, but I liked what I heard. There was a time where I'd listen to this album regularly, but the problem is, I can't bring myself to only listen to part of it. If I'm gonna listen to any, I have to listen to the whole 80 minutes of it, which can surprisingly be inconvenient sometimes. That said, it's a really good album for long drives, or things of that nature, and the movie version was also enjoyable (if a bit strange).
As much as I like this album, I try not to listen to it to often. Something about it- whether it's the music, the lyrics, or some combination of the two- puts me in a really weird philosophical mood, and makes it kinda hard to want to listen to anything else for a while. That said, if I'm already in that mood, it can be good to listen to. There's a lot going on musically in this album that you don't see in many other places- in the instrumentation, the lyrics, even the style of music- I'm sure people made things later that were inspired by this album, but that's beside the point. There are some really good songs on this album, but what sets it apart is how well it flows from one to the next, becoming one big blur of music, rather than a series of well-defined individual songs. One thing I regret- Money should have gone on my list of guitar songs for beginners. It's a great example of a simple riff in an odd time signature- easy to play, harder to count along to, so it teaches a good lesson.
Now I think about it, this is actually the first Pink Floyd album I ever heard. My dad would put it on sometimes when I was young- specifically, too young to really understand it, musically or otherwise. Coming back to it now, it's a fairly nostalgic album, but also one I like even at face value. Song-wise, it's a very short album- it has only 5 songs on it (4 if you put the bits of Shine On You Crazy Diamond together, 12 if you completely break them apart), but it's still as long as a normal album. It does mean that it's easy to say 'I like every song on this album'- my only issue is how long Shine On is, but that's the sort of issue that actually becomes a positive when I have time to listen to the whole thing. Wish You Were Here is another good guitar song- probably an example for more chord-based songs that I had trouble coming up with, and a very recognisable one at that.
Anyways, that's gonna be it for today- hopefully you enjoyed today's post! If you have recommendations for other Pink Floyd albums I should listen to, leave them in the replies- I've really gotta listen to more.
