Best Pink Floyd studio album

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Again, no interest in live albums, but "Ummagumma" is in there because of it being 50 per cent live.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn	31
Wish You Were Here	13
Meddle	11
The Wall	3
Animals	3
Dark Side Of The Moon	3
The Division Bell	3
Atom Heart Mother	2
Ummagumma	2
Obscured By Clouds	0
More	0
A Saucerful Of Secrets	0
The Final Cut	0
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason	0

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:56 (eighteen years ago)

HI DERE!

― The Amazing Randy, Friday, 20 April 2007 13:10 (eighteen years ago)

after narrowing down to piper, meddle and the wall, i finally elected the wall

― Charlie Howard, Friday, 20 April 2007 13:18 (eighteen years ago)

I went for "Wish You Were Here". I also like "Dark Side", but "Wish You Were Here", after all, has "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".

The first two albums were also great (as were "Meddle" and "Animals"), but not quite up there with their mid 70s prime.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 13:21 (eighteen years ago)

I like More, Meddle and Dark Side very much, but despite a few transcendent moments, nobody writes a song like Syd, so it's Piper for me.

― dan selzer, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:21 (eighteen years ago)

I just don't know if I can pick between Animals, Wish You Were Here and Atom Heart Mother

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. I don't mind some of the other albums like Meddle, Animals.
DSOTM and WYWH are ok I guess in patches. But really I'm a Syd era fan.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

Wow, I agree with Geir for once.

― JN$OT, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

Wish You Were Here. Gives me the biggest emotional reaction of any of their records. Also, as amazing a record as it is, I've heard Dark Side of the Moon to death.

― Jeff Treppel, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

bump

― JN$OT, Sunday, 22 April 2007 07:20 (eighteen years ago)

Either "Umma" or "gumma" for me, whichever is the studio half. (Tho the live half rules also!)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Sunday, 22 April 2007 07:57 (eighteen years ago)

what happened to all the people who were arguing meddle was their best album a few months ago?

― get bent, Sunday, 22 April 2007 08:07 (eighteen years ago)

piper. they got so plodding and awful in the 70s.

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Sunday, 22 April 2007 11:40 (eighteen years ago)

WYWH, of course. A more interesting poll would be "Most Underrated Pink Floyd studio album". There you've got Meddle and Obscured by Clouds as possible contenders, and I possibly would cast my vote there for A Saucerful of Secrets.

― Joe, Sunday, 22 April 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

Wish You Were Here.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Sunday, 22 April 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

piper

― Tim Ellison, Sunday, 22 April 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

I picked piper, but my favorite overall is still Relics.

[i]Emily tries.. but misunderstands, ah oooooooooooohhh[/]

― MRZBW, Sunday, 22 April 2007 16:18 (eighteen years ago)

Animals. In keeping with the "what is the Presence of bandnamehere" thread

― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:09 (eighteen years ago)

I never understood what people saw in Animals. I've tried listening to it, but I'll be damned if I can actually remember any of it the second I turn it off. It always seemed like the one record of their 70s output that succumbed to formlessness.

― Jeff Treppel, Monday, 23 April 2007 01:22 (eighteen years ago)

I like "Dub side of the moon" best.

― Mark G, Monday, 23 April 2007 03:00 (eighteen years ago)

if there's one thing wrong with animals (and i can think of a couple of things) it's the overzealousness of waters' vocals. he's actually singing like he thinks he's a good singer. on the wall the theatrical nature of his vocals somehow work majestically.

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 23 April 2007 03:59 (eighteen years ago)

haha 'dub side of the moon' is alright for a bizarre sort of experience

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 23 April 2007 04:00 (eighteen years ago)

"Piper"

― Tom D., Monday, 23 April 2007 09:34 (eighteen years ago)

A surprisingly comfortable win for "Piper" here. Possibly because it's unique, while their 70s album are a bit more related, and thus have to share votes between each other.

The low number of votes for "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "The Wall" reflects ILM's anti-"canon" stance, I guess. (plus "Wish You Were Here" is a better album after all)

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 08:42 (eighteen years ago)

Maybe they just don't like it/them?

― Mark G, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 09:00 (eighteen years ago)

I had to listen to a live version of Dark Side TWICE in a pub a couple of weeks ago: it is rub.

― Groke, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 09:01 (eighteen years ago)

"Dark Side" was sort of the ultimate hi-fi-album and should of course be listened to in its original studio version and nothing else.

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 12:34 (eighteen years ago)

... achtung achtung, you must OBEY!

― Tom D., Wednesday, 25 April 2007 14:03 (eighteen years ago)

Wish You Were Here is much better than Dark Side - the melodies are just more enjoyable to me - but Barrett's sense of melody is more original, more playful, and more inventive than Waters's or Gilmour's

Piper is the canonical choice I think

― Hans Rott, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 14:48 (eighteen years ago)

The best solo Floyd album would be a more interesting poll. For me it would be a toss-up between The Madcap Laughs and Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports, with their Robert Wyatt common denominator.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think there's much doubt that Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports is the best Pink Floyd solo album by someone who isn't Syd Barrett

― Tom D., Wednesday, 25 April 2007 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

I'm waiting for the Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking massive to stake their claim.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

Piper is the canonical choice I think

Not if you go by all those "Best Albums Of All Time" polls. Not even the ones made by critics only.

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

wow i'm surprised.

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:06 (eighteen years ago)

i can't believe the division bell got votes and saucer, obscure, and more didn't get any. even the final cut is better than the division bell

― akm, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

i voted Division Bell as a pisstake

― blueski, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:30 (eighteen years ago)

does fictitious sports even really qualify as a nick mason album? i was under the impression that it kind of wasn't.

― akm, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:31 (eighteen years ago)

Really it's a Carla Bley album but Mason drummed on it, produced it and put it out under his name so that it might sell a few more copies - and indeed it only sold a few more copies, such that it's never resurfaced on CD apart from as a super-expensive Japanese import. A shame because it's a fine record and deserves proper reissue.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:35 (eighteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

Dark Side Of The Moon 3

some ILXors are fronting here ... i smell a rat!

― Eisbaer, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 04:06 (seventeen years ago)

i wish i remember what i voted. i'm pretty sure Atom Heart Mother, which I would still go for. so close, Meddle and Animals though... SO CLOSE. Wish You Were Here is my intellectual choice b/c it has all the right elements, but not quite so sentimentally.

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 04:25 (seventeen years ago)

the instrumentals on AHM are sooo killer, they just make me want to cry.

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 04:26 (seventeen years ago)

my top 4 faves are all represented in the top 4. though not in the same order

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 04:34 (seventeen years ago)

Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is terrible as a 'radio album'. I don't even like most of it but it's hard to explain why. I never dug the syd barret thing. Why do lots of people like PATGOD and why do some people dislike it?
I can't put my finger on it.

I'm pretty sure I voted for Dark Side of the Moon.

― CaptainLorax, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 05:27 (seventeen years ago)

syd is a guitar gun on 'piper'. also, the songs are great. almost all of them. the record is nursery rhyme meets space excursion meets rock frenzy

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 05:34 (seventeen years ago)

I guess people like the straight up psychadelia.

― CaptainLorax, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 05:36 (seventeen years ago)

sure :) but it's psychedelia played out as a rock album. catchy as hell in parts

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 05:43 (seventeen years ago)

I guess people like the straight up psychadelia.

Uh, yes. So what? What exactly is "straight up psychadelia"? anyway?

― Tom D., Wednesday, 26 March 2008 09:45 (seventeen years ago)

A surprisingly comfortable win for "Piper" here. Possibly because it's unique, while their 70s album are a bit more related, and thus have to share votes between each other.
-- Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 08:42 (11 months ago) Bookmark Link

I know it's a bit after the fact, but has Geir ever said anything closer to being OTM than this?

― Mark G, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 09:48 (seventeen years ago)

Actually been listening to quite a lot of Floyd stuff recently. Still don't like "Animals" much, just a buncha long dreary ploddy rock songs - the best bit on it is that Rick Wright electric piano intro to one of the songs. Talking of plodding, "Obscured By the Clouds" could easily be retitled "Obscured By the Plod", tho overall it's quite a pleasnt listen. "Wish You Were Here" is the best thing they did in the Plod Plod Ploddy Years, by a mile.

― Tom D., Wednesday, 26 March 2008 10:19 (seventeen years ago)

i never considered Wish You Were Here or Animals "ploddy." i think that's a jumpy comparison. sure, Obscured by Clouds, but that's still a beautiful album.

and i rly don't get all the confusion about Animals -- the thing that stands out about that album are its textures, not its downbeats. so lush and gorgeous. And Wish You Were Here isn't very ploddy either! just because something is a male rock song doesn't mean it plods. you want plod, there's always The Wall.

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 12:33 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

^^i stand by this post

these are some bullshit results

― oops i accidentally made it personal (surm), Tuesday, 24 November 2009 08:41 (sixteen years ago)

Would have voted Dark Side over WYWH. WYWH the song and Shine On are both lovely but the rest smells of filler. Dark Side is just a perfect album (and yes, I think its low score here reflects ILMers' anti-canon stance more than anything else.

As for Piper, it sucks. Floyd only got going when Waters took over.

― anagram, Tuesday, 24 November 2009 09:37 (sixteen years ago)

the idea that piper "sucks" is way ronger than those results

no surprises at the very top - those are the 3 everyone would bet on. but 3 votes for the division bell and none for more or a saucerful of secrets? weird. also would have expected a few more points for animals & dark side. glad a few freaks stood up for ummagumma and atom heart mother tho

― a dimension that can only be accessed through self-immolation (contenderizer), Tuesday, 24 November 2009 10:18 (sixteen years ago)

atom heart mother kicks division bell's ass so hard, it's not even funny. i thought it was no secret that division bell is like, terrible. ?

― oops i accidentally made it personal (surm), Tuesday, 24 November 2009 17:46 (sixteen years ago)

Yeah, 3 votes for "Division Bell", ludicrous

― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Tuesday, 24 November 2009 17:49 (sixteen years ago)

yeah that is some lolz right there

― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 November 2009 17:50 (sixteen years ago)

In the waning days of my Floyd obsession I listened to that album a bunch, trying to convince myself that the magic was there. It was not. I really haven't listened to them for a long while, except to discover that On an Island was pleasantly surprising.

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 25 November 2009 07:19 (sixteen years ago)

them or anything floyd related I meant to say

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 25 November 2009 07:20 (sixteen years ago)

my vote would've been for meddle, dudes. i saw live at pompei recently and it seems like at that point in time they were firing on all cylinders. oh and seamus the dog.

― Shackleton Crater (jdchurchill), Wednesday, 25 November 2009 18:12 (sixteen years ago)

seamus!

― oops i accidentally made it personal (surm), Wednesday, 25 November 2009 18:19 (sixteen years ago)

Is there a non-adulterated version of Pompeii available on DVD?

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 26 November 2009 06:43 (sixteen years ago)

Anyone seen the Australian Pink Floyd Show? They're coming to my town next year and I'm wondering whether to go.

― anagram, Thursday, 26 November 2009 08:46 (sixteen years ago)

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