I’m not sure that Pink Floyd need an introduction – they’re one of the most loved classic rock bands. Most of the attention is given to their 1970s stadium rock blockbusters like Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, but they also had a lengthy career on either side.
The band started recording in the psychedelic 1960s, led by Syd Barrett, but he was replaced by vocalist and guitarist David Gilmour after burning out on LSD. After the confident debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, where Barrett was Pink Floyd’s clear leader, the band underwent a series of interesting albums where they tried different styles, but sometimes seemed directionless and self-indulgent.
In the early 1970s, bassist Roger Waters assumed control of the band, and his lyrical concepts took the band to new heights of popularity. Pink Floyd are at their best when Waters’ lyrical concepts are enhanced by the musical abilities of Gilmour, keyboardist Richard Wright, and drummer Nick Mason. As the 1970s wore on, Waters became more dominant, and limited the contributions of the other members, and 1982’s The Final Cut was effectively a Waters’ solo album. Gilmour took the band through three further albums, including their swansong, 2014’s The Endless River.
Here are my picks for the five best albums from Pink Floyd:
Obscured By Clouds
#5, 1972
As a soundtrack, it’s easy to overlook Obscured By Clouds – but it’s from my favourite era from the band, and it works well as an album, a relaxed collection of overlooked songs. Waters starts to explore the themes that would dominate the group’s later 1970s work on songs like ‘Free Four’, but there a lot of good songs that aren’t among the group’s standard, like the instrumental ‘Mud Men’ and the pretty ‘Stay’.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
#4, 1967
Syd Barrett’s only full album with Pink Floyd is an often stunning distillation of his psychedelic vision – spacey jams like ‘Astronomy Domine’ and ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, and nightmarish fairy tales like ‘Lucifer Sam’ and ‘Bike’. If you like it, remember to check out non-album singles like ‘See Emily Play’ and ‘Arnold Layne’.
Meddle
#3, 1971
Dark Side of the Moon was Pink Floyd’s commercial break-though, but the group’s spacious sound was already in place for 1971’s Meddle. The side long ‘Echoes’ is my favourite piece that Pink Floyd ever recorded, while the first side features essential songs like ‘One of These Days’ and ‘Fearless’.
The Dark Side of the Moon
#2, 1973
Pink Floyd enjoyed a lot of commercial success in the UK in the late 1960s and early 1970s – even the challenging Atom Heart Mother was a number one album. But The Dark Side of the Moon took the band to stratospheric heights of popularity, helped by the new lyrical focus with Waters taking control, and the pristine production from Alan Parsons. It’s also fun to watch in synchronicity with The Wizard of Oz.
Wish You Were Here
#1, 1975
It must have been intimidating following the hugely successful Dark Side of the Moon, but Pink Floyd bettered it with 1975’s Wish You Were Here. Roy Harper guests on ‘Have A Cigar’, the title track is acoustic and pretty, while the epic multi-part suite ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ is beautiful and memorable.
What are you favourite Pink Floyd albums? I’m aware my list is a little oddball – many lists would include 1977’s Animals (which would have been my number 6) and The Wall (which suffers from the lack of input from the band’s other members).
Read More:
Pink Floyd Album Reviews
Favourite Five Lists
I am the only person in the whole world who really rates ‘The Final Cut’. True story!
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It would make my top ten – I do like it. Although I probably shouldn’t admit that my favourite song on it is ‘Not Now John’.
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I love lots of it. Maybe I can relate to Waters’ monomania too readily?
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Hmm. “Dark Side” is my favorite Floyd album and, IMHO, one of the greatest albums of all time. As to the remaining five, I’d have to think about that. “Wish You Were Here” and “The Wall” will definitely make it. After that I’ve gotta think about it.
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Seems like Dark Side and Wish You Were Here make most people’s lists.
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If not, they ain’t Floyd fans. 🙂
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Hey this is an awesome follow-up to the KMA Pink Floyd Top 18 Songs! I agree on WYWH. I also really rate The Division Bell. I know, I know…
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Division Bell is definitely the consensus pick for Glimour-era Floyd. I meant to link to your song post too.
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When I think about it, I think your top 2 would be the other way round for me… Animals would maybe scrape into the 5, cause I do quite like that one. As for the others, I couldn’t really give them a ranking, as I don’t know them well enough… Piper third, perhaps.
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Animals almost made my top 5 – I know a lot of people like it. It’s always seemed a little too drawn out to me, but I still enjoy it.
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That’s probably fair. It can be a bit too much for me, but I like enough of it a whole lot.. and besides, I know it more than I know most of their other albums!
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I’m pretty sure a typical top 5 Pink Floyd list would be something like:
Wish You Were Here
Dark Side
Wall
Animals
Meddle or Piper
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I’m pretty much with you here. If I would have to select one track only, it would be “Echoes” as well – an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion, which foreshadows the brilliance of “Dark Side Of The Moon” and “Wish You Were Here.”
When it comes to entire albums, my first choice would probably be a tie between the two aforementioned records. I’ve listened countless times to each over the years and still do so fairly frequently.
I think my third choice would be “Meddle.”
I’m less sure about the two remaining spots. I’d probably go with “The Wall” and “Piper.”
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Yup, sounds like a pretty similar top 5 to mine. I’m not huge on The Wall though – my favourite bits are when Gilmour takes the spotlight, like Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell.
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Yep, also agree about The Wall. “Comfortably Numb” and “Hey You” are my two favorite tunes from that album because of Gilmour’s powerful guitar playing.
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No love for Animals up in here?
I think I’d go:
1. Piper
2. Dark Side
3. Animals
4. Wish
5. Final Cut ( mainly because When the Tigers Broke Free slays me)
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Animals would come in at 6 for me, but I know a lot of people really enjoy it. I’ve never even heard When The Tigers Broke Free – I think it must have been added to more recent editions?
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Yes, that’s true – it was on a later reissue. But if you saw the movie The Wall you’ve heard it – it was the opening track. One of Water’s most emotionally charged tunes IMO, about his dad being killed at Enzio. Really powerful song.
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Correction: Anzio
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I’ve seen the movie, but not for a long time. Just went back and listened to Tigers now – it is definitely a strong track that would have fitted on the Final Cut or The Wall.
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Did named Piper as fave on my blog a while back, I think number two would A Saucerful of Secrets, number three would be Ummagumma and number four A Momentary Lapse of Reason and then number five would Animals so that’s my top 5 now! As a teenage it would have been The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Division Bell but I think I over did all those ones then and don’t think I’ve listened any of those for years now, if you wanna know?
https://a1000mistakes.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/classic-albums-the-piper-at-the-gates-of-dawn-by-pink-floyd/ That’s a very old post now, i hope it’s that bad if you do check it out?
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Wow – that’s a big swing. I find the 60s stuff a little unfocused sometimes – I like the live Ummagumma stuff, but the studio disc is pretty self-indulgent to my ears.
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I don’t know just love the Syd stuff way more now really and then even after he leave or kicked out they’re still a bit crazy then but maybe unfocused is another word you could use? Then I do like David better than Roger but things change sometimes, you know?
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Do you like The Madcap Laughs? I have a lot of time for that record.
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Oh yeah love The Madcap Laughs and Syd’s solo stuff, the best hippie music ever!
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It’s a good list and I’d have three of these in my own Top Five for sure. Nice to see Obscured by Clouds get a shout out, I love Wot’s… Uh the Deal?, definitely in my Floyd Top 10 songs.
Personally, though, I think Roger Waters was on a slow journey up his own arse that really gathered momentum as the 70’s wore on and he still hasn’t pulled his head from that dark place.
I’ve got a lot of time for Gilmour as a player and singer and I’d put Division Bell in my own Top Five.
Oh… and to be contentious: I don’t count Piper at the Gates… as a Pink Floyd album. It’s so wildly different to everything else in the catalogue and so very much a Syd album I consider it as a Syd Barrett ‘backed by his mates who’d go on to form Pink Floyd’ album.
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I feel like around Animals, Waters took too much control. I liked him writing the lyrics, but it was best when the others weer involved in the music more.
Is Obscured in your Top Five?
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Very well thought out, sir. Somebody once gave me a DVD made by a Floyd tribute band who took it upon themselves to pontificate about the band and pull in some of their mates as pundits. And one of them dismissed Syd with the words “The real genius of Pink Floyd is Dave Gilmour”. I’m sure not even Gilmour would agree with that, but as you say, Piper does feel like a predecessor and if someone wasn’t around at the time they wouldn’t be aware of how astonishing it was.
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From my limited Pink Floyd exposure so far, Wish You Were here would be my favourite album of the 1001 inclusions.
A friend was raving about The Final Cut recently, I gather it’s not usually regarded as one of their best though
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I quite like The Final Cut, it just feels more like a Waters’ solo album. It definitely has some fans.
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I’m glad I woke up to Obscured by Clouds. Great stuff.
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Yeah, it’s a relatively recent discovery for me – I’ve known most of their Waters-era stuff for a long time, but had to fill in a few gaps. I also learned enjoying about Saucerful of Secrets and More, but Obscured By Clouds is my favourite of the new ones.
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I’m sticking with Dark Side, The Wall, Wish You Were Here. Meddle too maybe. I won’t be listening to them all as A) too lazy and B) worms ate into my brain.
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If you put in Animals, that would be 5 consecutive studio albums, and probably their best known.
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Lots of response on this post. Lots of great music! ‘Animals’ is a good listen.
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Those 1970s albums have held up pretty well.
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You know I like to take my old Discman out for a stroll. I acquired a copy of ‘Animals’ and I enjoyed that. I might listen it today if I can break away from the groove I’m in. Lots of those 70’s albums hold up no problem.
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I think Waters cynicism dates less than Jon Anderson’s cosmic joy. Enjoy your listen!
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Listening to the ‘Yes Album’ it’s amazing how ell it stands up. I guess it’s the music that really grabs me. Lots going on for both those bands. I Iike it better when Roger plays the bass and is part of a band.
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I quite like some bands where the lyrics are meaningless/part of the music, and just wash over without meaning anything. Works well in some cases.
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CB, a Discman? Those things weigh 38 pounds. Come on, man, streaming on your phone is the way to go. BTW, A, while we’re talking about Yes, I recall you were not thrilled with Jon Anderson’s lyrics, specifically “Roundabout.” You might find this little blurb from Wikipedia informative:
The song originated in March 1971 when the band were on tour promoting The Yes Album (1971), travelling from Aberdeen to Glasgow after a gig in Aviemore, Scotland. They encountered many roundabouts on the way; Anderson claimed “maybe 40 or so”, which inspired Anderson and Howe to write a song about the journey as they sat in the back of the band’s transit van, and include the roundabouts and the surrounding mountains into the lyrics.
Anderson had smoked marijuana during the trip, “so everything was vivid and mystical”.[5] Anderson added: “It was a cloudy day, we couldn’t see the top of the mountains. We could only see the clouds because it was sheer straight up … I remember saying, “Oh, the mountains–look! They’re coming out of the sky!”,and began to write the song’s lyrics in his notebook in a free-form style with minimal edits
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1. Animals
2. Animals
3. Animals
4. Meddle
5. The Final Cut
😉
Honorable mention: Atom Heart Mother, Obscurred by Clouds and the Waters and Gilmour sides of Ummagumma.
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Have you heard that album they did after Wish You Were Here, in 1977? The name escapes me right now….
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I’ve never been a huge Wish You Were Here fan. I still respect it, but I find myself rarely, if ever revisiting it! I ranked every Pink Floyd record on my page awhile ago, if you’d like to see my opinions! But I do enjoy your list a lot! Crazy to see how differently people view the same band and discography.
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Thanks for commenting! I don’t think it’s too surprising in a large, rich discography that people have different opinions. On RateYourMusic the top 5 studio albums are Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Meddle, and Piper, so we’re both largely similar to those.
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If you dislike animals because Waters had too much control, how come it’s the album where Gilmour just blows the roof off? The guitar work in both Dogs and Pigs is ridiculous. Some of the darkest, deepest PF is the eerie, wordless part of Pigs. Plus the words are kind of interesting, and I think prescient, less preachy and more just kind of allegorically twisted observation about a world run amok with bands of opportunists.
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It’s more Waters dominating the songwriting that I think is a weakness – I think Pink Floyd worked best when Waters wrote the lyrics and the music was a group effort, like on Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.
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