How do you rank the PRE-DSOTM Pink Floyd albums?

[Johnny Vinyl]

As I mentioned in the "Obscured by Clouds" thread I've been listening to all of the pre-DSOTM albums lately, and yesterday I played them all again (Flac this time). Below is my list (in order) of how I rank them.

1. Obscured by Clouds
2. Meddle
3. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
4. Atom Heart Mother
5. A Saucerful Of Secrets
6. Ummagumma
7. More

I think many people have a tendency to mostly listen to their POST-DSOTM albums, and who can blame them as the next 4 releases were certainly some of the best albums put out by any band. However, if you want a snapshot of how they progressed through the years the early albums are essential listening. And while they may not be the masterpieces of later efforts, there are some solid albums here and well deserving of being in one's collection. IMHO.

[Billy Shears]

meddle on top for me....

[Johnny Vinyl]

I could easily go with that as well. I chose OBC for its diversity. "Echoes" is my fave PF song!

[gjm]

Meddle at no.1 for me, too. But I'm perhaps biased - it was the very first PF album I bought.
I spent (wasted?) a lot of time trying to record the entire album on one side of a D90!

Love it. Great mix of tracks. Great lyrics. Great tunes.

[rbbert]

Very hard to choose between AHM, Meddle, Ummagumma and SOS for me; they are all definitely a notch or two above the others, with More always at the bottom despite some great songs on it.

[MylesBAstor]

As I mentioned in the "Obscured by Clouds" thread I've been listening to all of the pre-DSOTM albums lately, and yesterday I played them all again (Flac this time). Below is my list (in order) of how I rank them.

1. Obscured by Clouds
2. Meddle
3. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
4. Atom Heart Mother
5. A Saucerful Of Secrets
6. Ummagumma
7. More

I think many people have a tendency to mostly listen to their POST-DSOTM albums, and who can blame them as the next 4 releases were certainly some of the best albums put out by any band. However, if you want a snapshot of how they progressed through the years the early albums are essential listening. And while they may not be the masterpieces of later efforts, there are some solid albums here and well deserving of being in one's collection. IMHO.

I think I only have 2-4-6 and haven't played them in years.

[Bill Hart]

You know they were the "house band" at Joe Boyd's UFO club in London before they got signed? Soft Machine took over the slot. I have all the early ones, don't listen to them much (but I haven't listened to Floyd much at all recently). Another band to revisit.

[lasercd]

About a week ago I got the urge to play the live album from Ummagumma. I have a stone mint mid-70s German pressing. Dead quiet. I killed the lights and it was like taking a trip in the Wayback Machine. Transcendental...

[JCOConnell]

As I mentioned in the "Obscured by Clouds" thread I've been listening to all of the pre-DSOTM albums lately, and yesterday I played them all again (Flac this time). Below is my list (in order) of how I rank them.

1. Obscured by Clouds
2. Meddle
3. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
4. Atom Heart Mother
5. A Saucerful Of Secrets
6. Ummagumma
7. More

I think many people have a tendency to mostly listen to their POST-DSOTM albums, and who can blame them as the next 4 releases were certainly some of the best albums put out by any band. However, if you want a snapshot of how they progressed through the years the early albums are essential listening. And while they may not be the masterpieces of later efforts, there are some solid albums here and well deserving of being in one's collection. IMHO.

Havent listened to them all in years, so its hard to rank them. But from what I do remember, yes, they are all worth owning.

[JCOConnell]

I think I only have 2-4-6 and haven't played them in years.

You really should investigate the first two albums ( 3 & 5 ) they are interesting and good.

[Steve Lefkowicz]

I thought I had replied here already:

1. Meddle
2. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
3. Obscured by Clouds
4. A Saucerful Of Secrets
5. Ummagumma
6. More
7. Atom Heart Mother

[rockitman]

Meddle (1)
Atom Heart Mother(LAST)...

[astrotoy]

In the large collection of tapes I recently bought, there are 6 PF albums (all 15ips 2track, with 4 of them 1/2")

Animals
Atom Heart Mother
DSOTM
Meddle
The Wall (live concert at Berlin Wall) 4 tapes!
Wish You Were Here

I'm a little too old to have been a PF fan, and I only originally bought DSOTM and The Wall (original version) when they were featured as HP TAS SuperDiscs back in the late '70's and early '80's. I quite liked DSOTM, and don't remember whether I ever listened to The Wall. Don't have a clue about before or after DSOTM and why that is important. Is it like Beethoven before or after the Eroica Symphony?

Larry

[Johnny Vinyl]

In the large collection of tapes I recently bought, there are 6 PF albums (all 15ips 2track, with 4 of them 1/2")

Animals
Atom Heart Mother
DSOTM
Meddle
The Wall (live concert at Berlin Wall) 4 tapes!
Wish You Were Here

I'm a little too old to have been a PF fan, and I only originally bought DSOTM and The Wall (original version) when they were featured as HP TAS SuperDiscs back in the late '70's and early '80's. I quite liked DSOTM, and don't remember whether I ever listened to The Wall. Don't have a clue about before or after DSOTM and why that is important. Is it like Beethoven before or after the Eroica Symphony?

Larry

Nice! It's worth having a 15ips machine just for those titles alone. Have you listened to some of them yet?

It's only music and a band, so really not that important in the grand scheme of things. But as a big fan I enjoy having them and discovering how they developed as artists. As you move through them one can hear clues about the changes occurring and the direction they were heading into. I find this both interesting and fascinating. I'm not sure of your Beethoven example and the symphony you listed as I'm only a very marginal classical fan.

[astrotoy]

I've only listened to the first tape of the Wall. I haven't compared it to the original. There are quite a few classic rock albums, 5 Beatles albums, two by Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon's Graceland, etc. And some classical and lots of classic jazz (Coltrane, Davis, Brubeck and more). I'm slowly working my way through the collection.

Beethoven's big breakthrough was the Eroica Symphony - a revolution in symphonic composition. Maybe like Pet Sounds or Sargent Pepper. Larry

[Bill Hart]

You really should investigate the first two albums ( 3 & 5 ) they are interesting and good.

There's that twofer with both that has the same deadwax as the unobtanium copy of the first album that goes for relatively little- You inspired me to pull it and listen to it. I remember the first time I heard Ummagumma, a friend gave me his copy back in the day- said it was too weird for him....

[rbbert]

...I'm a little too old to have been a PF fan...

Larry

? If you're not too old for rock (as opposed to '50's rock and roll), you can't really be old to be a Pink Floyd fan? Many consider their peak to be '69-'71.