15. Ummagumma (1969)
How could you describe this album to someone who has never listened to it? I think you just need to hear it to believe it. This is one of the weirdest, creepiest, freakiest, most random, and most confusing albums to ever exist. Just listen to the track titled, “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict,” and you will understand. This album is more or less the band’s first without front man Syd Barrett, and man, his absence is felt. The album starts with a few live versions of some of their earlier hits, but they decided to try and make them even weirder than they already were (weirder does not mean better!). Then, each of the four members tries their hand at making weird sounds and labeling it as music. Wright makes a variety of random noises on “Sysyphus” Waters comes in and injects some actual music into the album with “Grantchester Meadows,” only to follow that up with the weirdest thing of all-time (Several Species). Gilmour actually gets somewhat close to music with “The Narrow Way” (key word – somewhat). Finally, Nick Mason gives us whatever the hell “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party” is. Some would call these “Sound Collages,” but whatever they are, they are not music, so literally every other album that features music ranks ahead of this one.
14. A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987)
David Gilmour realized after the release of his 1978 self-titled, debut album that he was not really bringing in the money like he used to when he was a part of Pink Floyd. So, halfway through the recording of his second studio album, he decided, hey, let’s have Nick Mason come in and bang on the drums a couple of times and have Richard Wright play a couple of notes and we will call this a Pink Floyd album. Amongst all of the criticism, refusal to accept the album as Pink Floyd, and lawsuits from Roger Waters himself, this album was released in 1987. Let’s give Gilmour some credit. The man knows how to play the guitar, and this album has a few excellent guitar solos, and, well, it probably sold way more copies than it would have if it were released as a Gilmour solo album. Apart from this, though, the album is a grossly overproduced mess that is littered with 80’s music cliches. Some of the vocal parts on the album, like on “A New Machine” are just plain weird, and not even that Ummagumma-type weird. The overproduction is unbearable at times, and there are moments where the album literally feels like an 80’s disco musical. Just listen to “One Slip” and tell me you do not want to just get up and dance on some roller skates. Yeah, that is not Pink Floyd, sorry. Even the brighter moments like “Learning to Fly” feel far too Pop-y to be Pink Floyd. Thematically, the album is lacking without the influence of Roger Waters, and its no wonder that the band searched for outside help with the songwriting on their next album. This album just does not feel like Pink Floyd.
13. More (Original Film Soundtrack) (1969)
Does this count as a studio album? It’s on this list, but More is actually a film by Barbet Schroeder that came out in 1969, and this is the soundtrack. Despite its status as a soundtrack, this album is quite an important transitional step for the band, as it is technically the first album without Syd Barrett. Because it is a soundtrack, the majority of the album consists of relatively uneventful instrumental tracks. That being said, take nothing away from some of the other tracks seen on this album. For the first time, we get to see Roger Waters at the head of songwriting for the band, and the result is quite interesting. Tracks like “Crying Song,” “Green Is the Colour,” and “Cymbaline” showcase early signs of that Waters songwriting, and “The Nile Song” was even released as a single. This album is often overlooked and sometimes not even considered a studio album, but it has some deep cuts that only the truest of Floyd fans appreciate. Nonetheless, it really does function as a soundtrack, and that prevents it from being any higher on the list.
12. The Endless River (2014)
Don’t give me any silly overproduction, don’t give me any unnecessary commercialization, don’t give me any stupid music cliches, in fact, don’t even give me lyrics. Just give me Gilmour, Wright, and Mason playing their respective instruments. That’s what this album is. Is this a tribute to Richard Wright after his death, or is it just a way to make some more money using the name Pink Floyd? Either way, David Gilmour and Nick Mason threw this album together 20 years after the release of The Division Bell, and it is mainly comprised of some leftover scraps from those sessions. Take this album for what it is. Apart from the last track, “Louder Than Words,” this is a completely instrumental album. It’s never going to rank up there with the great Floyd albums, but Wright, Mason, and Gilmour know how to make some truly beautiful music. This album is worth a listen maybe while you cook dinner or something, but, again, its certainly not one of their greatest.
11. The Division Bell (1994)
Speaking of The Division Bell, here it is. At this point, we are really starting to reach the upper tier of Pink Floyd albums. It felt wrong to put this album all the way down at 11 because truly this is a great album. Its the second effort from the post-Waters Pink Floyd, and it’s truly the only that feels like a group work. Richard Wright and Nick Mason actually played a full role in making this album, and it shows. The outside help they got with the songwriting on this album certainly helps, and there are actual palpable themes in this album, covering the struggles of personal communication in the dawning of the internet age. Tracks like “What Do You Want from Me” and “Poles Apart” feature some brilliant lyrics, and of course, we can never get enough of the Gilmour guitar solos. The songs actually feel like Pink Floyd (probably because Richard Wright and Nick Mason actually did something this time around). “High Hopes” is probably the crowning achievement of this album. It references many of the band’s previous works, and it serves brilliantly as a final farewell for the band. Overall, The Division Bell deserves its place in the star-studded Pink Floyd discography. Yes, it had some outside help, and yes it still does suffer from a bit of overproduction, but its low ranking on this list is less about its shortcomings and more of a testament to the brilliance of the rest of Pink Floyd’s works.
10. Obscured By Clouds (1972)
Pink Floyd once again teamed up again with filmmaker Barbet Schroeder for yet another film soundtrack, but this time, the band was at their experimental peak. This album is sandwiched in the band’s discography between two of their most important albums. In fact, parts of the album were actually recorded while they were recording The Dark Side of the Moon. This album certainly does not function as a soundtrack as much as More did, but still, at times the band’s creativity seems to be somewhat restrained. With that being said, the band was beginning to peak, and many of the tracks reflect this. “The Gold It’s In the…” is a rocking contribution from Gilmour unlike any Pink Floyd song ever. “Wot’s…Uh the Deal?” and “Childhood’s End” are two more excellent performances from Gilmour, and “Stay” is an great contribution from Richard Wright. On “Free Four,” Roger Waters introduces us to some of the themes we will begin to see in Pink Floyd’s music for the next ten years, and for the first time he talks about his father. The album contains excellent music, but its a soundtrack, and this prevents the album from reaching its full potential given when it was released.
9. A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
This was the last Pink Floyd album to feature Syd Barrett and the first to feature David Gilmour. As Syd slowly went insane, Gilmour was brought in to replace him, although his influence on this album is relatively minimal. With their sophomore album, whether by choice or not, Pink Floyd began to drift away from the signature psych-pop style of Syd Barret that made their debut album so great. The fading influence of Syd can still be seen on “Jugband Blues,” but the rest of the album is a transitional space-rock approach brought about primarily by Roger Waters and Richard Wright, and it works to excellent effect. Wright shines with “Remember a Day” and “See-Saw.” Waters’ shrilling whisper-vocals on “Let There Be More Light” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” give the album an uneasy feel that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Perhaps the less said about the nearly 12 minute title track, the better, but give it credit for being quite possibly the creepiest of all Pink Floyd songs. Overall, this album has a truly important place in the band’s discography as they transitioned into their progressive rock era.
8. Atom Heart Mother (1970)
How in the world did this album come out just eleven months after Ummagumma? This is the album when Pink Floyd finally found their direction after Syd Barrett’s departure. Here is a blog post talking more specifically about that. Seriously, this album actually has music on it; it deserves to be number 1 just for that! All jokes aside, this five-track album is truly brilliant. It starts with a nearly 24 minute long suite comprised of six parts. This suite is really unlike anything Pink Floyd has ever released; it features orchestral and horn sections, choir parts, guitar riffs, and more. It is quite enthralling, and you really just have to listen to it yourself. The middle three tracks are all brilliant individual efforts from Waters, Wright, and Gilmour. Waters’ “If” is an underappreciated acoustic track with evidently maturing lyrics. Wright’s “Summer ’68” is a joyous pop song with a fun hook and catchy melodies. Gilmour’s “Fat Old Sun” is another acoustic track with maturing lyrics, and it showed the world what Gilmour was capable of. Yea, Nick Mason’s “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast” starts to head back in the direction of Ummagumma, but do not let that subtract from the rest of the album. Even still, that at least feels musical at some points. This album was an extremely important step up for the band, and we would probably not know Pink Floyd as they are today without it.
7. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
This is Syd Barrett. If someone asked you who Syd Barrett was for Pink Floyd, show them this. You could pretty much sum this album up with three letters: L-S-D. In all seriousness, this album takes the idea of psych-rock to a whole new level that even Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cannot compare to. With some brilliant organ work from Richard Wright and some stellar guitar riffs from Syd Barrett, the album is perfectly silly, dreamy, weird, and psychedelic. Classic hits like “Lucifer Sam” and “Flaming” perfectly embody Syd Barret’s LSD-induced vision. “Bicycle” is an absolute classic Syd song that is just as fun and silly as it is weird and creepy. Roger Waters even gets in on the psychedelic fun with “Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk.” “Interstellar Overdrive” is one of Syd’s most notorious works, and it features some excellent guitar-playing, eerie psychedelic sounds, futuristic, space-like undertones, and an encapsulating experiment using stereo sound. Put in some headphones and skip to around 8:35 in, and you will hear one of the craziest uses of stereo of all-time that might make your head explode. You would be hard pressed to find a more psychedelic album than this one, and it truly is the pinnacle of the psych-rock movement.
6. The Final Cut (1983)
Maybe read this blog post before smashing your computer screen in anger at the ranking of this album. Roger Waters basically made this album himself: David Gilmour sings lead vocals on just one track, Nick Mason’s influence is microscopic, and Richard Wright was not even in the band at the time. However, what this album lacks in unity of the band, it makes up for with its deep and complex themes. Seriously, click this for an in depth, track by track look at this full-fledged concept album. The basic premise is a solider that comes home from war to find that he has been betrayed by his government who once promised him a postwar dream. Although he sees all of this betrayal around him, he does not have the nerve to make “the final cut,” and in the end the human race falls victim to self-destruction from war. This album features some great music that, yes, is mainly made by Roger Waters. To start with, “Your Possible Pasts” and “One of the Few” were originally recorded to be on The Wall, and they work well in the context of either album. “Southampton Dock” is a beautiful acoustic track about sending soldiers off to war after war, and “Two Suns In the Sunset” is another acoustic track with a lasting message. The one track with David Gilmour on lead vocals, “Not Now John” is a rocking single that was a hit in its own right and “The Fletcher Memorial Home” is starkly critical of politicians. “The Post War Dream” is a sad, retrospective track that has us all shouting, “What happened to the postwar dream?” On the title track we learn the true feelings of the soldier. One of the highlights of the album is on “The Gunner’s Dream” when the word “dream” merges in an almost unnoticeable way into a saxophone. This album may be representative of the growing tensions and eventual downfall of the band, but it is certainly a brilliant album and worthy of its place on the list.
5. Meddle (1971)
At number 11, I said we were getting to the upper tier of Pink Floyd albums, but now we are in the upper, upper tier. This was the band’s first great album. They had begun to experiment like never before, and this is the most grounded and unpretentious you will find the band. The music just seems to confidently fall in place on this album. Whether it be the instrumental mesh of organ and guitar on “One of These Days” or the dreamy and lulling “Pillow of Winds,” the band experiments on this album with a self-assurance that would only continue to increase in the coming years. For really the first time ever, we saw what the band was capable of when they all worked together as one. In fact, apart from Waters’ “San Tropez,” the entire album was co-written by multiple members of the band – a trend we would see continue in the coming years. “Fearless” is one of the band’s greatest ever songs, and its mellow acoustic sound and soothing Gilmour vocals just capture you in a way that no other Floyd song had done until this point. Then, there is “Echoes,” which somehow finds a way to keep you engaged for 23 minutes with entertaining guitar riffs, hypnotizing organ and drum sections, beautiful harmonies from Gilmour and Wright, and creepy, echoing noises. It is truly an example of all four members of the band working together to create something beautiful. If Atom Heart Mother gave Pink Floyd their direction, this album gave them their footing.
4. Animals (1977)
It only gets harder and harder to rank these Pink Floyd albums. At this point, any of these albums are good enough to be considered the best, and if 99% of the bands to ever exist released one of these albums, they would hands down be their number 1. But, this is Pink Floyd were talking about, so somehow this album ends up at number 4. Inspired by George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Roger Waters and David Gilmour use a similar sort of satire to criticize British society. Well, I say Waters and Gilmour, but actually “Dogs” was the only track with Gilmour as a co-writer. By this time, Waters had begun to take his role as the head man. On “Dogs” we hear about the rich who seem to only care for themselves, and they will do whatever it takes to get on top. Ultimately, though, they are just slowly being dragged down by “the stone.” “Dogs” also features some of, if not the best guitar work the world has ever seen from David Gilmour. 17 minutes of beautifully satirical lyrics and guitar solos: what could be better? “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” holds nothing back as it criticizes politicians, calling them a “charade.” Waters’ vocals are mixed in with several guitar and bass solos to excellent effect. “Sheep” talks about the rest of society as mere bystanders to the growing unease caused by the “dogs” and “pigs.” However, Waters gives hope for these sheep who eventually rebel against the dogs. “Sheep” takes advantage of synthesizers and mixes these sounds with some rocking bass and guitar to create a feeling of rebellion. “Pigs on the Wing” bookends the album. It is truly a beautiful acoustic track, and is the closest thing Pink Floyd has ever written to a love song. The final message, seen on “Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 2,” is that if you find people you care about, you do not have to worry about “pigs” or “the stone.” This album’s claim to fame is its complex and complete message and its long, sheering, unmatched guitar solos.
3. The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
This is the quintessential Pink Floyd album. It is one of the greatest selling albums of all-time, and its logo has become a part of mainstream pop culture. It is the perfect Pink Floyd album; this is it – the band at their peak. There will never be anything created quite like it. Its theme and message are incomparably deep and complex. Musically, it is the perfect combination of Waters, Gilmour, Wright, and Mason coming together to create a final product. Thematically, It explores everything about life: birth into the world, time and growing old, religion, money and greed, selfishness, war, mental illness, and more. Some of the band’s most popular and widely praised songs ever appear on this album. In every way, this album is perfect. How are there two albums ahead of a perfect album?
2. Wish You Were Here (1975)
An album better than The Dark Side of the Moon? Oh yeah. For 44 minutes, you are not just engaged with what you are listening to, you are living in the music. The best example of this is “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” which is actually split up to bookend the album. The song that was written for Syd Barret by Roger Waters has the ability to engage you, no, live inside of you for eight minutes without even singing a single lyric. I know I said “Dogs” may feature the best guitar work from Gilmour, but this song might have it beat. The instrumental part culminates when Gilmour passionately sings the meaningful lyrics, and you just feel every single one of them. At that point, you are not just listening to the music, you are experiencing it. “Welcome to the Machine” and “Have a Cigar” are also excellent tracks that criticize the faceless side of the music industry. The lyrics of both of these tracks are perfectly satirical and they mesh in with some beautiful synthetic noises and guitar solos. Once again, you are enthralled in what you are listening to. The deeper meaning behind these tracks lifts you off your feet. The title track is maybe the band’s most popular song, and, I know I have said it so many times, but you are really living this song when you listen to it. Every strum of the guitar and every lyric just seems to pulse throughout your body when you listen to this song. How could there possibly be a better album than this one?
1. The Wall (1979)
Does this album represent the band at its peak level of music-making? No. Is this album primarily composed by Roger Waters with very little input from any of the other members? Yes. Was Richard Wright literally fired towards the end of the recording of this album? Yes. So is this an unorthodox pick for the number 1 Pink Floyd album? Maybe, but The Wall is not only the best Pink Floyd album to ever be created, it is also the greatest album of all-time to ever be created. There exists no other album created in history that has as many moments that blow your mind away as this one. Click here for an in depth, track by track look at the album, but the basic premise is that a boy named Pink Floyd, who is largely based off of Roger Waters, builds a metaphorical wall around himself to isolate himself from those around him. He slowly goes insane and loses touch with his fans. In the end, he eventually realizes that he has been at fault for much his life and he tears down his wall. Instead of deeply analyzing this 1 hour and 21 minutes of pure brilliance, I will instead talk about some of the many mind-blowing moments from this album. The opening riff on “In the Flesh?” hits you right away and puts you in the zone. The end of “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” sets you right into the catchy number 1 hit solo, “Another Brick In the Wall, Pt. 2.” “Mother” gets acoustic but does a purely brilliant job of utilizing both Waters and Gilmour’s voices as different characters in the song. “Young Lust” interrupts the gloomy mood of “Empty Spaces” to give a look into the sex, drugs, and rock and roll of Pink’s Rock Star life. Halfway through “One of My Turns” the guitar kicks in and things start to break as Pink goes crazy. “Goodbye Cruel World” really feels like a goodbye as Pink encloses himself behind his wall. “Hey You” gives us a brilliant guitar solo and smashes any glimmer of hope of getting past the wall. “Is There Anybody Out There?” screams out for help with a longing, hollow, echoing four lines. “Nobody Home” puts you right in the place of Pink as he sits alone behind the wall. “Bring the Boys Back Home” builds up impeccably into “Comfortably Numb” on what is maybe the greatest moment of the album. The beginning riff from “In the Flesh” comes in once again in full force and gets you going just like it did at the beginning of the album. “Run Like Hell” has you wanting to crazy and start rioting in the streets, only for “Waiting for the Worms” to come in and juxtapose these previous ambitions. “Stop” leads beautifully into “The Trial.” Everything we have heard so far comes under review and BOOM the wall comes down. “Outside the Wall” is probably the best track on the album. Here is an in depth post about its message. If you trace the story line as you listen to this album, each one of these moments is truly mind blowing. When you listen to this album, you are not just listening, you are not even just experiencing it, you are painting it within your mind. Each track builds on the last and transitions into the next. As you listen to the album, you see, feel, and touch everything that is going on in your mind. When you listen to The Wall, you are inside the music. No other album that I know of can do what this one can.
Farley Floyd 