# Which are your three favorite Pink Floyd studio albums?



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Considering all their phases, from the psychedelic Barrett era to _The Endless River_.

Please, pick three and only three options.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I know _AHM_ may be a strange choice. _Meddle_, which resembles it most in terms of structure, is the better album but of the two it was _AHM_ which won my heart. There's a warm, bucolic glow running through all of it which can still evoke wistful remembrances of long-ago English summers.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

DSOTM, WYWH and Animals. The last one was the only one I had to think about - Meddle was also a very strong contender.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

PF have something for everyone. One person's trio of favorites will be another person's LEAST favorites.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Dark Side
Animals
The Wall


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

elgars ghost said:


> I know _AHM_ may be a strange choice. _Meddle_, which resembles it most in terms of structure, is the better album but of the two it was _AHM_ which won my heart. There's a warm, bucolic glow running through all of it which can still evoke wistful remembrances of long-ago English summers.


I don't think that's strange at all.

*Atom Heart Mother* my 3rd choice, after *WYWH* and *DSotM*.

The *AHM Suite* is a quirky and enjoyable listen, and I enjoy *The Breakfast* a lot as well. *Fat Old Sun* somehow captures my attention every time I hear it. It's so melty.


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

elgars ghost said:


> I know _AHM_ may be a strange choice. _Meddle_, which resembles it most in terms of structure, is the better album but of the two it was _AHM_ which won my heart. There's a warm, bucolic glow running through all of it which can still evoke wistful remembrances of long-ago English summers.


AHM is the only one I own, and that probably an illegal download (done so long ago I'm not sure where I got it from).


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I chose Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. I think my favorite now is WYWH, and DSOTM a close second. 

My third choice was tough. I really like Meddle and Animals, but I went with The Wall because of its historical significance to me. Back when The Wall came out I listened to it over and over again. I had brought a wall around me and closed off many people from my life while I was a teen. The album spoke to me, I could relate to its themes. Now the album seems dated and it's overstayed its welcome. I rarely listen to it now, twice in the last ten years while here on Talk Classical, and probably only half a dozen times in the last thirty years. But in the early 80s, I'd listen to it a few times a week. 

I don't seem to ever tire listening to Wish You Were Here


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

This is a band I used to love, but they bore me now. 

Wish You Were Here is the only album I can still listen to from time to time.

I chose:

DSotM
WYWH
Animals


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Dark Side of the Moon
Wish You Were Here
The Final Cut (Criminally underrated)


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Voted:

DSOTM (bought on vinyl 1974)
WYWH (bought on release 1975)
Animals (bought on release 1977)


Most of which I saw performed live in the 1970s

However, WYWH nearly got edged out by The Wall. An album I bought when it was first released in 1979, but I'd moved on and I didn't really bother with it. Over the last 10 years or so it has grown on me and I can understand why some people rate it as their best. 

By the by, I don't like Pink Floyd without Roger Waters.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

_Ummagumma_ is the only Pink Floyd album I like. Even so, I listen to it hardly ever. PF is a band I've never found much there. Added to that, I consider Roger Waters to be an insufferable pr**k.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

HenryPenfold said:


> However, WYWH nearly got edged out by The Wall. An album I bought when it was first released in 1979, but I'd moved on and I didn't really bother with it. Over the last 10 years or so it has grown on me and I can understand why some people rate it as their best.


I remember _The Wall_ being largely slagged off by most of my Floyd-loving friends because it was angular, almost post-punk in places which took them out of their comfort zone, but in hindsight I think the harsher elements helped the album to age quite well on the whole as it didn't end up sounding like it was stuck in a 70s flares and cheesecloth timewarp.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I think that Pink Floyd is one of the most consistent rock bands in terms of the quality of their albums. _DSOTM_ is clearly my favorite, and _Animals_ is barely above my other choices. But choosing between _AHM_, _WYWH_ and _The Wall_ is like choosing my favorite child. After some ponderous considerations, I decided to go with the latter today, but I consider _AHM_ and _WYWH_, and _Meddle_ and _TPATGOD_ as well, as essential discs in my collection.


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

DSotM and WYWH were obvious choices for me. But the third one ... The Wall, Meddle, Animals, Ummagumma, ... but I have a soft spot for Atom Heart Mother, at least for the A-side of the album, so this album with the cow was the third candidate ...


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Predictably, *DSOtM* and *WYWH* is coming in 1st and 2nd.

*Animals* is currently in 3rd.

But *Atom Heart Mother* and *The Wall* are tied for 4th,


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

SanAntone said:


> _Ummagumma_ is the only Pink Floyd album I like. Even so, I listen to it hardly ever. PF is a band I've never found much there. Added to that, *I consider Roger Waters to be an insufferable pr**k*.


Understandable that you'd think that.

He _*is*_ an insufferable pr**k.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I'm surprised and a bit disappointed that Meddle hasn't had a single vote yet. Though I didn't put it in my top three, it's probably fifth or sixth for me. Echoes is great, but only some of side one is so.

I've never met Roger Waters, but it doesn't surprise me that some think he's an insufferable prcik.

I'm about to read Inside Out, A Personal History of Pink Floyd. I need to read something very different for a change.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

senza sordino said:


> I'm surprised and a bit disappointed that Meddle hasn't had a single vote yet. Though I didn't put it in my top three, it's probably fifth or sixth for me. Echoes is great, but only some of side one is so.
> 
> I've never met Roger Waters, but it doesn't surprise me that some think he's an insufferable prcik.
> 
> I'm about to read Inside Out, A Personal History of Pink Floyd. I need to read something very different for a change.


This is always an issue with polls.

If you polled 100 people on their ONE single favorite PF album, and all of them picked albums OTHER than, say, *Meddle* as their first choice, BUT, for the sake of this example, it's EVERYONE'S second favorite Pink Floyd album, it will not register as having gotten a single vote.

Same if it's everyone's 4th or 5th favorite PF album, but you've asked people to pick their TOP THREE, then there will be no votes for it at all, as everyone picks DSOtM, WYWH, and a random OTHER favorite.


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Piper
Ummagumma
AHM


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

This is pretty embarrassing, but I've never heard of *Obscured by Clouds*. As in, I've been a Floyd fan (not my favorite band, but probably top 25 or so) for a few years, and i just now have learned of this existence of this album. I always assumed their discography went

..., Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, DSoTM, WYWH, ...

Shocking oversight. I usually pay attention to the chronology of a band's discography, so I'm completely baffled to find out that there was an album I'd never heard of before right in the middle of PF's famous studio releases.
Well, I'll need to give this a listen! Perhaps a song or two will sound familiar.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> This is pretty embarrassing, but I've never heard of *Obscured by Clouds*. As in, I've been a Floyd fan (not my favorite band, but probably top 25 or so) for a few years, and i just now have learned of this existence of this album. I always assumed their discography went
> 
> ..., Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, DSoTM, WYWH, ...
> 
> ...


One of the tracks, the folk rock *Free Four* got some traction as a single in the US in July 1972. Once you hear it, you'll go "Oh, yeah, I've heard this." Technically, it's a happy song about death.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Wish You Were Here (1975)


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Rogerx said:


> The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
> 
> The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
> Wish You Were Here (1975)


Many years ago . . . actually, many decades ago, I was quite fond of a 1971 *Pink Floyd* compilation album called *Relics*, which combined some early singles (including the band's first two Syd Barrett-era hit singles, *"Arnold Layne"* and *"See Emily Play"*), B-sides (*"Paint Box", "Julia Dream"* and *"Careful with That Axe, Eugene"*), album tracks and one unreleased song, "Biding My Time". The compilation contains material from the first three albums: *The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets *and *More*.

A friend had an import of it, and I fell in love with it, although I never bought one for myself.

Eventually, my tastes changed, and those early wacky Barrett tracks didn't have the same lure.

Funny, but the same thing happened with *The Wall* . . . loved it for a while, but it wore out its welcome pretty quickly.


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

This thread prompted me to listen to _Desert Island Discs _from 2003, where the guest was Dave Gilmour and from 2011 where the guest was Roger Waters. I'm sure non-UK members here understand the basic principle of the DID, but the specifics of this long-running radio show (first aired in 1942!) are that a celebrity is invited into the studio to talk about their life and work and choose 8 records (plus a book and a luxury).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Island_Discs

Gilmour chose Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' _Dancing in the Street _as the one record he would keep if he couldn't keep the other seven. Waters chose the 4th movement of Mahler's 5th.

Neither included any Floyd!

You may not be able to play the programme, but I hope you can see the website where the full list of their selections is shown:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b011j39v (Waters)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00937ls (Gilmour)

Neither Richard Wright nor Nick Mason have been guests.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

pianozach said:


> Funny, but the same thing happened with *The Wall* . . . loved it for a while, but it _wore out its welcome_ pretty quickly.


With random precision, by any chance?


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm sure I've said this before on a much older thread, so I apologise for repeating myself but I think _More_ was only a couple of tracks short of being a rather good album in its own right - obviously being a soundtrack album there are going to be a few bits of inconsequential incidental music padding it out but there is some really good stuff on there, especially the space rock of _Cirrus Minor_ and _Main Theme_, the hard rock/proto-grunge (seriously!) of _Nile Song_ and softer tracks such as _Cymbaline_ (sic.) and _Green is the Colour_.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

I really wish 'Relics' was avaialble as an option - for me it had the best of the rest, if catch my drift, of the early Floyd and is sufficient for me.

I chose *AHM*, *Meddle* and in the absence of Relics opted for* Animals*.

I decided not to select Ummagumma as my third choice as I only really like the live recordings plus Grantchester Meadows and as the poll is based on 'studio albums' I kinda thought it didn't really fit.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Forster said:


> This thread prompted me to listen to _Desert Island Discs _from 2003, where the guest was Dave Gilmour and from 2011 where the guest was Roger Waters. I'm sure non-UK members here understand the basic principle of the DID, but the specifics of this long-running radio show (first aired in 1942!) are that a celebrity is invited into the studio to talk about their life and work and choose 8 records (plus a book and a luxury).
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Island_Discs
> 
> ...


I prefer Gilmore's list, it includes a few of my own favorites, e.g. Waterloo Sunset, For Free, and Ballad in Plain D - whereas Waters's list includes mostly cliché tracks, i.e. the most popular or well-known songs by the artists or composers.

I'd be interested in Elvis Costello's list. He does have a wide-ranging and informed knowledge of various genres of music and the good taste to find great versions of songs besides the obvious e.g. Jerry Reed doing Georgia on My Mind instead of Ray Charles.


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