 |
Thought they started as a beat group, the gradual introduction of idiosyncratic self-composed material and lengthy monochordal extrapolations put them in a favourable position to become popular entertainers in London's "underground" clubs where light shows were among aids used to simulate psychedelic experience as the Pink Floyd, adventurous if technically limited, played on and on - and on - for tranced hippies and whirling dancers with eyes like catherine wheels.
Snapped up by EMI, their first 45, 'Arnold Layne', was, as expected, self-consciously "weird" -and a UK Top 30 entry, despite airplay restrictions. The follow-up, 'See Emily Play', climbed to Number 6.
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, their album debut, was penned almost entirely by the charismatic Syd who was already proving ill-equipped to cope with the demands of pop stardom. In 1968 a second guitarist, Dave Gilmour, was brought in, and 2 months later, Barrett was out.
He managed two solo albums before effectively retiring as a professional musician and going back to Cambridge. Mention of Barrett still brings out strange stories of what people claim they saw and heard of him since his departure from Pink Floyd -the "the" had been dropped- who, if happier as concert performer, were initially at a loss without his creative input.
After the transitionary Saucerful Of Secrets, which included Barrett left-overs, they coped by incorporating increasingly more splendid audio-visual effect into an otherwise immoblie stage act. Moreover, though individual members were competent songwriters, the stylstic emphasis on record become similar to that on the boards in that it was almost the sond at any given moment that counted rather than separate pieces. This reconciled easily with the requirements of the group's third album, 1969's More, a movie soundtrack. More diverting was Ummagumma, a double LP, half of which embraced "live" versions of tried-and-tested numbers, the remaining needle-time being divided in four so that solo whims could be indulged.
Waters went further in this respect by collaborating with electronics boffin Ron Geesin on incidental music to 1970's The Body. Geesin was to contribute to the Floyd's ambitious Atom Heart Mother on which quirky instrumentals and frail vocals were beefed up with brass, woodwinds and a choir.
Atom Heart Mother was also the small beginning of the Floyd's enormous success in North America. Yet, though Obscured By Clouds crept into Billboard's Top 50, no one could have foreseen the millions that 1973's Dark Side OF The Moon would sell or the years it would linger in the US chart after falling from Number 1. A near-impossible market yardstick for any band, it was followed two years on by Wish You Were Here which, unlike Dark Side Of The Moon, topped the British LP list.
By comparisons, Animals was a slow moment commercially but momentum was restored with 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)', one of 26 tracks composed by Roger Waters for the robustly anti-militaristic The Wall.
As Pink Floyd's self-appointed boss, Waters also took most of the artistic responsibility for what he understood was to be the final Pink Floyd album (1983's The Final Cut). However, his legal proceedings to dissolve the group proved ineffectual, and Gilmour and Mason, with Wright among highly waged helpmates, continued to fly the Pink Floyd flag with 1987's A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, and a 2-year world tour that more than recouped its expensive overheads.
Enraged, Waters countered with Radio KAOS, an album presented in concert like an actual radio broadcast. Grander still was Roger's 1990 exhumation of The Wall as a televised extravaganze from Berlin with star guests and a symphony orchestra to remind the world of his Pink Floyd connection and how much that rival organisation's rise to global celebrity was thanks to his leadership.
