Poll

Pick your favorite in each bracket

Comfortably Numb
5 (33.3%)
Wish You Were Here
10 (66.7%)

Total Members Voted: 15

Author Topic: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament  (Read 13533 times)

MartinTeller

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Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« on: May 01, 2017, 12:01:34 PM »
I thought I'd give this a try. I don't know how many big Pink Floyd fans we have here. I love them. And I mean LOVE them. They were my first music obsession. "Money" was the first thing I learned to play on the guitar. Over the years I drifted away from Pink Floyd, and I'd kind of forgotten how much I adore their music. But recently, going through the massive "Early Years" box set, I was reminded how much I dig the Floyd, especially that early stuff.

I've got 128 songs in this tournament, roughly seeded based on a popularity poll I found and my own perception of what people seem to like. Everything here from the first singles through The Final Cut. There's some rarities and B-sides in the mix too. It just didn't seem right to include the post-Waters stuff. I also omitted the solo pieces from Ummagumma.

This is gonna be a tough tournament for me. I adore most of these songs.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 01:04:55 PM by MartinTeller »

MartinTeller

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« Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 12:07:44 PM by MartinTeller »

MartinTeller

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2017, 12:31:03 PM »
My picks:

1. Right off the bat, a tough choice for me. Obviously Numb is our #1 seed here. But boy, I'm such a fan on The Final Cut. It was the first CD I ever owned! Throwing an underdog vote to Your Possible Pasts.

2. I'll probably be voting for a lot of the Syd stuff, but while I like CaaCB, it's not especially distinct. Voting for Burning Bridges which is lovely and haunting.

3. Yeah, Brick 3 is powerful and has that cool keyboard bit, but Paintbox is pretty much the reason I wanted to do this tournament. Such a great, overlooked tune. And a rare chance for Rick Wright to have the spotlight. What a weird, baroque little ditty. Definitely Paintbox for me.

4. That cat's something I can't explain! I love a song about a cat, and Syd's goofy weirdness wins out over the slight (but perfectly apt) closer to The Wall. Lucifer Sam

5. I find Mother (the song, not my own mother) a bit annoying for some reason. Maybe it's the "break my balls" bit, or maybe it's just a little overplayed. Still, it's got some fantastic work from Gilmour and Stethoscope never really clicked with me. I like the first 30 seconds but then the psychedelic freakout part is pretty boring. Mother gets my vote.

6. Ooh this is a toughie. On the Run, one of the great headphone tracks with all the effects and that neato pulsing synth. And Green Is the Colour, so delicate and gentle. I love those melodies. Gotta go Green.

7. To be honest, I'm not big on Dark Side of the Moon. If you consider the classic Floyd era to be from Meddle through The Wall, Dark Side is probably my least favorite of those albums. And while I love the music of Eclipse, "list"-style lyrics ("all that you ___, and all that you ____, all that you ____ and all you ____") don't appeal to me. Meanwhile, Atom Heart Mother is an album that took me a couple of decades to warm up to but now I really embrace it. Another underdog vote for Summer '68.

8. I dunno, the only thing HBPM has going for it is that drum beat. The rest of it is just too fiddly. I still like it, but the short but sweet Goodbye Cruel World walks away with this one.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 12:32:53 PM by MartinTeller »

oldkid

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2017, 01:12:35 PM »
I hear a lot of different styles in Pink Floyd, and the best is when they are all mixed expertly together.  You have Syd Barett's psychadelic 60's, Roger Water's lyrical concept rock, David Gilmore's expert guitar rock, Richard Wright's mind-bending keyboard rock, and then you have the blend.  Each of these were given their full opportunity to shine in various stages of Pink Floyd, but when they all worked together, mixed by an expert like Alan Parsons, it works best.

Comfortably Numb v. Your Possible Pasts
I think that The Final Cut, when the band is exhausted after The Wall's various forms and Roger finally got control, is the worst Pink Floyd album.  There is only one song I care for on the album, and Your Possible Pasts isn't it.  It is horribly unfair to pit it against one of their most popular, best produced songs.  But there it is.

Burning Bridges v. Candy
Burning is one of the Dave Gilmore specials, with Wright doing his organ bit.  Beautiful and soothing.  Candy is okay, but it isn't one of Syd's best.

Paintbox v. Another Brick 3
Both excellent songs.  Paintbox is very 60s, but not as Syd-influenced as others, written and sung by Richard Wright.  It's really well done. Another Brick 3 is excellent, hard rock version of the popular song, but rather than an individual song, I think it fits better in the sequence from Empty Spaces to Goodbye Cruel World.  It's good, but it makes me want to hear the rest of the sequence.  I'm going for Paintbox.

Lucifer Sam v. Outside the Wall
Outside the Wall is a strange song, but perfectly suited as the intro/outro of the Wall, giving a sense of the other world, opposite to the chaotic rock inside the wall.  Lucifer Sam has a great couple of hooks but seems a bit dependent on the James Bond theme.  Going for Outside.

Mother v. Stethoscope
Not a fan of Stethoscope.  It turns me off right from the "doctor, doctor" it opens with.  Mother is it's opposite. It allows the acoustic guitar to have a long time to coax us, soothe us, while the lyrics bite and jab.   Genius.

On the Run v. Green is the Color
Two Pink Floyd opposites.  On the Run is all sound and chaos and panting breath, while Green is quiet and soothing, a precursor to the first half of Wish You Were Here.   It depends on my mood which I'd choose.  I'll give it to On the Run because of the work involved and the fact that this is the song you want to put on your new system to see how well it works.

68 v. Eclipse
68 is attempting to capture the sound of the era, but none of it sounds like Pink Floyd in any of their manifestations.  Eclipse is the stirring climax to one of a few PF masterpieces, in which the whole album feels like it is building up to this point.  68 is fine, but it doesn't hold a candle to Eclipse.

Heart Beat v. Goodbye
I've never heard Heart Beat, Pig Meat before.  Kind of a lead up to On the Run, but not as well mixed.  Goodbye is the perfect conclusion to the first half of The Wall, short, very simple and ends cutting the final word short.  Heart Beat is Roger working up to his genius, Goodbye is in the middle of it.
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Teproc

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2017, 01:16:28 PM »
Great idea Martin ! Pink Floyd is my favorite band, but I'll admit that after the initial discovery and exploration of their whole discography, I pretty much settled on the songs I liked and never listened to the other ones again. That's the case for 6 of the songs here, with only two match-ups featuring two songs that are still on my main playlist. But hey, maybe I can rediscover some forgotten gems here.

1. The Final Cut is an album I feel conflicted about. It's like The Wall's ugly stepchild: same sensibilites and inspiration, but less coherence and even more self-indulgence. There's definitely some great stuff in there (When the Tigers Broke Free, The Fletcher Memorial Home), but it's not a favorite of mine overall, though it's the last Pink Floyd album I'd qualify as "good". Your Possible Pasts is fine and all, but again, it feels like a song that wasn't quite good enough to make it into The Wall. I'm not actually as big a fan of Comfortably Numb as most, but this is not close at all (in that I wouldn't put it in the top 10, maybe not even top 20 for PF songs), but it's still an easy choice: Comfortably Numb.

2. Obscured by Clouds is generally underrated, but Burning Bridges is not a song I remembered, probably because it sounds a lot like Free Four, just not as good. Still, it's a nice one, I might get it back in rotation. I feel pretty similarly about the Syd one here too, which is like an Astronomy Domine that never lifts off. Tough choice here... I'll go with Burning Bridges.

3. Don't think I'd actually heard Paintbox before. It's a pretty cool, quirky one, that doesn't get too crazy and dissonant but has that lovely psychedelic undercurrent nonetheless. I don't really think of Part 3 as a distinct song anyway, so Paintbox it is.

4. This is where we get into a bit of trouble. The Wall is my second favorite album (after DSOTM), but it works much better as an album than a collection of songs. I have a feeling I'm going to be voting against The Wall a lot just because of the "song v song" structure, when it doesn't really reflect how I feel. That being said, I do like Lucifer Sam a lot, even though it's only the 5th or 6th best song in Piper.

5. Mother is perhaps not the best single in The Wall, but it's the song the whole album revolves around. Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk is very cool, but also in the middle when it comes to Piper (Interstellar Overdrive manages the "psychedelic freakout" Martin describes much better), and I'm not voting against Mother.

6. The worst song on my favorite album ever (and another one that suffers out of context) vs a nice ballad from More I had completely forgotten... but it is nice. Mmmmh. Very tough choice, I'll got with Green is the Colour, because On the Run, though it's excellent in its context just doesn't works at all as a song, and the structure of the tournament here leads me to consider things that way.

7. Well now that's just cruel. Eclipse is my ringtone and what I'm voting for: it's a glorious culmination to Brain Damage that still works gangbusters on its own (but unlike Martin, I loooove list-type lyrics, love them)... but it hurts to eliminate Summer '68 so early. Atom Heart Mother is the great PF album most people don't know about, and this song is one of the big reasons why.

8. Yeah, I didn't remember Heart Beat, Pig Meat at all... and it's ok I guess, but Goodbye, Cruel World takes that one easily.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 01:21:08 PM by Teproc »
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Corndog

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2017, 01:25:11 PM »
Round 1, Batch 1:

Comfortably Numb vs. Your Possible Pasts
Burning Bridges vs. Candy and a Currant Bun
Another Brick in the Wall, Part 3 vs. Paintbox
Lucifer Sam vs. Outside the Wall
Mother vs. Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk
On the Run vs. Green Is the Colour
Eclipse vs. Summer '68
Goodbye Cruel World vs. Heart Beat, Pig Meat

Pink Floyd was one of the first bands I became obsessed with as well, but have moved on from and haven't listen to much recently. Here are my picks:

1. Comfortably Numb
2. Burning Bridges
3. Paintbox
4. Lucifer Sam
5. Mother
6. Green Is the Colour
7. Eclipse
8. Goodbye Cruel World
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

MartinTeller

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2017, 01:56:44 PM »
We've got a couple of early upsets in the works! Exciting! I'm tickled that Paintbox is doing so well.

The Wall is my second favorite album (after DSOTM), but it works much better as an album than a collection of songs. I have a feeling I'm going to be voting against The Wall a lot just because of the "song v song" structure, when it doesn't really reflect how I feel.

That is an issue, I'm afraid. PF is often much more about albums than songs. It also doesn't seem quite right to pit side-length tracks (Echoes, Atom Heart Mother) against more traditional songs. But just follow your instincts as best as you can. It's all just for fun anyway.

MartinTeller

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2017, 09:18:47 AM »
Is 6 voters enough (including two who apparently only voted in one bracket each?) enough to warrant continuing? I'll let this batch run a few more hours and see if there's any more interest.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2017, 10:24:41 AM »
I don't even know why we need to have this conversation. Everybody knows Wonderwall is their best song.
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Teproc

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Re: Pink Floyd Songs Tournament
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2017, 10:29:25 AM »
I just noticed you said you excluded any post-Waters stuff, which is a shame if only because of High Hopes.

How would ties be handled by the way ?
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