PINK FLOYD
"Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania.
Neptune, Titan, Stars can frighten.
Blinding signs flap,
Flicker, flicker, flicker blam. Pow, pow.
Stairway scare, Dan Dare, who's there?"
—Syd Barrett
The year: 1971. I'm 15 years old. I've just finished listening to "Beginnings" by Chicago. I'm living in an apartment complex called Cambridge Court in North Portland. An open apartment door is blasting a stereo on a scorching August morning. It's weird, unexplainable, but the guitar work is interesting. I knock on the door and meet my neighbor. And the rest is Pink Floyd history.
THE PINK FLOYD SOUND
The Pink Floyd Sound as they were called in their earliest beginnings were at the root of psychedelic music. The band's then frontman Syd Barrett, is no mystery to any Floyd fans. He slowly lost his control of his mental state (some say from incessant LSD use though it hasn't been proven), and was deteriorating to a point where he was no longer a dependable member of the band. Therefore, new guitarist David Gilmour was called in to basically to take over the position of guitarist/vocalist. Syd's flights into the unknown whenever, and wherever they struck, made him more or less a ghost in the band. Barrett's slow insanity eventually reached a point where the newly formed 5-man Pink Floyd reverted back to a 4-piece band sans-Syd.
Their first release "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is a loving tribute to psychedelia in its finest moments. I can hear the influences of acts like The Soft Machine, The Ultimate Spinach, The Strawberry Alarm Clock & The Electric Prunes. You can hear these influences throughout Piper. The original studio release of "Astronomy Domine" is great, as is "Interstellar Overdrive."
SYD BARRETT
Born Roger Keith Barrett, Syd became an international icon. He was, and has now become one of the most important names in the history of Rock. The word "psychedelic" should have been stamped on his birth certificate. He created atmospheres through his work and had absolutely no fear of wild interpretation and free-jamming on stage. From the very beginning, Pink Floyd began under various band names such as "The Abdabs", "The Screaming Abdabs", "Sigma 6", and "The Meggadeaths". In 1965, Syd joined the band and they were called "The Tea Set." His influence over the coming music of Pink Floyd as well as over the individual members of the band was legendary. He was well-loved and respected, and quite obviously, missed.
Syd had a charismatic method to his madness—no pun intended—and created musical structures on the fly. If the word "crazy" ever pops up in a Floyd song, it more than likely refers to Syd. Syd Barrett left us in 2006 from pancreatic cancer.
Obscured by Floyds: My Life with Pink Floyd
To begin with the albums, I'm going to list them—not in the order in which they were released—but in the order that I bought them during the '70s.
My first foray into the sublime was with the album "Ummagumma." At the time, Pink Floyd was a difficult band for me to like. I was just coming down off The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Beatles, Stones, you name it. My fifteen year-old ears weren't quite ready for what lay behind the heavy theatre curtains of Pink Floyd's Progressive-Psychedelic Rock style. Though, after a few listens, "Astronomy Domine" seemed an above average piece of work. After truly digesting "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", I was amazed at what a simple four-piece band was capable of. Such audacity was beyond comprehension. How could they just take a slow piece, rip it to extremes in the middle, set fire to it, then explode into an echoing galaxy of listless stars and colored mist?" "Set the Controls" like "Axe", became more than just a song; it was an anthem. By now, I was ready to gobble up any possible Floyd Bootlegs I could get my hands on. "A Saucerful of Secrets" was probably my first real introduction to long songs with individual "chapters". The song is broken down into four main parts ending with a gorgeous conclusion titled "Celestial Voices". Then came the second LP in the two-record set. The instrumental works of each individual member didn't hold my interest with the exceptions of "Grantchester Meadows" and Gilmour's classic "The Narrow Way" which, for me, became the "5th" song on Ummagumma to accompany the 4 live tracks.
By this time, Pink Floyd was my favorite band, hands down. 
My second Floyd acquisition was with the album "Meddle" The song "Echoes" became a timeless classic, and one of the first 25-minute songs I ever became acquainted with. It was during this "Meddle" period that I became more and more interested in unique black light posters, and I now acquaint most of my memories of this tune with purple-glow basement rooms and smooth stereo. In our area, we were known as "heads". If you smoked, tripped out, hung out, or otherwise fit the classic '70s hippie mold, "head" was a relative term. Pink Floyd was indeed a "head band". "Meddle" featured the timeless classic "Echoes" which takes up one entire side of an album. I feel that "Echoes" is probably one of the most important pieces ever composed and performed by Pink Floyd. The lyrics to this song are just as fascinating as the musical interludes and journeys.
Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine...
...Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning...
The other side of the album has some very interesting works such as the other timeless classic "One of These Days." Translated the warbled and distorted vocal at the climax is: "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces." I always found it interesting that this phrase, plus "Careful, with that axe, Eugene," echoed a twinge of darkness that fit well into, (what I reckoned to be), their earlier works. In 1972, I was extremely proud of my knowledge of Floyd music, history, and as much info as could be gathered from such a secretive, clandestine group of musicians. They didn't appear in mainstream media; they weren't popping up the rock magazines, or doing Rolling Stone interviews. Pink Floyd seemed relatively unknown, and outside of my circle of friends, no mainstream music listeners had ever heard of them. I was actually quite indignant after the release of "Dark Side of the Moon" when newer "heads" were now saying "Have you ever heard of Pink Floyd?" Of course I had! "I'd been listening to Floyd while you were still in diapers!"
"Obscured By Clouds"
"Atom-Heart Mother" was next up. Though it suffered horrible reviews from both "Cream" and "Circus" magazines, I still loved it. I thought it was a bit soft, and had an unusual quietness to it, but Atom-Heart was an easy piece to learn on guitar. It had absolutely beautiful passages and was in total, a very listenable track of music. Of course, the other side suffered greatly with the exception of Roger Waters' beautiful tune "If." Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" was lackluster and bland. However, when played live, this song was a monster. On stage, Gilmour gives the tune his trademark guitar thunder, and blows out screaming solos to a point where you just don't want the song to end. Rick Wright's "Summer '68" is okay, but was not overly impressive to me. I always felt then, and still do now, that works like "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", and "Several Small Species of Furry Animals," were dynamic wastes of time and talent. In a word: b-o-r-i-n-g. Now come the bootlegs; This was the way to hear "Atom-Heart Mother", straight, with no orchestra, but only four guys making this piece live with what they had. The difference was like day and night. Live Atom-Heart was the only way to go. The next album was "Obscured by Clouds" which was a serious deviation from the psychedelic-prog-spacey departures of earlier releases. Reportedly, "Clouds" is their favorite LP and was done quickly and on the fly. It's not a bad album at all, it just didn't have that spacey psychedelia that we'd all come to know and love from the band.
In 1972, 
When buying Pink Floyd records, I began working in reverse, going back to the earlier albums that I hadn't heard before. "More" was "more" like it. I really loved this record. I truly believe that this was some of their best works ever with a few tunes that translated extremely well to live stages. Masterpieces like "Cirrus Minor", "The Nile Song", and "Cymbaline" were absolutely stunning. "Ibiza Bar" could have easily been the pre-cursor to heavy metal. The "Main Theme" and "Quicksilver" were trippy and ambient, and very reminiscent of their earlier days.
The "Five-Man Floyd", Barrett 
, Waters, Wright, Mason, & Gilmour, was an interesting assemblage, but a bit bland and jumbled for my tastes. This is why the "A Saucerful of Secrets" LP wasn't a strong favorite for me. I never gave it much stereo time because my favorites "Axe", and "Saucerful", were so great on the live record of "Ummagumma."
"The Dark Side of the Moon" obviously was a spectacular LP. First off, it was engineered by the great Alan Parsons, who went on to helm the Alan Parsons Project. My first reaction to this album was a bit apprehensive; I didn't like the idea of female singers and saxophone. That meant "pop" not "pink." But, after only a few listens, I reconciled myself to that fact that Pink Floyd had recorded their own "Abbey Road", a masterpiece, a résumé, and a cultural phenomenon that would hold a respectful position on the FM charts for decades to come. The album is dark and melancholy, not because of the theme or the lyrics, but the tonal paintings and luscious landscapes of piano, guitar, and steel guitar. The whole thing is smooth, like glass, and glides like gossamer wings on invisible air currents. "Dark Side" reaches out, expands, and pulls the listener deep inside the catacombs of a beautiful new universe. Though madness seemed to be the underlying theme, and moreover, Syd's presence was once again heralded by an invisible highlighter, the album didn't feel "mad" at all. Quite the opposite, it felt extremely "normal" and calming.
I always felt that not enough credit went to Rick Wright whose influence on the record is as strong as a tropical hurricane. His piano work and compositions are saintly, sweet and utterly unforgettable. Though it's a Roger Waters brainchild which claims to follow a theme, I could never assign Darkside a particular topic. It didn't feel like a "suite" or even a theme album. It was just a collection of tunes that ran together. Even though the themes were tied in, Anxiety, fear, insanity, greed, and power, it wasn't for me as dramatically thematic as "The Wall."
The two gems on this album are "Us and Them" and the vocally super-charged "The Great Gig in the Sky." This was something new for me entirely; a female using her voice as pure instrument, wailing heartfelt vocals in such a manner that I still get goosebumps whenever I hear it. Claire Tory was the contract singer who performed this original masterpiece, again guided by Rick Wright's heavenly, yet simple keyboard elegy joined in by church-organ bliss.
"Wish You Were Here" was a masterpiece. At the time it felt like a struggle to compete against "Dark Side." Everyone seemed to be comparing it, but I never felt it should have to compete. As a stand-alone LP, "Wish You Were Here" was highly charismatic and pleasing. It only had one throw-away track (in my opinion), and that was "Have a Cigar". The operatic "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" once again tributes Syd Barrett. The outstanding guitar work and structure was supreme. The title track "Wish You Were Here"with its hound dog blues slide guitar and early-'70s chord structure, is concert gem, and on the LP it's harmonic and light. "Welcome to the Machine" was a futuristic nightmare piece, very well performed, and it became one of my favorites. "Wish You Were Here" was a great album.
Years later, "Animals" came on the scene. My nose smelled trouble just like it did with the last days of The Beatles. There was anger in the band, one could feel it. It almost felt like a collection of solo works. "Animals" divides humans into 3 categories: Pigs, Sheep, and Dogs. (Uh-oh, more Roger Waters angst and social tirades). Though there are great performances, I could have easily tossed this album aside. However, the haunting opening guitar strums of "Dogs" are some of the most enchanting I've ever heard. The song became my only favorite, with "Sheep" a runner-up. Again, I felt Rick Wright all over "Sheep." I didn't hate "Animals", it's just that it didn't feel like a "new" Pink Floyd album, and it felt as if the band was slipping into mediocrity.
Finally comes Pink Floyd's "White album"; A Pink Floyd album that never was: "The Wall." I say this because of the dis-crediting of Rick Wright on the album. In my mind, Pink Floyd had already broken up, they just forgot to tell the world about it. This was definitely Roger Waters' finest hour as far as following and actually establishing a theme. One could feel the isolation just as if watching a Kubrick film. "The Wall" remains one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums simply due to the fact that it was so incredibly moody. The guitar work was furious and beautiful, and the lyrics were top notch. Roger Waters was always a great lyricist (though a little Waters goes a long way), but this one was his novel on vinyl. This is a 2-record telling of one man's descent into complete isolation and disenfranchisement of the world in general. The themes were lashing: Teacher, leave those kids alone, Goodbye, to blue skies forever, you are now comfortably numb to the world, and let's pound on the girlfriend on a Saturday night. Like the Beatles' "White Album", "Wall" is wrought with anger and interpersonal discord within the band. Perhaps it was apropos that the album was released near the end of the decade; an end to a great era, an end to a great band.
