There is a reason that everyone calls this album one of the best albums ever recorded, and that’s because it is. The ground work for this release was made with the previous album, Meddle, as that was the first proper album where the ghost of Sid Barrett was finally put to rest, and the psychedelia with it. Of course it helps when your record company lets you spend all the time you want in the studio to perfect your music. I’m not sure an album of this magnitude will be ever made again, at least not under a record company banner. Maybe now home recording is much more accessible and cheap, artists might do it with their own dollar, but no record company will ever do it again.
People always look at Floyd as this great technical behemoth, but in reality the songs are quite basic, it’s how all the instruments are layered and separated in the mix that creates this amazing aural experience. The band produced the album themselves with the great Alan Parsons as engineer, and to my ears, it’s one of the great sonic masterpieces of the seventies. 11 pieces of music and 6 songs, every second is perfection. Of course, they were still a band at this point before tyrant Waters wanted to belittle everyone other than himself to take total control.
Most people would agree that Money is the great track from the album, with a superb solo full of feel and tone by Gilmour. In fact, IMHO, all the songs where Gilmour sings are Floyd’s finest moments. One of the great songs not mentioned too often is The Great Gig In The Sky, with the superb wailing vocal from Clare Tory, I absolutely adore this track as it’s full of feel and expression.
So I don’t need to tell you that you should already own this, if you don’t then I suggest you rectify that immediately.
10/10 from The Grooveman.
