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Mickey242 wrote: Sat Dec 11, 2021 4:41 pm I have two CD-R's from the Joy Division box set that contain songs of theirs I like. Both are labeled "Joy Division songs you can tolerate".

I have that too, except I call it The Joy Division Discography.

Anyway, Floyd.

Listening to my Uncle pluck out "Breathe" on his strat today (and proving my point about guitarists of a certain age loving Gilmour...) It occured to me that a band like Floyd needed some hits to keep going. I doubt my uncle likes 'Astronomy Domine' or 'Set the Controls..' He wasn't the target market for that kind of stuff.

It's probably the same thinking behind those early psychedelic singles. At that point in their career, it must have taken some considerable effort for them not to play a ten minute song. Three minutes? Radio? Those things must have been somewhat alien for a band known for it's long repetitive improvisations.

Whimsy? Well yes, but.... You try being english and doing some acid...

losthighway wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:46 am there's something often tedious about early Floyd, like being cornered by someone with dilated eyes who wishes to monologue at you about all their whimsical hallucinations and notions.

That's a fair characterization.

jason from volo wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:10 am And does "Corporal Clegg" really need the kazoo solo?

That's not whimsy, that's sarcasm.

I get the feeling that Corporal Clegg was heavily inspired by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's Equestrian Statue the year before. And surely nobody could accuse the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band of being too whimsical.

The whimsy of the era too, I think should be understood in the context of a country that had been bombed to shit by the Nazis 20 years earlier. Roger Water's dad of course died fighing the Nazis, and it famously traumatised him. But they were all traumatised. All this British whimsy of the 1960s, following in the fine tradition of the Goons, who themselves fought the Nazis and were traumatised. Very much like the Dada movement in the 1920s was inspired by witnessing the horror of the first world war, British whimsy of the 1960s was political, anti-authoritarian, and largely the product of dark and troubled minds, not born out of dippy naivete.

Not that there's anything wrong with letting a little whimsy in anyway. Why not have Strong Bad on the Shellac record?

enframed wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 1:51 pm

losthighway wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:46 am there's something often tedious about early Floyd, like being cornered by someone with dilated eyes who wishes to monologue at you about all their whimsical hallucinations and notions.

That's a fair characterization.

I’m not a fan of PF in general, but the Syd years get you “Arnold Layne,” “See Emily Play,” “Astronomy Domine,” and a number of other great songs that sound less like whimsy than like a person cracking up inside.

The weaker songs may be merely whimsical, but the best ones are no more whimsical than “You’re Gonna Miss Me” or “The Green Manalishi.”

No one mentioning the obvious here, that without PF we may have never gotten The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, two of the most stoned sounding but listenable solo records anyone's ever made. Revisiting the former now, while 100% sober, and feel light-headed just listening to it. Strange in a good way.

DaveA wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 5:27 pm No one mentioning the obvious here, that without PF we may have never gotten The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, two of the most stoned sounding but listenable solo records anyone's ever made. Revisiting the former now, while 100% sober, and feel light-headed just listening to it. Strange in a good way.

Indeed. Love both of those records.

jason from volo wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:10 am

losthighway wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:46 am Much of the Barrett era to me sounds like psychedelia for its own sake.

"Jugband Blues", for example.

Great song.

Does it really need The Salvation Army band on it?

And does "Corporal Clegg" really need the kazoo solo?

It extends well past Barrett-era. This kind of stupidness is prevalent up to and including Atom Heart Mother. Don't get me started on Ummagumma.

Life is way too short to screw around and make a conscious choice to wear tight shoes.

The urge to do the twist at the keyboard hits you?

Ain't no point in letting fun haters dog you over it.

Matter of fact...

Here's some Hanoi Rocks just to to balance out some of the sourpuss.

Yeah, numberthirty you're right. Carpe diem etc. I hope Pink Floyd had a blast making what I consider their worst drivel. My critical analysis is often suspended in order to make my own, but these are different parts of my brain.