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Albums that absolutely BLEW...

#222
Meddle said:
Anything ELP ever committed to vinyl. The horrid Moog patches, the horribly inept meaningless lyrics, the annoying solos, Lake's voice, the pathetic vandalism of classical music without the dynamics, the fur coats the gongs and the rugs onstage. Everything about them seemed to have preempted the bloated cocain-fueled narcicism of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Tusk (to name just two examples of where that all went).

Once again, IMHO, Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. I prefer the Syd Barrett material, and the 1969-1972 spacerock stuff where they fiddled around with tape delays onstage. TDSOTM might be THE album to test your stereo hifi system with, but the concept of that album is pathetically basic and hypocritical. When Britain was in economic ruin do you want some well pampered, well fed rock stars singing Money in your faces?

To me, Wish You Were Here is the most boring album ever. Every song has a lumbering slow pace to it, and the cross fading doesn't help. It is like being fed Black Forest Gateux through a pipe surgically implanted down your throat for an hour. Shine On You Crazy Diamond takes several minutes to do anything at all, and all the soundscapey layers do not help. The lyrics are a banal and poorly-versed homage to a band mate Pink Floyd actually kicked out themselves then helped spread the disinformation about his mental state. Welcome To the Machine is another "Bwaaaah, lets kick against the system whilst lapping up the economic benefits of said system" bit of ill-thought-out slow-tempo yawn fest. Have a Cigar furthers this hipocracy by lampooning the same middle-men that made sure Pink Floyd had good publicity in America when their stage show basically comprised of four greasy scruffy dudes playing beaten instruments with a few coloured lights and a 16mm projector. Wish You Were Here itself is one of those tracks every tin-eared guitard seems hell bent on learning once they get past the more ovbious Tenacious D covers to try and give them a bit of depth. There is only so many drunken half-remembered "Two Lost Souls Swimming in a Fish Bowl" moments you can endure before the specialness of the situation tarnishes completely. Another ball-achingly hypocritical "tribute" to Syd Barrett (we honestly do feel sorry for you, you stupid crazy acid casualty), this song also plods along with Waters' clumsy lyrics and Gilmours passable acoustic pastiche (is it just me or did it take Gilmour a decade+ to find his own voice/sound and in the end he took to singing AOR rubbish like Learning to Fly in an American accent, then got completely fat). Rounding off the album is another unneccessary trip on the good ship Shine On You Crazy Diamond. This time the track is slightly more uptempo (still walking pace mind) and punctuated (like other tracks on the album) with Rick Wright's frought and overbearing lead Moog work giving the whole track a needlessly panic-laiden feel.

When people call Animals Pink Floyd's punk album you know something is seriously wrong.
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Really enjoyed your frantic proze, agreeing to the points made concerning society in mid 70's especially in the UK and the hypocritical position of the group versus Barrett. However taste is not negociable and I like "whish you were Here" as -even though calmly paced- it brings exitement when songs build up slowly but surely to a climax. Well crafted I think.
Even more I thank Pink Floyd and all the other stadion bands of that era to bring up a reactionary evolution in modern music resulting in pub rock initially and punk rock ultimately.

May I recommend Stack Waddy's recordings to soothen the awe of "whish you were here"?
 
#227

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