Pink Floyd: Now In Hi-Res

Co-directed by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, The Wall, Pink Floyd's eleventh studio album, was released in the UK on November 30, 1979 on the Harvest record label and in the United States on December 8, 1979 on Columbia. It is the last studio album with the line-up of David Gilmour (guitar), Roger Waters (bass guitar and lyricist), Richard Wright (keyboards) and Nick Mason (drums). In 1977, Roger Waters — singer, bassist, lyricist, composer and arranger of Pink Floyd — sketched on a sheet of paper a wall separating audience and musicians. Based on this projection, he calls on Bob Ezrin (producer of Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Kiss, etc.) to help him realize his project. A double album with a strong concept was released and was a massive success — more than thirty million copies sold. A real introspection of Waters' life, the album combines fiction and reality through the story of Pink, a young rock star (who in fact symbolizes Waters himself) prey to his demons and who, little by little, builds a chimerical wall around him to cut himself off from the world. This particularly ambitious rock opera essentially bears the emotional mark of Roger Waters (evocation of his absent father, his abusive mother and the rigidity of a school system that traumatized him for life). The Wall was first remastered in 1994 in the UK by EMI. Then in 1997 the Columbia firm remastered the album, with better sound quality than EMI's, to be released in the United States, Canada, Australia, South America and Japan. Shortly after the album's twentieth anniversary, Capitol relaunched the 1997 edition in the United States in 2000 taking over the European remastering, and EMI did the same in Canada, Australia, South America and the United States, Japan. In 2011, the album was painstakingly remastered by James Guthrie (the sound engineer and co-producer of the original album) and Joel Plante, at das boot recording studio located in Lake Tahoe, California. © Qobuz (GG) 

Pink Floyd followed the commercial breakthrough of Dark Side of the Moon with Wish You Were Here, a loose concept album about and dedicated to their founding member Syd Barrett. The record unfolds gradually, as the jazzy textures of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" reveal its melodic motif, and in its leisurely pace, the album shows itself to be a warmer record than its predecessor. Musically, it's arguably even more impressive, showcasing the group's interplay and David Gilmour's solos in particular. And while it's short on actual songs, the long, winding soundscapes are constantly enthralling.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

By condensing the sonic explorations of Meddle to actual songs and adding a lush, immaculate production to their trippiest instrumental sections, Pink Floyd inadvertently designed their commercial breakthrough with Dark Side of the Moon. The primary revelation of Dark Side of the Moon is what a little focus does for the band. Roger Waters wrote a series of songs about mundane, everyday details which aren't that impressive by themselves, but when given the sonic backdrop of Floyd's slow, atmospheric soundscapes and carefully placed sound effects, they achieve an emotional resonance. But what gives the album true power is the subtly textured music, which evolves from ponderous, neo-psychedelic art rock to jazz fusion and blues-rock before turning back to psychedelia. It's dense with detail, but leisurely paced, creating its own dark, haunting world. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The Division Bell is Pink Floyd's fourteenth and final studio album and was originally released on March 28, 1994. It was recorded in 1993 in several locations, including the band's Britannia Row Studios and David Gilmour's houseboat, Astoria.

With pigs, dogs and sheep, Pink Floyd’s Animals is a nod towards George Orwell’s classic Animal Farm. Of course, both works are only about one species in the end: Homosapiens. Released in January 1977, the album puts society under the microscope and dissects the ugliness and brutality of human nature. The record came at a time of huge social unrest in England: class tensions were on the rise, unemployment was skyrocketing and racial divide had hit a high-water mark. Anger was in the air and it bled into every corner of Animals.Lyrically speaking, this record holds some of the most unyielding, sardonic and iconoclastic poetry that Waters has ever penned. On the 17-minute epic Dogs we are introduced to the predatory businessmen - the cut-throat corporate stooges who will flash you an easy smile and then stab you in the back. Amid dog barks and relentless guitar strums, David Gilmour unleashes some of the finest solos of his career. They’re bluesy, progressive and brilliantly harrowing. Next up is Pigs (Three Different Ones) which details the ruthless, totalitarian leaders who perpetuate injustice and oppression while maintaining a grip on power. Once again, the instrumentals are dark with dystopian synths, driving bass lines and menacing pig snorts played on a talk box. The lyrics describe three swinish leaders. One of the ‘pigs’ is the morality watchdog Mary Whitehouse while the “f***ed up old hag” who “radiates cold shards of broken glass” alludes to Margaret Thatcher (the leader of the opposition at the time and a target in other Pink Floyd songs). Down at the bottom of the pecking order are the meek, mindless and unquestioning herds of Sheep. Opening with an understated doodle from Richard Wright on the keys, Waters’ stretched-out vocals crossfade into synths, giving the song that warped, hallucinatory feel that the Floyd do so well. Sheep contains a revised version of Psalm 23, continuing the traditional “The Lord is my shepherd” with classic Pink Floyd cynicism: “he maketh me to hang on hooks in high places and converteth me to lamb cutlets”.The album is book-ended by two glimmers of hope in an otherwise bleak world, marking the band’s first love songs. Originally composed as a single track and later split in two, the message on Pigs On The Wing is clear: love thy neighbour, care for each other, because that’s what makes life worth living amid all the bulls**t. An album – and message - that’s just as relevant today as it was in the 70s. © Abi Church/Qobuz

After a protracted legal battle over the rights to the Pink Floyd name, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright released 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason despite Roger Waters' protests. Retaining collaborators from Floyd's past (like producer Bob Ezrin), this Gilmour-led version of the band crafted a number of songs that were as cerebral and introspective as anything Floyd had done in the past. The first single, "Learning to Fly," served as the unofficial anthem for this latest chapter of Pink Floyd. The Andy Mackay/Gilmour-penned "One Slip" uses the requisite bells and whistles along with Tony Levin's impressive stick solo to guarantee it a prominent place in the band's canon. "The Dogs of War" and "On the Turning Away" are perfect commentaries on the conservative mindset shaping the '80s at the time. The former is an ominous screed composed at a time when the Cold War was still a reality, and the latter is a swipe against the self-absorption of the Me Decade.© Rovi Staff /TiVo

Pink Floyd claim they had no intention of recording another live album when they began the Division Bell tour, but performing The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety convinced the group to release another double-live set, called Pulse. There's no question that the group is comprised of talented musicians, including the number of studio professionals that augmented the trio on tour. Whether they're inspired musicians is up to debate. A large part of Pink Floyd's live show is based on the always impressive visuals; on the Division Bell tour, they closed each show with an unprecedented laser extravaganza. In order for the visuals and the music to coincide, the group needed to play the sets as tightly as possible, with little improvisation. Consequently, an audio version of this concert, separated from the visuals, is disappointing. Pink Floyd play the greatest hits and the new songs professionally, yet the versions differ only slightly from the original recordings, making Pulse a tepid experience.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Four years separate this album from its predecessor The Wall which placed Pink Floyd at the height of its success. A well named Final Cut (a requiem for the post war dream), which will be the last disc with Roger Waters, solitary author of this concept-album which he interprets in its almost entirety — and the only one where keyboardist Richard Wright does not appear. Like a first solo opus? No doubt... His grandiloquence, put at the service of a frenzied anti-militarism (England and Argentina then clashed in the Falklands), is reminiscent of The Wall of which he reworked certain compositions that were discarded at the time. The result is an essay, lyrical at will.

What a surprise! After The Later Years: 1987-2019 compilation, here comes the rest of the huge box set dedicated to the band’s David Gilmour-era music, kick started by the departure of Roger Waters. The Later Years follows on from the retrospective which focuses on the early years (1967-1972) of the British band, released in 2016. Remastered by Gilmour and Andy Jackson, this exciting collection features the whole of A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), the band’s first studio album without Waters, as well as a double live disc of Delicate Sound of Thunder from 1988. Finally, the fourth volume reveals five live tracks, including three flamboyant performances from Pink Floyd’s first iteration: One of These Days from Meddle (1971) in Hanover in 1994, the psychedelic Astronomy Domine composed by Syd Barrett for The Piper at the Gate of Dawn (1967) and performed in Miami in the same year, as well as Run Like Hell from The Wall (1979) performed in Atlanta in 1987. Even more gems: seven unheard tracks from 1994, from the Division Bell era. Superb. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

While the end of the 80s signalled the end for a lot of great bands who had been around for the last ten or fifteen years, it meant rebirth for Pink Floyd. The group had already lived two lives – one with and one without Syd Barrett. When Roger Waters left in 1985 he tried as hard as he could to stop the band from using the same name for future projects. After a long legal battle, Gilmour, Mason and Wright won the right to carry on using Pink Floyd. A Momentary Lapse of Reason came out in 1987, the first post-Waters album. A phenomenal tour followed which gave us the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder the following year. The album was different from the group’s other records for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was Pink Floyds first real live album (yes, there was Ummagumma but that was made up of two discs - one studio, one live). Secondly, it was a hugely successful tour, largely thanks to their use of both audio and visuals – images had long played a crucial role in their music (the film Live at Pompeii released 16 years earlier is a good example of this). And finally, it was the first album to ever be played in space thanks to the Soviet astronauts who took it aboard the Soyuz TM-7 shuttle when travelling to the Mir space station. This completed remixed re-release takes the acclaimed live album into a new era. Having stood out before for its (almost too) perfect sound recording and mixing, Delicate Sound of Thunder can now be enjoyed in a remixed hi-fi version that makes you feel like you’re right there in the mobile studio doing the live recording. It’s a unique experience for the senses, even if it does slightly do away with their psychedelic touch. Pink Floyd now belonged to Gilmour and he chose to focus a large part of the concert on A Momentary Lapse of Reason before going for an all-too-short segue into their best hits, mostly coming from Dark Side of the Moon. Despite this decision (which might be a bit annoying for die-hard fans) there are enough classics from albums like Shine On You Crazy Diamond, One of These Days and Wish You Were Here to keep you satisfied. In 1988, media formats forced the band to remove some songs from their tracklist due to a lack of space. This remixed version restores the forgotten tracks to reveal a complete concert with the addition of 7 songs and guitar solos that were shortened in the first version. This gives added flavour to a performance that went down in history alongside their other live album Pulse which was released in 1995 and was met with resounding success. This record just goes to show that Pink Floyd’s concerts really were immersive experiences. © Chief Brody/Qobuz

Appearing after the sprawling, unfocused double-album set Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother may boast more focus, even a concept, yet that doesn't mean it's more accessible. If anything, this is the most impenetrable album Pink Floyd released while on Harvest, which also makes it one of the most interesting of the era. Still, it may be an acquired taste even for fans, especially since it kicks off with a side-long, 23-minute extended orchestral piece that may not seem to head anywhere, but is often intriguing, more in what it suggests than what it achieves. Then, on the second side, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Rick Wright have a song apiece, winding up with the group composition "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" wrapping it up. Of these, Waters begins developing the voice that made him the group's lead songwriter during their classic era with "If," while Wright has an appealingly mannered, very English psychedelic fantasia on "Summer 68," and Gilmour's "Fat Old Sun" meanders quietly before ending with a guitar workout that leaves no impression. "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast," the 12-minute opus that ends the album, does the same thing, floating for several minutes before ending on a drawn-out jam that finally gets the piece moving. So, there are interesting moments scattered throughout the record, and the work that initially seems so impenetrable winds up being Atom Heart Mother's strongest moment. That it lasts an entire side illustrates that Pink Floyd was getting better with the larger picture instead of the details, since the second side just winds up falling off the tracks, no matter how many good moments there are. This lack of focus means Atom Heart Mother will largely be for cultists, but its unevenness means there's also a lot to cherish here.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Obscured by Clouds is the soundtrack to the Barbet Schroeder film La Vallée, and it plays that way. Of course, it's possible to make the argument that Pink Floyd's music of the early '70s usually played as mood music, similar to film music, but it had structure and a progression. Here, the instrumentals float pleasantly, filled with interesting textures, yet they never seem to have much of a purpose. Often, they seem quite tied to their time, either in their spaciness or in the pastoral folkiness, two qualities that are better brought out on the full-fledged songs interspersed throughout the record. Typified by "Burning Bridges" and "Wot's...uh the Deal," these songs explore some of the same musical ground as those on Atom Heart Mother and Meddle, yet they are more concise and have a stronger structure. But the real noteworthy numbers are the surprisingly heavy blues-rocker "The Gold It's in The...," which, as good as it is, is trumped by the stately, ominous "Childhood's End" and the jaunty pop tune "Free Four," two songs whose obsessions with life, death, and the past clearly point toward Dark Side of the Moon. ("Childhood's End" also suggests Dark Side in its tone and arrangement.) As startlingly advanced as these last two songs are, they're not enough to push the rest of Obscured by Clouds past seeming just like a soundtrack, yet these tunes, blended with the sensibility of Meddle, suggest what Pink Floyd was about to develop into.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Released on 7th November, 1969, Pink Floyd’s fourth album Ummagumma is a disorienting head trip of an album: one part live recordings, the other a bizarre, psychedelic and rather cinematic collection of solo experiments. The first disc’s purely instrumental concerts stem from Birmingham’s Mothers Club and Manchester’s College of Commerce and were recorded earlier that year. The sound is raw and crude, offering a glimpse of Pink Floyd’s early days on stage. By the time Nick Wright’s ominous piano opens the curtain on the second disc, it’s clear the mood has changed from spaced-out jams to a kind of freaky folk opera. The band members’ rotating positions on the album cover (designed by their long-term collaborators Hipgnosis) give you a clue as to what’s in store: each artist had half an album side to compose their own work without any input from the others. The four-part Sysyphus by Nick Wright is intense and progressive, packed with an array of synths, organs and pianos. Roger Waters’ Grantchester Meadows and Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict contains bird songs and warped voice samples played both forwards and backwards at varying speeds, crafting a lyrical world that’s peaceful and unnerving in equal measure. When David Gilmour takes the reins for The Narrow Way we’re treated to a meandering stream of vocals, guitar strums and solos that flow neither this way nor that. For the album closer, The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party by Nick Mason starts off as an introductory flute piece (played by his wife) before galloping head-first into a looping frenzy of beats and distortions. Initially viewed as a success, the group look back on this record as “pretentious”. In an interview, Nick Mason commented “in hindsight, it rather proves that we were better when we worked together than when we worked as individuals. There are nice moments and odd good bits but as an album it’s pretty fragmented…”. It’s not an easy listen, but then it’s not trying to be. If it’s sheer psychedelia you’re after, look no further than Ummagumma. © Abi Church/Qobuz

A transitional album on which the band moved from Syd Barrett's relatively concise and vivid songs to spacy, ethereal material with lengthy instrumental passages. Barrett's influence is still felt (he actually did manage to contribute one track, the jovial "Jugband Blues"), and much of the material retains a gentle, fairy-tale ambience. "Remember a Day" and "See Saw" are highlights; on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," "Let There Be More Light," and the lengthy instrumental title track, the band begin to map out the dark and repetitive pulses that would characterize their next few records.© Richie Unterberger /TiVo

After returning to their Early Years (1965-1972), the Floyd turns their attention towards the Gilmour years, open after Roger Waters’ departure. The enormous 16-disc box set has been refined down to this digital version. However, The Later Years 1987-2019 is worth its weight in gold, as over the course of twelve tracks it selects the best of the best of studio and live recordings, remixed by David Gilmour and Andy Jackson, and they remain outstanding to this day. Included is the performance from Knebworth 1990, a charity concert which also featured Paul McCartney, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Dire Straits, Genesis, Eric Clapton and Tears For Fears, and which punctuated Pink Floyd’s tour of A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), the band’s first release without Waters and whose opening consists of the eleven minutes of Shine on You Crazy Diamond. Furthermore, One Slip from the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) has been improved by new recordings on the drums by Nick Mason and on the keyboard by Wright. From Division Bell (1994) there is an instrumental version of Marooned Jam, Lost for Words and a demo of High Hopes. A real must have. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

Originally released as part of the mammoth 2016 rarities clearinghouse The Early Years 1965-1972, 1972 Obfusc/Ation contains all the previously unreleased video from that year, along with a new mix of that year's Obscured by Clouds. The lack of unreleased music -- the compilation also contains a stereo mix of Live at Pompeii on CD -- makes this a comparatively underwhelming set in the Early Years box, but the video makes up for it. There's footage of the recording of Obscured by Clouds, a live performance from Brighton Dome in June, several French news reports, and a 5.1 remix of Live at Pompeii. Even if this doesn't carry the same revelations as the companion sets, it nevertheless has plenty of treasures within its box.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

A double-disc distillation of the massive box The Early Years 1965-1972, The Early Years 1967-1972 condenses that 28-disc set into a 27-track compilation. Naturally, most of the real rarities remain exiled to the big box, but that's fair: only the diehards will recognize the importance of Floyd's collaboration with artist John Latham. Instead, The Early Years 1967-1972 tells the same tale as The Early Years 1967-1972 but in an easily digestible form. The double-disc relies relatively heavily on familiar songs -- it opens with "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play," perhaps the two best-known Syd Barrett songs, and finds space for "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" and "Free Four" -- but what distinguishes 1967-1972 is that it's the first early Floyd compilation to trace their journey from Barrett's warped psychedelia to the majestic art rock of the early '70s. Some essential songs are missing -- this doesn't sample the albums, after all, so songs as varied as "Astronomy Domine," "Let There Be More Light," and "One of These Days" are all absent -- but the repetition of "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" and "Embryo" illustrates how the band rapidly gained confidence and ambition, which is essentially the story of this compilation and its parent set. Certainly, the details of the box are missed, but on its own terms, The Early Years 1967-1972 is absorbing: it illustrates how Pink Floyd became Pink Floyd.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo