Topic: Favorite Pink Floyd Era?
I got in a discussion with someone last evening, who felt that Pink Floyd never really matured until "Dark Side of the Moon", and the everything after Roger Waters left was rubbish. Aside of his discounting almost 3/4's of their entire repertoire, I vehemently disagreed. And then he really blew it, by citing commercial success as the main measuring stick. Some of the best music in history was written for much bigger reasons than just to make a buck ... grrrrr.
1) The early "Piper at the Gates of Dawn > More" years were foundational to their identity in pushing creative boundaries.
2) The "Umma Gumma > Obscured by Clouds" years built on this creativity, with theme-based compositions that are still land-mark favorites whenever played at concerts.
3) The "Dark Side of the Moon > The Wall" years were their best known and most commercially successful, but surely there's more to good music than this one criteria alone.
4) The "Final Cut > Division Bell" years, although made without Roger Waters, are (IMHO) just as good musically as anything done previously. And I offer this one track as evidence:
"On The Turning Away" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZLuDvN7W0c
So now I'm interested to hear what Chordian / Pink Floyd fans think? We likely won't all agree, but that's not really the issue, is it?