Students Roger Waters and Nick Mason were at the beginning of the British pop explosion when they met in 1963 at the London Polytechnic and enlisted Richard Wright into their Sigma 6 combo. As time goes by, it’s clear that they were both ahead of their time and utterly unimpressed by fad or fashion. Given Pink Floyd’s status, it’s easy to see how their legacy left a mark on David Bowie (an avowed Barrett acolyte), T.Rex, Roxy Music, Queen, Kraftwerk, Radiohead and The Orb – pertinent reminders that this remarkable ensemble has inspired everyone from glamorous pop types to the latter-day dance crowd. When they called it a day in 2014, having sold over 250 million albums worldwide, Pink Floyd went out on a high thanks to The Endless River, which hit No.1 in the UK, and followed that with the rapturously received box set, The Early Years 1965-1972, a 27-disc extravaganza that captured the as The Tea Set in 1964 and corralled significant stylistic changes, BBC Radio Sessions and memorable progressive calling cards such as ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’ and ‘Set the Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’, pieces that helped define ambient rock. But there is so much to admire from before during and after those landmarks, whether it’s Syd Barrett’s wildly inventive early work for the group, or the early 70s masterpieces Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother and Meddle – albums that gave the talents of David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright full spatial leverage. Pink Floyd’s reputation as one of the most important groups of all time is carved in stone thanks to those monoliths The Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall, two of the best-selling albums of all time. They started out as an R&B group, mutated into classic psychedelic-era pop and then pioneered the British strand of progressive art rock – and pretty much-mastered everything they attempted.
0 kommentar(er)
