Pink Floyd, despite being identified with the prog-rock movement due to their cerebral and sophisticated compositions, have always distinguished themselves from their cape-clad competitors. Unlike many of their notable peers in the genre, they were remarkably grounded, with David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and the rest of the band open about their artistic limitations.
Most people remember Pink Floyd for two chapters. The first was their early stage, when they came out of London’s UFO Club with a distinct and adventurous take on the psychedelic rock zeitgeist. During this brief but immensely influential period, led by their original leader Syd Barrett, their spacey, dynamic compositions had lyrics that were far more daring than those of Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. This interaction resulted in a two-pronged auditory onslaught that mirrors the counterculture’s LSD-induced lunacy.
The second and most crucial phase of Pink Floyd’s career began with 1971’s landmark Meddle, the album on which they discovered the sound that would propel them to global prominence, and concluded with 1979’s The Wall. During this time, they perfected the concept album and elevated their music to new and polished heights, as evidenced by their masterpiece, The Dark Side of the Moon. In addition to their significant composing choices, band leader Waters would take a far different approach than Barrett and write songs about real-life issues such as mental health challenges, aging, and consumerism.
Many people forget that between these two watershed moments, Pink Floyd spent a large amount of time perfecting their sound and establishing a new artistic direction following Barrett’s departure in 1968. This period of experimentation was marked by more failures than successes, as the band learnt about themselves and their limitations. Gilmour, ever the pragmatic, openly criticized the band’s two albums before Meddle: Ummagumma in 1969 and Atom Heart Mother the following year.
Gilmour is particularly critical of Atom Heart Mother, citing it as the group’s lowest creative ebb and, perhaps shockingly considering his cerebral inclination, utter “shit”. However, he and his longstanding opponent Waters have both been harshly critical of Ummagumma. Given Barrett’s previous experiences, the record has no positive memories, and they were under increasing label pressure to create a follow-up to their failed third album, More. People were wondering if Pink Floyd could continue without their former frontman at the moment, and the album’s release reinforced this widely held notion. Both Gilmour and Waters agree that it was a disaster.
When speaking with Guitar Heroes in 1983, Gilmour reflected on his first significant piece for Pink Floyd, ‘The Narrow Way’ from Ummagumma. While fans may not have loved it, the three-part suite demonstrated the songwriter’s true grit, since he performed it fully alone. Unsurprisingly, the uber-realistic guitarist is unimpressed with the music, citing “just desperation” as its primary motivator.
Gilmour stated, “We decided to make the damn album, and each of us to do a piece of music on our own…”It was just desperation, trying to come up with something to do and write by myself. I’d never written anything before, so I walked into a studio and started waffling around, stapling bits and pieces together. I haven’t heard it for years. “I have no idea what it is like.”
Though Gilmour was critical of ‘The Narrow Way’, his stance as a strict taskmaster aided the band in addressing their mistakes and refining their sound. Despite their dislike for Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother, both albums were significant milestones in their development. Each contributed considerably to their development and left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.
