The Dark Side of the Moon was a benchmark record. It turned the musical world on its ear with a hitherto unheard combination of sounds, and changed things considerably for Pink Floyd. For this project, the band resurrected older and unfinished numbers, some of which came from the multitude of soundtracks the bandmembers had previously worked on. The film Zabriskie Point, a study of American materialism from a foreigner's perspective, provided "Us and Them" (originally titled "The Violence Sequence"). Waters rewrote "Breathe" after its appearance on his and avant-garde composer Ron Geesin's score for The Body, a surreal medical documentary. Floyd and their longtime engineer, Alan Parsons, used a multitude of sound effects, from stereophonically projected footsteps and planes flying overhead ("On the Run") to a roomful of ringing clocks ("Time"). Further adding to the record's mystique, barely audible spoken passages were sprinkled throughout; a result of hours of interviews of random Abbey Road occupants about their views on insanity, violence, and death. Floyd must have struck a nerve: The Dark Side of the Moon remained on Billboard's albums chart for an astounding 14 years. It made Pink Floyd a household name, elevating them to the level of the Rolling Stones and the Who in the rock pantheon.© TiVo

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

It took years (four in total) for this remix of Animals by James Guthrie, the faithful Floyd producer, to see the light of day. Of course, the never-ending feud between Roger Waters and David Gilmour was the reason why its release took so long. So, was this album worth the wait? While there are no huge surprises in store, there’s undeniably been a focus on clarifying specific sounds, enhancing certain key instruments and enriching some of the effects that contribute to the artistic vision of this masterpiece (which was mainly conceived by Waters, with the exception of ‘Dogs’ which was co-written with Gilmour). These changes are particularly noticeable across the 11-minute-long ‘Pigs (Three Different Ones)’ where Gilmour's bass line is rendered more clearly, Waters' vocals seem cleaner and the pig noises produced by Roger Waters' Talkbox Heil (Gilmour's idea) are accentuated. Rick Wright's keyboard twinkles like never before (and has a jazzier vibe on the intro to ‘Sheep’), whilst Water’s vocals make good use of various effects. As for the masterpiece ‘Dogs’, its folky intro is even more syncopated, the squeal of the Hammond organ is highlighted, and David Gilmour's Telecaster solo becomes more colourful from the fifth minute. There’s more than enough here for this new release to be considered a good remix of Animals. Originally released in 1977, it was inspired by George Orwell's dystopian Animal Farm, bluntly denouncing capitalism. It undoubtedly remains one of Pink Floyd’s darkest and most well-executed concept albums. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

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

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

Several decades have demonstrated that Pink Floyd have an uncanny ability to deliver incredible remastered live albums. This talent of theirs is owed in no small part to the way they recorded and archived their numerous live performances on tape; their forward thinking has paid off with a stunning live discography who’s production parallels their studio albums. So, what better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon than to release a live album to accompany the remastered studio version of this timeless classic?Available as part of a deluxe box set or as a standalone standard version, the 2023 Master version of Live at Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974 is an opportunity to experience these songs in a whole new way. All the songs from the "official" album are revisited in the same order, boasting an incredible sound that sometimes gives the impression that you’re listening to them being played in studio. In fact, the rendering and execution are so close to perfection that the album sometimes risks losing that authentic, live vibe.However, this is also what makes the English band’s shows so mesmerising: their ability to play with frequencies, spatialisation and final rendering. They flirt with sonic perfection on Breathe, Time and Money, down to the sound of the cash register and the saxophone solo. Live at Wembley Empire Pool was recorded across two evenings (15th and 16th of November, 1974). It included other songs that don’t feature in this edition, such as a first version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and one of the biggest hits from their 1975 album, Wish You were Here. Although these other songs have been featured on previously released limited editions and box sets, this new release focuses on tracks from The Dark Side of the Moon. One thing’s for sure: Pink Floyd know how to manage their legacy. © Chief Brody/Qobuz

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.

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.

The title of Pink Floyd's debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barrett's favorite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD. Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences -- "Astronomy Domine" is a poppier number in this vein, but tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" are some of the earliest forays into what has been tagged space rock. But even though Barrett's lyrics and melodies are mostly playful and humorous, the band's music doesn't always bear out those sentiments -- in addition to Rick Wright's eerie organ work, dissonance, chromaticism, weird noises, and vocal sound effects are all employed at various instances, giving the impression of chaos and confusion lurking beneath the bright surface. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation -- the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barrett's subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time.© Steve Huey /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

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

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

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

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