The items listed on this page are specific qualities
of the music of Pink Floyd that become very recognizable, after a time,
to the dedicated listener. I will guarantee you, as of this moment,
that if you read only this page of the website, and later hear a piece
of music that contains all these qualities, it's a piece of Pink Floyd
music (or an extremely clever imitation). There are links throughout
this website with the symbol {CPFS}
beside them, showing examples from the albums of these characteristics. AMBIENT SOUND ~ It is one of the
basic principles of Pink Floyd, that every sound has a musical quality,
and their mission was to find ways to incorporate those sounds into their
recordings in such a way that the audience could feel the rhythm, tempo,
and tone of the sound. Ambients help set a very special mood for
each song or album. It is a technique that leads to some pretty interesting
and original recordings, and one which no other group has attempted half
so well. (Even though the effects of their experimentation are heard
everywhere.)
There are actually two definable types of ambients.
The first is when the band records "everyday" sounds (people's voices,
a bell, machinery, a heartbeat, or money clinking) and incorporates it
directly into a song's melody or rhythm. The second is when an instrument
or voice is altered or even synthesized to the point where it becomes something
very different than we usually hear.
I find it admirable that a group was so adept at
hearing the musical quality in what many of us would consider to be noises
or insignificant everyday sounds. It seems that many of us take our
hearing for granted, and become annoyed at or ignorant of the interesting
variety of sounds we are exposed to each day, which these guys turned into
music.
CONCEPTUALIZATION ~ Even early
in their career, Pink Floyd tried to put an idea behind every song.
As time went on, the ideas got bigger and bigger, becoming too great for
one song to deal with effectively. The final step was to create an
entire album that used each song as a way of advancing the overall concept.
In many cases, the songs became indistinguishable from one another, which
helped to enhance the feeling that you were following a path from beginning
to end (or maybe even to the beginning again).
Some would argue that every song has a concept,
since the lyrics usually tell a story or attempt to communicate a feeling.
I would contend that, to be truly conceptual, the artist must use both
words and music to promote a certain thought or feeling process in the
listener. In the case of Pink Floyd, they not only do that, they
also incorporate ambient sounds that will help advance
the concept. The result is a level of music that most modern musicians
cannot attain.
DARK SIDE OF
THE MOON, WISH YOU WERE HERE, ANIMALS,
and THE WALL are pure concept
albums, the ultimate evidence of which is the movie that was eventually
made of THE WALL. Echoes
and Atom Heart Mother are conceptual
pieces in what may or may not be concept albums. Even SAUCERFUL
OF SECRETS may be a conceptual album, which shows that the band
was working hard at this method for many years.
DREAMSCAPES ~ Nearly every Pink
Floyd piece of any appreciable length has an "interlude" during which the
melody and harmony disappear, and the time signature becomes irrelevant.
Though chord patterns are almost always still somewhat evident, the effect
becomes that the listener is transported to a place where the usual rules
of composition do not apply. Sometimes these dreamscapes attempt
to create a very particular mood or image in the mind, while at other times
they seem to exist only to deprive the listener of a foothold on the slippery
landscape of the music. Just when one has become thoroughly disoriented,
the band will return to a familiar theme, usually in a way that one would
not have imagined possible, yet which is totally satisfying and logical.
EXPERIMENTATION ~ The band is
very fond of trying new things, and you will hear the results in their
recordings. Sometimes these experiments make a single appearance
(like the sitar), and others will occur again and again. The boys
were never afraid to attempt something new, and frequently spent stage
time in their early days getting audience reaction to their experiments.
One cannot likely imagine the music stars of today doing so, but Pink Floyd
often spent hours after their performances discussing the techniques they
had tried with any fans, musicians, or technicians who would hang around.
FADE-IN AND FADE-OUT ~ Almost every
Pink Floyd album begins with a song that takes at least 30 seconds to "sneak
up" on you. Most albums start with a nearly inaudible sound that
builds slowly, forcing the listener to focus on a specific musical point.
DARK
SIDE OF THE MOON is the archetypal example, since the album
itself begins and ends with the same sound, a heartbeat, exemplifying not
only this technique, but the Loop technique
as well. Often, pieces end in the same way, slowly moving off into
oblivion, leaving you to wonder where they might go later. Probably
the most-used sound is the "wind storm" effect, which begins One of
These Days, among others.
LOOPS ~ Pink Floyd simply loves
the Circle. (As architects, their buildings would have, no doubt,
included many of them.) In nearly every album (and sometimes the
entire album itself) will be a loop in which a certain musical idea is
introduced, disappears for awhile, then returns just in time to conclude
the piece in a very logical way. Sometimes several pieces, or even
an entire album (i.e. DARK SIDE OF
THE MOON, THE WALL)
are linked together by melodic or ambientsegues, and return to a musical theme
we thought had gotten lost. It provides a very satisfying sense of
completeness, and a feeling that, even if we do not, the band knew
all along just where they were going.
LYRICISM ~ Like most really exceptional
bands, the lyrics to Pink Floyd songs are designed to be philosophical
and literate, rather than rhyming in a simple "Roses are red..." pattern.
But, for Pink Floyd, this term applies as well to their musical quality,
which has a flow and poetry all its own. Many rock bands are content
to simply plow along from chord to chord, following a time-honored formula
(like ABABCAB) for 3-and-one/half minutes,
but not these guys.
Webster's 2nd definition suits our purpose best,
"expressing direct, usually intense, personal emotion". Though the
word "lyric" refers specifically to the words of the songs, it also relates
to a style that Pink Floyd exemplifies. Regardless of the specific
words, when the singer expresses them in an intense, emotional way, there
is a different flow than most popular music creates. When the instrumentalists
play using direct personal emotion, there is a very compelling flow to
the piece. Often times, I am unwilling to let a Pink Floyd piece
end in my head, so I just keep the music going. It is a characteristic
of lyrical music that most pieces do not come to a traditional, big-chord
ending, but just sort of fade off into the distance.
NUANCE & SUBTLETY ~ As my friend
Dan Ondrusek has noted, "It is simply amazing how David Gilmour can make
every tiny bend, slide, pick, and strum of his guitar mean something."
This is a quality that the discerning listener will find throughout the
Pink Floyd collection. No other band can make the simple twist of
a balance dial, blend of two sounds, or tea towel on a cymbal have so much
meaning in the context of a song. I'll admit that it sometimes becomes
a bit tedious trying to hang in with a band that is so subtle, but the
effort is always worth it. This is what I refer to as being an "active
listener" - becoming an active participant in hearing why a band chose
to construct their music in a very particular way. I'll be the first
to admit that most of today's music does not require such attention, but
that does not mean that we should give up on the idea.
REPETITIVENESS ~ Another quality
that we would likely find tedious in any other band is Pink Floyd's tendency
to repeat an interesting musical phrase several times. On the surface,
the idea of reiterating a bar of music 24 (Eclipse) or 11 (Dogs)
consecutive times seems like something that is only done at the end of
a song, while we fade out. Pink Floyd, however, uses this technique
to drive home an idea that they feel is vital to fully understanding their
message. They also repeat verse phrases at times, but true to their
subtle nature, they may change one word slightly, so as to completely alter
the meaning. Often, they just repeat one word in an unusual place,
and only the active listener will really appreciate its full meaning.
[See how many times the word "stone" pops up in various Pink Floyd pieces
20 years apart, yet with a definite connection to a continuing idea.
Awesome.]
SLIDE GUITAR~ Dave Gilmour
is the master of an instrument that few people fully appreciate.
With its roots in the Blues, the slide guitar is intended to have a more
voice-like sound than we usually hear from electric instruments.
The player uses a metal or glass tube or bar to slide along the strings,
creating a wide variety of subtle tone variations that is impossible with
"normal" guitar playing. It owes some of its style and tone to the
flat top steel guitars favored by Southern bands. Gilmour has a very
distinctive style, that is lyrical and melodic, and rings out clearly in
a very powerful way.
There are a wide variety of slide guitar styles,
and you may be familiar with names like Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, and
Duane Allman, though most of the great slide guitarists are little-known
Blues players whose recordings are rare. If you are interested in
learning more about slide guitars (or the Blues), go to Brian Robertson's
fabulous site at Big
Road Blues - he even offers lessons!
