Floyd 67-74 etc - a word in Waters' defence

[John Rennie]

I don't know Roger Waters personally, but I suspect most who've seen the various interviews he's given would agree that he takes himself awfully seriously (a charge than can never be levelled at the Hawks :-). And if you don't like preaching in music his later albums can get tedious.

But as a lyricist he shows moments of genius. My own favourite is the track Wish You Were Here. I find the lyrics almost painfully beautiful, even now 40 (!!!) years after I first heard them.

JR

-----Original Message-----
From: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List [mailto:BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET] On Behalf Of Jason C. Hillenburg
Sent: 03 February 2015 05:25
To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
Subject: Re: Floyd 67-74 Japanese and bootleg collecting

Waters wrote like a man alienated from everything. When I was fifteen, sixteen, such blanket disdain for the world carries a certain cachet. By the time I had turned 30, it sounded histrionic and affected. I can't explain the change that occurred in me any further except to say that many favorites from my youth have stayed with me. I just didn't connect much with the Waters-era albums after a time. I doubt my love for Obscured By Clouds diminishes much though and, perhaps not so coincidentally, it isn't a Waters dominated affair. 

----- Original Message -----

From: "John McIntyre" <mcintyre at PA.MSU.EDU> 
To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET 
Sent: Monday, February 2, 2015 11:34:29 AM 
Subject: Re: Floyd 67-74 Japanese and bootleg collecting 

On 1/31/2015 7:16 PM, Jason C. Hillenburg wrote: 
> Floyd, for me, was a band for my teenage years. I wore the black print off my cassette copy of The Wall as a teen, but you can't get me to listen to it now. Too self-indulgent and marred with self-pity. There's a handful of tracks from other albums that merit my time. The Final Cut is admirable for its absolute refusal to give the listener comfort or entertainment. Obscured By Clouds, however, is a real gem. 

Thank you for that insight. 

I did not have the option of Pink Floyd being a band for my teenage years. 

Err, come on.  It's not like anyone has an option as to which bands are 
for their teenage years. 

But I had not thought about it before your posting. 

You made me think. 

As uncomfortable as that is, I still thank you. (-8 

Err, "a band for my teenage years"? 

What happened?  Did you grow up? 

As I was typing this I was giving a first listening to a Linda Ronstadt 
footie that I picked up at the most recent Lansing record show.  I did 
not realize when I grabbed it that it was from the point in her career 
when she was channeling Frank Sinatra.  Err, yeah, she grew up.  Damn 
shame about that.  Thank heavens she recovered. 

Time to go listen to "Ummagumma" again. 

John McIntyre 
mcintyre at pa.msu.edu