Pink Floyd are one of the most innovative, enduringly successful bands in history. Their influence is incalculable. 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon, though far from the first concept album, established a new model for quasi-symphonic, long-form investigations into the human condition: a record of thoughtfully poignant lyrics and some of the most elegant, powerful, genre-defining rock music ever made. Formed in 1967 Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason, helmed by the tragically brilliant Syd Barrett, fused English pastoral whimsy with electrifying instrumental voyages through inner and outer space. Their gigs at underground clubs, such as UFO and Middle Earth, are the stuff of psychedelic legend. Between 1968 and 1971, Barrett replaced by David Gilmour, their sonic inquiries were never braver: some delivered instantly; others revealed their treasures slowly; all played crucially distinctive parts in rock’s development. During the 1970s, the music matured as the messages darkened. While Floyd continued to prove that emotional weight and cathartic release can be forged from deceptively modest arrangements, the band’s live spectaculars reached a pitch of technical complexity and extravagance none has matched. With insightful analysis, objectivity and ironic wit, Richard Butterworth appraises afresh Pink Floyd’s official recorded canon, from ‘Arnold Layne’ to The Endless River. AUTHOR: Richard Butterworth’s grown-up career began in advertising, first as a paste-up artist, later as a graphic designer. Settling on copywriting, for years he reaped the pleasures, pains and penury of freelancing. As a lifelong believer in the healing and redemptive power of music, however, he knew that humankind’s highest art-form would eventually saddle up and ride him into the sunset. Today Richard lives in Cornwall, UK with his partner Sue, two golden retrievers, a tenor saxophone and a justifiably ancient laptop computer, on which he still writes about the music he loved before he was a grown-up.
