New episode is dedicated to Pink Floyd, one of the timeless myths of psychedelic rock and everything. To deepen their long career, I asked again Giancarlo Nanni, music critic, a great expert in rock of the sixties and seventies, writer and author, in particular, of the book “English Progressive Rock”.

1. Difficult groped a first approach to the career of a group as “giant” like Pink Floyd … Banally try starting from the beginning with “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”. An original and extraordinarily hard open doors as you type. Unlike a critical current much in vogue today as it considers the Beatles “derivative” with respect to virtually everyone, including Pink Floyd, that you instead support the matrix-inspired folk and classical appearance of psychedelic music, as well as the propensity to Research on recording techniques outlined in “The Piper”, have a debt to be paid in respect of four of Liverpool “(which in those days off the production of” Sgt Pepper’s “own to Abbey Road, in a study adjacent to the of Floyd). Who, then, took over whom? 
If it is difficult for you, I figured that I must respond … So, to shuffle the cards, starting from ancient history. The history of music, indeed, that of the organized-disorganized noise, is a continuous flux. Any composer or musician of any age has any debt to be paid by someone. This does not mean that this is a reductive aspect of his art, is just the normal things. Remaining in the modern, it is extremely difficult to establish precisely “who has taken over those.”
For example, when dealing with rock music in the second half of the sixties and early seventies, we can not forget that when there was a thriving creative undergrowth that gave hundreds of musical training, musicians and composers, this myriad of artists more or less unknown has produced little or no impact upon the quantity of emissions and the success record of the sale, but at times was able to create music of great interest and able to anticipate “tendencies” or even “experience” that can have influenced training, musicians and composers better reflected commercial.
The history of rock, which also has its own reason to exist, too often forgotten in this undergrowth, such micro expressions, preferring basking on micro expressions, namely the training of musicians and commercial feedback. To make it short and just for example, there is no doubt that the Beatles were one of the biggest rock formations of the sixties, as it is equally no doubt that beat in time there were dozens of other formations that have music and may have offered ideas to the Beatles themselves. This phenomenon becomes even more evident in the second half of the sixties when, as part of an ongoing cultural exchange between America and England, the ideas pass the ocean in every direction.
After the English music of the fifties and early sixties is nourished by the rock’n'roll of America and of the electric blues of Chicago, there was a British Invasion. These are the groups of British success (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yard birds, Animals, Them …) to export to America with new approaches and synthesis sound. Shortly after, the West Coast and the first experiments in acid music, arrived in England the first psychedelic seeds that will contribute to shaping the sound of British rock in the years to the following Returning specific question, I think it is a proper glimpse of the initial interest Pink Floyd towards the sound of the Beatles.
The four Liverpool back in 1966 with the album “Revolver”, had addressed the psychedelic so innovative, especially in the song “Tomorrow Never Knows”, also dedicated to a thorough research about the recording techniques, do not forget that the choice of the Beatles was extreme: to devote himself to recording studio and give goodbye to live performances. Many of the compositions of Syd Barrett for the first album of Pink Floyd, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, affected the structure of harmonic beatlesiana. Barrett and his companions were however able to go over to an aesthetics of music of the Beatles.
The sound takes elements visionaries at times disconcerting, and in some cases, a “space” to which the Beatles are still strangers. The comparison between two great albums, absolutely contemporary, such as the 1967 “Sgt Pepper” and “Piper” shows how much more courageous and bold solutions adopted by Pink Floyd than the Beatles. The Sgt Pepper “is a kind of summa of the Beatles” middle “, in perfect balance formal, the Piper is” looking toward the sky. ” Open gashes devastating to new horizons. This does not mean that Pink Floyd have not drawn from the Beatles. It is of course possible that Pink Floyd (and many other artists) have also influenced the Beatles themselves, in their final creative.

2nd Write also that the approach of Pink Floyd is “far from what is proposed in the same period by other groups.” What is, musically, the ‘eccentricity’ of a disc as “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”? And what differentiates the psychedelic of Barrett and his companions from that of the master over the ocean, as Jefferson Airplane, Red Crayola, Velvet Underground and “ancestors” 13th Floor Elevators?
I believe that the answer to the first question can be recovered in the vortex of ulcers “Interstellar Overdrive”, in the cosmic flight of “Astronomy Domine”, accustomed to the litany of “Matilda Mother”, in the treatment of neurotic innovative guitar Barrett (remember “Take Up The Stethoscope And Walk “) and generally in the stubborn, but mostly clear, the work of arrangement of the” noise “in the compositions (see also the crazy collage of” Bike “). The songs, though with indisputable attractions harmonic and melodic, flooding from its primitive form to be “sound”. These same considerations arise on a radically different the psychedelic floydian than American musicians. The experiences, which, apart from the necessary aesthetic and stylistic peculiarities, are closest to the philosophy of Pink Floyd are those which refer to a strong expansion of the area of music (the first Grateful Dead, some things of Mad River and Ultimate Spinach), possibly combining this research to test (for serial Velvet Underground, electronics for the United States Of America).

3rd After “The Piper”, comes out (or is released) scene Barrett. What was the crazy genius of the composer / guitarist for the sound of the group? And what changes to “A Saucerful Of Secrets” (1968), with the arrival of David Gilmour? You have spoken, for example, greater “weight instrumental” references – I suppose – in songs like the title track and “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” …
I am not among those who claim that Barrett era Pink Floyd. Hence, the importance of Barrett for the group was enormous: Syd was the principal animator of babies Pink Floyd, it was the guitar player, leader and frontman essential. Above all, Barrett was essentially the only composer of Pink Floyd until 1967. Difficult to think that the training would have been able to emerge so authoritative in crowded of the psychedelic scene in London without the presence of Syd Barrett. The Pink Floyd, however, were not only Syd Barrett and the evidence comes from the passage that leads tormented Waters, Mason and Wright (and the entire entourage) to decide the replacement of the former leader, no longer able to hold the stage and stress of the music business.
I do not know if Barrett’s departure has been coldly calculated or not (the assumptions are different), nor do I make an assessment about the ephemeral attempt to make training available to five, with Gilmour already employed. The change of style in the second album “A Saucerful Of Secrets” is obvious, and make it even more clear is the presence of a signature song Syd Barrett published in a disc of Pink Floyd (anthologies, except, of course …) . “Jugband Blues”, a true epitaph for floyd Syd, contrasts stylistically so great with the rest of the material included in the album. Waters becomes the new principal but not exclusive, flagship of the band creatively and dramatically reveals the instrumental talents of individual musicians, not virtuoso skills, but extremely functional as part of musical expression that favors the “spatiality” and ” expansion “already emerged in some of the tracks work so previous year. Nascono songs like the exhausting and fascinating” Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun “, a track potentially infinite, and the mini-suite in four parts of the title track. Especially the latter is found in the new weight “instrumental” in training, in a composition that, rightly or wrongly, has been called experimental and avant-garde. In this regard, I recall an old article in which the author “accused” the Pink Floyd of low propensity to experimental forms, citing the fact that the song “A Saucerful Of Secrets” was set too “comfortable” with the most complicated and “avant-garde” at the beginning and end with a more easily available. Personally, I think the most important piece in the style of Floyd.

4th At this point, the critical “hard and pure” are beginning to cry betrayal, accusing the Pink Floyd that he had been blunted the bitterness of the early psychedelic anarchist to turn towards a less avant-garde music and more “consumer”. Yet in 1969 a double album leaves no doubt ambitious as “Ummagumma” … What’s your opinion on this?
Look, over thirty years of listening was not enough to make me fully understand the meaning of “avant-garde music” and “music consumption.” Perhaps because they are concepts that are outside the scope of listening music. I find it extremely difficult to define a concept of “avant-garde music”: avant-garde in relation to what and what and to whom? With respect, then, the meaning of “music consumption” or perhaps “music business”, it would be necessary to enter into a discourse of economic policy in this music that I avoid facing seat, even if it is a topic that I feel very interesting.
As for “Ummagumma,” I believe that this double Ellepi is an important point of arrival in the first part of the career of Pink Floyd. The album recorded live, with four long and meaningful compositions, he gives us a very much in shape, able to perform with ease and determination scores rather complicated. The live disc shows the cohesion of the group, while that recorded in the studio almost gives solo space to the ideas of four musicians, the results of well respected. One of the criticisms made against the disk of the study was that of a fragmentation of purpose, almost the impression of a training torn by internal conflicts. I am not convinced of that argument.
Indeed, I believe that the four sections of hard study, although aesthetically different, keep some basic common elements, first of all, in my view, a “classic contemporary” to matter, ambiguous concept in itself but symptomatic of ‘moderate sections alternating with more complex and do something.

5th We must now question that concerns the person who took the reins of the group, Roger Waters: genius too progressive or “scrap” the seed of the avant-garde band? What was, in any case, his “mission” within the project Pink Floyd?
We wanted someone to write songs, instead of Syd Barrett. He was mainly but not exclusively, Roger Waters. I like to consider the Pink Floyd “a group”, within which surely have occurred over time contrasts also important to maintain or gain leadership. The famous question Waters-Gilmour, appurtenance quarrel with the start mark. But, I admit, I do not feel like much to talk about Waters or as a genius beyond the parties, or as “scrap” the integrity of the sound of Pink Floyd. I think rather than, like many other long and successful business, the Pink Floyd have made their own, unavoidable, creative dish that provides high, low and intermediate results, with many settling in style during the works.

6. Through the triptych “Atom Heart Mother” – “Meddle” – “Obscured By Clouds”, so we come to the disc’s most famous, and controversial sales of Pink Floyd, “The Dark Side Of The Moon.” I read the funny story of your approach with this disc and the instinctive reaction that caused you ( “it was then, when I heard the sounds, round and polished, so perfect and smooth and so far from Barrett Piper, Saucerful from – not to mention Ummagumma – and even pastoral suite cow a few years before, yes, it was at that moment that I decided that the disk would have never bought “…). But write that “the mellifluous Lagna and sweetened, over the years,” you sticks him without understanding the how and why, and quite similar all indecipherable monster informe de ‘La Cosa’ by John Carpenter … In short, you came to a conclusion?
Thanks for the attribute “fun” is true, to write the story I used a stretch soavemente ironic, but only to mediate the sincere concern that the audience, and the concept of this record has generated in me. And ‘the greatest indictment against the world of consumer capitalism, or is simply a product of capitalism, consumerism, or is the biggest indictment against the consumerist capitalism disguised as a product of capitalism, consumerism, or is a product of the consumerist capitalism disguised as a great indictment against consumerist capitalism? There by my conclusion about “The Dark Side Of The Moon.”
On the aesthetics of music, in comparison with all other discs of Pink Floyd, is a work so perfect, so precise, so smooth and devoid of harshness, yet so rich in tones and moods and different brands, a record that looks like a wonderful spot advertising along two sides to 33 rpm, an absolute masterpiece of engineering that sound at times almost seems to possess a soul enchanting … In short, by my twisted sense of upheaval devoid understand very well that for me remains a big boh! About the triptych you mentioned, this is valuable work, with “Obscured By Clouds” un po ‘defiladed because of his soundtrack, and more fragmented project. Just out of curiosity, of this triptych, my favorite composition is “Echoes”.

7th Of course, the sound of Pink Floyd will never be the same: production certosina futuristic and increasingly takes over the first on bitterness work. “Wish You Were Here” marks a further step in this direction. But the suite of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” still knows how to hit the listener to the heart. Moreover, a disk as “Animals” contains the seeds of so much new wave to come … How do you rate this term “intermediate” of Pink Floyd, riding the wave of “Dark Side” and precedes the epic of “The Wall”?
Here, well, we jumped at the foot equal “The Dark” and talk about the later and more humane “Wish You Were Here”. A disc that I like, sometimes a lot. I agree about your assessment about “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, a song that perpetuates the tradition of expansion sound floydian. Obviously, he does on a less adventurous than the first work of the group, but the music is actually still able to infuse emotions. But do not call as a step in the direction of “The Dark”, which in my opinion, is an isolated black hole in space rock music, but rather, with the inevitable adjustment due to the passage of time, “Wish You Were Here” is reconnects when the speech was abruptly interrupted, ie by the parties to the wonderful suite of “Echoes”.
“Animals” is a work worthy of interest, which I find very dry and moderate in style, I would say almost located on the opposite pole of “The Dark”; interesting your assessment on signs of the so-called new wave.

8th “The Wall” is the celebration of the nightmares of Waters, its paranoia, its disposals. A disc that will mark the imagination of a generation of boys. What was your impact with this disc, which still continues to divide the critics? And, in general, what is your opinion on the lyrics “apocalyptic” in Waters?
Waters of the lyrics are interesting and show the inner torment of a man in perpetual balance between business and radical Socialist (something that reminds me once again “The Dark”). “The Wall” is not one of my favorite works in the production of Pink Floyd. My personal opinion is that the material contained in it is of lower quality on average compared to the disk just immediately before. In “The Wall” is completed through a long period of stylistic transition that led from the original Pink Floyd psychedelic, through various formulations that have affected the experimental plots, contemporary-classical, symphonic, progressive and even accents with country-folk, up to a formulation typically rock, modern, admittedly paranoid, but not too adventurous in terms of music.

9th At the end of the season really gold Pink Floyd? And you can really accuse us of having “trivialization” with their latest disc, the music psychedelic?
Pink Floyd I do not have anything trivialization. The psychedelic aspect of their music becomes progressively more marginal following the publication of “Ummagumma” and, accordingly, I do not think is correct to speak of “vulgarization” of something that practically no longer existed. Probably the musical discourse of the end of Pink Floyd did with “The Wall”, the last album that can truly be called historic birth of the quartet (although, in terms of composition, the dominance of Waters was net). What follows is not necessarily nor vulgar nor cheap, but there is music that has largely lost its highly innovative content. If today we still run Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, I think it is lawful and permissible, the same thing for the Pink Floyd.

10th Finally, a dutiful nod to the other members of the band, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. What, in your opinion, the contribution that each of them managed to make the sound of Pink Floyd?
As stated previously, in my view, Pink Floyd were in a group. Certainly, strong creative tensions that led to internal clashes of musical setting off more and more evident, in conclusion, even exaggerated. From the point the contribution instrumental, Gilmour, Mason and Wright as contributing (if not more) than the Waters features an instantly recognizable sound, although not among the so-called “virtuous” of your instrument. For example (this is a fixation of a strictly personal …) how to play the drums by Nick Mason I was always interested in a particular way, at least until the publication of “Meddle”.
In closing this impervious company on Pink Floyd, yet grant me a line on “The Dark Side Of The Moon”: “… all that and despise everything that fight, all the present and the whole future, everything under the sun is in tune but the sun is eclipsed by the moon. ” That they were right?