Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Talk about any music other than Pink Floyd/Solo Stuff
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olzen
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by olzen »

I think it's a little hard to define what a Pink Floyd-soundalike would actually sound like, given that Pink Floyd often sounded quite different from release to release.

I mean, if you played "A Saucerful of Secrets" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" to someone without telling them both songs were by Pink Floyd, would they guess that they were both made by the same band?

Sure during the late Waters-years and the Gilmour-years, there were elements that were carried over from album to album. Among them the guitar solos. But still, when people try to define the Pink Floyd sound, I think they're describing some weird hybrid between DSOTM, WYWH and The Wall which never existed in the first place.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Hudini »

olzen wrote:But still, when people try to define the Pink Floyd sound, I think they're describing some weird hybrid between DSOTM, WYWH and The Wall which never existed in the first place.
Most of these bands that "sound like Pink Floyd" feature layers of atmospheric keyboards, long and melodic guitar solos, minimalistic rhythm sections, minor key songs and various spoken sound samples, usually movie quotes. So I guess that you're right about what people think when they say "the Pink Floyd sound". Need I mention that most of those people (at least from my knowledge) never listened to Pink Floyd more seriously than what they occasionally hear on the radio?
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by henno »

some parts porcupine tree sounds sound extremely floyd like eg parts of 'time flies' from the incident sounds very mmuch like 'dogs'...

i sometimes hear arts of other bads songs that i consider floyd like, but theres simply NO band out there that deliberately or accidently sounds floyd-like all the time (not even mostly autumn, as much as they try). Ive never put any credence into the link between radiohead and Floyd, or muse, or flaming lips... or any of the 60's psychedelic bands.. the smoke, the nice etc.

the floyd are unique
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by danielcaux »

Hudini wrote:Some of those "sound like" bands are a fraud aimed at a distinctive target group (with ridiculous amounts of insincerity in their music, which automatically makes them bad). Either way, I'm happier to be pleasantly surprised with bits and pieces of Pink Floyd influences in bands I started to listen to for other reasons, than to be disappointed by blandness of bands I started to listen to because someone said they sound like Pink Floyd.
Yeah, I totally get your point. But still, it's one thing to put yourself into the silly holy quest of finding a personal "Floyd replacement band" and another to just identify music that's similar to other music, in this case the music of Pink Floyd. I think the latter is the point of this thread: just identify some music that have a similar sound to Floyd's, not to hail some band as the best thing that has come to earth since Pink Floyd!

Anyway, I have said various times in the past that Floyd was a krautrock band, and with that I was refering to the similarities in sound of the late 60 early 70s Floyd "space" staples, like Eugene and Set The Controls, with the sound of some krautrock bands like Can and Neu. I guess that's safe to say that if you enjoy that era of the Floyd you may enjoy aswell a song like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QLL2j8ZtxE

Of course their sound is not exactly the same, Can's instrumental parts are a little more complex and up tempo than Floyd's, but both do share a pretty similar sound, like songs that are part of the same family, not so distant cousins. Sometimes I can even picture the members of the Floyd replacing the members of Can in those videos, and viceversa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w1YxzOXuco

Ok, and going back again to The Vines, this is how I imagine a song like "A Pillow of Winds" or "Fat Old Sun" would have sounded if Floyd had decided to put an Echoes-esque guitar solo at the end of it, and then trimmed the whole thing to an ultra short radio friendly 2 minute format.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxc8hw8Qwbg

The one thing that is reeeeally missing from The Vines song, to make it more Floydian, are the signature Roger Waters' simple but driving basslines -- one of the most commonly underappreciated ingredients of the Pink Floyd recipie; there's no Floyd sound without those fat basslines piercing all over the mix.
Idisaffect wrote:This is blatant......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02yt4uRE ... re=related
WTF is that!? Some kind of fat Roger Waters impersonator? :lol:
Last edited by danielcaux on Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Idisaffect »

danielcaux wrote:WTF is that!? Some kind of fat Roger Waters impersonator?
Apparently the guy played keyboards in Rainbow and on a bunch of other crap.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Peter Beasley »

Camel are frequently compared to the Floyd, though they have an uptempo jazzier side as well. Gilmour and Andy Latimer are similarly both richly melodic and emotional, blues influenced guitar players.

Listen to the magnificent 10 minute instrumental 'Ice' from Camel's 'I Can See Your House From Here' (1979) as evidence.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Hudini »

In some way, Pink Floyd (Mk III) were among the first bands to deliberately make music that sounds like Pink Floyd. I guess that, after recording "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" (which was really about face from it's predecessor, "The Final Cut"), they wanted to make an album that would sound more like Pink Floyd and less like David Gilmour and bunch of other guys, and the result of it came in the form of "The Division Bell". As far as I can tell, it was the first time (even AMLOR included) that they deliberately made an album that would resemble their previous work, none in particular but also all of it in some way. It was not a bad effort though, IMHO. While the only thing that's genuine on it is the fact that some of the original band members played on it, I regard it as the best album that sounds like Pink Floyd. 8)
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Enish »

There's a band that's been out within the past couple of years called Ubyk, which is pretty inspired by Barrett-era Floyd. There are also some hints of Roger Waters in their music, too. Their Matryoshka LP is pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7X-9GPXhB4
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by qjamesfloyd »

Although I agree, Pink Floyd are unique, and there will never be another one, I also feel people who like PF will also like some Mike Oldfield, while listening to Ommadawn, It reminds me of Meddle era, and parts of Echoes/One of these days. He, like PF, likes to make long pieces of music, I'll admit, he is no lyric writer, but he is an amazing composer, and guitarist, and a very good pianist. If you haven't heard the 60 minute track/album Amarok, you are missing out.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Annoying Twit »

danielcaux wrote:
Idisaffect wrote:This is blatant......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02yt4uRE ... re=related
WTF is that!? Some kind of fat Roger Waters impersonator? :lol:
I don't mind tracks that imitate other artists, as long as the overall sound and songwriting is good. This is OK, it's a reasonably nice song. It's not exceptional, and I don't think I'll be buying it. But, it's OK. I'll check out the album, if any, it came from and see what I think.

I would love to see a band like The Australian Pink Floyd record an album of well-written songs as a mock Pink Floyd album. I wouldn't mind if the songs were existing non-PF songs written by other artists formed into an album, songs written by the current band (do they write?), or a collaboration with one or more other songwriters. If it had good songs, and a Pink Floyd sound, I wouldn't be at all worried if it was a "forgery" :D

Porcupine Tree is a band that has made clearly mock-PF albums. The Sky Moves Sideways is clearly one of the most so, witness this song (and note that this is "Phase 1" :D ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjUFNjoVjhU

Main bandmember Steve Wilson's voice and guitar playing aren't naturally PF-like, IMHO. Although, this album is the first Porcupine Tree album to feature keyboardist Richard Barbieri, who had previously been in the 80s band "Japan". Richard Barbieri's synth-work has some similarities to Rick Wright, although I don't think Barbieri plays much piano. Anyone who likes the instrumental work on "Broken China" should, IMHO, check out Barbieri's instrumental albums such as Things Buried.

And if the above song is a mock SOYCD, then the following is the WYWH equivalent :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGc66wTvmVE

But to be honest, I prefer their later albums such as "Deadwing", which are less PF-like. Nothing to do with the sound or the imitation of PF, I just think the songwriting on the later albums is better. E.g. "Shallow" is my favourite Porcupine Tree song, but sounds nothing like PF.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Hudini »

Later Porcupine Tree albums use a lot of Pink Floyd sounding elements, but I agree that they are less floydish and more metal than anything else. A fine example of them sounding like Pink Floyd (deliberately or not) is the final part of "Anesthetize" from "Fear Of A Blank Planet". We've also had a recent discussion here whether "Time Flies" from "The Incident" is a direct copy of "Dogs" or it's only heavily influenced by the song, but either way it clearly owes much to Pink Floyd.

BTW, long time no see. Welcome back, Twit. :D
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Annoying Twit »

Hudini wrote:long time no see. Welcome back, Twit. :D
Thanks. I do note however that on searching all of my Porcupine Tree points have been made some years ago, even on this thread. I have read the "Revive this Forum" thread, and note that this was one of the points under discussion, has everything been covered. I found an Amazon list for "If you like Pink Floyd, try these", and even the more obscure artists and albums such as " Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven" (for Saucerful of Secrets fans) are already mentioned somewhere. Difficult......

I agree that the last part of Anesthetize sounds like Pink Floyd. Give it a Gilmour or Wright vocal and it would be fit right in with Floyd. Sentimental might just fit in as Floydish, but not quite. I haven't bought FoaBP yet, and when I first listened to it, I didn't like it is much as Deadwing, but listening again to it now on we7, I appreciate it much more and will be buying it.

Edit: Confusion reigns - I have FoaBP, but haven't bought "The Incident" yet. The problem of having a reasonably large music collection.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Annoying Twit »

I'm trying the redesigned (and not nearly so user-friendly in free mode) we7.com to play "Pink Floyd Radio". First track "by Pink Floyd and artists similar to PF" was The Doors! Track called "End of the Night". At first I thought "the Doors?????", but swap the vocal for a "Let There Be More Light" Rog style vocal, and it could slot absolutely right into SFOS. Instrumentation including organ sound, lyrics, feel, the lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iERil2Tz1Mg

Second track is "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits. Erm, "Pink Floyd Radio"? I think not. Ah, Dave G "So Far Away". Well, 2 out of 3 aint bad!

WTF? Currently playing on "Pink Floyd Radio", Iron Maiden: The Number of the Beast.
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by Annoying Twit »

Some of Peter Murphy's new album "The Secret Bees of Ninth" sounds a bit like it could be recent Rog solo album. Similar-ish to some of the songs on ATD, and the more recent standalone/collection tracks. Except that his voice sounds utterly nothing like Rog. But imagine the songs sung by Rog, and they'd fit. Except then you get to the end of the very short album, and there's a song that sounds like late era New Order sung by a different voice than Bernard Sumner.

So if anyone's into both Rog and New Order, they should check it out!
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Re: Anything that sound like Pink Floyd

Post by my breakfast. »

Pete Murphy sang like you were not meant to breathe out whilst singing... that strangled childlike belch-singing of hammed up and typically clunky gothic lyrics... I love Bauhause but not that impressed with Murphy....

Bauhause were a little like Syd era Pink Floyd. Abstract whymsical lyrics, impressive light shows leaving the musicians in darkness, madly attacked Telecasters... I imagine they had the same impact onstage in the '80s that Floyd had at the UFO in terms of taking the listener to some other place.