Influences on Pink Floyd

[penguinzzz]

This is one you don't see mentioned often (except by me!). I'm more of less certain Gilmour quotes the instrumental break from Eddie Kendricks' Keep On Truckin' towards the end of Shine On Part 8 - it's on the studio version but clearer on every live performance from 1975.

Not necessarily a musical influence as such but one could speculate a link to the introduction of the clavinet in the Floyd piece.

Kendricks (listen from 2.09):
https://youtu.be/Eke-oF3Vh6s?t=129

Floyd live LA 75 (listen from 8.30)
https://youtu.be/By9u8JAf56E?t=510

[thefinalmutt]

The riff from Interstellar Overdrive was inspired by My Little Red Book by Love.
From Wikipedia :
Peter Jenner was trying to hum a song he could not remember the name of (most commonly identified as Love's cover of "My Little Red Book" [It can only be this one, as Love had only released one album at the time and I've listened to all the other songs] Guitarist and vocalist Syd Barrett followed Jenner's humming with his guitar and used it as the basis for the principal melody of "Interstellar Overdrive".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7SFpxWpcOw

Roger finds it similar to the theme tune to Steptoe & Son.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRaiiT3ZnJw

Also, the beginning of The Post War Dream is pretty much a rip-off of John Prine's Sam Stone. (notice the Jesus Christ lyric)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLVWEYUqGew

[ZiggyZipgun]

Not necessarily a musical influence as such but one could speculate a link to the introduction of the clavinet in the Floyd piece.

Very possible! I believe Rick also used the clavinet on the 1975 performances of "You Gotta Be Crazy" (closer to "Dogs" than the '74 version, but still slightly different lyrics and solos) during the first few verses. It could also be a Wurlitzer; whatever it is was fed through the Leslie.

https://youtu.be/aLaNLIicf0k

[ZiggyZipgun]

I know I've speculated in other threads that Pink Floyd, especially Rick, may have been influenced by Ottorino Respighi's Pines of Rome, though they've certainly never mentioned it; it is a tone poem of roughly the same length and structure as "Atom Heart Mother" and "Echoes". I came across this version arranged for "four hands" (one piano, two pianists) which might be a little easier to compare to Rick's piano playing than the versions arranged for piano, orchestra, and...gramophone - in 1924, it was the first use of sampling pre-recorded sounds, with a phonograph of nightingales being played onstage during the third movement, "Pines of the Janiculum". This movement in particular reminds me of Rick's playing on "Echoes" at Gdańsk, while other parts are similar to "Sysyphys" and "Atom Heart Mother".

https://youtu.be/6LxhzQZLNeI

[ZiggyZipgun]

I don't know that this specific piece was an influence on Pink Floyd, but I'd bet money that Ron Geesin was a fan. I'd be a little surprised if Rick didn't listen to Charles Ives, since they were both fond of tone clusters.

https://youtu.be/WBiL0VEttZw

The Unanswered Question (A Cosmic Landscape):
"The strings play ppp throughout with no change in tempo. They are to represent "The Silence of the Druids – Who Know, See, and Hear Nothing." The trumpet intones "The Perennial Question of Existence," and states it in the same tone of voice each time. But the hunt for "The Invisible Answer" undertaken by the flutes and other human beings, becomes gradually more active, faster and lower through an animando to a con fuoco. This part need not be played in the exact time position indicated. It is played in somewhat of an impromptu way; if there be no conductor, one of the flute players may direct their playing. "The Fighting Answerers," as the time goes on, and after a "secret conference," seem to realize a futility, and begin to mock "The Question" – the strife is over for the moment. After they disappear, "The Question" is asked for the last time, and "The Silences" are heard beyond in "Undisturbed Solitude."

[Kerry King]

Gilmour's singing style was certainly influenced by Carl Wilson. Another American "rock" influence is The Band.

^Geesin was a negative influence on floyd in terms of actual music. The song AHM and The Body soundtrack both being artistic failures. The Body is particularly dismal. Maybe if Waters had one decent song it would have helped.

[dj865]

Nick's part on Set the controls for the heart of the Sun was influenced by jazz drummer Chico Hamilton and his use of mallets. Nick cites this often

[ZiggyZipgun]

Nick's part on Set the controls for the heart of the Sun was influenced by jazz drummer Chico Hamilton and his use of mallets. Nick cites this often

https://youtu.be/wFUVpU5BMM8

[ZiggyZipgun]

Geesin was a negative influence on floyd in terms of actual music. The song AHM and The Body soundtrack both being artistic failures. The Body is particularly dismal. Maybe if Waters had one decent song it would have helped.

I'm not sure Geesin had much influence on their music outside of "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict", and his contribution to the "Atom Heart Mother" suite. Neither the suite nor The Body were artistic failures for Geesin, considering they're possibly the best representations of his musical vocabulary and his recording techniques, and The Body would remain a strong influence over thirty years later on albums like Jonny Greenwood's Bodysong and Björk's Medulla. As for Pink Floyd, Atom Heart Mother was their first #1 album. The actual music on The Body is very effective in the context of the film, with Roger's bits being the weakest points. I've always liked "Chain of Life", and would've preferred he reuse that melody several times instead of the other one - or better yet, involve the rest of the band and make a proper version of "Embryo". Geesin did all of the heavy lifting on both projects, which were made very quickly during a period where the band was unusually short on ideas, since they didn't have access to the unused Zabriskie Point material that they'd planned to release as their next album.

[Kerry King]

Neither the suite nor The Body were artistic failures for Geesin, considering they're possibly the best representations of his musical vocabulary and his recording techniques, and The Body would remain a strong influence over thirty years later on albums like Jonny Greenwood's Bodysong and Björk's Medulla.

You make it seem almost pathetic.

[ZiggyZipgun]

You make it seem almost pathetic.

Whether or not you happened to like them, none of them were commercial, critical, or artistic failures. Remember when one of those songs was performed at the opening ceremony for the Athens Olympics?

(Fun fact: Robert Wyatt appears on the album version of "Oceania")

[Kerry King]

Whether or not you happened to like them, none of them were commercial, critical, or artistic failures.

Commercial and critical success have nothing to do with artistic success. There's no evidence to support the notion that these two works (soundtrack album and song) were artistic successes. lol. It's subjective. Gilmour and Waters don't seem too proud. The critics are irrelevant. And we all know how much commercial success is worth when it comes to measuring quality.

[ZiggyZipgun]

I was specific; Ron is quite proud of both works.

Neither the suite nor The Body were artistic failures for Geesin

Whether or not you happened to like them, none of them were commercial, critical, or artistic failures.

This was regarding the other albums I mentioned.

The band wasn't particularly fond of Atom Heart Mother, and Gilmour said he left it out of the Shine On boxed set to keep the price down and focus on the more significant albums, but did point out that the title track was very important in their development. He also pushed hard to get "Fat Old Sun" included on the Echoes compilation, but no one else voted for it.

[space triangle]

As Nick Mason said in an interview from 1970: ''It's funny, Leonard Bernstein come to one of our American concerts and he was bored stiff by ''Atom Heart Mother'' suite, but he liked the rest''.

[ZiggyZipgun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdAXOOh0WF8