Who is your favourite Pink Floyd solo artist?

[snifferdog]

It's rare that you see Aristotle and Pink Floyd mentioned in the one sentence

For me David shades it. Not that his solo albums are particularly wonderful but the only one of Roger's that I'd listen to is Amused to Death.

[danielcaux]

Yeah, but that still would be a 1-0 score up for Roger... because what does David have to compete against that? Neither David Gilmour, About Face or On An Island do the trick for me...

On the other hand Syd has Barrett and Madcap under his sleeve, both of which I enjoy listening to very much

So my vote goes to the other Roger. Hi ho!

[Not Syd]

Charlie Gilmour.


I'm kidding, he seems a right ****head, Dave stood bye him though even though he's not his biological father.


Fave would be David because I love guitar and he's such a gent in interviews, closely followed by Roger, then Nick who I think has a great sense of humour ... bit of trivia, Syd Barrett died on my birth-date (not year) of 7th of July, will never forgot that because I've been a life long Floyd fan ... would have been amazing to see how Floyd turned out if he had not got ill back then, we might not have inherited Gilmour though? very sad loss.

[Seamus1969]

Dave

[Vlad The Impaler]

Syd Barrett, then David Gilmour.

[Wolfpack]

Syd Barrett.

[Alternate]

David and Richard together

[mastaflatch]

I'll rank the solo albums/projects that I've heard:

- The Madcap Laughs
- Barrett
- Fictious Sports (thanks to Robert Wyatt and Carla Bley )
- Amused to Death
- David Gilmour
- Wet Dream
- Opel
- Music From the Body
- The Pros and Cons of Hitch-hiking
- About Face
- When the Wind Blows
- Broken China
- On an Island
- Radio KAOS
- Profiles
- Zee - Identity

Can't judge Ça Ira yet.

On the live albums department though, Gilmour clearly wins over Waters for me. He's been imaginative in both his choice of deep cuts and in the arrangements and overall renditions. Waters' In The Flesh was alright, the guy sure put his stamp on his repertoire then (female vocalists and stiffier arrangements) but his talent lies elsewhere (songwriting and mise en scène for instance).

[UsNotThem]

It's hard to choose really, but it's obviously not Nick (Sorry Nick).

Overall, I'd say Roger is my favourite solo artist, based on how many of songs I listen to on a regular basis, and enjoy the most. Especially Amused to Death.

David Gilmour's efforts suffers too much from not aging well, tracks on About Face in particular (Although, Radio KAOS is a victim of this too). His self titled album, I haven't listened much to. On an Island, I love, I can't think of a bad track on there (I have a love for Red Sky at Night and Pocketful of Stones).

Rick's stuff is very hit and miss. Wet Dream is a stellar album, Holiday and Pink's Song are fabulous, it just oozes emotion. But Broken China, I find slightly boring.

As for Syd's, I've never been a fan of his work, solo or with the Floyd...Sorry Syd!

[Hudini]

I couldn't really make my choice between Gilmour and Waters.

Pink Floyd was at their best when those two worked together, and both of their respective solo careers suffer mostly for the lack of the other. Gilmour's earlier solo stuff was great musically but held no significant weight while OAI had more substance but was also pretty boring. On the other hand, Waters' early albums seemed a little directionless in the music department though on ATD he found a very good balance between music and lyrics; while ATD had its own flaws it was very good, but I just can't stand anything he recorded post-2004.

While mastaflacth listed the albums in some sort of order, I'll give my short reviews of all their solo albums.

Syd Barrett:
'The Madcap Laughs' - some very good standalone tracks, but suffers from poor production, seems unrehearsed and rushed. 5/10
'Barrett' - again, some very good standalone tracks, but seems more thought-out than 'Madcap' if less earnest though. 7/10
'Opel' - notable for some different takes on songs from the first two albums (which were not great) and some good finished songs that were mysteriously left out of those. 6/10

Roger Waters:
'Music From The Body' - some film soundtracks should never be made into albums; save from two or three full songs, this collection of instrumental snippets, belches and farts doesn't work out of context at all. 2/10
'The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking' - listening to it, it seems obvious why Gilmour, Wright and Mason chose to record 'The Wall' over it; several excellent songs can't save it from being overly repetitive and a hollow production doesn't really help much of it either. 6/10
'When The Wind Blows' - similar to 'The Body', features some bad instrumental work and some weak songs by Roger but also some bad instrumentals and weak songs by other artists. 3/10
'Radio KAOS' - a very strange record: it takes all that was bad in 1980s sound and gives it a good use, also Roger sounds great when singing in some difficult-to-reach registers but sounds like shit when singing something easy; pretty consistently good though. 8/10
'Amused To Death' - would have been a classic if there weren't for some very bad songs on it; opposed to 'KAOS', Roger sounds good when singing low and sounds like shit when singing high and the songs that rely most on his voice suck hard; not much of them luckily. 9/10
'The Flickering Flame' - while the choice of album songs for this compilation seems dubious at best, the previously unreleased ones are much better, though it's another example why Roger shouldn't sing high notes anymore: at times he sounds like Elmer Fudd. 7/10
'Ca Ira' - Take the stage design, costumes and choreography from any classical opera and it's still listenable; take all of it from Roger Waters' opera and it's something that half way in makes you want to slit your wrists to be saved from. 2/10

David Gilmour:
'David Gilmour' - easily the best solo album made by any of Pink Floyd members, even the weaker songs on it are still better than stronger stuff on some other members' albums; some songs suffer from (very slight) over-repetition though. 9/10
'About Face' - too dated, too weightless and features some very bad lyrics by Pete Townshend and a completely pointless instrumental but also some of the strongest lyrics by Gilmour and some very good songs. 7/10
'On An Island' - Talking about old men whose pens have gone dull, this is album is a great example; I love the title track, but the rest of it is either too bland or too boring to be taken seriously. 5/10

Richard Wright:
'Wet Dream' - for an album that is so praised among fans, this is pretty weak; instrumentals all sound like infomercial music and the songs seem not thought of enough; still, some good tunes on it. 6/10
Zee - 'Identity' - a piece of 1980s crap that at best makes grand promises it can't deliver. 1/10
'Broken China' - very inconsistent: some really good songs, some really bad songs and some pointless instrumentals; take away a half of it and it would have been excellent. 7/10

Nick Mason:
'Fictitious Sports' - for a Carla Bley album, this is OK; for a Nick Mason album, it's unexpectedly good; blatantly bad lyrics though. 7/10
'Profiles' - a slice of 1980s cheese, and the smelliest one at that. 2/10

[Odins_Echoes]

David Gilmour, with Roger in a close 2nd place. I like all of Gilmour's solo music including OAI, but the only solo album of Roger's I can really get into is Amused to Death, which I think is a great album. Syd's stuff is really good, but I don't think he would be my favorite solo artist, particularly because he didn't have as much output or stick around long enough to show musical development and maturity. Dave's shown a lot of development and maturity, with OAI having songs that sound much different from PF's style and having collaborated with The Orb.