Pink Floyd albums ranked, #1: Obscured by Clouds

[@eddiekadlec6672]

Nice list, I found new appreciation for Atom Heart Mother because of it, as I’m sure will be the case when I revisit Obscured by Clouds. Would be interested in more lists like this, like Skynyrd or any other bands of the 60s & 70s.

[@isaac24]

It's definitely worth the revisit. Ironic you mention Skynyrd, they are my 2nd favorite band of all time, after Pink Floyd. I may consider that

[@transmissionggb2820]

I like your picks I don’t agree but I like your choices it’s different from the norm.

[@isaac24]

Yep, that seems to be the general consensus

[@lebrasdediamant9784]

I know what you mean! Wright's early compositions are unique and imbued with a special magic. My favorite album is saucerful of secrets, followed by the piper and obscured by clouds. Keep making videos!

[@isaac24]

It is beautiful. Iroincally Piper, Saucerful and this are my top 3 as well.

[@gman2010puck]

Just clicked on this, fascinating pick. Your list would be almost identical to mine, except this is the only one I haven't listened to. Will check it out based on your recommendation.

[@isaac24]

It is ABSOLUTELY worth the listen. It really doesn't sound like any of their other albums

[@jagdeepkaul1261]

First off, happy new year. I haven't been well so I forgot to follow up on your ranking. Obscured By Clouds is a beautiful album, personally i don't fault or blame for ranking this at number 1. Obscured by Clouds, title rank is amazing, i agree... Wot's uh the deal is my favourite but honestly they are all good apart from Absolutely Curtains, yeah, nobody needs to listen to tribal chanting for a minute and a half, sorry. I actually prefer More over this day. You mentioned Oscured makes you think of summertime as a kid, well that's how More makes me feel, the summer time. I absolutelly adore More

[@isaac24]

Thank you, you as well! I don't know if I could pick a favorite off of this album, they are all 10/10s for me but in different ways. I agree with you there though- while Absolutely Curtains isn't a bad song IMO, the chanting really doesn't add anything to it. That said, it's a VERY Pink Floyd way to end an album. If I had to pick a weak song off of that album, would I pick Absolutely Curtains? Probably. It's a REALLY hard choice, but if I had to pick a weak one, it would be that. I can see why you feel that way about More. I think it also has a lot of the same emotion and feelings that this album has. That said, I would say that if they had released More and this next to each other, I think it would seem relatively out of place. I've never listened to them back to back, so I might be wrong, but that's how I'd imagine it to be. Between More and this, you had Ummagumma, AHM, and Meddle, and I think that with those albums sandwiched between these 2, it very well developes and fine-tunes the PF sound, which is why OBC sounds so good IMO. Because of those 3 albums "progressing" the sound, it causes OBC to sound amazing, and why More also sounds so good, albeit a bit different. More is very obviously the older sound style, more reminiscent of Syd, whereas this is more of a Gilmour/Wright sound (yes Waters did a lot of the writing, but I always think of stuff like Final Cut and The Wall when I think of the "Waters" sound. The Gilmour/Wright sound is more like this and Dark Side type stuff).

[@jhutch888]

Finally someone agrees with me about this one being their best! The most Rick of any album (since Saucerful) Good lyrics. No overriding Roger concepts Their best vocals Their best playing. I wish they'd made 10 more like it.

[@isaac24]

Agreed!! It's amazing.

[@jhutch888]

@@isaac24 If you love the lazy-summer-days/no-care-in-the-world vibe, you might did Rick's first solo album: Wet Dream

[@darkmaster2349]

Very nice list! Here's my own rankings since no one else has done that in here. 15. More. This is the only Pink Floyd album that I genuinely don't like. I think it's very boring and I just don't have much to say about it. My favorite song is easily A Spanish Place, and that's mainly because it instantly reminded me of an episode of SpongeBob for some reason. 14. Obscured By Clouds. I just find this album boring. Not much for me to really say about it. Childhood's End is easily the best song in it. 13. Ummagumma. I actually just got my copy of the album on Vinyl. This is easily my favorite guilty pleasure from Pink Floyd. It's just so stupid that I can't help but love it. It's an album that I would absolutely love to play just to see how people would react to it. The best song is easily Be Careful With That Axe, Eugene. 12. The Endless River. This album is fine. I think the biggest problem is that it's nothing more than just instrumental songs with only one song that has vocals. And even then, the instrumental tracks will definitely not be everyone's thing. Best song is easily Louder Than Words. 11. The Dark Side Of The Moon. Listen. I get it. I completely understand why people love this album and why it's strongly considered to be the greatest album ever made, but as someone who has listened to it so many times already, I just can't bring myself to love it like so many others do. I even went out of my way and bought the album on Vinyl, and it still didn't change my mind. So much so to the point that I might even say that I'm flat out sick of TDSOTM, even if it is admittedly self-inflicted. My favorite song in the album is easily Brain Damage. 10. Meddle. Let me say this first, Echoes and One Of These Days are fantastic. In fact I’ll even go as far as to say that Echoes is their greatest song in their catalogue, though I personally prefer the live performance of the song from Pompeii. But other than that…..I can't say I care all that much for the other songs in the album. Apart from Seamus. 9. A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. I don't have much to say about this album other than the fact that it's just really darn solid. I always go back to it every now and then. I think it's very relaxing. Sorrow is easily my favorite song on the album. 8. Saucerful Of Secrets. I love the vibe of this album. It's very trippy, it's atmospheric, and it's very eerie. I love just about every song in here, but my favorite songs in here are either Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Son, or Jugband Blues. 7. The Division Bell. While I will admit that it does sound generic, much like AMLOR, I love the lyrics for this album. I love a lot of these songs in this album, but my favorite is easily Poles Apart. It's the one that struck a chord on me the most when I first heard it. It's hard for me to listen to it again without getting choked up. 6. Animals. Funny story, there was a time where I hated this album. Then I kind of liked it, and then I couldn't stop listening to it. Pigs (3 Different Ones) is probably my favorite song on the album, but if you ask me on a different day it's probably Sheep. 5. Atom Heart Mother. I love just about every single song in here. The Atom Heart Mother Suite is probably my favorite song off the album, but If is very close to it too. 4. Wish You Were Here. Fantastic album. Every song is great. My favorite is probably Shine On You Crazy Diamond, but it's like Animals, if you ask me on a different day than it's probably Wish You Were Here. 3. The Final Cut. This album struck a chord with me in a way that I did not expect. This album is hated on by a lot of fans and I do get it. This really should have been a Roger Waters album. However, I adore this album. I think it's very powerful, it's emotional, and I love just about every song on here, even if I will admit that I’m not the biggest fan of having almost every song be a slow-paced song. I actually got the album on Vinyl and after giving it a listen, it gave me an even deeper appreciation of the album. This, and Wish You Were Here are the only Pink Floyd albums that brings me to tears. My favorite is easily The Final Cut. 2. The Wall. This album struck a chord on me a lot ever since I first listened to it while growing up. Without getting into too much detail, I went through a time period where I was going through severe isolation and depression. I’m in a far better place now, but listening to this album really reminded me of that time period and it hit very close to home. Run Like Hell is easily my favorite song on here. And while we’re in the topic of The Wall, I wanna point out that I listen to their live album (Is There Anybody Out There?) album a lot and I probably might love it just a tad bit more than the studio album. Even then, it's still a fantastic album. If we were counting live albums than it would be tied with the studio version of The Wall, it's really hard for me to pick one version or the other for me. 1. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. I was at my living room listening to Piper around midnight with speakers on. I had all of the lights turned off, starting my journey with going through every album that Pink Floyd has made. The moment that Astronomy Domine started, I was hooked. I instantly fell in love with this album. It's easily my favorite Pink Floyd album, and is one of my new favorite albums of all time. I think one of the main reasons as to why I love it so much is because of Syd Barrett. Syd wasn't talking about war, or the existential crisis of time itself, or society. Syd was filled to the brim with so much personality and it was so charming and fun to listen to. Astronomy Domine is my favorite song in the album and is also my favorite song from Pink Floyd, I've memorized almost all of the lyrics for it. Other favorites in no particular order are The Gnome, Bike, Interstellar Overdrive, and Matilda Mother.

[@isaac24]

I need to do an updated video, as I'm going through and listening to all of them again, and I may potentially make some small changes. I know a lot of people don't like More. I can understand the boring aspect of it. Same with OBC. I'm not surprised that you having More as your least favorite would also have OBC down at the bottom, as they do have some similarities. Funny you mention that about Ummagumma, I've been giving it another go, and I think I'm actually starting to come around to it. So many people talk about finally "getting it" and I think I'm getting to that point. It truly does have some extremely weird magic to it that only pre-Meddle, post-Syd Pink Floyd would come up with. I agree on TER. It's good but doesn't stand out much. You might be one of the first people who actually has a similar opinion to me on Dark Side. I don't find myself sick of it, I think I just don't care for that era and sound of the band. My favorite song is definitely Us And Them, but I also really like Money and Time. I could give or take the rest. It's an amazing album, but in terms of the Pink Floyd sound, I hardly find myself wanting to listen to it over something like Piper or even AHM. Funny you like Seamus- it seems like everyone who loves Meddle always calls Seamus the weak song. I love that album from beginning to end- especially One Of These Days and Fearless. Echoes of course is also top tier. I agree on AMLOR. It's nothing crazy but it's solid. My favorite is On The Turning Away, but Sorrow is definitely up there. I LOVE Saucerful, as you can see by it being #2 on mine (not sure if you've watched the other videos, but I'd recommend at least skimming them, you may enjoy them), it's just magical sounding. I feel similarly about OBC. I need to give Division Bell another listen. I think it's an album like Ummagumma- if I give it enough attention, I will start to appreciate it. SO many people love it, so I'm confident that I will find a love for it one day. I also don't have it on vinyl (same with TER), the only 2 PF albums that I don't have on vinyl, so I think that makes it hard for me to love it even more, because I'm a 100% hardcore vinyl user. I know a lot of people who say it's a much better album than AMLOR, which I've never understood, so maybe one day I will. I don't hate Animals, honestly I just find it boring and too long. Again, maybe I just need to give it another listen, but I don't know if I'll ever come around to it. Sheep is awesome, though, especially the solo at the end. Honestly Dogs might be one of my least favorite PF songs, ever. I could fall asleep to it because I find it so boring. AHM is awesome, and the suite itself is just wonderful. I'm a huge fan of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, which seems like a rare one for people to actually like. I agree on WYWH. It's a 11/10, from the first note in SOYCD to the last note in part 9 in SOYCD. The 3 middle songs are just amazing. Out of all of their albums, I'd argue that WYWH is probably, objectively, the strongest. I'd say Meddle is probably the 2nd strongest. The Final Cut is certainly interesting, and I don't mind it at all. While I do sometimes think Roger's songwriting can be a bit repetitive, it's very well done in this album. In fact I think it's great. But then again- I go into it with the mindset that I'm not listening to PF in 1970, with that style of songwriting. Because of that, I appreciate it greatly. I'm not judging it based off of 1970 PF, I'm judging it off of 1980 PF. The Wall used to be my favorite, but as I've gotten older, it's fallen off a bit. Don't get me wrong- it's phenomenally done, and easily the best concept album of all time, beginning to end. It also features some of their most iconic and fun songs (Empty Spaces/Young Lust, Hey You, Run Like Hell, Comfortably Numb, The Happiest Days Of Our Lives, Another Brick In The Wall 2, Mother, etc.) as well as The Trial and Outside The Wall, which might just be my favorite ending to an album, ever. But, I also find that the album does kind of drag on in spots. It definitely contains a bit of filler IMO. Side 1 and 2 are great, but side 3 is where I start to struggle. Between Hey You and Comfortably Numb, I find that those in between tracks are nothing special, and I often find myself just waiting for Comfortably Numb. I could do without those middle tracks. Side 4 is similar- I could start it with Run Like Hell and let it play through the end and never think about the first 2 tracks. But the album is still phenomenal. What you talk about with Piper, is precisely why I love it so much. I feel like you either can love or hate the Syd era, and I absolutely love it. I gave that album another spin the other night- and I swear, every time I listen to it, it becomes better. I feel like every single time I hear it, I hear something new or different that I haven't heard before. It's just magical. I could easily put it as my #1, and I kind of do, my top 3 could all be #1. I don't think that there's a single track on that album that isn't a 10/10 for me. If I had to pick absolute favorites, it would be the literal entire album, minus Pow R Toc H. I don't think that song is bad at all- it's still a 10/10 for me, but if I HAD to pick a "weak" song off of it, it would be Pow R Toc H.

[@asherhiggins7853]

I've been finding myself listening to a lot more of this album. While I'm a classic Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here obsessive, for me this album is definitely No. 3 or better.

[@isaac24]

It's amazing and super underrated. It's truly a hidden gem.