I'm definitely a Syd Barrett man. Piper would be my favorite, but I'd guess that's obvious given my name on here.

The whole 'cult of crazy' talk is kind of short sighted. There's some really interesting music that came out of the crazies of the 60's and 70's.

Skip Spence, Roky Erickson, Syd Barrett, Arthur Lee, and tons of others.

The thing that always interests me is that the more stripped down songs from these schizophrenic songwriters all seem to have a shared warping of the tempos. My wife and I used say that all the solo Syd songs, the solo Roky stuff (where he's not produced and it's more stripped down), Skip Spence and hell, even Robyn Hitchcock's solo stuff (though he isn't schizophrenic or anything - just into psychedelia and Syd) were in 'Schizophrenic Time'.

These songs all kinda ramble along and have a start/stop element to what they're doing. It's a more organic feel coming out of the singer - more open and honest.

But that's just my $.02.

My tastes in music are heavily influences by the Syd-era and the type of topics and vibe of early psychedelia. It may not be for everyone, but it works great for me.

And oh yeah, 'Scream Thy Last Scream' is pretty much my favorite song and I consider to be the best example of what psychedelic music is. So while it's not on an album, it is my favorite Floyd track.

My fav Floyd album is Wish You Were Here. Their most underrated is probably TEH Division Bell, even though that's from their dry lineup (no Waters -- get it?).

I'm Gilmour all the way when it comes to Floyd.

I would say my favorite albums are
1. Atom Heart Mother
2. Meddle
3. Animals
4. Ummagumma

While I enjoy and own the later period Floyd, I don't identify with the music as throughly. I enjoy becoming lost in music, and The Wall, for instance, doesn't allow me to do such. I will however say that the 5.1 mix for DSotM is f'n fantastic, and must be experienced.

I'm pretty much in agreement with you on the Syd era although in practice, I'm more like e-stone: I definitely like Floyd but need long periods of time in between listenings.

No love here for The Final Cut? I actually enjoy that album (and Water's Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking) as much as anything they did at this point.

Final Cut was probably one of the last Floyd albums I've purchased. It was completely self-indulgent and lacking substance. I'm sorry, but if you're going to essentially try to remake The Wall, then let's not fail so badly here. Pros and Cons is head and shoulders about FC. While it might make no sense to you, in my head it is more enjoyable.

Hell, I think I'd put Division Bell even about FC.

Final Cut is more political and outward in its angst than The Wall is.

While The Wall is about how a father's death in WW 2 screwed up his son's childhood and eventually led to the son's mental collapse, The Final Cut tackles post-War Britian's attempt to hang on to the tatters of Empire and actually has a lot of black comedy anti-Thatcherism in it. As concept albums, there's a hell of a lot more going on with these than just high school basement depression music.

Waters is certainly grandiose and self-absorbed, but some of the songs that at first seem self-absorbed aren't actually about him, particularly on Final Cut.

for me:
1. wish you were here
2. dark side of the moon
3. meddle
4. the wall
5. everything else

i didnt include piper because i almost consider the work of another group, so i dont think its really fair to compare the two. if i had to include it though, it would probably be #2 or 3.

Depressed? Nigga we wuz HIGH!

Good observation, tho, spooner.

Exactly:

Meddle and Obscured By Clouds are both up there at the top of the list for me. Animals and WYWH are both close behind.