I’m all bleary-eyed this morning because late last night, Wilkins linked to this article on Pink Floyd and incidentally sent me off on a late night music jag. He is truly a horrible person.
Pink Floyd was the soundtrack of my youth, from adolescence through grad school and starting a family. I have all their albums, and have listened to every one multiple times — I know (or at least, used to know) the lyrics to “The Gnome”, even, that’s how bad it was. So it was very triggering of Wilkins to remind me, and I had to play a bunch of them very loudly on the home stereo and wallow in the sound.
Don’t worry, Mary was away, so it was just me, alone in a big empty house with most of the lights out, listening to “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” after midnight. I felt like a lonely anomie-laden teenager again. It was great! I’m just paying the price this morning…this morning when I have to bunker down in my office and grade papers.
So now I have to inflict some of it on you. Here’s one of my favorites, “One of These Days”, from Meddle.
Oh, man, there were good memories in there. When my kids were little, we had a tradition of sleeping in on Sunday and then making pancakes (if they’d been very good, chocolate chip pancakes), and sometimes I’d put on Atom Heart Mother while I was puttering in the kitchen, just because “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast” was the perfect accompaniment. Now I can’t hear it without an overlay of maudlin sentimentality and memories of happy kids.
Anyone else remember when bands would put out music that was more than three minutes long?
OK, now must go grade.
Ooooo, now I want to watch my Live at Pompeii DVD while trying (but failing) to work.
I was listening to “Echoes” (also from Meddle) on the way in to work this morning.
Ping!
5:00 in the ‘one of these days’ video is hilarious. Nick just plays on as if nothing had happened.
I’ve got a soft spot for Lucifer Sam and Astronomy Domine is a fave.
@crocodoc
I was just thinking about that! I love it.
The “Dark Side of the Moon” album title always bugged me (for the obvious reason). Nice cover, though.
One Of These Days still sends shivers down my spine. Every. Single. Time.
You just have to check out the right bands.
I like Umphrey’s McGee (obvious Floydheads, plus some Zappa, some metal, some Phish, some fusion, some serious electric guitar playing) and Railroad Earth (more in the Grateful Dead tradition; mostly acoustic, can and do play bluegrass, rock out, or jam most excellently plus great songwriting).
Us (us us us us us us)
and
Them (them them them them them them them)
…)
“Anyone else remember when bands would put out music that was more than three minutes long?”
That’s now, isn’t it?
Porcupine Tree – Anesthetize – 17 mins+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKeTD8E8Nkg
Marillion – Gaza – 17 mins +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5VKmyDEF6U
I could go on, but the bands are already doing it for me…
I loved hearing “Careful with that axe, Eugene” in “The Ascent of Man” – Unfortunately EMI screwed this up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SFV93MytoE
Despite my punk credentials (ha), I have a soft spot for the Floyd (at least pre-Wall Floyd) and a special soft spot for Syd Barrett, without whom I probably never would have picked up a guitar. My last band (which sadly was *cough* 13 years ago) used to play a couple minutes of “Echoes” at the end of our set, forming out of the chaos that was our closing number, the unfortunately named “Mambo #6” (hey, it was 2000!).
re Dark Side:
title of “Dark Side of the Moon” annoyed you? Didn’t you listen to the whole album? It ends with my favorite line, ever, “There is no dark side of the Moon, As a matter of fact, it’s ALL dark”. Gotcha! A piece of SCIENCE in a psychedelic rock album. Who wooda thunk?
Anyone else remember when bands would put out music that was more than three minutes long?
Bohemian Rhapsody. Anything by Meatloaf. and, of course, this:
Pink Floyd
:)
Something like Tones on Tails’ Rain, you mean? At the three-minute mark, it’s still establishing the mood.
Someone at Daylight Atheism pointed me in the direction of the Protomen. One of the things that I like about them is that they harken back to the Golden Age of Prog, with concept albums and, yes, six-, seven-, eight-minute songs (I don’t see any longer than that, though).
(I guess I’m just a kid, since I prefer Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here over albums like Meddle and Obscured by Clouds.)
On the topic of Dark Side, mostly forgotten British folk/blues combo Medicine Head released an album with the same title a year before Floyd’s. Roger Waters was worried that he was going to have to change the title to Eclipse, but when Medicine Head’s album bombed, they kept the name.
A little bit of pointless rock trivia for your Friday.
Not fondly. ;-P
Am I the only person who does not see the appeal of Pink Floyd at all?
The guitar solo at the end of Comfortable Numb still gives me chills, very nice chills. Starts about 4:35 on this live clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jySUpMqmzd4
ACK!….Comfortably Numb……
@tajparis: I’m not a fan, but I have to admit that they made some damn good music. About the same feeling I have for the Dead Kennedys … but I have the impression that the punk scene seems to really have an inverted snobbery problem. You don’t often hear Pink Floyd fans dissing Dead Kennedys. The other way around, OTOH … ;P
Ugh, prog rock. One of These Days was alright, but didn’t really kick off ’til four minutes in. Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast was awful!
@Baldyslaphead
I quite like that Porcupine Tree song you posted :) I’ve never really listened to them before. It’s a bit depressing though, had to listen to some New Town Kings to cheer myself up :) Ska, the happiest music on the planet.
@tajparis
No, I’m with you. I like Another Brick in the Wall, but who doesn’t? Other than that I can’t think of any song of theirs I like.
We must know some very different Floyd fans. ;-P
On the reverse snobbery in punk, though, you are quite right. It is a major problem and part of the reason I can’t stand going to punk shows anymore.
Why do assholes have to ruin everydamnthing!
*gags*
this is what I’m talkin about.
What?
Who are you people?
Not like Pink Floyd?
Isn’t that a bannable offence?
jeeeez
Pink Floyd and Yes made up nearly half of my album library in high school during the ’70s. I then discovered Camel’s “Snow Goose” album freshman year in college and used that instrumental prog rock album as white noise for studying and drowning out all the dorm noises (as well as for the infrequent inhalation therapy sessions.)
Don’t overlook the film soundtracks Pink Floyd did, especially More (1969), their first album without Syd Barrett.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundtrack_from_the_Film_More
Yeah, I like music to do something more than state a theme, repeat it a couple of times, and then fade away. And I like a band that do more than one thing. Hence I still have a considerable fondness for Pink Floyd (I just went through everything of theirs I own last month). Sure, they can do the ordinary pop thing reasonably well, but longer compositions don’t faze them either. (Think “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party,” “Atom Heart Mother,” or “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.”)
One of the first CDs I ever bought was some kind of Pink Floyd compilation disk. The guy at the record store said it was the only thing of theirs available on CD, and offered his opinion that the old albums (Atom Heart Mother was the one I was really looking for) would never come out in digital form, because what would be the point? The old analog stuff would always sound like shit in the new format. But my brother’s kids used to ask me to play what they called “The Wizards’ Duel” (“One of These Days”) whenever they came over.
As Chas has noted, yes. Pretty much everything I listen to is by musicians who put out pieces longer than 3 mins.
And coincidentally I was listing to Pink Floyd’s Animals this morning.
On of the members of Umphrey’s just moved to Charleston and frequents this bar I
live atgo to. Haven’t met him but my friend who owns the place says he’s a good dude.As a FloydNoyd who transmogrified into a (now slightly reconstructed) DeadHead this is appreciated. I thought David Gilmour one of the underappreciated guitarists of the ’70s, along with Martin Barre of Jethro Tull. Funny, as I’ve gotten older, my musical horizons have broadened to include reggae, punk, a little hip-hop and so on and so forth. I recall the late, lamented Ron Cuzner, Milwaukee’s premier jazz DJ commenting on who was the “better”sax player. He mentioned Trane, Rollins, Bird, Shorter and then announced a track by Michael Brecker, saying “this is one of MY favorite sax players. For when you get to this level, there is no “better”. It is all a matter of taste”. I like to dredge up my old Little Feat and Allman Bros (talk about a band disinclined to compose three minute songs) discs just to annoy my neighbors.
David Wilford, I thought “Saucer Full of Secrets” was Floyd’s first album w/o Syd Barrett. “More” is a good album, though.
Oh man, Syd Barrett was my spirit animal in high school, and later in film school I based all my student projects around Floyd’s early music (their way of building a song through ever expanding flights of dizzying noise built around a repeated note translates really well into abstract film structure).
Regarding the Punk v Pink antagonism (i’m a huge fan of both), it’s worth noting that both the Sex Pistols (keeping in mind that Johnny Rotten got picked for the band after being spotted wearing an “I Hate Pink Floyd” t-shirt) and the Damned made serious attempts at tracking down Syd Barrett to get him to produce their albums (The Damned eventually settled for Nick Mason).
As for bands following in their footsteps:
Camper Van Beethoven – Interstellar Overdrive
Jesus & Mary Chain – Vegetable Man
REM – Dark Globe
The Damned – Arnold Layne
The Mock Turtles – No Good Trying
Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin – Take Up Thy Stethyscope and Walk
Fit & Limo – Long Cold Look
The Flaming Lips covered The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.
And of course, absolutely anything by Robyn Hitchcock, and pretty much anybody from the Athens, GA Elephant 6 collective.
As for bands who still do lengthy psychedelic freakouts, you can’t beat Acid Mothers Temple
sundiver, “Saucerfull of Secrets” had one Syd Barrett song on it, “Jugband Blues”. But Barrett wasn’t really involved with the album otherwise.
Steeleye Span’s “Jack Hall” with an excellent guitar solo by Bob Johnson.
I lurve the Floyd! I’ve never heard this one before and I mostly like it, although I’m afraid the sound of someone eating with their mouth open is worse to me than fingernails on a blackboard. (And now I’ve just revealed that I’m an old fart. Who the hell uses blackboards anymore?) (And why won’t those damned kids stay off my lawn?)
R Kelly – Stuck in a Closet.
Just sayin’… Some old dogs can learn new tricks.
On non-snobbery: Okay, I know Primus isn’t punk, but it still made me laugh a little and smile a lot watching the extras on Mike Gordon’s “Rising Low” DVD. Les Claypool was sitting outside chatting with the cameraman, someone mentioned that Chris Squire was in the studio rehearsing, and Claypool got all fanboy. “OMG, Chris Squire! Squee!” (or something like that) I mean, I can sorta see the link from Yes to Primus, but it was still amusing.
here we go:
Umphrey’s covers Floyd.
(Rev, when you meet him, tell him you know a trumpet/bongos/melodica/pennywhistle player who works cheap.)
Deep Purple, Made in Japan, Space Truckin’ 20 minutes.
ELP, Welcome back my Friends, Tarkus, 26 minutes.
Led Zep, The Song Remains the Same, Dazed and Confused, 27 minutes (very, very few have a long enough attention span to notice Bonham’s excellent drum solo at the end).
Pink Floyd? Peanuts. Except Animals of course.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point people at the Scissor Sisters cover of Comfortably Numb. “You got your prog rock in my disco!” “You got your disco in my prog rock!”
Long songs live on in the Doom, Stoner and Drone circles:
Stoned Jesus – Black Woods (11:47)
Humanfly – Heavy Black Snow (17:10)
Warchief – For Heavy Damage (20:00)
The Wandering Midget – Temples In The Sky (20:13)
Reverend Bizarre – Cirith Ungol (21:11)
Sleep – Dopesmoker (1:03:30)
Boris – Absolutego
Bongripper – The Great Barrier Reefer (1:19:24)
I could go on, but you get the idea :P
Also, I hope this comments shows up okay, because the preview looks horribly broken…
And I guess my comment has been held in the moderation queue because of too many links. Sorry. :P
Did you play Supper’s Ready by Genesis at dinner time?
Supper’s Ready
It was, IIRC, Dark Side of the Moon that first brought Pink Floyd to my attention, but it was The Wall that really formed a long abiding love of the group.
Thanx for the trip down memory lane.
Marmalade. I like marmalade.
Marmalade. I like marmalade.
Ah yes; Floyd, Oldfield, Queen, SuperTramp – the soundtrack of a well spent youth. A lot of Abney Park & Filk now I’m old and crumbly.
moarscienceplz –
Hell, you think you have problems? I got me some of that newfangled GM grass and now I can’t keep the damned lawn offa my kids!
I think I’m going to have to get a copy. Do you have the one with the interviews and the making of Dark Side of the Moon features? I had it on VHS a long time ago.
I think he did some noodling in the background of “Set the Controls…” as well, although Waters may have mixed all of that stuff out on the final version.
Pompeii AM Götterdämmerung by Flaming Lips is very Pompeii era Floydish. Based on the title, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that that was their intention.
Pompeii AM Götterdämmerung
When I first heard Setting the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (on a church youth-group camping trip!) is when I first knew that psychedelic drugs were in my immediate future.
Good decision, good results. Thanks, Pink!
Oops, Set the Controls.
The pennywhistle is your in for sure
May as well mention those dandy young Decemberists, who put out a whole EP for one song.
And as another kinda sorta rebuttal, I’d suggest that you might not want to bring back the grunge and post-grunge era where nearly every song was stretched out to 5+ minutes*, whether it deserved it or not.
* All the better to fill that new 80-minute CD format
One of These Days always gives me chills. Great song. And it was in Cosmos! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtj9kwQCltQ
Never mind the length, can we agree not to bring back the grunge and post-grunge era just because it was awful? ;)
“Anyone else remember when bands would put out music that was more than three minutes long?”
That’s sure a stylish onion you’re wearing in your belt! D-boner!
Ah, the ignorance and selective memory, due to a weakening brain capacity, of the old! Being old myself, I remember just as well, and even better what a fucking nightmare “Prog Rock” was (“Tarkus” anyone? Those Yes albums that went on and on and on?) and how it, with its evil ally Disco, kept the best music off the radio for years – 1977 was one of the greatest years in young people music history, and the radio never let anyone know.
But I like this Abe Simpson act. ‘ts funny!
Chronos:
IMO, you’d be remiss by doing so. I hate that cover. Far inferior to the original in every way imaginable. The Gregorian cover, however, is pretty decent:
more than 3 minutes?
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
[those were the days]
I’ve heard it said here that some people believe every word of Genesis.
I don’t even think Phil Collins was a good drummer.
Louis
P.S. Okay a) I stole that joke, and b) this was my one opportunity to make it with even vague relevance.
Also, Wilkins is evil. This has been established. I’ve seen him kick puppies.*
Louis
* Actual puppy kicking may not have occurred. He also likes the wrong sort of chocolate and is possibly Australian. So at least there is some chance at redemption.
Modern music is perfectly capable of being experimental and lengthy.
Even with a degree of variation.
I don’t appreciate it when people of any age rag on modern music for the sake of nostalgia. As a musician, I don’t like it when people assume the current period is devoid of creativity, because they’re effectively saying that I’m devoid of creativity.
By the way, heavy metal has kept the twenty-minute-plus epic alive for the past thirty years, passing the torch from Yes to Dream Theater, then Opeth and Edge of Sanity (the last wrote an album that was one forty minute song – one of the best works of progressive death metal ever). You’re welcome.
Modern music is perfectly capable of being experimental and lengthy.
Even with a degree of variation.
I don’t appreciate it when people of any age rag on modern music for the sake of nostalgia. As a musician, I don’t like it when people assume the current period is devoid of creativity, because they’re effectively saying that I’m devoid of creativity.
By the way, heavy metal has kept the twenty-minute-plus epic alive for the past thirty years, passing the torch from Yes to Dream Theater, then Opeth and Edge of Sanity (the last wrote an album that was just one forty minute song entitled Crimson – one of the best works of progressive death metal ever). You’re welcome.
Accidental doublepost, apologies.
Heh, funnily Floyd was the soundtrack of my adolescence as well, by way of my dad’s record collection, and I still have their entire discography. Now, though, my musical tastes have mutated completely out of control and I’m listening to bizarre mixes of spastic electronica, death metal, baroque classical, swing, jazz, hip hop, gypsy folk… I suppose the experimentalism of Floyd is what stuck..
Ever since I was introduced to this blog in 2004 I’ve wondered what type of music biologists listed to. Do you have music in the lab? I first heard the Floyd while defending my country by going to Vietnam in 1970. I lived in a little building made out of ammo cases and tin with the other company clerk and no kidding, Floyd the cook. No plumbing (only officers deserved their own toilets) but we did have electricity. We also had fairly high end stereo equipment. One evening in early March of ’71, I laid down on the bunk with a head full of every drug available, headphones on and listened to ummagumma. It was my first encounter with those rather unusual sounds and because of the environment and situation I found myself in, it was an unforgettable experience. And a very pleasant one at that. At this moment Henry Flyntt is half way through playing his 1981 composition ‘You Are My Everlovin’. This version of the song is slightly over 42 minutes. This unique, different music is not as startling as Mr. Flynt’s views on evolution. Yikes. Keep up the fine work P.Z.
I am fortunate enough to have seen them 3 times: Winterland in ’70; Carnegie Hall in “72 (they opened with the entire Dark Side of the Moon, which hadn’t come out yet); and Saratoga Performing Arts center in ’73. At Carnegie Hall, they played Careful With That Axe, Eugene and when Waters screamed he also hit a foot pedal that caused the entire stage to blow up, finishing the song in slowly disappearing smoke. That’s as close to a religious experience as I’ll ever have.
PZ
As your doling out final grades after an exhaustive semester, does your head explode with dark forebodings too?
Pretty awesome that you’re a Floyd fan.
Sorry it took me so long to comment. I’ve been listening to Pink Floyd…
Is there anybody out there?
Convoy is more than three minutes long.
Albuquerque is over 11 minutes long.
A week in a county jail hits just about past the 3 minute mark, but feels like a half-hour or so.
And there’s the epic Trapped in the Closet .
Damn I love the Floyd. When I was 12 put my brother’s copy of Dark Side (a ’73 original pressing) on the record player and lay down between the speakers. That was in 1988. I still have the LP.
In other news, here’s a song longer than three minutes. It even has horns and keyboards!
http://fromtheashes9000.bandcamp.com/track/channel-x
Shine On You Crazy Diamond always gets me. We’ve got a local PF cover band called “House of Floyd” that can play the whole repotoire, takes requests on email before the show, and really does it very well. I go see them whenever I can, because even if it’s not real Pink Floyd, it’s all Pink Floyd stuff, and it’s live, and it’s lovely.
We Can’t Make It Here Anymore James McMurtry, not the world’s most wonderful musician, but that song makes the hair stand up on my arms. So sad, and true where I live.
Well, if this thread isn’t the thread to mention
http://www.furia.com/misc/genremaps/engenremap.html
I don’t know which thread will be.
Enjoy!
(Count me in as a fan of WYWH and DSotM; The Wall, not so much except for Nobody Home: the most depressing song every written in a major! key (the F to Fm doesn’t count))
BTW, which one is Pink?
Choctaw BingoSomething light-hearted. Folks from around there know that every place McMurtry mentions in the song is a real place.
“…stopped off in Tushka at that “Pop’s Knife and Gun” place
Bought a SKS rifle and a couple a full cases of that steel core ammo
With the berdan primers from some East bloc nation that no longer needs ’em
And a Desert Eagle that’s one great big ol’ pistol
I mean .50 caliber made by badass Hebrews
And some surplus tracers for that old BAR of Slayton’s
Soon as it gets dark we’re gonna have us a time
We’re gonna have us a time
Ruth Ann and Lynn come down from Baxter Springs
That’s one hell raisin’ town way up in Southeastern Kansas
Got a biker bar next to the lingerie store
That’s got them Rolling Stones lips up there in bright pink neon
And they’re right down town where everyone can see ’em
And they burn all night you know they burn all night you know they burn all night
Ruth Ann and Lynn they wear them cut off britches and those skinny little halters
And they’re second cousins to me
Man I don’t care I want to get between ’em
With a great big ol’ hard on like a old bois d’ arc fence post
You could hang a pipe rail gate from
Do some sister twisters ’til the cows come home
And we’d have us a time …”
It is a very fine day when one’s favorite blogger gets off on one’s favorite band.
What a co-inky dink !!!!
Didn’t bother reading the comments above so don’t know if this might have been mentioned, but if you still want a live fix of Floyd I highly recommend “Australian Pink Floyd” for the very best cover. Pigs = absolutely best voice box work I have ever heard.
I have been going to concerts since the Beatles at Shea Stadium, seen a few….
Caught Water’s Wall this winter which was great too. But for full Floyd treatment, watch for them Aussies.
Ranting on,
David
Yes, but do you still have your hearing?
I said – do you still have your hearing?
This one.
:D
Rev. BDC… which Umphrey’s guy moved there? I’ve met Joel, Stasik and Jake (and Jake’s mom!) and they all seem to be good people.
Chas @41… my favorite UM Floyd cover was from a show at Urbana (I think), where in the motel before the concert, the only good thing on TV was a Liverpool v. Chelsea (?) match. You could hear the crowd sing the Liverpool song, and we were all thinking ‘Fearless’. Sure enough, halfway through first set they pulled it out. Fun show. I’ve seen them almost as many times as I saw Jerry. Nice ‘Bird Song’ by the way. One of my favorites.
Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, The Who
Speaking of which: I just saw Yes last month. Never bothered to buy a ticket when they went on sale several months before. Just showed up 10 minutes before show time, was in the process of buying a nosebleed, when a ticket fifth row center “became available”. Sold! Close to the Edge and The Yes Album straight through from front to back, encored with Roundabout. One $7 beer the whole concert and no sweet smell of faraway places. My, how times have changed. And Jon Davison did a laudable job on the vocals.
Pink Floyd is one of the loves I get to share with my 18 yo daughter. Her favourite piece? “Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict” of course.
She tells me she loves dancing to it. Its hilarious.
DanDare, thank you for the morning smile.
drewl, I am somewhat envious. I’ve only seen UM maybe 5 or 6 times, but always got my face pretty much melted.
And all I play in the car anymore is the 2006 tour w/ Joshua Redman.
(are you really from Montana?)
Um… 2012?
The longest pieces of music in my iTunes Library that were released last year:
• We drift like worried fire : 20:07 : Allelujah! Don’t bend! Ascend! : Godspeed You! Black Emperor
• Mladic : 20:00 : Allelujah! Don’t bend! Ascend! : Godspeed You! Black Emperor
• CK ‣ (a) 242 hurtz | (b) Vorspiel : 18:44 : Not bleeding red : Nothing But Noise
• Mass : 18:22 : Not bleeding red : Nothing But Noise
• Gaza : 17:26 : Prog P7 – Cod bluff : Marillion
• And I will kiss : 17:15 : Isles of wonder : music for the opening ceremony of t… : Underworld ƒ Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Pandem…
• Shuteye wanderer : 16:31 : Coma ghosts : Effloresce
• Satori in elegance, part III : 15:16 : The satori in elegance of the majestic stonegazer : Sendelica
• The case of Charles Dexter Ward : 14:46 : The stories of H. P. Lovecraft : a syNphonic collection : The Samurai of Prog
• Sleepers 2012 : 14:08 : Battle scars : Galahad
• The thief : 13:43 : Trouble with machines : District 97
• This green and pleasant land : 13:16 : Prog P2 – Stormwatch : Pendragon
• Gravity : 13:14 : Not bleeding red : Nothing But Noise
• A multiplicity of doors : 13:04 : Angels of darkness, demons of light II : Earth
• Dream-quest to the unknown Kadath : 12:51 : The stories of H. P. Lovecraft : a syNphonic collection : Kate
• Provocatism : 12:48 : RareNoiseRecords (promo CD) : Animation
• Mountains of madness : 12:37 : The stories of H. P. Lovecraft : a syNphonic collection : Aether
• Perception : 12:16 : Random Friday : Solar Fields
• Yes medley ‣ And you and I | Awaken | Close to the e… : 12:11 : Covered mirror, vol 1 : smooth as silk : Unitopia
• Idea spiral (Ozora Festival 2011 live edit) : 12:05 : Greenosophy : cell
• Sulfur giants : 12:02 : Jess and the Ancient Ones : Jess and the Ancient Ones
• The hunting of Johnny Eue : 12:01 : Prog P1 – A new day yesterday : Citizen Cain
There are another 32 that are longer than 10 mins, and altogether 918 (out of 1016) that are longer than 3 mins.
Enjoy!
/@
u r so cool
There’s plenty of new music longer than 3 minutes long. The real question is when was the last time a piece longer than 3 minutes was played on the air by the radio monopoly. I first heard Careful With That Axe Eugene on FM radio. Maybe they can do some kind of frequency swap and put music radio out of its misery once and for all.
I loooove Pink Floyd. My ‘Dark Side of the Moon 40th Anniversary’ t-shirts should show up in the mail in a few days.
Oh! That would have been the time when people listened to the radio and wore onions on their belts, sometimes simultaneously.
Chas @88… close, less than 100 miles. Moving back there in August, actually. Just me and my pygmy pony…
Grantchester Meadows from UmmaGumma.
There is a certain spot on a certain river in northwest Wyoming. If you pause there on the north bank on a summer’s eve as the sun sets, the river will play the melody of the song’s refrain for you as it splashes over the rocks.
And Shamus from Meddle. Proof that even dogs can sing the blues.
yay Floyd. Shine on you crazy diamond is my personal sound track. I also have really big soft spot for Money, but covered by Elkie Brooks, even better than Floyd’s version.
As someone whose favorite bands since pre-pubescence have been Rush and Iron Maiden, yes. Speaking of Yes, coming back from my beer run tonight, I drove around the block 5 or 6 times to hear “Heart of the Sunrise” through to the end.
Anyway, to add to the recommendations of bands that are still doing this type of thing today:
Beardfish, Roulette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrzt9YFBW8Y
Marillion, Ocean Cloud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx5dzaYrcoQ
Transatlantic, All of the Above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-G2WZ1Skvs
Ayreon/Arjen Lucassen, Isis and Osiris: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubPDWJ1l-LI
Opeth. Windowpane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCeXmWKr4SU
Storm Corrosion, Drag Ropes (Michael Akerfeldt of Opeth and Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree mentioned upthread): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=manW5v-AR7U worth it for the video alone
http://WWW.YouTube.com/watch?v=GVS8TEEaBGg
Fingers aren’t working this morning;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVS8TEEaBgg
Best version out there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY
And Tim Minchin has done the odd long song or two too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ0G5Nik8iY