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Meddle is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released by Harvest Records on 5 November 1971 in the United Kingdom.[3] The album was produced between the band's touring commitments, from January to August 1971 at a series of locations around London, including EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) and Morgan Studios.
With no material to work with and no clear idea of the album's direction, the band devised a series of novel experiments which eventually inspired the album's signature track "Echoes". Although the band's later albums would be unified by a central theme chosen by Roger Waters, and thematically consistent lyrics written entirely by Waters, Meddle was a group effort with Waters contributing primarily to the lyrics and the bass. It is considered a transitional album between the Syd Barrett-influenced group of the 1960s and the Waters-led era of the 1970s.[4] Fans often refer to this album, especially "Echoes", as the first instance of the group achieving their musical potential.
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records in the UK and Capitol Records in the US. Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of the former band member Syd Barrett, who had departed the group in 1968. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London.
The record builds on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the extended instrumentals that characterised the band's earlier work. The group employed multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers, including experimentation with the EMS VCS 3 and a Synthi A. The engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many aspects of the recording, and for the recruitment of the session singer Clare Torry, who appears on "The Great Gig in the Sky".
The Dark Side of the Moon explores themes such as conflict, greed, time, death, and mental illness. Snippets from interviews with the band's road crew and others are featured alongside philosophical quotations. The sleeve, which depicts a prismatic spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson in response to the keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design which would represent the band's lighting and the album's themes. The album was promoted with two singles: "Money" and "Us and Them".
The Dark Side of the Moon has received widespread critical acclaim and is often featured in professional listings of the greatest albums of all time. It brought Pink Floyd international fame, wealth and plaudits to all four band members. A blockbuster release of the album era, it also propelled record sales throughout the music industry during the 1970s. The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14× platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 990 weeks. By 2013, The Dark Side of the Moon had sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the fourth-best-selling album in history.[3] In 2012, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.[4]
Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 12 September 1975 through Harvest Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US, their first for the label. Based on material Pink Floyd composed while performing in Europe, Wish You Were Here was recorded over numerous sessions throughout 1975 at EMI Studios in London.
The lyrics express alienation and criticism of the music business. The bulk of the album is taken up by "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", a nine-part tribute to the Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett, who had left seven years earlier due to his deteriorating mental health. Barrett coincidentally visited during the recording. As with their previous release, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Pink Floyd employed studio effects and synthesisers. Guest singers included Roy Harper, who provided the lead vocals on "Have a Cigar", and Venetta Fields, who added backing vocals to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". To promote the album, Pink Floyd released the double A-side single "Have a Cigar" / "Welcome to the Machine".
Wish You Were Here was certified gold in the UK and the US in its year of release and topped the charts in several European countries. By 2004, it had sold an estimated 13 million copies worldwide. It initially received mixed reviews; critics found its music uninspiring and inferior to Pink Floyd's previous work. It was later acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of all time, appearing on lists including Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums at which it was ranked at #264 in 2021. It was cited by the keyboardist, Richard Wright, and the guitarist, David Gilmour, as their favourite Pink Floyd album
Animals is the tenth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 21 January 1977,[2] by Harvest Records and Columbia Records. Pink Floyd produced it at their new studio, Britannia Row Studios, in London throughout 1976. The album continued the long-form compositions that made up such previous works as Meddle (1971) and Wish You Were Here (1975).
A lyrical departure from Pink Floyd's previous albums, Animals is a concept album that focuses on the sociopolitical conditions of mid-1970s Britain. Tension within the band during production culminated in the firing of the keyboardist, Richard Wright, two years after the album's release. The cover, conceived by the bassist and lead songwriter, Roger Waters, and designed by their long-time collaborator Storm Thorgerson, shows an inflatable pig floating between two chimneys of Battersea Power Station.
Pink Floyd released no singles from Animals but promoted it through the In the Flesh tour. Waters' agitation with audiences during this tour inspired their next album, The Wall (1979). Animals reached number 2 in the UK and number 3 in the US. It initially received mixed reviews, but gained more favourable reviews in later years, and is considered one of Pink Floyd's best works.
All album information taken from articles on Wikipedia.com
Whilst browsing the site, I was surprised to see this LP hasn't been rated.
Finally a modern accessible Opera Rock, which can be appreciated by a
wider crowd of
listeners (not for the prog fans only!!), of course with the same mood
of a musical, even
though I can not say it's equal to the 70's majestic opera rocks, such
as "Jesus Christ
Superstar for example or the good work by Who entitled
"Tommy"...nevertheless it's
suitable for a thrilling music event live on stage (as foreseen in the
next concert
programme of 2006), starring the whole old line up of PFM, plus a few
guest stars, as well
as a young talented female singer called "Dolcenera", singing in the
final track "Un Destino
di Rondine"... the good and the evil living together, the perfect
representation of Dracula,
this latter character already represented in the cinematographic
masterpiece by F. Ford
Coppola and here helped by the orchestral sections and the symphonic
chorus as well,
really delightful ; it's strange that it's the second concept album
only, after the
controversial (and quite disappointing too) "Ulisse" dated 1997, as They
try to be involved
in the development of a famous story and this time reaching their goal
in a lot of
circumstances: in fact the style of PFM is inspiring both in the
accessible classic rock genre
and in the symphonic breaks-through as well, close to a kind of classic
music and with a
certain creativity which is often remarkable. The lyrics by Vincenzo
Incenzo are clever, thanks also
to the melodramatic passages (think of the overture): of course it's not
a
prog masterpiece nor strictly a progressive concept album, but their
music taste is always
pleasant, being able to represent the various dramatic and romantic
moods!! It should be worth a "3 stars" righter score in comparison to
their best albums ...long live PFM, anyway!! 
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