David Gilmour Finally Reveals His Favorite Pink Floyd Album
via David Gilmour/YouTube
David Gilmour built up a significant collection of music during his time with Pink Floyd. He joined the band in 1967 as a guitarist and co-lead singer when Syd Barrett, the original frontman, was facing difficulties. Gilmour’s presence helped ease the challenges caused by Barrett’s departure in April 1968.
Gilmour and bassist/co-vocalist Roger Waters formed a strong songwriting partnership. Alongside keyboardist Rick Wright and drummer Nick Mason, they embarked on a new musical direction. They moved away from their early psychedelic style and ventured into a more profound and intellectual territory. While some might call it progressive rock, it’s best described simply as “Pink Floyd.”
This transition marked the shift from their earlier phase to the one that culminated in iconic concept albums like The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973. The band experimented with various musical approaches to refine their sound and achieve the massive success they enjoyed in the 1970s. Of course, there were some artistic missteps along the way. However, by the time they released Meddle in 1971, Pink Floyd had found their stride and were poised for their most significant period.
How Meddle Paved the Way
Meddle included notable tracks like “Echoes” and “Fearless” and remains a standout moment in Pink Floyd’s extensive history. In a 1988 Australian radio interview with B. Pinnell, Gilmour mentioned that Meddle was one of his personal favorites from the band. He also recognized that it marked the beginning of their journey toward achieving heights like The Dark Side of the Moon. Gilmour explained:
“Meddle is amongst my favourites. Meddle, I mean, that, to me, is the start of the path forward for PF really, and Dark Side of the Moon is the next, sort of, stage on from that where we actually really got it right, and we, we got the record right and we got the cover right and the whole package, you know, the whole thing was very good, you know, recording the songs, the lyrics, the idea.”
To conclude his statement, Gilmour emphasized:
“The whole thing was a very powerful package, you know, we knew before we finished it that it was definitely going to do a lot better than anything we’d done before. I mean we didn’t think that it would do that well, but, um, we definitely knew that it would do considerably better than anything we’d done before.”
