Which Pink Floyd - Barrett or non-Barrett

In light of HEyHEY's post, I thought I'd put this up. I'll put in a pre-Waters domination anda a post-Waters option for those who want it.
I'm voting Syd. Mos def.

but I still like the music with his influence the best.

But the band has a pretty impressive career all told. Of course Syd Barret made a difference in the early recordings, and his influence is still somewhat felt in their later releases (like the mental patient in The Wall).

not to split hairs ....

:)

If you're gonna do a poll, do it RIGHT!

Come on!;-)

Virtually unlistenable, commercial crap.

n/t

Syd's band were a bunch of young experimentalists, participating in a culture that supported young experimentalists (John Peel and the UFO Club scene). They got away with a lot of extremely weird shit-- both big picture stuff like "Astronomy Domine," which arguably spawned the whole field of space rock, and little tweaks like the psychotic tack piano break in "See Emily Play." (And not everything they did was brilliant-- "Pow R Toc H" is filler, and most of the B sides deserved to be B sides.)

Without Syd, they had a body of techniques they'd developed, but a remarkable lack of good ideas about how to employ those techniques. The space rock idea persisted for a while, arguably culminating in "Echoes," but it took them a really long time to come up with a real world application for their ideas. Dark Side, despite the space allusion in its title, is really social commentary, addressing such topics as the horrors of war and an economic system that views both workers and consumers as disposable parts. And these, in addition to the disintegration of Syd/Pink, are the big themes they've stuck to since.

So, like I said in my post in the Floyd-blows thread, I don't even think of them as the same band, and I'm loath to compare them.

I like Piper, Ummagumma, Meddle, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and the songs on Momentary Lapse that Anthony Moore helped write. And Dark Side is cool, but if I never heard it again I'm not sure I'd miss it. I don't care as much for Saucerful, Atom Heart, Obscured, or Division Bell. I really dislike Final Cut, and I think The Wall is horrendous. I don't think that quite adds up to a preference for one epoch over another in Floyd's curious evolution-- other than that if Waters was gonna become such a whining little twerp they're better off without him.

is my favorite. When i was in England i saw the huge factory building that's on the cover of the album. Good times for a Floyd fan.

Battersea power station (by the River Thames).

Except Final Cut, not so keen on that one.

Syd had a few good pieces but I've never really gotten what made him so special.

Waters took a while to catch his stride, but once he did, no one has compared. I think from Meddle in '71 on, he really made his mark. Obscured By Clouds had a couple really nice ones and then DSOTM hit. AWESOME. Never get tired of that one. Then came Wish you Were Here. Shine On You Crazy Diamond is, to me, the best piece of music ever written. The only thing that comes close is Beethoven's Fifth. Animals was good. The Wall was the first album I listened by Floyd and back then, it was incredible. Its fallen down on my list as I've gotten older. Final Cut is a wonderfully written album. I'm also really enjoying Waters' solo albums recently.

That is the best PF era.

However, I absolutely love A Momentary Lapse of Reason AND The Divisiion Bell too. Division Bell has some of Gilmour's best guitar work to date.

By the way, Which one's Pink?