Syd Barrett or David Gilmour

or

Poor Syd — he cheated his own genius.

Syd Barrett's music (and really, his whole style) was very unique, and certainly influential to Pink Floyd, as well as many other artists. However, David Gilmour's guitar playing is just...phenomenal. :loveya: The first time I heard "Comfortably Numb," I felt like those solos were taking me into another dimension (and no, I was not drunk, high, or otherwise impaired at the time). :) He just seems to be able to transmit the most intense emotions through those guitar strings, which is not something that I've found to be very common, even among some of the most technically proficient guitarists.

So, with apologies to the late, great Mr. Barrett, I'm going to have to cast my vote for Mr. Gilmour. :loveya:

You're the only other person I've found who's said that about "Comfortably Numb." I swear, I hear something in that song that no one else does, and even after all this time I can't get through it without feeling something very, very deep and unexplainable.

:hi: I know what you mean. A lot of people like the song and think Gilmour's solos are good, but listening to it almost physically affects me. Something about the way he plays that song in particular makes me feel like I'm flying, or something...seriously, the first time I heard it, I felt like I was walking on air, even fifteen minutes (or so) after the song was over. Who needs drugs when you've got such deeply moving guitar work? :shrug: :loveya:

I know there's something that relates to my life in "a distant ship's smoke on the horizon" and "I turned to look, but it was gone / I cannot put my finger on it now / The child is grown, the dream is gone," but... well, I cannot put my finger on it.

But the solo is... well, yeah — physical. Especially when he goes up the neck in the last 16 bars. I've often reacted to that, physically, as if I were enduring someone else's pain.

:shrug:

That song does take me to a moment when I was delirious as a child, and could sense things in what I thought were different dimensions.

I don't remember ever being delirious — though I did once have a high fever when I was about 2, and I remember crying — but some of the lyrics (see my reply to Cabcere above) make me feel like I'm seeing... no, looking for bits of a past life.

There's no way out of here.....

The genius that is Barrett-era Floyd is diving back into childhood, and literally going mad in the process.

Gilmour, however, is a downright amazing guitarist. His use of Pedal Steel is transcendant. Meddle is, in my opinion, one of the greatest albums ever made that never got the credit it deserved.

Your thoughts on this?

I STILL get chills when I hear the solo on Comfortably Numb, and I've heard it a million times.

Man - some genius there

"Learning to Fly..."

My God, the list goes on. All great stuff.

I'll never forget when Rolling Stone had an article on the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Gilmour was listed at 82, well below Lou Reed (52) and Kurt Cobain (12!). Nothing against Reed or Cobain, but give me a fuckin' break.

My stepdad, a professional jazz musician, ingrained in me during my preadolescence an appreciation for what could best be termed "soul."

It's indescribable, and completely unquantifiable. But you know it when you hear it, once you know what to listen for (which of course can't be quantified). Does the guy playing the song really FEEL it? It's like that kid's book The Velveteen Rabbit.

Syd maybe, maybe even probably, would have had a well-developed soul in a few more years, but, alas, he gave up the ghost too soon.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Syd was creative, David is too. Syd went mad and David is a professional musician. You really cant compare the two.

He playing is intuitive and smooth, smoooooooth. His fingers drip.

Floyd was a more interesting band w/ him then Gilmour, IMO..

Day and Night

May they both shine on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82IqwKB_qSo

But in a good way. :evilgrin:

But Barrett was amazing too.
Still, listen to the song 'Echoes' by Pink Floyd...you will hear absolute genius therein. Genius.

:D

His ability to produce the sound he wants so precicely puts him way up there, in my view.

The cosmic unconsciousness or something like it.

...but with Syd they were more daring and experimental, which I what I usually gravitate towards. Plus they had a sense of humor that was sorely lacking after he left.

both genius, but of different type. i'm on an early floyd kick right now, so i got to go w/ syd: "that cat's something i can't explain."

Barrett was the heart and soul of Pink Floyd. As much as I love the Barrett-era floyd, I wonder how long they would have lasted with him at the helm. Even before his mental breakdown, he was rather fickle and unpredictable. Gilmour, on the other hand, had a rock sensibility that really brought cohesion to the band after a few years of hit-and-miss experimentation.

edit- heheh. I see someone else responded the same way upthread.