Music videos that feature Rics

[Jeff Scott]

Dark Side Of The Moon is too glossy.

It certainly wasn't perceived that way in 1973 when I saw the tour that June. 

[Alanko]

Cardiacs! Like the Beatles on something speedy. 4003 content as well!

[Dave W]

Um...what the hell was that? 

[Rob]

Um...what the hell was that? 

I likr it more than Aerosmith

[Dave W]

I likr it more than Aerosmith

I wouldn't go that far! 

[uwe]

If anything, they sound like Split Enz on speed. Weirdo bands seem naturally attracted to Rics.

[ilan]

Ooooh nice RM

[uwe]

It certainly wasn't perceived that way in 1973 when I saw the tour that June. 

Live was a different matter. That Alan Parsons sheen from the record wasn't there and it's not apparent on the follow-up albums WYWH and Animals either (where he wasn't engineering or producing uncredited). DSOTM is to my ears the most commercial sounding Floyd album, more so than The Wall even. I prefer a more somber sounding Floyd, but given DSOTM's mass appeal what do I know.

I only saw Floyd once (I've seen Waters and Gilmour a few times solo since then though) - January 1977 on the Animals Tour. They (+ Snowy White - playing the Les Paul in the pic below - and Dick Parry on occasional sax) played Animals in full, took a break, then played WYWH in full and encored with Money and Time, I guess they were at that point tired of playing too much from DSOTM which they had toured heavily in previous years. Gilmour's extended lap steel solo during Shine On You Crazy Diamond - one of the few moments of the gig where they dared to deviate from the recorded version - was the highlight for me. I thought the flying pig stuff silly though.

[Alanko]

Floyd became very entrenched with playing long set lists with minimal deviation from the previous night to the next. I find bootlegs of that era really ploddy and dull to listen through. They had so many side projects (unmusical, more around equipment hire, studios etc) that gigging was just a means to keep the money coming in.

I think Roger Waters had the worst bass tone of any of the prog rock cohort in a live setting. A rubbery 'bong' for each note, sometimes getting out of tune. I don't understand how he was trying to play like McCartney in 1967 but devolved into basic root-fifth-octave stuff a few years later.

[uwe]

He's a really heavy-handed bass player too, digs in like a ploughman, I assume his action must be high enough to slide a peanut butter sandwich through without the strings being touched. Yet it has real authority live when he can be bothered to play the bass himself.

The more subtle and musical parts on the records were frequently played by Gilmour - also anything on fretless. In Waters' songwriting and live presentation universe the bass was just an afterthought. His sparse, yet iconic bass on Another Brick in the Wall was producer Bob Ezrin's idea (and he also used Ezrin's legendary P Bass for it).



His original bass line had been a lot busier and proggier in its syncopation.

[ilan]

He's the genius who wrote The Wall, he played the bass like on Money that every bass player has learned, that should be enough. So he's not Tony Levin.

[uwe]

Floyd were never a technical/instrumental prowess band, they were creators of soundscapes and moods. Nothing wrong with that. But their slow-moving, often primal music was miles away from bands such as Yes, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Genesis and ELP.

David Gilmour is a great guitarist, but his deserved reputation is based on his feel and taste, not on the complexities of his parts.

[Alanko]

How to put a Rick to work in a Floydian context.

[ilan]

It looks fantastic but sounds pale. Back then only two guys exploited what a Ric can do. Chris Squire and Roger Glover.

[gearHed289]

It looks fantastic but sounds pale. Back then only two guys exploited what a Ric can do. Chris Squire and Roger Glover.

Mike Rutherford did a pretty fine job as well.