Perception of David vs Roger.

[DaveTheRave]

Roger never had such a profound epiphany on bass. In the '70s his playing went backwards. Neither a rigid time keeper or brilliant harmonist, his bass lines were perfunctory root-fifth or root-octave parts that lumber along. One of the reasons I don't enjoy live recordings after 1972 or so.

His style of playing in front (or on top?) of the others was interesting. Listen to the live versions of Cymbaline as an example.

[lennyif]

Roger's playing and knowledge of harmony is very basic, but I do love hearing him as much as I love hearing Willie Weeks, Pino Palladino, or Nate Watts. Why? Because he developed his own distinctive voice on the instrument. His personality comes through, and he has a distinct sound all to his own. The same reason I can listen to Johnny Thunders or Allan Holdsworth and enjoy it equally. It's about expression for me.

If we were to judge Pink Floyd strictly on technique, really, none of them would get a pass. None of them could make it as general session players. It's the fact that they all found their own way to play things that is unique to them that make them extraordinary. Human expression... not just in the lyrics, but also in their individual and collective playing. This is also why a band that last toured in 1994 is still getting massive amounts of new fans who were not even born yet in 1994.

[j.vavala513@gmail.com]

I apologize if i lost the plot there a bit with my original post, and I certainly wasn’t trying to start yet another D vs R discussion, but rather found the way we kind of have a tendency to downplay Roger’s musical contributions worth a discussion. I think I can get a bit wordy and lose track of my original intention sometimes and it is something I’ve been trying to work on. And I’m not above admitting when I stumble and apologize for all that…

moving on, though…It is interesting that Roger seems to have peaked so early on as a bassist. His playing on and around the first album is very unique and I enjoy it quite a lot. He could play with power, driving the song forward on things like the beginning of “See Emily Play” or melodically rich and stretch out like on the intro to “Matilda Mother”. I think the Paul McCartney reference is an excellent comparison, which is mind blowing to think of, for a guy who would largely stick to just vocals increasingly over his career.

As has been mentioned, none of the members are exactly virtuosos, and they were never going to match musicianship with a band like Yes, for example. But for myself, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. They had the songs, and an interest in unique sounds, which is something they excelled at from the start. And Roger’s “voice” on his instrument was part of that. The tick-tock bass sound used so effectively on “Time” had been an element of “Interstellar Overdrive” from a very early point. Something I rarely see referenced is how great something like his part during the “seagull” section of “Echoes” is. Running the bass through one of the Binsons and using a slide to elicit a that amorphous foreboding soundscape was extremely effective and nothing if not a pretty unique technique that maybe a more proficient musician might not have stumbled across. But a willingness to experiment led to this texture that perfectly complements the otherworldly sounds of David’s guitar, which again was quite literally a sound they found from doing something the “wrong” way, in that plugging his pedal in backwards created that sound.

The fact that when David, or whoever stumbled across it, found that sound, that they didn’t just unplug and plug in the right way, and instead experimented and found that turning the tone knob on your guitar resulted in the pitch of the sound changing is absolutely inspired, and 100% something that 99% of the people in the world would never find out, because the harsh squeal would be instantly something to avoid for most. The idea that they took this undesirable sound and turned it into part of this expansive musical landscape that expressed the forlorn isolation of a lone wanderer scanning the sky for another is a beautiful thing.

I think that experimental kinda of attitude became less and less a part of their sound as time went on, but pops up in the use of the “Wine Glasses” in SOYCD, the repeated echo of “stone” morphing into a dog’s bark on “Sheep”, or really the entirety of “On the Run” being something that only could’ve existed because of a willingness to spend time on the odd sounds created by speeding up a VCS3. I suppose “Marooned” is a later day representation of that willingness and perhaps why it’s one of the later day things I am most drawn to.

[Floydfan2410]

I think the Pompeii film is the most perfect example of how good all 4 of them were.
They were on fire all 4 of them equally.
Roger is amazing during songs like Echoes and One Of These Days.
Nick is incredible during songs like Saucerful of Secrets and One of These Days.
Rick kills it on Echoes and Saucerful of Secrets, especially Celestial Voices!!!
And I love watching David sit on the ground torturing the Black Strat!! And his solos are incredible!!!
I will never get tired of that film. It was Pompeii that changed my life and made me a life long Pink Floyd fan!!

[umma gumma]

I usually avoid talking about stuff like this. Fan bias, gossip, rumours, projected expertise. And endless arguments.

Nobody knows shit except the members of the band, and even they have their own versions of events & bad memories over time.

We're lucky they didn't implode earlier & we got all the great music we did.