I was like you with Dark Side and still am really. It's not a poor album by any means but much more here's bunch of singles almost. Time (lyrical tour de force) and Great Gig In The Sky + reprise, as i see it tho technically Eclipse (my fav on the album, when that organ kicks in at the end of brain damage.... love it) are the standouts, and yeah you could add Brain Damage to that, especially if coupled with Eclipse. Lyrically it's a very poweful album but for me not so strong on the musical side, at least to my tastes.
I'm not a fan of The Wall but in truth i dont think i've give it a fair listen cos i fucking hate Another Brick in the Wall (dont start me off on choirs of kids lol), so i dont know if i've even heard the whole thing.
im not up on the more modern stuff cos when walters left i lost interest in truth, bit like when gabriel left genesis (tho their first album without him was very good, shite after that)
My first full Floyd experience was The Wall because when me and my mates got into smoking weed in a big way (17/18), it always seemed to be playing as we all seemed to have a copy of it on tape to play in whoever's car we were getting stoned in. This was 89/90. I first watched the film when peaking on acid in a mate's house. That was one fucked-up experience.
The rest of the Floyd back catalogue came after.
I can never put into words where a lot of the more grim/hard Floyd takes me, mentally. I've tried and can't. I've this half-realised sense of understanding that much is about my formative years being the 70's, and a feeling of decay that was both physical (I grew up in the post-industrial shithole that is Sintellins) and societal. Tracks like Dogs and much of The Wall capture that. Takes me to a place in my head that's simultaneously really familiar but also unsettling. Most prominent amongst imagery there, in the bit of a mess that's my noggin, is the light of council flats, a somehow dull and artificial light. Makes no sense when I write it down.
Like you, I'm also not that enamoured with the post-Waters era. There's still the soothingly melodic music and soaring guitar that will nestle you in a stoned bliss, but Gimour lacks the anger and grittiness that Waters brings. Similarly, Waters lacks Gilmour's musical chilled-outness. In that sense, it's akin to Lennon & McCartney. Each capable of putting together songs (and Lennon did admittedly do some quality songs when solo, although they were amongst a load of self-indulgent shite), but put them together to bounce off (and the other band members with an input) and they soar. You can see with Floyd on the Final Cut. Parts feel like Floyd, and there's many elements that are lyrically brilliant. But it so doesn't feel like a Floyd album, as Waters was in 'autocratic prick' mode.
