Pink Floyd was founded in London, England, in 1965, although David Gilmour didn’t join the band until 1967, two years after it had already started. Before he joined, the band had seen some modest success, particularly in their own nation because of the creative songs Syd Barrett had written.
But the band only became famous internationally and one of the most successful musical groups in history when the revolutionary album “Dark Side Of The Moon” was published in 1973. The band has released 15 studio albums throughout the years, and there is a lot of debate among fans as to which period is the greatest. It turns out that not even the band members are huge Pink Floyd fans. In a 1988 interview with B. Pinnell, David Gilmour disclosed that there are two albums that are not among his favorites.
Here are the 2 Pink Floyd Albums David Gilmour Doesn’t Like
Atom Heart Mother
In an interview with Mojo magazine in 2001, he claimed that it could have been Pink Floyd’s creative low point. The fourth Pink Floyd song to include David Gilmour was “Atom Heart Mother,” which was released in 1970. Even though it was the third without Syd Barrett, Gilmour thinks the band was still looking for a musical direction to go in at the time. Since its debut, the album has earned a cult following among the band’s followers. Other well-remembered tracks from the album include “Summer ’68,” “Fat Old Sun,” and “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast.”
In the interview, he said, “We didn’t know where we were going in terms of recording. But we were pretty good live. We were very good at jamming. But we couldn’t translate that onto record. Gradually, a direction revealed itself to us. A line that began with the ‘Saucerful of Secrets’ track all the way to ‘Echoes’, via the long piece ‘Atom Heart Mother'”
“That was a good idea but it was dreadful. I listened to that album recently. God, it’s shit, possibly our lowest point artistically. ‘Atom Heart Mother’ sounds like we didn’t have any idea between us. But we became much more prolific after it.”
Ummagumma
“Ummagumma,” a double album containing original tracks made in the studio and live renditions of previously released songs, was released in 1969, one year before “Atom Heart Mother.” The drummer of the ensemble, Nick Mason, even formed his own touring group, “Saucerful Of Secrets,” named after the song. They play the songs from the early albums that Waters and Gilmour don’t frequently play when touring.
Gilmour is also not a great admirer of the album, despite the appreciation it receives from many fans and the fact that it contains other well-known songs. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2011, he discussed that period of the band and claimed that frequently their sources of inspiration were inadequate for the work they were performing at the time.
He said, “We were fairly brave, and would put anything on a record that amused us one way or another. But in some of those moments we were floundering about. (We) didn’t have our forward momentum very clear, and inspiration might have been a bit thin on the ground at times.”
The musician claimed that the band was still determining its musical direction even though it was his third album with them and the second without Syd Barrett. In an interview with John Edginton in 2001, Gilmour said, “In the beginning, I had to quickly adapt to them. Play stuff that I had no clue what I was doing, it was probably dreadful. It was also excruciatingly embarrasing to the extent that I used to mostly play with back to the audience.”
“I was very embarrassed and nervous about what I was doing. Also, I didn’t feel so sure of myself, I didn’t know what to play. I had to try and play on these songs. (Also these) sort of templates that the band and Syd had been playing on for some time. I was conscious that I needed at some point try and make it more my own.”
