12 Pink Floyd songs that capture the band perfectly

“Comfortably Numb” from The Wall (1979)

The fact that relations were strained between Roger Waters and the rest of the band in the late '70s wasn’t exactly revolutionary news. Plenty of bands had fights. And plenty of bands split apart under the weight of that strain. That is what would happen to Pink Floyd in short order as the ‘70s rolled into the ‘80s. The Wall was Roger Waters’ pet project and its epic scope wasn’t embraced by the rest of the band members. But they managed to work through their differences long enough to crank out their most overtly conceptual album.

It's almost unfair to pick a song from The Wall. It is a coherent progression of 26 tracks that tell a mostly coherent story. It did contain Pink Floyd’s biggest hit single – "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2” – but there is not a single track that doesn’t lose a little something when pulled out of its place in line. “Comfortable Numb” which arrives at a crucial moment at the end of side three of the double album, may be the best stand-alone song, but even it is better in context.

Much of The Wall is Roger Waters at his most bitter, so it is refreshing to hear the more sentimental side he is capable of showing. That should not imply that there is anything the least bit soft-hearted in "Comfortably Numb." It is a hard-edged sentimentality – an acceptance of the artist’s role in the corporate machine.

It is a subject Waters had been dealing with through the last several albums, and here it reaches its logical conclusion – becoming comfortably numb in his role. And still, Gilmour’s angry, swirling guitar solo suggests that the struggle may not be over just yet. I’ll admit, it takes a lot to make me choose something over “Mother” from this album, but “Comfortably Numb” offers a lot.

“High Hopes” from The Division Bell (1994)

Pink Floyd released two albums in between The Wall and The Division Bell. The first, The Final Cut, was largely a Roger Waters’ solo effort and would be his final contribution before a rather messy departure. Four years later, David Gilmour released A Momentary Laps of Reason with minimal input from Richard Wright and Nick Mason. Both albums have fans, and I think Waters’ “The Gunners Dream” and Gilmour’s “One Slip” are strong songs. But I can’t make the case that they are the equals of the band’s best early music.

The Division Bell is a different story. It was more of a complete band effort. If it missed Waters’ penetrating lyrics (and it did, I think that’s undeniable), it still produced several very strong songs. “High Hopes,” the final song on the album, could have been from Floyd’s glory era. It has the epic scope – the evocative instrumentation – and the breadth of musical expression, from gothic to the little Latin guitar runs in the middle – that characterized Floyd’s best work.

As previously mentioned, Gilmour would release something of a tribute album to Wright after his death – and 20 years after The Division Bell. That is technically Pink Floyd’s final album. But the nine minutes of “High Hopes” that closes The Division Bell, is a more fitting finale to one of rock & roll’s most crucial acts.

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