Customer Reviews

Saucerful of Pink: Tribute to Pink Floyd

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This is the first collection of music I didn't know how to describe because I haven't heard music like this before. Is this music good? Well, some songs ("Set Controls For Heart of The Sun") are awesome and capture the trippy, surreal qualities of PINK FLOYD at their finest. Others, well, not so good...
Unlike one reviewer, I am not dismissing this music just because it lacks familiar elements in rock music like the electric guitar, etc. Actually, I find the use of different instruments (or just strange use of keyboards) very refreshing. Songs like the strong opener are brilliantly executed and respectful of the original sound being mimicked. Where I had some trouble enjoying was when the song was completely unrecognizable from the original like "Another Brick in the Wall." Luckily, the rest are better.

Like PINK FLOYD, the singing is not the main emphasis. I found the fact that most of the songs were rather lengthy a bold and intriguing concept. I have to "tip my hat" to the artists for picking lesser-known songs and playing to such magnitude. The songs that stand out (besides "Set Controls" that I already stated is wonderful) are "Interstellar Overdrive," "Hey You," (best vocals), "Careful With That Axe, Eugene," "Lucifer Sam," "Let There Be More Light," and "Saucerful of Secrets" because there is a nice mixture of the old song structure and the newer method of music style. Worth noting is the humorous and clever "tribute" to "Several Species of Small Furry Animals." I was disappointed in "On The Run" (somehow, just not quite right) and "Echoes" because of the unsettling vocals upsetting the balance of the beautiful music (unlike "Set the Controls" which keeps the spiritual-like qualities throughout). Others are worth a listen. Not since the album "Sgt Pepper Knew My Father" have I heard as interesting a tribute to well known rock musicans and their songs.

Like any compilation album, you don't wind up liking every band/song. But the great thing about this tribute album is that there are enough artists with their own take on Floyd - some very original versions of Floyd songs that aren't on the radio. If you're a fan of the band's history (but not stuck in history), then you'll like this album.

Overview: This 2-disc tribute to Pink Floyd features a range of styles. Some of the songs aren't done very well, but the great ones more than make up for them. This is the best PF tribute album I've found.

DISC 1

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun: This is a "spookier" version of the original, with a kind of aboriginal sound to it. A very good start.

Another Brick in the Wall I and II: Not very good. The vocal section sounds like a hiphop experiment gone badly awry. Fortunately, the instrumental portion of the song is a lot longer. It has a very watery, electronic sound to it.

One of These Days: An electronic version with a great beat. Sounds like something off of the "Run Lola Run" soundtrack.

Wots ... Uh the Deal: Excellent. Slower and dreamier than the original.

Interstellar Overdrive: Take the original and replace the guitars with synthesizers. Not bad, but nothing special.

Learning to Fly: Very dark ... sounds a bit like one of Marilyn Manson's slower songs.

To Roger Waters, Wherever You Are: Silly. Some guy ranting in a cave fades into electronic bagpipes and then back again.

Jugband Blues: Nice rendition of Syd Barrett's last song with the band. A bit faster and happier, though, so it loses the labored and tragic undertone that made the original powerful.

On the Run: Electronic version that works very well.

DISC 2

Echoes: A nice remake. A bit spacier than the original, it puts a new spin on the song by incorporating some nature sounds.

Hey You: Once again, spacier than the original. While it lacks the punch of the guitar solo from the original, the electronic sound works very well for this song.

Careful with that Axe, Eugene: A nice segue from the mellow first two tracks into the louder songs on the disc. Starts off quiet and slowly picks up a nice beat.

Lucifer Sam: The electronic bass sound just can't compare to the raw sound of the original.

Pigs on the Wing: Imagine the original, except sung through a static-y megaphone.

Let There Be More Light: Instruments and vocals sound very close to the original ... until they change a couple of the words for some reason.

Young Lust: Not very good ... the poor singing really hurts this track.

A Saucerful of Secrets: A nice instrumental that manages to bring a new sound to the song while remaining true to the original.

Point Me at the Sky: Very spacey version of this lesser-known song. Manages to sound like something out of the 60's. Very good.

The Nile Song: Decent, but nothing great.

As I said, A Saucerful Of Pink is the ultimate Pink Floyd Techno remix compilation. I doesn't totally change the original songs. It takes the masterpeices and gives them an awesome techno/dance mix twist. If you like Pink Floyd and you like dance music, you will absolutely LOVE this album.

Have absolutely loved this 2-CD / nineteen track collection of Pink Floyd gems covered by some of the better industrial, punk, space rock and psychedelic bands from the '90's - ever since I got it like fifteen years ago. About every single one of these tunes have something quite nice to offer it's listerners. For example - Sky Cries Mary with "Wots - Uh The Deal", Spiral Realms playing "Interstellar Overdrive", Alien Sex Fiend giving us "Echoes", The Electric Hellfire Club with their bit of homage "Lucifer Sam", Chrome's guitarist Helios Creed playing "Pig On The Wing", the awesome Melting Euphoria with "Point Me At The Sky" and the last - but certainly in no way the least - Farflung serving up "The Nile Song". Cleopatra's more recent 'Pink Box: Songs Of Pink Floyd' is good, too - just not as out-standing as this title. Highly recommended.

This is a very unusual collection of tracks by not-so-well known bands covering the Floyd catalogue. There are some people who say don't bother with this, because the selections permutate too far from the originals, but this is not (!) a copy disc. These are only offerings from a variety of recording artists who have obviously been influenced by Pink Floyd's music.

The material succeeds to different degrees, but without exception, every track is interesting, whether one actually likes what they hear or not. And look at the names of these performers: EXP, Pressurehead, The Electric Hellfire Club, Alien Sex Fiend, Penal Colony, Psychic TV, etc...some of this is WAY out there. If you want different, you can't go wrong here.

Some of these tracks take the classic Pink Floyd audio experience to a different level, like the version included here of "Wots..Uh The Deal," the original simply a nice-sounding song played on basic instruments, no flourishes, and it adds a surreal quality that could have been done by Floyd themselves if they had chosen to do so. Though sometimes it feels like these people are trying to outfloyd the Floyd, not an easy task.

And in some cases, this version of "Young Lust" in particular, it is so bad, you HAVE to appreciate it. I have never really liked that song very much until I heard it on the live "Is There Anybody Out There?" disc, (recorded during the 1980 tour), and Penal Colony's take on it, is, well, awful. But as I have said, it is SO bad, it's good in its badness. Terrible. But kind of funny. Which makes it good.

Standout examples would be Psychic TV's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun," very dark and a little scary, "Wots..The Deal," via Sky Cries Mary, Eden's "Jugband Blues;" the first part sounds like something Tim Curry would have sung on "Rocky Horror," leading into a Heavy instrumental passage. other standouts include Furnace's "Hey You," Nick Turner doing a techno version of "Careful With Tha Axe, Eugene" (one would think it need's Waters' blood-curdling scream to work; it doesn't have it, but the mood is still conveyed), EXP's "A Saucerful Of Secrets," which sounds a lot like the version in the "Pompeii" video, and "Point Me At The Sky," by Melting Euphoria. Noteworhy is Ron Geesin's "To Roger Waters, Wherever You Are," not even a Floyd tune, just a strange collage of sounds with Geesin ranting in a voice that sounds like Groundskeeper Willie, from TV's "The Simpsons." Geesin himself collaberated with Waters on the soundtrack to the old film "The Body," and has worked with the whole band on the 23-minute "Atom Heart Mother Suite."

Each track in this set has something to earn it a little further listening, but in cases like "On The Run," "Another Brick In The Wall," and "Nile Song," they seem to go on endlessly, and, in some cases it appears they couldn't decipher the original's lyrics so they just added their own. And on several tracks, the singing jumps out of time with the backgrounds, "Let There Be More Light" being the most obvious example.

The artwork on this two-disc set is a perfect compliment to the music contained within, but the sleeve notes apparently were written in a hurry, late at night, or under the influence of recreational substances. Or a combination of the above. Very sloppy, but well-meant. Still, the product, as a whole, is an enjoyable, albeit strange, listening experience.

I'm rambling, but I think you guys are missing the point. This is one of my favourite Cleopatra ribute albums because you don't have to hear Pink Floyd. If you're a Pink Floyd fan and know that no one can do it better, then don't bother. These bands add new life to very tired songs (admit it man!). For the person who thought Floyd was a "rock band" go back and listen to the mid-period releases from Meddle, More, Obscured, Atom Heart etc. that is the period that is covered mostly by this disc anyway. There are loads of soundscapes and electronic elements represented in those original albums. In these (mostly) ambiant covers those aspects are really brought out. The melodies are generally carried, or maybe just a keyboard flourish from the original. All of the songs are certainly reconizable to any Floyd fan (well maybe except the Gessin track which isn't a Floyd song at all). Those that do try to come closer to the originals, or those that venture into the later period of radio staples, don't work as well and are sure to annoy Floyd fans as well as casual listeners. "Set the Controls" should floor everyone though. That's a nifty version that beats out the original.

Are you kidding me!! Pink Floyd are a rock band. Nowhere on this so called Tribute album (of bands and artists I have never even heard of) did I hear a guitar, or a drum only electronic noise. I don't know what kind of music you classify this as but it is [not good]....

As I listened to this CD I grew angrier and angrier desperately waiting for a song that sounded vaguely simular to a Pink Floyd song but it never happened.

There are much better tribute albums out there - try An Allstar lineup performing the songs of Pink Floyd it is miles better.

Tribute to who? If you really like Pink Floyd, don't spend your money on this awful album... O xente ta ruim demais !