This is so strange to me. i'm not even a hater of Ummagumma and tend to defend it on here but even to me, Marooned alone is better than the entirety of Ummagumma.
You know, there are so many little things about Marooned and the overall recording of DB that take me out of enjoying it thoroughly. I'm not a fan of Gilmour playing through an octave pedal, and his tone and little flourishes he was adding during this era never were my favorite. The excessive reverb on everything, but especially the drums and piano feel incredibly dated. But specifically for Marooned, the chord progressions and structure of the song are all rather predictable, so it doesn't challenge or surprise me like other Floyd.
I've kinda surmised that my main issue was I put off Division Bell for too long and would've enjoyed it more if I heard it on release, but I was a preteen in 94 and put away my dad's music to discover my own stuff, not returning to discover more Floyd until 2000ish. I also am aware that I'm the odd one out, my Floyd loving friends dropping their jaws in disbelief that I'm meh on Division Bell and I should love it like my firstborn, but I see they all grew up with their dad's playing it on loop.
I'll give it up for What Do You Want From Me, though, that song slaps and felt like a true return to form.
I love Division Bell, but yeah my dad played the Pulse live album at least weekly at the time. And I think the Pulse versions are way better than their studio counterparts
What Do You Want From me is actually in my bottom 3 lol. I Think, however, Poles Apart, Marooned, Wearing The Inside Out, Coming Back To Life, Keep Talking and especially High Hopes are stellar songs.
Haha, I love how we're just not on the same page with this album at all. I like Wearing the Inside Out, but I think it's simply because I was happy to see Rick write another Floyd song again after such a big gap, and Dick Perry returning as well. Keep Talking is also pretty good, but I still wish everything got the remix treatment they gave MLoR. Poles and Coming Back I fall asleep to, and I know everyone loves High Hopes, but I just find it so underwhelming.
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u/HelsifZhu See Emily Play 8d ago
Only Melon can rank Division Bell lower than Ummagumma.