An album legendary prog-rock band Pink Floyd released should have been the end of the group, according to Roger Waters.
The longtime bassist and songwriter who left the band in 1985 says the group had “cracked it” with one of their best-ever albums, and that it should have been the end of the band. Speaking about Pink Floyd during an interview given two years after he left the band, and four after their “absolute misery” making The Final Cut, Waters suggested the group had spent a decade trying to improve on their best work. Reflecting on his time with the group, the bassist suggested the group was “finished” long before they eventually disbanded in 1994. David Gilmour would take over as group leader and release two more albums with the band after Waters’ departure.
Though A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell fared well with fans and critics, it is a major step down from the quality Pink Floyd had offered in the past. Waters has since suggested The Dark Side of the Moon was where the band peaked.
He told Q Magazine: “It’s very well-balanced and well-constructed, dynamically and musically, and I think the humanity of its approach is appealing. It’s satisfying. I think also that it was the first album of that kind.
“People often quote S F Sorrow by The Pretty Things as being from a similar mould – they were both done in the same studio at about the same time – but I think it was probably the first completely cohesive album that was made. A concept album, mate! I always thought it would be hugely successful.
“I had the same feelings about The Wall. Towards the end of the studio work, at about the time I’d be putting the tracks together, there was a very good feeling of satisfaction on both records. You’d stand back from them and they’d each feel very complete.”
Though praise for The Wall has continued, as have Waters’ tours of the album, it seems Pink Floyd peaked long before its conception. Waters added: “But of course, The Dark Side Of The Moon finished Pink Floyd off once and for all.
“To be that successful is the aim of every group. And once you’ve cracked it, it’s all over. In hindsight, I think Pink Floyd was finished as long ago as that.”
It is clearly not a view held by Gilmour, who continued on with the band for nearly a decade without Waters. Guitar veteran Gilmour would later share the reason he avoided performing Waters’ songs after the bassist left Pink Floyd.
He shared: “That’s the way it goes. Every time we’d go into a town, there’d be a Pink Floyd Day, tons of records would be played, the Performing Rights Society or the BMI in America would pick up some royalties, which would be distributed to the people who wrote those songs – perfectly right.
“And when Roger plays The Wall in Berlin, money for some of those songs will be paid to me. I do think it’s slightly funny at times, but it’s not a subject one would want to dwell on overlong.”
