Albums:
1.
Wish You Were Here (1975, my #64 album of all-time)
"The child is grown / the dream is gone" sang Gilmour in "Comfortably Numb." Many albums you loved in your childhood lose the spark within a few years but it's not the case with "Wish You Were Here" for me. When I listen to this album I still recognize in me the child playing on air imaginary drums and guitars while religiously listening in the bedroom of my neighbour Vicent Lluís the records of his older brother. It hardly matters that some parts may sound today morose or self-indulgent, the child is still here.
2.
Meddle (1971, #121)
After Syd Barrett's departure and before a period of three albums under the dictatorship of Roger Waters (and an epilogue of also three albums with David Gilmour as a leader), Pink Floyd was a band that worked pretty well as a democracy. My favourite three albums by them come from this "democratic period" and their earlier (and often overlooked) masterpiece is this one. The acclaim (and deservedly so) come mostly for the epic "Echoes" but the side A, filled by dreamy acoustic ballads, is no less masterful.
3.
The Dark Side of the Moon (1973, #150)
The album that catapulted Pink Floyd into rock stardom came after six years of career and seven albums, being already seasoned musicians getting closer to their thirties. Eschewing previous lengthy jams and opting for a suite of songs shaping a concept album (until Waters' departure there were not going to release anything but concept albums) they peaked. It's amazing to see how an album so philosophically-charged could also be one of the most successful albums ever (now #6 on the best-selling albums list).
4.
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
Syd Floyd was a different beast, they defined British psychedelic rock and predated space rock almost singlehandedly. Genius.
5.
The Wall (1979)
It blew my mind as a teenager, probably my favourite album back then. Even if now I find it bloated I still like it a lot. Intense.
6. Animals (1977)
7. A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
8. Atom Heart Mother (1970)
9. The Division Bell (1994)
10. The Final Cut (1983)
11. More (1969)
12. Obscured by Clouds (1972)
13. Ummagumma (1969)
14. A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987)
15. The Endless River (2014)
Songs:
1.
Wish You Were Here (1975, my #102 song of all time)
Just before leaving almost all songwriting duties to Roger Waters, David Gilmour made a perfect collaboration with him here. Gilmour wrote the music, the acoustic guitar at the beginning of the song (smartly performed through a lo-fi radio equipment) should be lesson one for every guitar player, the entry ticket to a fascinating universe. And Waters lyrics about absence, even if initially aimed to Syd Barrett, have universal appeal. Not the most complex Pink Floyd song but surely the most emotional.
2.
Comfortably Numb (1979, #188)
Only one of two Gilmour songwriting inputs on Waters' magnum opus, fitting anyway Waters' claustrophobic universe like a glove. The narcotic sound of the verses, the dreamy melody of the chorus and, of course, the two awesome guitar solos. I'm a sucker for David Gilmour guitar solos, these spare solos with long notes, long silences and glorious string bendings, going for the feeling and not for the technical displays. I'm aware this is the sound of the dinosaurs extinguishing but, what can I do? I love them.
3.
Time (1973)
Quarter-life crisis came to rock music in 1973. "One day you find ten years have got behind you." More valuable than "Money."
4.
Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-5 (1975)
These four notes on the guitar, Bflat-F-G-E, still resonates in me like a mythical key to open the gate to the world of music.
5.
Echoes (1971)
The song's working title was "Nothing" but ended being really something, a 23-plus minute epic that hinted at what was to come.
6. See Emily Play (1967)
7. Brain Damage (1973)
8. Summer '68 (1970)
9. The Great Gig in the Sky (1973)
10. Chapter 24 (1967)
11. Goodbye Blue Sky (1979)
12. A Pillow of Winds (1971)
13. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 (1979)
14. When the Tigers Broke Free (1982)
15. Astronomy Dominé (1967)
16. Welcome to the Machine (1975)
17. High Hopes (1994)
18. Hey You (1979)
19. One of These Days (1971)
20. Us and Them (1973)
21. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (1968)
22. Interstellar Overdrive (1967)
23. Learning to Fly (1987)
24. Nobody Home (1979)
25. Pigs (Three Different Ones) (1977)
26. Money (1973)
27. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1 (1979)
28. Mother (1979)
29. Dogs (1977)
30. Fearless (1971)
31. Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6-9 (1975)
32. Let There Be More Light (1968)
33. Grantchester Meadows (1969)
34. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (1968)
35. Lucifer Sam (1967)
36. Marooned (1994)
37. One of My Turns (1979)
38. Fat Old Sun (1970)
39. Breathe (1973)
40. Jugband Blues (1968)
41. Arnold Layne (1967)
42. Have a Cigar (1975)
43. The Fletcher Memorial Home (1983)
44. On the Turning Away (1987)
45. Run Like Hell (1979)
46. Flaming (1968)
47. Sheep (1977)
48. A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
49. If (1970)
50. Childhood's End (1972)
51. The Nile Song (1969)
52. Corporal Clegg (1968)
53. Coming Back to Life (1994)
54. It's What We Do (2014)
55. The Gnome (1967)
56. Sorrow (1987)
57. On the Run (1973)
58. Not Now John (1983)
59. Eclipse (1973)
60. Cirrus Minor (1969)
61. Louder Than Words (2014)
62. In the Flesh? (1979)
63. Wot's... Uh the Deal? (1972)
64. San Tropez (1971)
65. Bike (1967)
66. Atom Heart Mother (1970)
67. Vegetable Man (2016)
68. Butterfly (2015)
69. Crumbling Land (1970)
70. Paranoid Eyes (1983)
71. The Narrow Way (Part 3) (1969)
72. Embryo (1970)
73. One Slip (1987)
74. Pigs on the Wing (Part Two) (1977)
75. Matilda Mother (1967)
76. What Shall We Do Now? (2000)
77. Wearing the Inside Out (1994)
78. Burning Bridges (1972)
79. Julia Dream (1968)
80. Cymbaline (1969)
81. Cluster One (1994)
82. Behold the Temple of Light (2016)
83. The Happiest Days of Our Lives (1979)
84. Paint Box (1967)
85. Candy and a Currant Bun (1967)
86. Scream Thy Last Scream (2016)
87. The Final Cut (1983)
88. Vera (1979)
89. Remember a Day (1968)
90. Stay (1972)
91. Young Lust (1979)
92. Any Colour You Like (1973)
93. Apples and Oranges (1967)
94. Lucy Leave (2015)
95. Green Is the Colour (1969)
96. Point Me at the Sky (1968)
97. Things Left Unsaid (2014)
98. John Latham Version 2 (2016)
99. Empty Spaces (1979)
100. Obscured by Clouds (1972)