The top ten Pink Floyd Spotify playlist

From 'Brain Damage' to 'Comfortably Numb', Adam Sherwin picks the Pink Floyd tracks set to rock the dark side of the internet

The band back in 1973

Pink Floyd are the latest rock giant to strike a deal to put their music on Spotify. So where to start with a band that has produced so much monumental music over the past 40-plus years?

Adam Sherwin picks his top ten Floyd tracks:

1. See Emily Play

Brief foray into crisp psychedelic pop for pre-meltdown Syd Barrett with1967 single which earned the band a Top of the Pops appearance and became a touchstone for Blur.

2. Remember A Day

Haunting composition by keyboardist Richard Wright from 1968 album A Saucerful of Secrets which poignantly evokes childhood dreams: “Why can’t we reach the sun? Why can’t we blow the years away?”

3. Grantchester Meadows

Youthful, mind-expanding afternoons by the River Cam are explored in Roger Waters’ pastoral acoustic guitar-driven ballad from experimental Ummagumma (1969).

4. Fat Old Sun

Gentle folk introduction eases into extended fifteen-minute jam during live shows as David Gilmour’s first writing contribution, from Atom Heart Mother, enhances the band’s leaning towards prog rock odysseys.

5. Echoes

Neophytes lured by See Emily Play’s concise pop should now be ready for the full-on, 23-minute mind trip of 1971 album Meddle’s extended finale, featuring sound effects, improvisation and a familiar Waters plea for human empathy.

6. Brain Damage

“I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon”. Waters addresses the departed Syd Barrett’s mental breakdown in penultimate track from best-selling 1973 opus. Title toned down from its original form “Lunatic”.

7. Wish You Were Here

More Syd ruminations from 1975 incorporating transistor radio tuning and a barely audible violin contribution by Stéphane Grappelli. Dusted off for Floyd reunion performance at Live 8 and by Ed Sheeran at Olympics closing ceremony.

8. Dogs

Punk is raging in 1977 but Floyd persist with 17-minute, multi-section, extended metaphor likening animals to grasping businessmen, featuring the sound of dogs played as an instrument through a vocoder.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

9. Comfortably Numb

Forget the chart-topping thrills of "Another Brick In The Wall", the last great Gilmour/Waters collaboration is the most effective expression of Floyd’s exploration of alienation. Turned into an incongruous club hit by Scissor Sisters in 2004.

10. Your Possible Pasts

Now a vehicle for Roger Waters’ bombastic anti-war critiques, 1983 album The Final Cut revisits former glories with song rejected for The Wall. “Do you think we should be closer?” No, replied Gilmour until 2005 Live 8 reunion.