Pink Floyd and 'Transcendental Boredom'

The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Cream, The Doors and, last but not least, Pink Floyd - five musical 'giants' whose output was, by and large, well below par. Poet Iain Sinclair, in his book (and film of the same name) ‘London Orbital' described circumnavigating the M25 as ‘transcendentally boring’. But that seems to me to be an equally apt description of many of the six post-Barrett albums that precede the high water mark of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. (That the magnificent ‘Animals’ is so underrated is another story all together). “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way” the boys sang in the sublime, evergreen ‘Time’. Sadly, ‘hanging on in quiet desperation’ sums up not only the experience of being stuck in an 18-mile traffic jam on the M25, but also drowning in quicksand or having to sit through 'Ummagumma' or 'Atom Heart Mother'. Still, if you’re pissed or stoned enough, ‘Meddle’ has its moments.

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.