Is Ummagumma As Bad As Everyone Says?

I'll agree that Ummagumma is a painfully mixed bag, with Roger and Dave's pieces as the highlights. That said, I don't mind Nick's section as much as others - and certainly more than you. So practically the whole album's listenable for me, which is never a bad thing. It's far from being in the upper echelons of Floyd albums, but at least it's no Momentary Lapse (which I have gone on record to say that I loathe)

It's hard for me to describe - but all I know is that I can at least listen to Ummagumma the whole way through.... over and over again if I have to

Spewing out random words? I'm sorry but Ummagumma has plenty of precedents. "Sysyphus" for example explores Rick's love for impressionism, a popular 19th century artform. According to wikipedia, "Impressionism in music was a movement among various composers in Western classical music, mainly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose music focuses on suggestion and atmosphere, "conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone‐picture". So basically it doesn't focus as closely on getting the notes right or having it all logically fit together, but about what it does in how it makes the listener feel. Here's a famous expressionist piece:


Now listen to Cluster One off The Division Bell:

Remember DarkSideFreak from the old forum? He once said he heard a DeBussey piece (who's name escapes him) that sounded remarkably similar to Cluster One. And while I have no idea what piece that is it's clear the piano playing is influenced by this style of modern classical music that existed on the turn of the 20th century. Also the static noise at the beginning of the album reminds me of a John Cage piece:



John Cage was a huge fan of everyday sounds. Clocks (think "Time"), traffic noises, etc. He was interviewed in his New York apartment next to traffic noises and he said that people try to justify music as this deep incredible experience and it's not, it's just sounds. But he said he didn't see a problem with that. Sounds are wonderful. "As great as Beethoven and Mozart are, they can't go anywhere, they go in the direction they were written to go in. But traffic noises, that can go anywhere. That's what I love about it". He has an interesting point. I'd never listen to Radio Music by him, but it is sonically quite interesting, and it is interspersed with melody through some of the songs hen took from these radios. It took him a lot of work to make by tuning these radios all at the correct time, speed, moment, etc. it's a very impressively constructed piece. Now of course there's always the aspect of pretentiousness that needs to be covered. Was he simply making this to be impressive and not to actually entertain? Well I genuinely don't think so. I think he was an eccentric who really loved these sounds, wanted to entertain himself and realised there was a niche market that would enjoy them too but was aware he would never go mainstream. This is his attempt at more melodic music with the impressionistic style:



I think it's genuinely quite beautiful. But then there's the fairly atonal, unpleasant, bordering on far too experimental to be considered listenable Sonata II for Prepared Piano:




Remind you of something, Prepared Piano is exactly what Rick used for Part 3 of Sysyphus. First time I heard this I was shocked and appalled. I hated it. I felt like he was just messing about with a piano and not even trying. Yet there is a method behind the madness. it's atonal, it's piercing, it's odd and uncomfortable and yet it's all supposed to be. It knows what it's trying to be and in my opinion it does it successfully. If you remove the name Pink Floyd from the track and think of it was modern or atonalist classical music than it really gets better. I'm not a fan of it, but after many listenings i've grown to respect it. It's expanded my entire understanding of music. Of course i'm not telling you to share my opinion. I am however telling you that there's a whole other world you may not be aware of. Give it some consideration. 

I mean, yea, I understand that it's an experimental album and I'm not supposed to take it too literally I suppose, but I'm just saying, I think you can have a deep/experimental song while being pleasing at the same time. Ummagumma I feel was maybe a little too restricted for people who didn't understand that they were going for some sort of "impressionist-type" feeling. If I was just a casual listener than I probably would've thrown it away. 

But I understand, knowing the meaning and the thoughts that went into it, I'm sure Wright and the band had something in mind and didn't just mash up a bunch of audio clips together, but in the end I'm not sure how well the public received it. I understand the work that gone into it and I have a little bit more respect for it after reading your post, but in the end it just doesn't sound very pleasing to me. 

Perhaps I should listen to it again, since I only listned to it once when I was very young and think of the feelings it invokes, perhaps my opinion will change then. 

I'm not angry just wanted to add to the discussion.

To the Proffessor I understand where you're coming from I just think good should be measured by what the artist was going for.