Not all Pink Floyd solo careers are treated equally, despite the notable contributions all five members made to their platinum-selling success story.
Every Pink Floyd solo career had a through line, though: None of them was interested in mounting a sustained effort to become stars in their own right, even after they officially left the lineup.
As the main narrative creator on their biggest albums, Roger Waters should have had material to spare when they split after 1983’s The Final Cut. He’d only release two solo projects over the rest of the ’80s; there was just one Waters LP in the ’90s. He kept up that leisurely pace by only issuing one more original collection of songs since, 2017’s Is This the Life We Really Want?
Why Are Pink Floyd Solo Albums So Rare?
Still, he was more productive than the late Syd Barrett. Waters’ fellow former co-founder issued two albums after his finale with Pink Floyd, 1968’s A Saucerful of Secrets. But both of Barrett’s solo LPs arrived in 1970, one in January and another in November. A third never surfaced.
Waters and Barrett weren’t alone: David Gilmour, Nick Mason and the late Richard Wright rarely stepped away, either. Pink Floyd remained the principal creative outlet. In the end, they happened so rarely that each individual solo LP could feel like an attempt at a big artistic statement. Some connected better than others.
READ MORE: Top 10 Pink Floyd ’80s Songs
Mason initially focused far too much on forgotten soundtrack contributions before launching a successful touring band to play the band’s early material, also called Saucerful of Secrets. There weren’t many proper albums along the way. Meanwhile, Wright only issued three LPs away from Pink Floyd, including a collaboration with new-waver Dave Harris as Zee.
Pink Floyd plays a classic-era concert. (Daniel Simon, Getty Images)
Who Had the Most Successful Pink Floyd Solo Career?
Gilmour got the jump on everyone, completing his self-titled debut between 1977’s Animals and 1979’s The Wall. He only issued one album in the ’80s, however, before taking a break that stretched more than 20 years. Thereafter, he released an album about once a decade.
As the faces of the band, Gilmour and Waters inevitably garnered bigger sales. Gilmour released a trio of solo albums that hit No. 1 the U.K., while also reaching the Billboard Top 10. Waters regularly finds the upper reaches of the charts, with one gold-certified album and a pair of U.K. Top 10s.
Yet the following deeper dive reveals underrated solo albums from their Pink Floyd bandmates, even if Barrett, Mason and Wright weren’t destined to sell nearly as many copies.
The Best (and Worst) Pink Floyd Solo Albums
David Gilmour and Roger Waters get most of the attention, whether that’s good or bad. Dig deeper, however, and you’ll find some deeply underrated solo albums from their Pink Floyd bandmates.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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