Pink Floyd and Padding

Apparently, Pink Floyd have just won a court case against their record company. The Floyd didn’t want their albums split up (and their contract enforces this request). The BBC reports:

Earlier this week, Robert Howe QC, appearing for the group, said the the band's deal with EMI stipulated that their "seamless" albums should not be split up and that they "wanted to retain artistic control”.

Now, I’m a big fan of Pink Floyd, but I can’t help but think that The Daily Mash’s caustic take on the case is more than a little relevant. See, the main reason why the ‘Floyd’s albums are seamless is because there are no real gaps between tracks on their records. And it is also safe to say that there are some tracks that, if they can’t quite be dismissed as pure padding, then are at least less memorable that the true Floydian classics.

In a sense, it also makes business sense to sell the albums as a whole, if only for the sake of people coming to Pink Floyd with no idea about what to expect from the band. I mean, if a newbie to the world of ‘Floyd finds “Time” or “Comfortably Numb”, they’ll be coming back. However, if they find “On the Run”, “Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert” or, good God help us, “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave Grooving with a Pict”, then they are going to end up wondering what all the fuss was about and probably won’t be coming back for more…