Early vs. Late Pink Floyd

I have always been a huge Roger Waters fan, but there is definitely a difference between Pink Floyd in the earlier years and Pink Floyd in the later years. Roger Waters really began to come out of his shell on the Dark Side of the Moon, and continued to elevate his individual message through Animals, The Wall, and The Final Cut. Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon remain more of a group effort, but as you get into Animals, you really see Roger taking musical and lyrical control of the band. For many years, a large portion of my Floyd diet consisted of the last three albums. This led me to see Pink Floyd from a strong Waters perspective without realizing the significance of Pink Floyd working together as a band, as they did in their earlier years.
Getting older, I find myself listening to and enjoying earlier Pink Floyd to a much greater degree. In fact, I have had a chronological mix of the albums Piper at the Gates of Dawn through Meddle looping continuously in my iPod/stereo for several months nonstop. It is so crystal clear to me now how much of a difference there is between early vs. late pink floyd. Their earlier music was 100% collective genius, with each member of the band contributing artistically and musically in perfectly synchronized collaborative fashion. Especially, Richard Wright’s contribution to the music is central and essential to the pre-Animals Pink-Floyd sound. He didn’t even play on The Final Cut!

I think we see the peak of the early-Floyd collaborative synergy peak with Dark Side of the Moon, with a possible resurgence on Animals. From that point on, later Floyd was much more about four musicians playing songs together than it was about them creating music together.