Year: 1969
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 13 mins. 22 secs.
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All the lengthy songs and compositions that made it to the top 20 are from different albums. But not all of them are from different artists or groups. When counting backwards from #20 towards #1, the first artist to appear for a second time is Pink Floyd. This wonderful instrumental also happens to be the oldest track in the top 20, released in 1969.
My selection of Sysyphus as #13 could well be the most controversial choice on the list. The general consensus seems to be that the entire album Ummagumma, its studio recording part in particular, is one of the less successful efforts of the band. More accurately, the person who should be blamed for Sysyphus is the keyboardist Richard Wright (1943 - 2008).
Ummagumma is a double vinyl release, where the first disc contains live versions of material from their first studio releases, and the second disc is a studio recording where each of the four members composed and performed half a vinyl side's worth of music. Sysyphus is Wright's offering. The whole idea of group members recording this kind of collection of their individual works as an addition to a competent live album seems to have been met with indifference by the fan base.
To make things even worse, I have my favourite tracks of the studio disc in a very peculiar order when compared to the majority (?) of Pink Floyd fans. We can all agree that Nick Mason's part is easily the weakest - the guy was never even a good drummer, let alone a composer. But the general opionion seems to hold Roger Waters's section in the highest regard. That means, the entertaining but mediocre Grantchester Meadows and downright ridiculous Several Species of Small Furry Animals etc. I'm sorry, no.
My favourites are David Gilmour's The Narrow Way, which is not good enough to earn an inclusion in the top 20, but perfectly fine nonetheless. And of course, Wright's wonderful, instrumental four piece suite, which is our topic right now. I don't see how anyone could fail to notice Wright's immense talent as a composer after hearing Sysyphus. Following Syd Barrett's departure, the late keyboardist was probably my favourite songwriter in the band, although I don't mean to claim that Waters and Gilmour weren't masters in that craft as well.
Sysyphus opens and closes with a strong mellotron theme. Following the intro, there is a piano section that begins with a beautiful melody but gradually turns into something increasingly avant-garde, until Wright is ready to perform his master trick. He pauses, climbs inside the piano, and continues to play its wires using (I suppose) his fingers! Yes, we are now deep in the psychedelia territory, normal rules no longer apply.
Later on, in the third part of the suite, a very quiet mellotron sequence has a somehow sad and desperate feel to it until it is suddenly broken by an almost menacing wall of sound played with VERY high volume. This means a potential heart attack for the CD generation, but those of us who own this album on vinyl were always warned in advance, by the typical-for-vinyl pre-echo that could be heard one full rotation of the disc before it actually hit the speakers.
And then we climb back to the opening theme: slightly shaken, very impressed. Ladies and gentlemen: I give you the 13th greatest long prog masterpiece of all time.
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