Every studio album

The only album with Syd Barrett writing nearly everything. Whimsical, playful and cosmic all at once — Interstellar Overdrive and Astronomy Domine defined British psychedelia before anyone else got there.

The awkward, fascinating handover: Gilmour had replaced Syd, but Syd still plays on some tracks. The 12-minute title suite is the first sign of the band Pink Floyd would become.

Barousse-tinged soundtrack work for Barbet Schroeder. Rough, but Cymbaline and Green Is the Colour survive beautifully in live versions. (Cover shown: not the original.)

Half live, half solo experiments by each member. Patchy by design, but the live disk — Astronomy Domine, Careful with That Axe, Eugene — shows the band at their rawest.

The side-long brass-and-choir suite with the cow on the cover. Gilmour later called it a load of rubbish; the live development of it nevertheless pushed the band toward longer, structured epics.

The growup album. One of These Days still rattles bones, and Echoes — 23 minutes across a whole LP side — is the blueprint for everything on Dark Side.

Their second soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder (La Vallée), rushed and lean — and better than its reputation. Wots… Uh the Deal and Free Four hint at the Waters to come.

Time, money, death, madness — a complete statement about the pressures that drive people insane. It spent over 900 weeks on the Billboard 200; the prism cover is the most famous album artwork ever.

Made while the band was rich, successful and hollowed out — and about exactly that. Shine On You Crazy Diamond mourns Syd, who turned up unannounced at the sessions.

Dogs, pigs and sheep in Orwellian disguise. The nastiest, funniest record in the catalog, aimed at capitalism and at fans who wanted Dark Side 2. Battery-powered synthesizer included.

A rock opera about isolation and self-destruction, born from Waters spitting on a fan in Montreal. Comfortably Numb carries the greatest guitar solo in the catalog, and Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 became a hit single.

Subtitled "A Requiem for the Post-War Dream" — effectively a Roger Waters solo album under the band name, and the last Pink Floyd record before Wright was gone and Waters left.

Gilmour and Mason without Waters, after years of legal fights over who Pink Floyd even was. Learning to Fly returned them to stadium airwaves. (Cover shown: not the original hospital-beds photo.)

Wright back as a full member and the album largely built in the studio as a band. High Hopes is a great elegy for Cambridge youth; Marooned later won a Grammy for rock instrumental.

Mostly instrumental, assembled from Division Bell-era sessions with Rick Wright before his death in 2008. A quiet, dignified last word: "a love letter to the band".