10 Most Underrated Pink Floyd Songs
1. High Hopes (1994)
The group’s last studio album – not counting 2014’s The Endless River – was 1994’s The Division Bell. A noticeable improvement over its predecessor, it featured several strong tracks (Keep Talking, A Great Day for Freedom, Poles Apart) that warrant greater recognition. That said, finale High Hopes is clearly the best of the bunch. In fact, it's a top-tier track within their entire catalog, plain and simple.
Inspired by Gilmour’s nostalgia for his youthful days in Cambridge, it was co-written by his eventual wife, novelist/journalist Polly Samson. The opening church bells and piano notes are beautifully unsettling, creating an ominous foundation for the tastefully cataclysmic score the follows. It develops ingeniously beneath his evocative stanzas, paving the way for the exquisitely heartbreaking chorus.
By the end, marching drums, orchestration, slide guitar, and other treatments make it overwhelmingly moving. If that weren’t enough, Pink Floyd’s whole career comes full circle thanks to High Hopes’ abundant allusions to their past and present (capping off with a couplet – “The endless river / Forever and ever” – that directly references See Emily Play). It’s magnificent.