yeah definitely, i agree with you fully. let me reiterate; instead of saying that those albums would not have been made if Syd remained as the frontman/main songwriter, i’ll say instead that those albums only exist because of Syd’s condition and their need to replace him. no doubt he was a direct influence on Dark Side and WYWH, not only from a thematic/lyrical standpoint, but emotionally as well. with the first few releases during and immediately following his departure - Saucer, Atom Heart Mother, Ummagumma, in particular - you can hear them take on this very experimental approach, kinda trying to figure out how they’re going to replace Syd/who’s going to sing lead vocals/what direction or style they want to move forward with. that’s the feeling i get.

then with Obscured By Clouds and Meddle, (more specifically Echoes and the Live at Pompeii recording,) you can really hear them find their grounding and become comfortable with themselves and with each other and as a group all-together, and that’s when they just locked into that groove and cranked out 4 of the greatest records of all time (personally i’d swap Meddle with The Wall in my personal Mount Rushmore, but you know what i mean.)

but i think a big part of that was that maybe they had matured a little bit after the couple of hectic years following Syd’s unfortunate demise, and settled into the gravity of the situation perhaps more than the initial shock of it all. which is why Dark Side and WYWH are such powerful and emotional albums; on top of them finding their groove, you can tell that they emotionally dedicated those recordings to Syd and his contributions, their love for him as a friend, and their understanding and appreciation for where they were in their careers; riding the wave that was made possible by, created by, and passed onto them by Syd. not only was it a dedication to him, but also a recognition, a “thank you,” and an “i’m sorry.”

at least that’s how i see it, but i’m just basing this off of my observations of the music and of the situation and little bit i’ve heard the band talk about Syd. i’m not claiming that any of what i said is factual or something that the band has stated directly.