Dark Side of the Moon is often as sluggish as cold tar. Robert Christgau is good at pointing out just how many of their songs and albums haven’t aged well. Exile on Main Street leaves it in the dust, the difference in energy and intensity is staggering. I do think it ends well with Brain Damage/Eclipse.
I admit that Wish You Were Here is an immortal song. But Us and Them, centerpiece of their most famous album? Dreary lame stuff, in my opinion.
For most of their career, they shouldn’t be compared to the Stones, the Who, or Zeppelin, because they moved so far from material that rocked. They’re an original and inventive progressive art-“rock” band, but as far as the number of great songs they crafted? I don’t put them in the top ten. Radiohead came along and mirrored a lot of their mood and thematic material, but were a hell of a lot more consistently great.