|
I've always enjoyed the soundscape aspect of Pink Floyd. This CD set has a shining example of live Floyd with the peak songs of the psychadelic soundscape early floyd era. The second studio disc has loads of creative potential and a few jems with lyrics. the majestic powerful sounds of Sysyphus; the sweet airy sounds of Grantchester Meadows (a PF favorite of mine); the Narrow way is full of curiousity; the Grand Vizer's Garden is pure clean syncopated noises
3 1/2For second-level Floyd, this is as good as it gets, with a memorably (despite a few weaker ideas) experimental studio disc supplemented by a mini-concert displaying the group at their psychedelic peak.
It has it's good parts, but it is just overall a poorly put together album. I really do not understand why it is reviewed so highly here, it is not well done at all.
I've listened to all of their albums from Piper to the Division Bell and liked most of every one.That being said, this is the last album of theirs I decided to check out. Mostly because of Gilmour himself saying it is a horrible album(although he did say the same about Atom Heart Mother which is one of my favorites).A lot of it is mostly psychedelic noise.
This is a review for the studio potion of the album, not the live portion.I've always been a Pink Floyd fan. I enjoyed that part but that's about it.
While I am a fan of psychedelic music it's just not done really well here. I'd say the only tracks on it worth listening to are Gilmour's part of it(The Narrow Way).
It sounds as if they attempted an epic sound but failed miserably.Unless you're a big Pink Floyd fan I don't recommend getting this album.
On the former track, Richard Wright works some synthesizer magic. "Astronomy Domine" comes from Pink Floyd's debut release THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN. Its first disc contains four live cuts by the band, giving listeners at home an opportunity to hear the vaster forms they created on stage. What each of these band members came up with are ambient pieces with a feel of musique concrete.
Of the live performances, three had already appeared on the band's albums to date and one was premiered here. Pink Floyd's 1969 release UMMAGUMMA is a curious pairing. The real weakness with this collection of live recordings is that the sound quality is flat, sounding more like a bootleg than what one expects from commercial releases. Just as the band members generally disappointing solo albums prove, these four performers needed each other to produce greatness. Here it is nearly twice as long as the studio version, with the opening repeated twice.
The second disc feels completely pointless. All in all, this album is something of a curiosity and can be left to Pink Floyd completists. Its second disc, however, had each member of the band writing his own contribution, with bizarre results. Richard Wright's "Sysyphus" almost suceeds. "Careful with that Axe, Eugene" is never-before-heard, a rolicking number propelled by an eery scream by the band members.
"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "A Saucer Full of Secrets" are from the band's second album. However, with the contributes of Waters, Gilmour and Mason, it almost seems as if they are trying to ape Lennon's "Revolution 9". Even if you dig the psychadelic sounds of their very first releases, you might not get much from the live performances here.
Astronomy Domine was like a trip on a spaceship, Careful with that Axe Eugene is nightmare-chilling. I have owned Ummagumma (on vinyl) since it's release (I was about 12 then) , and on all other mediums since. The band used every musical instrument available, and had no qualms about experimenting with melds of longhair classics, improvised in their own personal psychadelic style. Ummagumma revealed the band's musical (including classical leaning) abilities, and whisked me to imaginary locales, while meditating with my headphones on. Prior to owning Ummagumma, I used my meager allowance to purchase Atom Heart Mother, and fell hard for Pink Floyd. Awesome, just awesome. I have turned on many acquaintences to this music, who didn't know Pink Floyd pre-Dark Side of the Moon.
|
