Live at Pompeii

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Shaun
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Live at Pompeii

Post by Shaun »

Live at Pompeii. 

Watched it earlier and to be honest I hadn't realised how many things I'd forgot about it and how many years since I last watched it. So many memories and off the cuff thoughts came back from watching it again

For instance....

How Dave Gilmour and Richard Wright harmonised so well together. Neither were particularly brilliant vocalists, Gilmour obviously being the better of the two, but their voices combined together made for a really pleasant voice.

What an incredible drummer Nick Mason was in his younger years. Indeed he's the real centre piece of the video. Playing with such soft hands (losing a drumstick) but with great panache and aggressive flair. What a skilful drummer he actually was. And I want a same style t.shirt he was wearing. The one with the psychedelic butterfly. Size medium now.. :D

A Saucerful Full of Secrets. After the initial weirdness to start with that I used to dislike but now fully appreciate (listening to too much crap like Spiritualized) there's a brilliant section with a wonderful melody. I think I used to describe that part as the Floyd ripping off Morricone as I believed it sounded like part of a stereotypical spaghetti western film score. Listen to it and let your mind drift off to a Fistful of Dollars or something similar.

And I remember having one of my biggest laughs of all time while watching Pompeii. We were sat in a coffeeshop in Amsterdam over 20 years ago and smoking Nepalese or Cashmere (whatever the name that was given to such ingredients of those mind obliterators) and the dog made its appearance. That coffeeshop, that dope, that dog and the friend I was with at the time resulted in hysterics like never before.

But there's one thing I hadn't forgot and that's how good the music is, especially Echoes. Still my favourite Floyd track.
What more can the heart of a man desire?
TheWarmth
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by TheWarmth »

Yes, I love this film, too! It basically sums up everything that I love about the Floyd at the height of their powers (at least in my mind ... give me Meddle or Atom Heart Mother over Dark Side or The Wall any day).
radioshack
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by radioshack »

I saw the Floyd programs too, and have a question. What's the name of the track that has a woman singing a wordless melody? I'm guessing it was off Atom Heart Mother or Meddle.
olan
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by olan »

Could be "The Great Gig in the Sky" from Dark Side of the Moon
scratch
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by scratch »

yea the wailing woman is from the third best-selling album ever..

almost another band imo -

have to agree.. I also prefer them prior to -72

pompeii is the swan song of the band I love
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jadams501
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by jadams501 »

I would place the gap in Pink Floyd's discography at which point they became essentially another band from Atom Heart Mother and Meddle between Wish You Were Here and Animals. Dark Side and especially Wish You Were Here definitely have Roger Water's ego creeping to the fore, but Any Colour You Like and Shine On Crazy Diamond fit well among the earlier stuff, and are better realized imho. Although I love the basement feel of Meddle and Obscured By Clouds.

I like Animals, but by the time they get to The Wall Roger Waters was insufferable and a lot of the magic is gone.
BzaInSpace
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by BzaInSpace »

They became essentially another band once Syd Barrett was 'retired'.

I listened to Dark Side of The Moon for the first time in ages a few weeks back on the commute... it wasn't at all bad or as ponderous as I remembered, although definitely not a 'summer' album (which was OK as it wasn't). 'Us and Them' still sucks right enough, but I enjoyed hearing little touches here and there, and some great guitar work from Dave.

The piano on 'The Great Gig...' is beautiful and haunting.

Anybody seen the latest repackage/re-release schedule for Pink Floyd?

http://www.whypinkfloyd.com/?utm_campai ... ppc_search

'Discovery', 'Experience' and 'Immersion' editions. :shock:

Still no official release for 'Vegetable Man'/'Scream Thy Last Scream' though... why?
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scratch
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by scratch »

BzaInSpace wrote:. 'Us and Them' still sucks right enough
I prefer the "violence/violent sequence/riot scene" (1969) - worked better when it was an instrumental piano piece

They should release a comp with selected soundtrack outtakes + sb versions of tracks they only played live.. and the space blues improv "what if it´s just green cheese aka moonhead" of course..
I think it would be a better album than obscured by clouds at least

but that comment from mason about them never recording could mean that the bootlegs of varying sound quality is as good as it gets..
Shaun wrote: there's a brilliant section with a wonderful melody.
that section is usually longer than the pompeii version and with more vocals - on the 1970 version from fillmore west that last part (called "celestial voices" or "the end of the beginning" ) is 8 minutes long, making the full track 20 mins... Gilmour almost sounds like he is a guitarist from 90´s spiritualized - too bad the quality of the recording isn´t stellar.

the version on pompeii is a very short version (4+ minutes of celestial - 1 min with vocals - a total of merely 10 minutes)
I consider it to be the compressed and shortened "we are in a hurry" version - as if they kind of had gotten a little bored of playing it by 71?
- but its all good of course.. I love all versions.. ranging from just a few minutes of freakout to the fullblown 11-12 minutes of insanity ("syncopated pandemonium"/"doing it").

It is obviously about a battle and used to be called "the massed gadgets of hercules" so probably about some 3000 year old mythical battle - perhaps Troy, since that myth has some connections to Herakles/hercules 12 labours..

guess I kind of understand how the rushed version could give associations to spagetti westerns but I think I´ll stick with ancient battle in asia minor.

my favourite version is still the one on ummagumma (although it´s an edited version; a composite of birmingham 27/4 and manchester 2/5.. I only have a complete version of the former)
"the greatest example of self-violation in the history of art"
mh
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by mh »

Pompeii to me is the essential collection of that period of Floyd's history. Forget the LPs, if you want a snapshot of what they sounded like, Pompeii was the one to go for. Amazing stuff. (A coupla years ago I visited Pompeii itself, and in conversation with the guide it turned out that Pink Floyd were actually pretty well remembered in the area. Awesome.)
redcloud
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by redcloud »

I remember very well the first time I heard 'Dark Side of the Moon'. I was in a darkened basement and stoned for the first time. The sounds that came off that album totally blew me away. The screaming at the start of the album, the maniacal, whirring, electronic psychedelia of 'On The Run', the clicking clock, the sound of a cash till, the beautiful and soulful girl in 'Great Gig' and then the incredible climax of 'Eclipse' was earth shattering and musically life changing to me.

Interestingly, these guys had no faces to me. With exception to the poster that came with the LP there were no pictures of the band....it was all just a collage of sounds and the band seemed like from some other world than mine.

Then, a couple months later I stumbled on the Pompeii video with some friends and we got super high and watched it. The sounds were still amazing but it was sort of odd to see the faces of these musicians, listen to them speak and watch them play their far out music.
radioshack
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Re: Live at Pompeii

Post by radioshack »

scratch wrote:yea the wailing woman is from the third best-selling album ever..

Ah, I knew there was something up on my shelf next to Thriller and.....whatever the 2nd best-selling album of all time is.

I've tried with Dark Side.... numerous times but it never really got me, hence my being unfamiliar. I have to be crass and say I preferred Syd-era floyd.
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