What does it sound like?:
I must admit to not having listened to this era of the Pink Floyd in 30 years. I watched the Venice gig on TV at the time, and became increasingly aghast. Basically, the more easy going members of “The Floyd” got the band together and after legal wrangles over the name, were back in business, uber-carper Roger Waters declaring “A Momentary Lack of Reason”, “a very facile but quite clever forgery”. I acquired the latter a few years later when I saw a cheapo copy, played it a few times, then passed it on to someone who’d enjoy it more. It was Pink Floyd for the MTV Generation, and you can decide if that notion fills you with horror or delight: I know which side I fall on. This gig is that, in spades. Dave Gilmour, of course, had a living to make, and like all the other remaining Floyds, had released passable solo albums to little success, whereas Roger was playing Earls Court. So you can see why the urge struck them to go back on the road and clean up, just as many other heritage rock acts would between 1987 and 1990 would.
Floyd had filled out a tad in their later years (don’t we all?) with extra musicians to fill in all the gaps, so the sound of this concert is rich. The setlist is most of “Momentary…” (oh joy), “Shine On…”, most of the “Dark Side of the Moon”, “Wish You Were Here”, “One of these Days”, “Another Brick…”, “Comfortably Numb”, and “Run Like Hell”, plus a few others. “Echoes” was performed a few times on the tour, but not recorded here, more’s the pity. So nothing from the earlier era, but what was there was honed to stadium-perfection. The songs are as good as ever, all beauties, pretty much, with a few extra bars here and there, or adopted intros/ endings, more or less. Everyone effortlessly hits their musical marks. Guy Pratt was far more adept on bass than Waters, Gilmour’s bluesy languid tones soar, Rick Wright’s elegiac keyboards are more dignified than the setting or material, and Nick Mason’s drumming remains effective and unflashy compared to “progressive” drummers. Backing singers coo and shimmy sexily. Tapes and sound effects are used as effectively as they always were by the band.
So what’s the problem? Well, in it’s uber-80s way, no cliche is left out; roll your suit jacket sleeves up … DX7 keyboard sounds, synth drums, vocoders; “The Turning Away” (the song “Belfast Child” IMPROVED upon), the god-awful reggae break-down in “Money”, and the toe-curlingly awful (though technically good) saxophonist seemingly on loan from Paul Young. On the concert video the true horror of Scott Page is revealed; long hair, a mullet AND a pony tail, flamboyant sax showboating, all in an Armani suit (with the sleeves rolled up). Mr Page is clearly an entertainment industry colossus, and has been on a lot of big albums, but it really depends on if you like The Alan Parsons Project as to whether you’ll be impressed. Real “what were they thinking?” stuff, though maybe it was intentional by Gilmour, who sought to undermine the seriousness with which Floyd was often regarded. In which case they were thoroughly successful.
The set comes with a DVD of the concert at Nassau, Long Beach, and is, as you’d expect, a great spectacle, and live it would have been even more atmospheric and exciting. The songs are played well, and lights spin, change colour, films are projected, lasers scan, and there are no bargain basement fireworks in the pyro, which will have stained the gussets of anyone too close (surely a nightly anxiety for the band). As a night out, it would be hugely entertaining. But anyone who was in any way aware of their previous mystique would have surely felt just a little shameful at the concert. As i said, this was Pink Floyd for the MTV generation, and essentially of a piece with Bowie’s “Glass Spider” tour, the same year, which evokes very similar feelings of “my band” being taken away and turned into mass entertainment when I watch it. Of course the music WAS mass entertainment; but it was never made quite so obvious. This wasn’t rock n roll, this was show-biz.
What does it all *mean*?
Pink Floyd went from band to brand, and could return to stadium-filling mega-concerts. It wasn’t aesthetic, but I bet it settled a few bills, and greased their transition beyond appealing to dope-smoking teens and heads to the kind of audience that also likes post-Gabriel, post-Hackett Genesis. I can’t decide if they consolidated this disappointing but lucrative development, or moderately clawed back some credibility with “The Division Bell” (the title track of which was probably their last decent song). The “Pulse” shows continued with the schtick above, but more so in the visuals, and marginally cut back on the 80s-isms. Though he’s a pain in the arse, Roger Waters, who has been doing the same kind of show (maximum spectacle, slick band, minimal new and for good reason) is missed, perhaps for an acerbic element to the performance. But creation in Floyd as a group was pretty much gone after the songs written in 1974 that became “Wish You Were Here” and “Animals”, and that’s nearly half a century ago. They became Waters’s vehicle, and some liked that. Gilmour, Wright and Mason understandably wanted their contribution recognised and rewarded. In both cases, as I said, the band became the brand, you get your (highly professional) entertainment then go home. “Welcome to the Machine”. The CD/DVD package is a souvenir of that era, if you would like to recall it.
Goes well with…
Corona beer with a bit of lime in it, Hoffmeister lager, Grolsch, Hedgehog Crisps.
Release Date:
20th November, 2020
Might suit people who like…
Stadium classic rock, Roger Waters, Alan Parsons Project, 1980s Genesis, casual Pink Floyd fans, late Dave Gilmour solo albums.
dai says
Excellent review!
Vulpes Vulpes says
Faint praise in abundance! Good on you @Vincent, for calling out the Ferarri and houseboat collectors as you have.
Mr. Wright had the most understandable salaried motive for intra-group bile after the mid 1970s, but his voice has been silenced by his passing. Mr. Mason has at least had the grace to slip relatively quietly back into the performing realm of their best years – and with some aplomb it has to be said. However, I don’t imagine for a minute that Roger is worried about claiming his Winter Fuel Allowance. Like you, I suspect strongly, I won’t be shelling out any pennies for this scraping of what has previously been, for me, a most wonderful barrel of fun over the decades.
Paul Wad says
The new remastered Delicate Sound of Thunder concert, and the Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets concert are both on Sky Arts next Saturday. From a visual point of view I found the original DSOT difficult to watch. It just looked so, well, awful, a bit like the MTV Unplugged shows, where the music could be great but the visuals were horrid, like they are for a lot of American studio based shows (Letterman, Saturday Night Live, etc – there will be technical reason, but I probably won’t understand it).
But I’ve seen the comparison between the original DSOT and the new remastered version and the improvement is immeasurable. It looks way, way better. Unfortunately they couldn’t do much with the clothes, hair or set list, but at least it looks nicer.
Vincent says
Thanks, Paul; the streamed version I saw of the remaster was better than the previous one, but I bet the broadcast is sharper. Still not pristine, though.
?American TV used to be a different number of lines to Euro TV? Techies, please advise.
dai says
About 1/4 less resolution in North America before high definition came in. Sky Arts is standard definition though.
Vulpes Vulpes says
and SD looks pretty shit these days.
Tiggerlion says
Superb review, Vincent. Thank you.
Is there any live post Dark Side Pink Floyd worth seeking out?
Vincent says
I don’t personally think so. It became cabaret. The earlier live DSOM (they were playing it for a year before the album was released) were jammier, more psychedelic, and also had a bit of weird old, plus “Echoes”, so if you like that era, eg, Brighton 1972 (out there on the Interweb), that’s the one to go for. Or the 1974 tour for a slightly slicker version of the now highly practised DSOM plus ragged versions of songs that became “Shine On…”, and most of “Animals” (e.g., “Raving and Drooling” and “Gotta be Crazy”).
Tiggerlion says
1972 was the year I saw them. I’ll look for both. Thanks again.
Bargepole says
The 1974 Wembley show was released in various bits over the years – the DSOTM tracks appeared on the Experience edition of that album and the WYWH/Animals tracks on the expanded WYWH. The encore Echoes can be found on the final disc in the Early Years set. There’s a dearth of live material from the classic line up after that other than the live album from the Wall shows. None of the shows from the In The Flesh tour supporting the Animals album were professionally recorded hence the problems finding material for the much delayed deluxe reissue of that album.
Other than that there’s just the Live 8 footage or Gilmour and Waters own live albums for faithful reproductions.
biggles says
hi @Tiggerlion
If you are happy obtaining “ROIOs” from the interweb, I can recommend the following on the ever-excellent Harvested label:
– “Animals Aux Abattoirs” (HRV 038) – Pavillon De Paris, 25/02/77
– “Animal Instincts” (HRV 014) – Oakland Colisseum, 09/05/77
– “In The Flesh” (HRV 023) – Olympic Stadium, Montreal, 06/07/77
~the (in)famous spitting incident gig, which supposedly influenced The Wall
The above are all audience recordings from the In The Flesh mentioned by @Bargepole, and iirc have been rated (for what it is worth) at least 8-out-of-10 for sound quality.
Hope of some use!
Tiggerlion says
Very interesting.
Thanks, biggles.
😉
Vincent says
Thanks for that; I’ll go for the “aux abbatoir”; I saw them on this tour, and it was the beginning of adulthood, gigwise; though it looked nice, it felt uninvolving. It’ll be interesting to hear the music after all those years.
Bargepole says
There’s a good selection over on the Pink Floyd Podcast site
Skuds says
I know it is unfashionable, but I quite like the post-Waters Pink Floyd. I like all the various incarnations of the band in different ways. I may have been influenced by having first seen them live at the start of that tour in Sydney in 1988.
That is just a matter of subjective taste. What I am really interested in is how the sound/picture quality of the film compares to the old version, which never did get released on DVD.
Rigid Digit says
And on SkyArts tonight