My PF superfandom hasn't really extended to Pompeii, which I've now seen twice, so I appreciated the context you provided for the DSotM tracks. I was wondering what those were doing in there.
Given what lay in store, the lack of interviews is probably a relief. The staging and concept make it less of a concert film and closer to a rock and roll "art" film, which has always been a genre marked weird and confused choices. It's interesting seeing how Pink Floyd saw themselves in 1972, and how they wanted to be seen. Very seriously.
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This is an excellent review - I've got the DVD version of it, and it has two versions on it; the one you mention (with the added n studio footage/banter) and a version with some added 'animated sequences' that I only watched half f before switching it off in annoyance.
If this comes out on Blu Ray I'll get it for sure. I live about six hours away from an IMAX cinema, and the local movie theatre is at the back of the local library (true fact!), so I won't be seeing it on the big screen. I've always loved the version of echoes they did for this - it's one of the best live performances form a band I think I've ever seen in a movie. It's one of my favourites, anyway.
It could be something you'd play for someone if you wanted to help them understand exactly what Pink Floyd are - they're still basically an experimental jam band for the most part at this stage, just before they turn into the stadium rock act they become once DSOTM becomes a hit.
_________________ "They'll bite your finger off given a chance" - Junkie Luv (regarding Zebras)
I don't watch YouTube videos, but I hope Pompeii is worth buying because I picked up the CD version yesterday. I know the music is worth it because I have seen the film dozens of times since the '70s. I'm interested in hearing Steven Wilson's mix, even though I am not the Wilson worshipper most of the internet seems to be. This is Pink Floyd when they were most interesting to me so I think I'll be happy with my purchase. I'll find out later today when I can play it on my main system.
_________________ “Don’t take life too serious. It ain’t nohow permanent.”
Full disclosure - the YouTube guy says that yes, it's absolutely worth buying the CD and the blu-ray (as he himself has done).
I'm going to order the blu-ray anyhow - I love what they did next but this appeals to me because it's so unpretentiously pretentious, so to speak. They're taking what they're doing extremely seriously, but the weirdness is natural to them, not an act. No other band could've done anything like this and not looked like a bunch of wankers. Pink Floyd, somehow, manage to do some of the oddest things and it comes across as being perfectly reasonable because it's them.
I like the fact that they were willing to do something of this nature - I can't imagine any other band of that era doing anything remotely like it, much less doing it successfully.
_________________ "They'll bite your finger off given a chance" - Junkie Luv (regarding Zebras)
I am playing the CD now and it sounds great. Currently on A Saucerful of Secrets, but One Of These Days is on in one minute! Excellent purchase for me. Not interested in the Blu simply because I already have the DVD and don't play concert videos much, I am always more interested in the audio. I have no doubt the Blu will be an improvement over my old disc, though.
_________________ “Don’t take life too serious. It ain’t nohow permanent.”
This is an excellent review - I've got the DVD version of it, and it has two versions on it; the one you mention (with the added n studio footage/banter) and a version with some added 'animated sequences' that I only watched half f before switching it off in annoyance.
If this comes out on Blu Ray I'll get it for sure. I live about six hours away from an IMAX cinema, and the local movie theatre is at the back of the local library (true fact!), so I won't be seeing it on the big screen. I've always loved the version of echoes they did for this - it's one of the best live performances form a band I think I've ever seen in a movie. It's one of my favourites, anyway.
It could be something you'd play for someone if you wanted to help them understand exactly what Pink Floyd are - they're still basically an experimental jam band for the most part at this stage, just before they turn into the stadium rock act they become once DSOTM becomes a hit.
Yeah, you can really hear the part in Echoes that Andrew Lloyd Webber totally ripped off for the main theme in Phantom of the Opera. It's the exact same notes!
This is Spinal Tap had to have been influenced a bit by Pink Floyd in Pompeii. I know most of the movie's influence was from bands like Led Zeppelin but they had to have seen Pompeii. The parallels are striking.
My PF superfandom hasn't really extended to Pompeii, which I've now seen twice, so I appreciated the context you provided for the DSotM tracks. I was wondering what those were doing in there.
Given what lay in store, the lack of interviews is probably a relief. The staging and concept make it less of a concert film and closer to a rock and roll "art" film, which has always been a genre marked weird and confused choices. It's interesting seeing how Pink Floyd saw themselves in 1972, and how they wanted to be seen. Very seriously.
Just think, this concert film remaster and Blu-Ray would never have happened if Roger Waters and David Gilmour hadn't sold out to Sony, taking the decision entirely out of their hands. Up til this year, they hadn't agreed on anything in decades!
You don’t get to have the kind of career Roger Waters has had without creative certainty. When Waters begins making music, he knows exactly his intentions and how he wants the finished product to come out. This leads to complicated records such as The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, but it also leads to overly critical opinions on other albums that Waters wasn’t involved in.
There are few records out there that the Pink Floyd member wouldn’t be able to improve somewhat. His understanding of tone, pacing and structure means that he is one of the greatest musicians in the world when it comes to putting together an exciting piece of music. When you have this kind of standing in the musical world, can it really come as a surprise that you’re critical about other people’s work?
Perhaps one of the most controversial things about the albums Waters hates is how many Pink Floyd albums make an appearance. Some of these are, unsurprisingly, the records that he wasn’t involved in creating; however, he also has some choice words to say about their album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn because it lacks direction (in his mind). Additionally, he despises the work of other artists who would be considered titans in the musical world.
Here are five classic albums that Roger Waters hated and his scathing reviews of them. It seems that for the Pink Floyd member, no artist is immune to criticism.
#5 Pink Floyd – ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ One thing that remains constant throughout Roger Waters’ career is a drive towards creative perfection. To do this, albums can’t just sound good; they need to sound like they have intent. The complicated concept albums he was responsible for when in Pink Floyd weren’t just him throwing ideas at a wall and seeing what stuck; they were him carefully pondering over different ideas and working out which would be best for the album he was working on.
As such, one of the Pink Floyd albums he despises the most is the one which doesn’t sound as though it has any direction. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn record was made during a period when the band were working out what would be best for them, and this meant making music that, in Waters’ eyes, lacked direction.
“I don’t want to go back to those times at all,” he said when discussing the record. “There wasn’t anything ‘grand’ about it’. We were laughable. We were useless. We couldn’t play at all, so we had to do something stupid and ‘experimental’.”
#4 Sex Pistols – ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’ When John Lydon first auditioned for the Sex Pistols, he was wearing his famous Pink Floyd T-shirt, famous because he had crossed out the image on it and written “I hate” in big, bold letters across the top. He became synonymous with the T-shirt, and as such, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Waters hated the Sex Pistols’ music.
It wasn’t just a personal vendetta that Waters had against the band, but he also despised the chaos of their sound. Again, this all comes back to his desire for music to have some form of direction, which is arguably the antithesis of punk as a genre. “The Sex Pistols were just trying to make noise,” he said, “It was so clearly contrived. You know, they were managed by a bloke who ran a shop selling silly clothes.”
#3 Pink Floyd – ‘Momentary Lapse of Reason’ Throughout Pink Floyd’s career, they made a number of outstanding records. Arguably, some of their best came when Waters was in the band, but there are constant debates between Pink Floyd fans about which is their best album, which won’t be resolved any time soon. Waters wasn’t a fan of a lot of the music Pink Floyd made after he left the band, as he felt as though, rather than being creative, it sounded like it was clawing for the good ol’ days.
“I think it’s a very facile but quite clever forgery. If you don’t listen to it too closely, it does sound like Pink Floyd. It’s got Dave Gilmour playing guitar,” he said, “And with the considered intention of setting out to make something that sounds like everyone’s conception of a Pink Floyd record, it’s inevitable that you will achieve that limited goal.”
#2 Bob Dylan – ‘Triplicate’ Roger Waters has previously praised Bob Dylan for his musical output; however, given how many different creative directions Dylan has gone in over the years, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that there are a number of other records he has made that Waters can’t stand. Three of these albums are Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels and Triplicate, each of which contains Frank Sinatra (or Frank Sinatra adjacent) covers on them.
“I haven’t got time to do an album of Frank Sinatra covers,” said Waters when discussing the trifecta of rat pack revisions, “You go, ‘Fuck me, Bob, what is wrong with you? Why would you do that?’”
#1 Pink Floyd – ‘The Division Bell’ Waters didn’t like Pink Floyd’s offering on Momentary Lapse of Reason, but his critique of that record was nothing compared to what he thought of the band’s other offering, The Division Bell. He despised that album so much that he felt sorry for the bands who had bought it, as he felt as though their loyalty to the band was being exploited.
“With all due respect to the people who went out and bought those records, they are just rubbish,” he said, “Particularly The Division Bell; it’s just nonsense from beginning to end.”
I consider myself a fairly massive Pink Floyd fan, and I think Never Mind The Bollocks kicks the ass of every Floyd album that isn't one of the big four. Some days I think it kicks the ass of every one of their records that isn't Dark Side Of The Moon.
Waters presumably thinks he's proving his credibility by attacking Piper at the Gates of Dawn, but as ever just comes off as a dick. Like for heaven's sake, have a little affection for when you were young and the world was new, even if it doesn't achieve the towering artistic and technical statement of Dark Side Of The Moon Redux.
I've never even heard of the Bob Dylan record but am now planning on giving it a listen.
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