Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii | Extended Play Lounge Ep. 54
Added 2023-10-17 21:34:07 +0000 UTCThis is our first Extended Play Lounge episode where I'm reviewing a concert film instead of a studio or live album. We had a combination of concert films and live albums from big-time bands up against each other in the poll, and Pink Floyd came out on top.
I'm watching/listening to the original 1972 release. Some of these selections are now quite familiar for me, and some were brand new. I hope you enjoy!
Comments
This concert video is even better now with the release of the blue ray dolby atmos remix that came out just a few months ago. And for the first time a stand alone audio release that may be the cleanest, clearest live recording I've ever heard.
Alan Bialowas
2025-07-20 02:41:10 +0000 UTCDoug, you were wondering about how Roger does that wild scream on Careful With That Axe Eugene. That was a trademark sound that can be heard from time to time all the way from PF's first album until Roger's solo records. He did it by screaming BACKWARDS. Basically, screaming while inhaling rather than exhaling like normal. I've tried it, and it's rather painful to do, but a) relatively little air is needed, so if you can stand the pain you can make the scream last a long time, and b) It's so uncomfortable it gives him something completely unique - I have never heard anyone else do it. Bill Brinkmoeller, I tend to agree with you, sometimes the atmosphere is a bit much, but c'mon, man, it's Pompeii! And Vesuvius. The atmosphere is unique. At least they do spend at least some time showing them actually play. When I was learning guitar in the 80s, I wore out my pirated VHS copy of this learning David's solos. Some films were truely terrible - too many tight closeups, and sometimes the cameraman seems to go wild with these new-fangled zoom lenses, LOL. Ever see Cream's final Albert Hall show in 1968. Great music, but the video is nauseating. The reason that One of These Days is basically a Nick Mason spotlight is that the footage of the rest of the band was damaged and unusable, but I think it came out interesting. I think Mason is an underrated drummer, not because he is a stellar technical drummer - he is not. But I would call his drumming very 'organic'. He plays what is needed. And in this film you can see him looking at the other band members, thinking, "what can I add here?"
Charles Falk
2024-06-12 06:18:19 +0000 UTCVery interesting to see and hear this again, thank you, Doug. Having been caught up in the previously released versions of these pieces of music, it was indeed exciting to be able to see something of them at work. Very instructive to have your observations to point up aspects of the composition and arrangement.
George Davis-Stewart
2024-04-01 23:30:27 +0000 UTCAs you noted, the band was very experimental in this period. An important root to this was Syd Barrett, who really pushed past all the pop conventions with Interstellar Overdrive from Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which in the context of the time (1967) was light-years ahead of everything else. I'm not angling for you to do a video of this song (although that would be nice), but I am suggesting it to you for you own edification.
John Barnett
2024-01-14 15:09:52 +0000 UTCNeed an Obscured By Clouds reaction Doug, great stuff!
Roberto Alvarado
2023-10-22 03:59:04 +0000 UTCYes, there is video of the band hanging out talking on the Director's Cut. Worth watching maybe once, but I'm about the music, so I prefer this original version. Careful with that Axe, Eugene sounds spookier in this version than the one on Ummagumma. Happy Halloween!
Richard Moore
2023-10-21 16:31:18 +0000 UTCAs opposed to actually experiencing live shows, I have never much been a fan of live recordings. All too often it's more or less "here's a faster version of the album, with less detail and more distortion"... There are, of course, exceptionsโbands whose live performances are never the same as on the records, and who use live performances as a venue for exploration. Pink Floyd is one of those bands (as is the Grateful Dead, at least at their best). And I agree that it's fascinating to see how the musicians get those sounds: I remember when I first saw this one, in my. early teens, it was revelatory to see how Gilmour (and Waters, the middle bit of "Echoes") used slides unconventionally to create those soundscapes. They remain (as you implied) unequalled as explorers of the possibilities of conventional rock instruments. And yes: Richard Wright is quite underrated. He was masterful at choosing the right notes, the right chord voicings, in ways that always sounded good.
Jeff Norman
2023-10-20 05:29:38 +0000 UTCThis brings so many memories of my early 20's, smoking weed and watching this with my friends and being totally in a parallel universe! :)
Jean-Michel LaFontaine
2023-10-19 06:14:05 +0000 UTCI think these are all outdoor performances (the evening sessions are with lights). If I remember correctly, the Paris sequences were inserted back into the remastered "extended" edition of the concert (they are interesting; they show them eating dinner, discussing life, and recording the early "Dark Side" sessions).
Allen
2023-10-18 22:54:57 +0000 UTCWhat makes these concert movies so interesting (compared to just listening) is observing the details of their playing technique, I particularly loved the reaction between 51:20 and 51:55
Eusebio R-Z
2023-10-18 18:21:36 +0000 UTCI saw this movie at the cinema when it was first released in the UK when I was a teenager 16 years of age. We came out of the cinema and just stood looking at each other lost for words.
Terence colin Shortman
2023-10-18 16:30:32 +0000 UTCHmmm. Not a word about Nick Mason's double kick drums--and you were even wearing your double kick shirt! Okay. You probably aren't going to like some of what I'm about to say. Firstly, the musical performances here are fascinating, and very well done. Visually, this film makes me want, a great deal of the time, to tear out my hair and beat on the screen, shouting "Let me see the freakin' music!" In the 70s, there was a big push, in movies and television to "make art" in shooting musical performances. I've been involved in visual production throughout my professional career, and cut my teeth shooting live music performances. You can be artistic and still show what's going on musically. Throwing in a little B-roll can be a relief sometimes, but endless shots of bubbling mud and steam blowing over rocks (sometimes with the band walking or running around in it) do nothing to add to the performance. Likewise, I have no interest in lingering shots of the backs or fronts of speaker cabinets. I'm a drummer. Nick Mason is a good drummer, and he uses his non-spectacular skills to excellent effect in Pink Floyd's music. But I don't need to spend 20 minutes of the film watching him play while I'm missing what everyone else in the band is doing. For the most part, I consider the visual part of this film to be pretentious crap. Thank goodness for your commentary! Because every time I've seen this film, I just wanna scream like Roger in "Careful with that Axe, Eugene". And you're right, Doug. This was before the SteadiCam. Those shots were done with a dolly on tracks. You can see the dolly and the tracks in the opening establishing shot, and the zoom-out at the end. Thanks for making this movie more enjoyable for me than it's ever been!
Bill Brinkmoeller
2023-10-18 07:03:28 +0000 UTCSuch a pleasure to watch your reaction and learn from your analysis of the work. Thanks Doug!
Ving13
2023-10-18 00:15:24 +0000 UTCWeather forecast for Naples this week mid 70s to 80 F , so still warm for us Brits!
Chris Gadsby
2023-10-17 23:43:10 +0000 UTCWOW...Again!!!!!...dk
Don K Mal 1
2023-10-17 23:32:46 +0000 UTCto answer your question, yes that's volcanic. while vesuvius is the big name, there is basically another yellowstone in the same region, and one of the craters within it has bubbling pits and gas vents. i went as a child as my family is from the area.
Bubbalino
2023-10-17 23:30:06 +0000 UTCMagnificent! Great reaction to a monumental historic film. Saucer Full of Secrets was Nickโs favorite album, it was the only one that featured all 5 members of the band. He loved it so much he named his current band after it.
Richard Plante
2023-10-17 23:10:52 +0000 UTCThank you for getting to this.
John B
2023-10-17 23:04:58 +0000 UTCYes - the studio takes were staged โrecreationsโ. Also, the scenes where the band is superimposed against the images from Pompeii were actually shot in Paris! The original shoot was plagued with technical issues - mainly trying to get a usable power supply to the amphitheatre. As a result they ran out of shooting time and had to cobble the rest together later.
Joe O'Farrell
2023-10-17 22:47:46 +0000 UTCPink Floyd in the 70's was most excellent with orange sunshine and ripple wine.
Jim Reeves
2023-10-17 22:09:06 +0000 UTCThe original movie didn't have those scenes. They were added soon after because the director thought the movie was too short.
R. Douglas Helvering
2023-10-17 22:07:45 +0000 UTCThe original movie has scenes of them eating, talking and working on Dark Side in the studio! Not sure why you aren't seeing them in this version...
Ving13
2023-10-17 22:04:17 +0000 UTCI think in the directors cut of this, they did a recreation of making parts of Dark Side with some dialog.
Brian Temo
2023-10-17 21:53:28 +0000 UTCLET'S FREAKING GO
Bubbalino
2023-10-17 21:36:51 +0000 UTC
