The Bonus Discs - The Endless River

I admitted in a previous review of Pulse that I took Roger’s side in the great Pink Floyd schism of the 80s. Blame it on being a self-righteous 16yo at the time that I thought there had to be a “right” and a “wrong” side.

However, I stand by the assessment that the first post-Waters album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, almost confirmed Waters’ assertion that the group was a spent-force creatively. Despite appearing at the top of the small-print credits of that album, Richard Wright had not yet officially rejoined the band after being kicked out by Waters following the recording of The Wall. (Wright had the last laugh though. Having been demoted to sideman and put on wages for the 1980 tour of The Wall, he was the only member of Pink Floyd to make any money out of the loss-making shows) His contributions, along with Nick Mason’s, to that album were minimal, partly due to being out of practice and partly due to Momentary Lapse being as much a Pink Floyd album as The Final Cut was. Also, the record tried so hard to sound like Pink Floyd that it ended up being a little embarrassing.

It sold by the ship-load though and gave all three the confidence to be themselves a bit more on The Division Bell seven years later.

Many of the songs on The Division Bell were composed the way Pink Floyd used to write in the late 60s and early 70s, by building ideas up from extended jams. It turns out The Division Bell was originally intended to come with a bonus disc of some of these jams. Time got away from them though and the idea was shelved, as was the idea of Pink Floyd as a group at the end of the ’94/’95 tour. They never officially broke up, they just stopped being Pink Floyd. The untimely death of Richard Wright in 2008 after a brief battle with cancer seemed to confirm that they would continue to not be Pink Floyd. That’s why when I first read rumours earlier this year about a new Pink Floyd album, I put them in the same folder that I send alerts about a new John Lennon tour to.

When it was revealed that David Gilmour and Nick Mason were cleaning up and building upon some of these unused jams, the notion of a new album made a lot more sense. It also sounded quite attractive just from that information. Gilmour and Wright continued jamming together until Rick’s passing. A few of those jams are included as bonus features on Gilmour’s concert DVDs and I thought at the time that a whole album of such material would not be unwelcome.

While there have been plenty of modern overdubs added, it’s evident that the music has not been changed too much. The fact that even on the CD and DVD, the tracklist is divided into four sides, tells us that this is going to be old school. The Endless River is a return to pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd – almost all instrumental and with deep but probably meaningless track titles for good measure.

It begins in classic Floyd style with a long, slow fade-in that makes you wonder if this thing is on and to be honest, the second track It’s What We Do does come just a little too close to a Shine On You Crazy Diamond pastiche. In fact, there’s a fair bit of self-reference in the music and it’s hard to tell if and when it’s deliberate or if it’s just the Floyd being Floyd. There are echoes (sorry!) of Us and Them, Run Like Hell, Sorrow, and even Another Brick… Part 3. Although the pieces started as improvisations, they never descend into pointless noodling. Sonically, the album is about mid-way between The Division Bell and Gilmour’s excellent solo album, On an Island.

The one vocal track, Louder Than Words, which closes the album, has Pink Floyd going a bit sentimental for once, but it’s still beautiful. Some might find it surprising that David Gilmour does bittersweet really well.

The main feature of the accompanying DVD is the 5.1 surround mix of the album. More than just a carrot for audiophiles, this is another aspect of Pink Floyd returning to their roots. They were always champions of surround sound. Even though they stopped mixing their albums in Quad when it became clear that not enough people were interested, their live shows were always in quadraphonic since the 70s and Roger Waters’ concerts still are.

In addition to the surround mix, there is 39 minutes of additional music split across video and audio sections. The piece titled Evrika is in fact Wearing the Inside Out in its early stages. The track called Nervana (sic) wouldn’t have really fitted into the main album but the only way to describe it is: It rocks! Even on their least over-thought album in 40 years, it’s refreshing and surprising to see and hear Pink Floyd being a simple rock and roll band for five minutes.

Much of the video is taking from in-studio cameras during recording. While it’s not the visual feast we have come to expect from Pink Floyd, it’s great to see them at work.

It would be cynical and unworthy to dismiss The Endless River as trawling the archives for some product to release. For all their internal bickering, Pink Floyd have always known how to remember the fallen. The album is first and foremost a tribute to Richard Wright, whose integral contribution to Pink Floyd’s sound was often overshadowed by the clash of egos between Waters and Gilmour. Not only is it a fitting tribute to Rick, it’s probably the most genuinely “Pink Floyd” album since 1975. After so much soap opera, it is an honest and dignified end to their recording career.

Audio: 24bit LPCM Stereo, Dolby 5.1, DTS 5.1 (album)

          LPCM Stereo (additional tracks)

Worth paying extra for? You’re mad if you don’t.

 

If I show you my dark side…

Last week was the fortieth anniversary of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.  Yes, we are all that old.  If you need me to tell you how good the album is, then there probably isn’t much I can do for you.  Just go and listen to it.  It’s streaming on their website, search YouTube, hell, steal it off bittorrent if you have to – they don’t need the money.

One of the many brilliant aspects of the album is the talking throughout various parts of the album, relating to the album’s themes.  They set up a series of cards with questions on them and invited anyone who happened to be around the studio to answer them.   Abbey Road doorman Gerry O’Driscoll provided many of pieces used, including the final statement about the dark side of the moon.  As David Gilmour says in Classic Albums, it’s the people who aren’t used to being interviewed who come up with the goods.  Wings happened to be recording at Abbey Road at the same time and all participated.  Paul and Linda’s answers were too guarded but Henry McCullough made the final mix with the timeless comment, “I don’t know, I was really drunk at the time.”

One of the special trinkets that came with the Immersion edition was Roger Waters’ handwritten recreation of the questions asked.  The first few questions were along the lines of “What is your favourite colour?” just to get people relaxed before getting to the relevant questions.  I very much doubt any of my answers would have been used, but this is what they would have been.

Are you afraid of dying?
Yes, I am.  I know it’s not cool on any level to admit it, but I am – partly because I don’t know what’s on the other side and partly because I don’t want to go before I’ve done everything I want to do.  That’s in addition to natural self-preservation instincts.  Nobody wants to die.  Given the choice, I think we all want to avoid it.

When were you last violent?
Truly, I can’t remember the last time I was violent towards another person.  I’ve always been against violence but I have to admit the primary reason I’m against violence is because I’m so bad at it.  Being against violence would mean more if I were more able to utilise it should I choose to.

Embarrassingly enough, the last time I behaved violently was when someone had pissed me off on the phone and I took out my frustration by beating the arm of the couch with a cushion.  I told you I was bad at violence but we all have violence in us – it’s just a question of how we express it.

Were you in the right?
Of course I was in the right but I would say that, wouldn’t I?

Do you ever think you are going mad?
Regularly – and beyond the usual, “I’m bonkers, me!”  or “everyone’s mad,” thing that everyone does once in a while.  I’ve always felt apart from whatever ‘normal’ is.  Most of the time, I’m happy to embrace that but there are also moments when I don’t feel I have control of what my mind is doing and that is… uncomfortable.

Most of the time though, I see people who are allegedly sane and I don’t want a bar of it.

If no, why?
Well, perhaps thinking you’re mad might be the best indication of sanity.

What do you think of The Dark Side of the Moon?
Fookin’ great album man!
 

THE STORY OF WISH YOU WERE HERE - Pink Floyd

This documentary may not be under Eagle Rock’s Classic Albums banner, but every bit as good as any release in that excellent series.  In parts, The Story of Wish You Were Here is just as much a tribute to Syd Barrett as the album itself it, but it focuses on how the rest of Pink Floyd related to Syd.  

The film features new interviews with Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason as well as excerpts from an interview with Richard Wright in 2001.  Of as much interest as the band interviews are the additional people involved in the making of the album, including backing vocalist Vanetta Fields and recording engineer Brian Humphries, who reminds of how under-appreciated Richard Wright’s conclusion to Shine On You Crazy Diamond is.  There is also an interview with music journalist Nick Kent, whose stinging review of the Pink Floyd gig at which they premiered Shine On You Crazy Diamond eventually spurred them to reassess their approach to following up The Dark Side of the Moon.

Roy Harper tells the story of he came to sing on Have a Cigar and mentions how it rankles not only that he sang on a hit single and everyone thought it was Roger, but also that wags keep calling out for it at his gigs.  

Pink Floyd albums were all about the entire package though, so the film doesn’t just focus on the writing and recording of the music, but also features interviews with sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson, photographer Aubrey Powell and stuntman Ronnie Rondell, who is the burning man on the cover.  The Wish You Were Here live shows marked the beginning of Pink Floyd’s collaborations with artist Gerald Scarfe, who talks about the animated films he created for the show. 

Syd’s surprise visit to Abbey Road late in the recording of the album is discussed, but what it less well documented is the fact that Syd was persuaded to try making some new recordings at around the same time as Floyd were starting work on Wish You Were Here.  A short snippet from these abandoned sessions is included in the film. 

It’s unclear who commissioned this retrospective but by rights, this really should have been included with the Wish You Were Here box set, although that did have marbles and a scarf. 

Extras are in the form of extended interviews and performances.  Gilmour and Waters each play Wish You Were, with Gilmour layering both 12-string and lead.  The interviews veer into more philosophical subjects than just the making of the album.  Nick Mason makes a very interesting point that should have been in the main film, given the other theme of the album is the cynicism of the record industry, that if an album fails, then it’s the record company’s fault but if it succeeds, then it’s because of the artist. 

Highlight:  Isolating tracks on the master tapes

Feature:  * * * * *

Extras:  * * 

Audio: Dolby 5.1, Dolby stereo, DTS

Brain Humphries

Roy Harper

     

  

Oh, by the way,

While these five recent, Pink Floyd related concerts are all different shows from different people, it’s also fair to say that they all cover some very similar ground, and they all contain Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Comfortably Numb at least once.  You’d have to be a pretty hardcore fan (hello!) to want them all, so if you were only to get one or two, which is the best?

Well, that would depend on which of their many facets attracts you most to Pink Floyd.

If it’s the “whoa, cool!” factor you’re after, then get Pulse.  Nothing else comes close.  Remember That Night is a distant second.

If it’s a moving experience and social commentary that’s your thing, then In the Flesh is the clear choice.  Pulse, Remember That Night and Live in Gdańsk each have a couple of moments.

If you’re a guitar nerd, then you’re spoilt for choice.  David Gilmour in Concert is an obvious choice if only for the Spare Digits feature, but Pulse features a few finger close-ups as well.  Another interesting aspect of David Gilmour in Concert is that he picks up a Gretsch Duo Jet to play the world’s greatest guitar solo rather than his trademark Strat.  In fact, In Concert is completely Stratless.  You’ll be happy with any of the Gilmour shows, but don’t completely discount In the Flesh.  What is lacks in David Gilmour, is makes up for in Andy Fairweather Low, Doyle Bramhall II and Snowy White.  White is a bona fide Pink Floyd alumnus having played on the Animals tour and the original live shows of The Wall.  Bramhall may be mostly playing Gilmour’s parts, but being a left-hander who plays a guitar set up for a right-hander, he is playing them upside-down and backwards.

If you want great surround sound, then In the Flesh and Pulse are your two best bets.  Both were quadraphonic concerts to begin with and the surround mixes appear to match that.  The Gilmour shows tend to make less use of the surround feature, although the 4-disc version of Live in Gdańsk does include the surround sound version of On an Island, which is excellent.

While on the subject of audio, both In the Flesh and David Gilmour in Concert feature stereo streams in 24-bit LPCM (uncompressed) audio.  Pulse has the option of Dolby 5.1 at a higher than usually bitrate and the improvement is noticable.  None of the concerts offer DTS.

Finally, if it’s value for money you’re after, both Pulse and Remember That Night have several hours of bonus features.  If you’d like the option of just listening to the music, Live in Gdańsk is a live album that comes with a DVD and In the Flesh is available as a CD/DVD pack as well.

Oh, and if you’re epileptic, be careful of Pulse, Remember That Night and Live in Gdańsk.

The other way you might want to compare these shows is by the actual performances.  As mentioned, they all cover a lot of the same ground and only David Gilmour in Concert and the odd bit of Remember That Night make any serious deviation from well known arrangements.  Beyond that, the four different bands across these five DVDs all do a pretty good facsimile of each other.

The one Gilmour/Waters song that leaves a gaping hole where the other ought to be is of course, Comfortably Numb.  Each of the eight (count ’em) versions across these deevs tries with varying success to fill that gap.  There are those who really like the all-in harmonies of the 80s/90s Pink Floyd.  I am not one of them – although I have to say that listening to it again, I disliked it less than when I first heard it on Delicate Sound of Thunder.  Doyle Bramhall sings the Gilmour part competently on In the Flesh, but that’s all.  At the end of the song, Doyle Bramhall and Snowy White share the solo.  Doyle Bramhall is there to be David Gilmour and Snowy White is there to be Snowy White.  The solo concludes with them playing in harmony with each other and sounds pretty special.  The problem here is that it’s generally considered uncool for a lead guitarist to copy another’s licks (nor should players of White and Bramhall’s stature be expected to), but how do you improve on perfection?  They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.  Of Gilmour’s solo versions, the guest vocals of Robert Wyatt and Bob Geldof sound like they should be great, but they’re not.  Geldof in particular just phones it in.  Richard Wright’s fragile vocals on Water’s part are a pretty good but for me, the best version comes from David Bowie on Remember That Night.  I put this down to the fact that, more than all the others, Bowie understands Waters’ ideas about rock shows as theatre.

In the end though, the last great version of Comfortably Numb is either Pink Floyd at Live 8, or David Gilmour joining Roger Waters on The Wall in 2011.

 

LIVE IN GDAŃSK - David Gilmour (2008)

On an Island is an album of which David Gilmour is rightly proud, but the four-disc version of Live in Gdańsk contains the third and fourth complete versions of the album, all within two and a half years of each other, which might just be enough. 

Live in Gdańsk is primarily a live double album and the DVDs are bonus discs so they should be viewed as such.  Even so, it’s slightly disappointing that the concert film leaves out six tracks that are included on the album.  The concert was recorded at the Gdańsk shipyards with the Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Gdańsk and was timed to coincide with the 26th anniversary of the Solidarity movement.  This accounts for the addition of A Great Day for Freedom to the set list.

Other than that, it’s basically the same show as Remember That Night, with a Symphony Orchestra and without Crosby, Nash, Wyatt and Bowie; with Astronomy Domine and without Arnold Layne.  Indeed, we saw preparations for this show in the tour film included with Remember That Night. 

In isolation, it’s a great show.  The stage design is certainly interesting, with a row of six video screens focused constantly on each member of the band, rather than acting as a live telecast.  It’s a much better transfer than Remember That Night – the picture is much clearer and crisper.  Being an outdoor show, the sound is a bit less polished than the Albert Hall concert and generally sounds more ‘live.’  The presence of the orchestra isn’t really as noticable as it ought to be.

The rest of the first DVD is Gdańsk Diary, a film about the concert and its context, which also contains a fair bit of soundcheck footage.  This disc also contained a web-link to download bonus audio, but the download site has since been closed.  The bonus audio is available on the 5-disc version but no way is it worth paying $60 more for.

The main feature of the second DVD is On an Inland in surround sound and it is a great surround mix.  Unfortunately, it’s not high resolution DVD-Audio, but it does feature both Dolby and DTS options.  Unlike many other surround versions of albums, there is no vision to distract you from the music – just a black screen.  The additional features on this disc are literally more of the same as what’s on Remember That Night.  There are three more pieces from the Mermaid Theatre show including Wearing the Inside Out, two from the AOL Sessions and three from Live from Abbey Road.  The latter includes a clearly impromptu semi-acoustic version of Echoes, which also appears as an Easter egg on Remember That Night.  Finally, there are three Barn Jams which are quite interesting.

While all these bits and pieces are excellent, it would have been preferable to have more tracks from less sources on each disc – that is, have all the Mermaid Theatre pieces on Remember That Night and all the Live from Abbey Road tracks on Live in Gdańsk, for example.

Live in Gdańsk is a great concert and package, and it features Richard Wright’s last recorded performance, but it’s so similar to Remember That Night that you would need to be a completist to want both.

Highlight:  Astronomy Domine
Feature:  * * * ½
Extras: 3-disc version:  * * ½ 
            4-disc version: * * * * *
Audio: Dolby 5.1, Dolby stereo, DTS (On an Island surround version only)

REMEMBER THAT NIGHT - David Gilmour (2007)

Remember That Night is taken from a single performance at the Albert Hall in March 2006.  The show begins with the reliable openers of Speak to Me, Breathe and Time.  After that, the rest of the first set is given over to the complete performance of On an Island.  In a way, this is almost like a return to 70s Pink Floyd shows, where a complete performance of the current album was a reasonable expectation.  On an Island certainly deserves that treatment.  Graham Nash and David Crosby provide harmonies as they do on the album and Robert Wyatt guests on cornet on the instrumental Then I Close My Eyes, which becomes a lovely extended jam. 

The rest of the band include Richard Wright, Guy Pratt and Jon Carin who toured with Pink Floyd in the 80s and 90s, Phil Manzanera who co-produced On an Island, Steve DiStanislao (“pinched” from Crosby and Nash according to Gilmour) on drums, and regular Pink Floyd saxophonist Dick Parry.  

The second set contains the older Pink Floyd material.  While all the selections are familiar and welcome, Gilmour avoids the temptation to load it all with familiar hits (are you listening, Paul McCartney?)  It opens with Shine On You Crazy Diamond and the arrangement sits mid-way between the solo version that appears on David Gilmour in Concert and the regular band version.  Part one (or is it Part 2?) is played solo while the rest of the band join in for Part two (or is it Part three?).  When the vocal section begins (I’ve never known if that’s Part three or Part four, but you know the bit), Crosby and Nash return to provide the chorus, which is also based on the stripped-down arrangement of the previous concert.  Gilmour deserves great credit here for taking a Pink Floyd standard and presenting it in a fresh way without ruining the mood set by the original.  

Elsewhere, Fat Old Sun gains a big solo at the end and there are a couple of pieces from The Division Bell, but the first big highlight of the second set is a complete, 25-minute performance of Echoes.  It’s the first time Echoes has been performed in about thirty years, yet with one single distorted piano note from Richard Wright’s keyboard, everyone in the room knew what they were in for.

At the end of the show Crosby and Nash perform Stephen Stills’ Find the Cost of Freedom and then David Bowie joins the band to sing Arnold Layne.  It was one of Bowie’s last public appearances before his unofficial retirement.  Bowie stays to guest of Comfortably Numb.  Unlike so many other guest vocalists, he completely nails it and makes the song his own.

The second disc contains half an hour of songs from other Albert Hall shows, including a nice version of Wots… Uh, the Deal? from Obscured by Clouds, Wearing the Inside Out, and Richard Wright singing Arnold Layne.  

There are three documentaries.  The main one follows the tour and begins with a slightly awkward chance meeting with Roger Waters who had happened to book a rehearsal room at the same facility as Gilmour.  There’s also a film about the making of On an Island.  Both of these have the option of accessing additional scenes and interviews.  The third doco is a slightly throwaway piece on the US tour, partly filmed by Richard Wright.  

Other extras include two music videos, a performance of Syd Barrett’s Dark Globe from the 2006 tour, one piece each from The AOL Sessions and Live from Abbey Road, and five pieces from the live premiere of On an Island at the Mermaid Theatre.  For all this content, it would perhaps have been preferable to stick to just a couple of sources rather than having a little taste from so many different performances.

The menus are great but the length of the transitions make it a little frustrating if you’re trying to get to something quickly.

Highlight:  Echoes, Arnold Layne

Feature:  * * * * ½

Extras:  * * * * *

Audio: Dolby 5.1, Dolby stereo

"3D"

DAVID GILMOUR IN CONCERT (2002)

The main part of this film is David Gilmour’s performance from the 2001 Meltdown festival which was curated by Robert Wyatt.  It was Gilmour’s first performance as a solo artist since the mid 80s.

The concert opens with Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and although it may seem like a rather predictable choice to open the show with, it possibly the most amazing performance of the song ever attempted.  Can you imagine a solo acoustic version of Shine On?  It’s nearly three minutes into the piece before some of the audience twig. 

Freed of the responsibility of being Mr Pink Floyd, this is where Gilmour gets to play what he wants how he wants, which includes Syd Barrett’s Terrapin, Fat Old Sun from Atom Heart Mother, the debut performance of Smile, which would later appear on the excellent On An Island album, and Bizet’s Je Crois Entendre Encore from The Pearl Fishers.  With a band that includes a ’cello, double bass and a 12-voice choir, even the more familiar songs like Wish You Were Here and Coming Back to Life sound new and fresh.

At the end of the set are three pieces from a later concert at the same venue – another Syd Barrett song, Dominoes, Breakthrough, performed by Richard Wright and another version of Comfortably Numb with Roger Waters’ vocal part performed by Bob Geldof (Robert Wyatt performed the same part in the previous set.)  On paper, getting Geldof to sing looks like a stroke of genius since Geldof played the character of Pink in the film of The Wall.  On stage though, it doesn’t quite work.  Both Geldof and Wyatt read the lyrics off a piece of paper and give the impression that they have never heard the song before, which is a pity because the sparse arrangement is really lovely.

The special features are a bit of a grab-bag, but all good stuff.  Possibly of most interest is a section called Spare Digits, which features solos from the main concert but each with a single close-up of Gilmour’s fingers.   Non-concert related extras are a performance of I Put a Spell on You with Jools Holland and Mica Paris from 1991, Don’t from the Leiber and Stoller tribute concert in 2001 and a beautiful version of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee) set to music by Michael Kamen.

Highlight:  Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Feature:  * * * *
Extras:  * * * * *
Audio: LPCM Stereo, Dolby 5.1