Pink Floyd

Live at Pompeii The Directors Cut

05/12/2004

The concert was shot in and around an ancient amphitheatre among the old ruins of Pompeii, Italy, in October 1971. The band and film crew along with 20 tons of equipment, in the eerily lit, silent surroundings of volcanic destruction, set about skilfully recording this live set which begins and ends with ?Echoes?, the massive composition from the album ?Meddle?. What makes it unique, as well as the scenery, is there is no audience just an empty amphitheatre. This adds to the surreal nature of the film and the ethereal quality of the music. ?Echoes?pt1, filmed in the grey blue light of morning, the suns rays being reflected off the stone walls, is truly astounding. It?s hard to believe they?re actually live, the sound quality is that good. A lengthy Dave Gilmour guitar solo sears over Roger Waters? simple but cracking bass line, which fits perfectly with the Nick Mason groove. The film then cuts to 1973 when Maben filmed interviews with the band while recording ?Dark Side of the Moon? at EMI?s Abbey Road Studios. An interesting addition before it tracks back to Pompeii for ?Careful With That Axe Eugene? and ?Saucerful of Secrets?, both earlier Floyd pieces. All very arty musically and visually. Slapped between these two gems is more interview footage. A black and white shoot from the spring of 72 in Paris where the band were mixing and editing the film. ?One of These Days?, also from ?Meddle?, is filmed at night and the majority of camera shots are on Mason who puts in a well felt performance on the kit, it?s just a shame there?s not much of the other band members in view. ?Mademoiselle Nobs? is a blues session from the Paris studio featuring a local Afghan hound on lead vocals. Top howling from ?Nobs? the dog. Extra material must add another quarter to the full content of this film. The recording of ?Us and Them? and ?Brain Damage? is an intriguing peek into the making of DSOTM, but it comes away slightly from the original concept. The good thing with the DVD is, if you?re a purist and you don?t want the extras, you can just select the original concert film. The eastern, almost Arabic, sound of ?Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun? drifts into a spacey jam amid the Mediterranean twilight before ?Echoes?pt2. This highly inventive epic is like the centrepiece of the film and wraps it all up brilliantly. Live at Pompeii is a colourful archive of a band just about to enter the peak of their creativity and success. I feel a richer man having seen it.