Pink Floyd – Pink Floyd At Pompeii - MCMLXXII
Sony / Legacy – 2025
Rock, Prog, Psych
Rated: *****
I was there. At Pompeii. Not at the Pink Floyd filming back in 1971 unfortunately. No I was there a bit more than a month ago. Dream Theater played there. Not a month ago unfortunately. But a few weeks. I wish I could have been there as well. But as I strolled across the ruins for a few hours with a blistering sun above me, scorching the sand underneath my feet and slowly making me step forward into an ever more strangely dreamy condition, I entered the arena where it all happened. The Pompeii Amphitheatre that was home to one of the greatest moments in the history of live music. And perhaps a pivotal moment for Pink Floyd. Two tunnels from the Pompeii Amphitheatre are dedicated to this concert, with reels from the movie playing over and over and many pictures, quotes and stories. It’s wonderful, but it would have been even better to be able to sit down in the Amphitheatre, exchange the audio guide for decent headphones and high quality music and listen to the entire record on site, while the sun slowly sets. A unique environment, which was recognized instantly by Pink Floyd and the director Adrian Maben. The film therefor glances at Pompeii city, wandering through the streets, showing glimpses of its splendor and beautiful murals. Even as night falls and Pink Floyd plays on, the shadows of its past come to life…
Fans of Pink Floyd all have their own favorite album and there are many to choose from. All of them have their merits and many are landmarks. But recognized universally as one of the best albums ever made is of course The Dark Side Of The Moon. No longer present Syd Barrett, still there Roger Waters. But of course, Live At Pompeii was right before that album. Recorded in 1971 it has some of their best songs from the previous period. And here, as they play live and are whisked away by the shadows and move through time and space, those songs become even better. No extra musicians, no background singers, no extra layers, just the four that are Pink Floyd. Young dogs, still under thirty, playing on the very edge of the needle, and becoming all they could be. Eagerly and with an urge to do justice to their surroundings the four lift songs like Echoes, Set Controls For The Heart Of The Sun and Careful With That Axe, Eugene into a higher dimension. Bulbous and brimming with an energy that almost bursts out of every riff and fill, exploding like the volcano behind them. And that makes Pink Floyd At Pompeii a legendary album and film…
But there’s more. Even though the studio snippets, the dark atmosphere, the breakfast chatter and the lighthearted talk takes some of the energy out of that performance video. It does have its merits, for it shows them working on that legendary album, prophesizing that ‘they could become slaves to their equipment’ and the start of their ‘electronic goodies’ dependency. It also shows a Pink Floyd, already a big band, still not aware themselves of that they are about to become one of the biggest bands to ever have walked the face of the earth. That given can make the viewer giddy and smiling uncontrollably through every part of the chatter. The best thing however about this new MCMLXXII edition is the extra’s, the mix and the fact they took out those horrible space images that were there in earlier editions. This is done right. This is done the way it should be. And we can thank Steven Wilson for restoring the entire sound to its rightful proportions. Huge, mountainous, yet with so much room for the individual instruments to breathe, it makes every second of this version sound like a lifetime. And there are some hundred and fifty more of those seconds on the final unedited version of A Saucerful of Secrets…
This is a restoration filled with love and time, Lana Topham for devoting every waking moment for years to restore the original version of the film and Steven Wilson for mixing this stream of music into the beautiful obsidian it was always destined to be. And to add that alternate take of Careful With That Axe, Eugene as a final gift is another testament to the love and energy that went into this thing. The music is stunning, the mix brilliant… But it is even more beautiful to see a band out of time, out of space and on the very of exploding…
(Written by JK)
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