Post by rra on Jun 11, 2008 23:22:27 GMT -5
P*U*L*S*E (1995) - ****
I forgot which music critic it was who said it, so I'll steal it for myself. Pink Floyd is an Aristotle of rock music in that their albums are re-discovered by each succeeding generation, and their work, especially from MEDDLE in 1971 towards the end of the decade with THE WALL, is still as good as any rocker puts out these days. Either that's great praise, or simply the sorry state of the genre these days. Your call.
But like every other great British rock band not named the Rolling Stones, philosophies conflicted and egos clashed, and they imploded. In 1985, bassist/chief lyricist Roger Waters quit the act, and tried to retire the "Pink Floyd" moniker, which ensued quite a nasty and bitter artistic divorce with his band mates. By 1987, a settlement was reached out of court and lead guitarist David Gilmour, keyboardist Richard Wright, and drummer Nick Mason regrouped and subsequently recorded two albums: A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON and THE DIVISION BELL.
P*U*L*S*E is a breathtaking and exhilarating recording of a concert at Earl's Court in London on October 20, 1994, as part of Pink Floyd's DIVISION BELL tour. If Pink Floyd had been legendary for decades for their live performances, from their infamous gigs at psychedelic nightclubs in swinging '60s London to their theatrically ambitious THE WALL tour, then this incarnation of Floyd were willing to break the bank (at about $30 million).
Not only does P*U*L*S*E look expensive, what with an exploding airplane, film clips, a laser light show that'll give you a seizure, and one giant-ass crystal ball, but the audience (back then and now at home) sure get theirs Money's worth from what became the most successful rock tour for its time.
If anything, I think Sony and EMI should get this sucker slapped onto Blu-Ray pronto because its a perfect demonstration of that video system's audio capacity, and give strong incentive to people, especially home entertainment system aficionados, to upgrade into the future from DVD.
I mean, while the dry and intellectual vocals of Waters are really really missed, Gilmour/Wright/Mason still perform one hell of a kick ass show, starting with their epic "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." Even if I thought REASON and BELL were for the most part mediocre studio recordings, there is something thrilling as Gilmour's deep voice goes into "High Hopes," and you must see the insane-as-hell synch work between the laser effects and his (extraordinary as always) guitar work on "Sorrow."
Yet these Limeys sure know what is Pink Floyd's bread and butter with the masses, and with the concert's second-half they perform the entirety of their immortal DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. I do hate that MOON has almost overshadowed everything else awesome that Pink Floyd had recorded in the 60s (THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN) and 70s (ANIMALS), to the point that reformed Floyd and solo Waters have made MOON the lynchpin of their concerts, but with P*U*L*S*E, you forget that and revel in the likes of "Time." That song not only owns you, me, and everyone else reading this review, but it also retroactively and owned our parents too as well. Heck, It even trashed your ancestors' cave homes.
By the triumphant encore renditions of the haunting "Wish You Were Here," the mesmerizing "Comfortably Numb," and balls-to-the-wall "Run Like Hell," you are just exhausted, mostly from the constant stomping of your feet on your floor. Despite teases of a new tour since the Waters/Floyd reunion at Live 8 in summer 2005, I fear this will probably will be the closest I'll ever get to attending a Floyd concert in the flesh, unless that lost magical footage of the WALL concerts are discovered and properly restored.
But I'll take what I can.