Careful With That Epinion, Eugene!

I know many rock fans who think that Pink Floyd began with Dark Side of the Moon. They don't realize that there is a body of great material that was recorded before that seminal album. Many hardcore fans view the early music as the best stuff they recorded. That is a debate that I will not enter. I have enjoyed most of the music they made throughout their long history.

The early 70s was a great period for Pink Floyd. One work that is often overlooked is the concert film Live At Pompeii. This was a live performance captured in an amphitheatre in Pompeii. There are a lot of great visuals in this performance. Somehow, Floyd's music is perfectly suited for these ruins. They manage to capture the essence of the site. Footage includes performance in both day and night. This adds an eerie quality to some of the music.

I was quite impressed with this film when I saw it as a teenager. It was great to be able to find it on DVD with a new Director's Cut. What is great about the copy I got is that it includes both the original concert film and the Director's Cut. This is nice because the director's cut features a lot of interview material and footage of the band in the studio recording Dark Side of the Moon. this footage shows the band working on Us Vs. Them and Brain Damage. Both were included on the legendary '73 album.

This extra footage is interesting but there are times when all I really want or need is the music. I find myself playing the original film more often than the newer cut. You will only need to watch the Director's Cut once. After that, it's back to the original. The concert film released in the early 70s was only about an hour long and featured seven songs.

I was greatly impressed with the product here. It had been about ten years since I last saw the original film. I was almost hesitant about making the purchase. Silly me, I pondered that I might have mythologized the film in my mind and made it greater than it actually was. Happily, Pompeii was just as good as I remembered.

This performance will be more appealing to fans of older Floyd music. It will likely be a revelation to Floyd fans unfamiliar with Ummagumma, Relics and other earlier titles. The concert opens up with Echoes Part 1. This is a nice jam that features the band in full swing. Echoes just seems like a perfect psychedelic opener to a performance in such a mythical venue.

Director Adrian Maben did a wonderful job intertwining images of the band performing and onsite footage of the ruins. This helped create a nice trippy undertow for the music. The sound quality in the film is also quite exquisite. The song selection will not impress the casual fan as it predates any of the so-called hits. I have always liked Careful With That Axe, Eugene. They do a nice little version of it here. This is an early psychedelic classic. It is mostly instrumental with Roger Waters breathing the only vocals urging Eugene to be careful with his axe. This kind of song allowed the band to flex its musical muscle.

Floyd devotees will be delighted with the renditions of One of These Days, A Saucerful of Secrets and Madamoiselle Nobs. These are all old delightful treasures from the early Floyd canon. They also introduce One of These Days with its full original title "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces." Those incidentally are the only lyrics in the song.

The set is closed with Set the Control For the Heart of the Sun and Echoes Part II. All four musicians are in full swing. Nick Mason is fantastic on drums. Richard Wright earns his paycheck on keyboards. They provide a splendid backdrop to guitarist David Gilmour and bassist Roger Waters.

What makes the music here so good is that all the members are contributing to the mix. This is before Floyd became a vehicle for Waters' concept albums. It was more of a team effort and that led to some amazing music that is both progressive and psychedelic. Maben did a great job of capturing the essence of their live performance. It's kind of a shame that instead of the interview additions, they didn't add in a few more songs. It is interesting to know that the band members sometime squabble and view themselves as artists but more music would have been better.

I have yet to watch the interview segment with Maben on the making of the film. I would also note that the DVD includes subtitles in seven languages. There is also a brief map and history of Pompeii included. That will be of interest to historians. This is a great DVD. Fans of Pink Floyd need to drop what they're doing and get this release. Just be forewarned that the original concert film is what you really need to see. Don't be lazy and only watch the director's cut. You'll be disappointed with the DVD if you do.