Floyd Lives
Lonnie E. Holder | Columbus, Indiana, United States | 09/10/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"In an attempt to understand this CD, I have listened to it for two days straight, at least ten times. While the CD may have its flaws, the dark, brooding sound and heavy wallowing bass matched my mood, and reminded me once more of Pink Floyd's eminence in Progressive Rock.
I have the advantage of being unfamiliar with Floyd's first live album, and thus I do not have a comparison point. Comparing this album to the other live albums I have heard, the principal thing I noticed was that the crowd noise was reasonably minimal. Second, the bass is very heavy and either represents the mixing or the way Floyd plays in concert. I suspect that at least some of the bass is due to the mixing since one effect of the deeper bass would be to mute the crowd sound somewhat. The result is a live album that nearly has a studio album feel to it.
As for the songs themselves, many of them come across very well. I particularly like "The Dogs of War" and "Run like Hell," but many of the other songs come across quite nicely as well. The live versions of the songs from "Dark Side of the Moon" I thought were interesting and serviceable. Admittedly the sound is different without Roger Waters, but the songs still come across with the distinctive Pink Floyd sound.
I have seen some negative comments regarding the saxophone and the female backup singers. Being a fan of the saxophone I thought the sax on the songs helped distinguish the songs from the studio albums. I generally expect live versions to be different from studio versions. Sometimes the live version works well, other times not. In this case I enjoyed the unique contributions of the saxophone. As for the female backup singers, there are a few places where they are a bit obtrusive and add little to the songs, but fortunately those places are relatively few.
The difficulty with recommending this CD is that Pink Floyd fans are technically astute people, and I think many Floyd fans will prefer the mathematical precision of a studio album over a loosely choreographed live album. Pink Floyd's music is well arranged and created in the fashion of classical music and the extrinsic distractions of crowd noise and special effects can spoil the effect for some fans. I enjoy the variations from the studio albums, and the generally low crowd noise was not a distraction to me. If you are seeking an album to relive a live Floyd experience, sans Roger Waters, this album is a good one. If you are looking for a collection of Pink Floyd's best through the time of "A Momentary Lapse of Reason," but are not particularly interested in a live album, then you may want to pass this one by.
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Track Listings (7) - Disc #1