P-U-L-S-E

Pulse The Division Bell is a great album, with a masterful treatment of the guitar by David Gilmour. However, but the songs from this album didn't work well live, for many reasons. 1-The music of the album is in some points very calm, and Pink Floyd didn't know how to pass this calm atmosphere to the live versions. 2-Gilmour's voice, which was magnificent in the studio album, seems tired and old here. Ok, he's 50 years old here, but on Division Bell it's impossible to be noted. A good example of tired voice is Coming back to life. 3-The orchestra passages were not well played, they didn't manage to substitute them for keyboards or something else. Shine on you crazy diamond was totally disrespected, they took out important parts of it, to make it shorter. They cut the last guitar solo after the first sung part, and I really hate them for doing it, it was my favourite part of the song, and was always amazing in live versions. Dick Parry plays well his sax parts, but they didn't let him play even half of the sax solo he played in studio. This live version was a lesson of how to destroy the greatness of a progressive epic. The Dark Side of the Moon wasn't well played live either. Breathe is awesome, and Gilmour shows us how his voice is still crystal clear (unlike several rock singers, whose voices suffered greatly with time, such as Ian Gillan, Greg Lake - and of course Roger Waters). Time and Us and Them were really better in Delicate Sound of Thunder (their live album from 1988), because here they didn't have the courage to change it, and improvise, they just tried to played it like they were in studio, and results aren't bad, but don't add anything to these songs. The Great Gig in the Sky was the opposite... the backing vocals improvised so much, but I don't like the way they yell, seeming they forgot the melody of the song, so they're doing anything, and pretending they know what they're doing. Money has irritating "woo woo" by the backing vocals, but the instrumental section is very good. The last three songs from Dark Side have good performances, saving the performance from the total disaster. The other songs are well played, but they didn't add anything new to standards like Hey You and Wish You Were Here. Run Like Hell is excellent, with an exciting introduction by Gilmour, and good vocals.

I'd like to add that Pink Floyd really didn't need to make a show with five guest musicians and three backing vocals (or was it more? Did I count it right?) They sounded incomparably more cohesive on Live at Pompeii or The Wall Live.

This live album is not bad, I could give it 3 stars, but I really think it doesn't have anything a prog lover can't live without, so I give it 2 stars, because only fans and collectors need to buy it, others can listen to it just once.