LIVE AT POMPEII (THE DIRECTOR'S CUT)

I don't need to tell you this DVD will be essential viewing for anyone who ever wondered what Pink Floyd looked like in their prime, giving splendid performances of "Echoes" and other pieces among sunny Roman ruins! Too many reviewers have told you already .

I'd just like to add the Director's Cut is ideal for anyone who ever wondered what the keyboards setup in Abbey Road studios used to be like. Apart from all the Pompeii footage, there are tantalising glimpses of Rick Wright and David Gilmour recording piano and guitar overdubs for DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. Each time you start enjoying their playing, the camera slowly moves away, only to show you the same old Hammond organ, the same synthesizer and the same stack of headphones. (At least I think it's headphones; our TV screen is on the small side.) The first two times this happens you're mildly annoyed, and from the third time onwards you want to get up and give your own private performance of "Careful with that axe Eugene".

If I have a gripe about the actual Pompeii concert, it's that we get to see far too much of Nick Mason. I know he had a cute moustache, and there's nothing WRONG with what he is doing, but during "Echoes pt.1" we hardly ever see Roger Waters, and it's terribly frustrating Gilmour is nowhere to be found during "One of these days", or during the most exciting moments of "Echoes pt. 2". At least not in the Director's Cut. All this is a shame, especially when you consider the digitally restored footage looks wonderfully clear.

I'll always be fond of LIVE AT POMPEII because a couple of friends and I organised a showing of this film in our hometown, Genk, now thirty years ago. We'd set up a charity named VIBRANIA - does the name ring a bell with you? If anyone reading this happens to remember that momentous occasion, drop me a line!