UMMAGUMMA

Pink Floyd's fourth album was a double album, a really interesting one I'd say because it was a hybrid: the first LP is a live album (probably their best live recording) and the second LP is the studio album, which included the four parts of "Sysyphus" (an instrumental song composed by keyboardist Richard Wright), two songs composed by Roger Waters, then "The narrow way" which is David Gilmour's composition and "The grand vizier's garden party", composed by Nick Mason.

As a whole, the studio album is really interesting and has a lot of experimentation with different kinds of musical textures, but, as it happened in the More soundtrack, this album sounds like if it was an extent of "A saucerful of secrets", it has really interesting moments but if it wasn't for the live album I'd rate this album with the 3 stars rate.

The live album is exquisite: four songs, covering the two sides of the LP and giving an example of how good Psychedelic/Progressive Rock sounded in a live show.

1.- Astronomy Domine (08:25): The first track from "The Piper at the gates of dawn" (which was a very psychedelic song) was extended with an epic 4 or 5 minutes jam before they close the song repeating the riff of the beginning.

2.- Careful with that ax, Eugene (08:47): This song was originally released as the B-side of the single "Point me at the sky" and it was never included in any Pink Floyd studio album; the song has many live versions including the one in their epic non-crowded concert in Pompeii, but I really feel this is the best version ever recorded of this song (to be honest I don't like the studio version).

3.- Set the controls for the heart of the Sun (09:05): Originally released in "A saucerful of secrets", it's one of the darkest and psychedelic songs in their first albums and the live version which lasts almost twice as the studio version has an even more interesting style (it's like re-discovering the song but finding more jamming psychedelic sounds).

4.- A saucerful of secrets (12:48): The album ends with the title song of the second album, which was Pink Floyd's longest song until "Atom heart mother" came out. This version is also much more interesting than the studio version and has the beautiful touch of David Gilmour vocalizing the end of the song, which in the studio version doesn't have the element of the human voice and later it would be performed the same way in the Pompeii concert.

The live album of "Ummagumma" itself deserves the highest rate of five stars and if it was released as an independent album I would give it that rate.

SONG RATING: Sysyphus (as a whole), 4 Grantchester Meadows, 4 Several species of small furry animals gathered together and grooving with a pic, 4 The narrow way (as a whole), 4 The great vizier's garden party (as a whole), 3 Astronomy Domine, 5 Careful with that ax, Eugene, 5 Set the controls for the heart of the Sun, 5 A saucerful of secrets, 5

AVERAGE: 4.33

PERCENTAGE: 86.67

ALBUM RATING: 4 stars

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