LIVE AT POMPEII (THE DIRECTOR'S CUT)

There are many live bootlegs and BBC performances from the '70-'71 Floyd period and unfortunately, Live at Pompeii is the only official live document. Unfortunate, because it is far from perfect and at times even seriously inferior to the non-official ones. On the other hand, in combination with the live shooting at Pompeii, this remains an essential title for Floyd fans.

The DVD main feature goes by the name of "The Director's Cut" and that's literally what it is, a cut-and-paste job mixing parts of the Pompeii live performance with 1972-1973 interviews (or rather chatter) The original footage is cut up badly with aged computer animations simulating the Pompeii eruption and, even worse, totally irrelevant images from the NASA vaults showing planet simulations and other new-age space stuff. Yuk. Fast forward through this movie to watch the chit-chat with the band, and then forget about this whole clumsy affair as quickly as possible.

Navigate back to the main menu and chose "Highlights" > "Original Movie". Ha! Here we are, Pink Floyd at Pompeii! A unique film capturing the band playing live without audience - that is not counting the souls of the Pompeii dead that hangout in those eerie ruins. The atmosphere of the setting is a perfect match for Floyd's dreamy/nightmarish psychedelic music of that time.

The film was shot in 4 to 7 minute cuts and unfortunately that shows in the editing. Especially Echoes suffers from it with a bad volume balance and rather abrupt transgressions. Also One of These Days and A Saucerful of Secrets disappoint, mainly due to the guitars that are mixed much too far to the background. On the other hand, Wright shines as always and if you're a fan of Mason you will greatly enjoy this.

Of course it's great to see the guys in action and with Set the Controls and Careful with that Axe we get two stellar performances which offer a worthy alternative for the Ummagumma versions from just two years earlier. And of course there's fun to be had with Madam Knobs.

As said, an essential Floyd film, but for more adventurous improvisations, a better sound and a setlist including the mighty Embryo, Atom Heart Mother and better versions of One of These and Echoes you will have to look elsewhere. 4 stars for the original movie, 3.5 for the performances, 2 for the recording and mix.