UMMAGUMMA

Ah, Ummagumma. First of all, the live stuff. Some real nice hard rock here, although this tends to be a bit overrated. They extend all the songs with keyboard solos and kind of drifty moments, to be honest I was expecting more electric guitar work from Gilmour, a bit more solos, but no dice. Nice pieces of work, very well put together, just that it's not exactly marvelous. In some parts I can hear the tape crackling, so not the best audio quality ever. I like how on "Set The Controls..." it's dark and moody but then it peaks and gets very energetic, but then dulls down again, the same happens with "Careful With That Axe, Eugene". Also, I noticed in "Saucerful of Secrets", towards the end before Celestial Voices, the drum pattern is almost exactly the same as that on "The Nile Song". People say you should buy it just for the live stuff, they say it's the best stuff Floyd has ever done, yak yak yak. There's a lot more to the album than the live stuff. THEN TO THE STUDIO ALBUM, Rick Wright's "Sysphus" is all instrumental and at points is very relaxed and melodious, but then at points gets completely random, loud, and a little annoying. Not listening music really, just a glimpse into his mind in the form of sound. Then to Waters' bit, "Grantchester Meadows" and "Several Species...". The first track is a very gentile, relaxed, acoustic piece with beautiful lyrics. The, the infamous "Several Species..." starts out with sqeaking, chirping, small animal noises. Then someone saying what sounds like "cumber happ- eeeeee!" repeats about 200 times, and I thought the "oh, oh, oh, oh" echo noise in "Dogs" was repetitive, oh boy was I in for a surprise. Then a scotsman or someone imitating a scotsman talks for a minute or two in such an accent that I did not even understand a word. Then to Gilmour's "The Narrow Way" which was his first real shot at lyrics and music together, and it turned out very nice. Part I is a completely acoustic piece. Part II is heavier and more intense, the main riff is just like something Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath would do, just with a lot less distortion. Part III is where the lyrics kick in, and is easily the best bit of the studio album so far. It's almost like a glimpse into the future as it sounds like something off of Obscured by Clouds or even Dark Side of the Moon. Marvelous. Off to Nick Mason's "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" which features some pretty psychedelic experimentation. A lot of strange sounds that leave you wondering "Where in the world did that come from?", and a lot of tape work, sounds starting and stopping in a matter of seconds. All of them mixed together. This series can't be considered songs, just a collaboration of different sounds. A lot of people insult it, but I think it's pretty cool because I'll bet he had a lot of fun doing it. Out of the whole studio album, Gilmour's contribution is the best and most musical.

TO SUM UP IN ONE SENTENCE, THE BOTTOM LINE: Live album is very nice but overrated a bit, studio album (for the most part) can't be considered music, just a glimpse into each band member's mind in the form of sound.