LIVE AT POMPEII

Back in 1991 I videotaped Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii on my dad's satellite dish, on MuchMusic (Canada's answer to MTV, but I felt that it was even better than MTV because they used to air stuff like this). I never lived in Canada, it so happens in the days before DirecTV and other small satellite dishes, people owned 10-12 ft. dishes, and in '91 my family owned a 10ft KaulTronics dish (bought in 1986) and were able to get Canadian and Mexican stations, as well as, naturally American (but at that time, many more stations started to become scrambled so it was a miracle MuchMusic stayed unscrambled as long as it did when MTV was fully scrambled). Not being familiar with anything earlier than Meddle at the time, this gave me an idea what Pink Floyd was like before they became superstars. It really blew me away. It was performed live, true, but not in front of an audience, but at the ruins of Pompeii in October 1971 (as well as some in a Paris studio in March 1972). Great versions of "Echoes" (which they divided between the beginning and the end of the film), "Set the Controls of the Heart of the Sun", "One of These Days" and "A Saucerful of Secrets". "Mademoiselle Knobs" was simply "Seamus" without the singing, but with the howling dog still intact.

I found it interesting this film was first made available on videotape back in 1981, during the infancy of the VCR (still called the VTR then, most people still didn't own one because they were so expensive).

Flash forward, it's now available on DVD, and I picked up the DVD. Luckily I was fully aware of the warnings. It seems like Adrian Maben has that similar problem to George Lucas: never happy with the original outcome of the film, so like Lucas did to the old Star Wars trilogy, Maben decided to tamper with it. What made him think it's a good idea to include contemporary computer animation in a movie that was filmed in 1971-72? It seriously clashes with the '70s mood and vibe. At least you get to seem some Dark Side of the Moon session footage of Roger Waters toying with the EMS AKS to get the electronic sequence to "On the Run". What Maben did would be like if Pink Floyd decided to remaster The Dark Side of the Moon and replace many of the analog keyboard parts with digital synthesizers.

The good news: at least you get to see the original 1972 theatrical cut as a bonus feature on the DVD, and that's the big reason you need this DVD. No digital add-ons and CGI, retaining the original '70s vibe.

Forget the director's cut, and go for the original theatrical cut included as a bonus cut, this is some truly great live footage. To me, this performance is truly deserving a five star!