It’s a beautiful song, strangely ominous and with a sci-fi atmosphere that’s dated but never sounds less than awesome. Opening with the classic Astronomy Domine, the opening track from the debut full-length, here doubled to eight minutes in length, inserting a carefully guided instrumental section that’s almost ambient, but never allowed to collapse into silence completely. But what songs they are! Each is performed better than the studio version, each being longer, harder, and sharper, the band audibly being able to afford better equipment than they originally had. As a live band, the Syd Barrett-less line-up of Floyd then was quite an extraordinary set of musicians, something clearly audible from the first CD featuring just four live songs. I guess I enjoy Lindy's contributions more than Nick's to that song suite.Pink Floyd saw out the 60s with this double-album, half live, half studio, and whilst like most of their pre- Dark Side Of The Moon output it does tend to get buried in the sands of time, it is more than worth a listen for fans of the band. I love the flute playing on Parts 1 and 3 of "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party." I am told that those flute parts were played by Lindy Mason, Nick's wife. The album and CD have no pause between those tracks, and IMO that detracts from the cool and relaxing mood that Grantchester Meadows creates. The "Several Species" insanity doesn't start until the tape is flipped over. One thing I like about how that cassette version played out was that no song immediately follows Grantchester Meadows. Sysyphus The Grand Vizier's Garden Party. Side A: Astronomy Domine The Narrow Way Grantchester Meadows. Then it skipped the rest of the live songs and played the five studio tracks in a different order. Just like the original album, my cassette started with the live version of Astronomy Domine. Unlike most here, I first heard Ummagumma on cassette. As I mentioned in the post above, I'm not a big fan of the live disc from this one, as they performed far better versions of all 4 of those songs by late 19. Their progression from Ummagumma -> Zabriskie Point -> Atom Heart Mother -> Meddle -> Obscured By Clouds is my favorite period of Floyd. I really love the Ummagumma studio album. There were only a handful of concerts where the band played that song with an Orchestra and Choir, and from the ROIOs that exist of those particular shows, it seems the Santa Monica show has the best sound quality of all. The Santa Monica one is also noteworthy for the version of "Atom Heart Mother" performed with an Orchestra and Choir. There's a ROIO of the Montreux show circulating called "Too Late For Mind Expanding" released around 2011 which, in my opinion, has the best sound quality of any Pink Floyd concert from the 1970 - 1971 period containing these four songs. Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, October 23, 1970įillmore West Auditorium (night show), April 29, 1970 Here are my favorite 5 concerts that contain versions of all 4 songs found on the Ummagumma live album: That, for me, is the most interesting era of the band's live performances, and most from this period include those four songs. I've copied it below:īack in 20, I went through a period where I searched out and listened to all of Pink Floyd's Recordings Of Independent Origin (ROIOs) I could find from January 1970 to November 1971. I include it here as a minor resource for those interested in alternate live performances of those songs. I am of the opinion that the live songs which appear on Ummagumma - Astronomy Domine, Careful With That Axe, Eugene, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, and A Saucerful Of Secrets - were performed in more interesting versions during Pink Floyd's 19 concerts. In the other thread Aleksandar referenced, I posted some information relative to the Ummagumma live album. I hope it serves as a good complement to the excellent discussion here: In fact, I love Ummagumma so much that I opened a raving fanboy thread about it one drunken night. And not only that, but I "rediscovered" some of the other albums, as well. I played the album like mad, including the live portion which only sounded better and better to me with time. Just those first bars of "Sysyphus" were enough. So I put the studio album on, expecting even less.īANG! Instant rejuvenation of my interest in the band. Being a bit tired of Floyd at that time, I didn't really care for it, except for "Eugene", which was so much better than the studio version. Anyway, I'd heard strange things about Ummagumma and had the impression that only the live album was worth it. By that time my interest in the band had begun to wane a bit. Pink Floyd used to be my favourite band for the longest time, but Ummagumma was one of the last albums I got.