Back in the days when God was a boy and bath nights were as much a weekly treat as they were a necessity, the local flea-pit cinema would occasionally open its doors late to deviate from its scheduled programming to indulge in all-night horror marathons, cult movies or concert films, catering for those whose tastes and interests ran counter to the mainstream.
It may seem rather quaint now in a time of information overload, instant-access entertainment and short attention spans, but for those who made the effort to rock up with smuggled beers, a packet of 10 fags and perhaps something more exotic, these encounters with the counterculture were as meaningfully informative and impactful as they were fun.
Ergo Pink Floyd's Live At Pompeii, which showed the generation that latched on to music in the 70s and 80s that there was so much more to the band than the imperial period that ran from the release of 1973’s The Dark Side Of The Moon to the final brick that built The Wall six years later.
Filmed and recorded live over several days in October 1971 in the ruins of Pompeii’s Roman amphitheatre with only the camera crew as the audience, these performances show a band in transition as they begin to find their direction and identity following the enforced departure of founder member Syd Barrett after his drug-induced meltdown.
With one foot in the band’s psychedelic past and the other pointing at the future, the updated and retitled Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII is a vital historical snapshot. Earlier material such as Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun and Careful With That Axe, Eugene are less concerned with the discipline of song structure – or indeed songcraft – as they are with creating music that enhances altered states of consciousness via the exploitation of sound effects and guitar pedals. Looking forward with the then-contemporary dips into Meddle via One Of These Days and the monumental Echoes (here split into two parts), Pink Floyd take off from the more disciplined launch pads of melody and purpose.
Visually cleaned up, and remixed by Steven Wilson, Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII is liberated from memories of scratchy sound and grainy visuals. Crucially, as a document of four hungry musicians working in common cause and without later bells, whistles and recriminations, this stands as Pink Floyd’s best live album.
