Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder

Having owned the Delicate Sound album for several years I've found it's always one you return to for the Momentary Lapse of Reason tracks- most of which weren't played live again on the Division Bell tour. Although I'm a fan of Roger Waters- era Pink Floyd and his solo work, being 25 my introduction to Floyd was through the David Gilmour- led last days of the band and I still count Momentary Lapse, Delicate Sound, Division Bell and Pulse among my favourite records.

This video should certainly be rereleased properly on DVD (it's currently only available on DVD in a very pricey and hard to find box set also including the CD's), perhaps remastered with some new extra features. Actually as I've just spent £30 on an 18- year old VHS tape EMI will probably release it next week!

Obviously, the main reason people will be interested in this title is for the tracks you can't get on video anywhere else (On The Turning Away, Dogs of War, etc.) but as with Pulse there are a few differences between the album and video tracklistings. The biggest disappointment is that Yet Another Movie and Round and Around are left off but instead you get Signs of Life and One Slip. Shine On is actually only the intro of the song rather then even the shortened "Concert Version" on Pulse but then it is a track Floyd played a lot and you can get it live anywhere (apparently Echoes was also occasionally used as the opener instead on this tour which would have made a much more interesting inclusion). Money is also absent but considering it's on the Pulse video as well as Waters' live In The Flesh DVD that's no great loss and the less overplayed On The Run replaces it anyway.

The style of the concert film (in an American arena rather than Earl's Court) is very different to Pulse too, directed as it is by Wayne Isham- anyone familiar with his flashy live DVD's for Metallica and Def Leppard will be familiar with the director's style- which is often more like watching a music video (some sounds and images intentionally don't match up- although that's not as bad as it sounds) than a live show. But at this point in their career Floyd seemed to be trying to get back to Meddle- era anonymity after The Wall tour so that's probably exactly what they were going for. There's no friendly talking to the audience like in the Pulse video, the band are backed by a massive cast of additional musicians (including a spectacularly mulleted saxophonist) and there's much more emphasis on the light show and some inspired Storm Thorgerson images on the video screen. It's also cool to see Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason looking so much younger. Also look out for the brilliant p*ss- take credit the band give an R. Waters for "Original Pig Concept" at the end!

Considering there is now a visual record of every other era of Pink Floyd (the '60's Syd Barrett days with the Live in London DVD, the experimental Meddle era with Live in Pompeii, the Waters years with The Wall film and Gilmour's version of the band with this and Pulse) it would be truly great if somebody could unearth some concert footage from the band's truly greatest (and democratic) years between Dark Side of the Moon in '73 and Animals in '77 when Waters and Gilmour worked so brilliantly together and even let the other two write the occasional song. Numerous sources have said over the years that at least audio recordings probably exist from that time so how about a massive, officially released CD/DVD live box of stuff from the golden age?

The music aside - this is by far the best concert-video ever made, in my humble opinion. This is truly the work of a perfectionist. You see all the important parts, but not even once is there a cameraman or even a cable in sight to disturb the experience. And the light- and stageshow is as always with Pink Floyd magnificent. So too is the music. The concert was a promotion-tour for the "Momentary Lapse Of Reason" album, and about a third of the video is dedicated to numbers from that album. The rest is the good old stuff! Almost all of my favorites are there, and they are performed to perfection. Compared to the PULSE video, I think this is slightly better, due to the perfect editing.

The movie was not too bad. The concert was real good the effects, lasers and pyros. The only problem is that it does not look nearly as good on the video as I remember them from the concert. The concert CD has much better sound than the video in VHS format.

Just watched the Blu-ray, amazing compared to the DVD. Recommendable great sound and picture quality.

`The Delicate Sound of Thunder' is stunning. David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright, supported by outstanding musicians and backing vocals, and a great selection of songs, give a marvelous 90 min. concert. Although without Roger Waters - the creative soul of the group, this show is stunning. It is difficult to highlight a song, but `The Great Gig in the Sky' in the voices of Margret Taylot, Durga McBroom and Rachel Fury and the saxophone of Scott Page in `Us and Them' are unforgettable. The light and choreography, together with the performance of the stars works perfectly in this video. `Comfortably Numb' is fantastic. My vote is ten.