Pink Floyd à Pompéi

I just bought this movie today ay Best Buy, having rented it about five years ago. I am just astounded at the quality of the cinematography. If this this was just a movie it should have won an Academy Award for cinematography. But it is a documentary about one of the greatest bands of all time. Pink Floyd are the Beatles of the 1970's. This movie shows Pink Floyd at their best and happiest, in the early 70's. There is alos footage of the recording of the best album since Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Dark Side of the Moon. This band is so meticulous, and so conscious of what they put out. Their talent is so enormous, I would recommend this video to anyone. The musician-ship is so good by all members of the band, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. It is so great to see them perform live and to be so young and talented. I was impressed especially by Richard Wright and Nick Mason. They are so good in this movie. So are Roger Waters and David Gilmour. David Gilmour's guitar playing moves me to tears. He is so good. Roger Waters songwriting is just so excellent. I wish that all four would get back together again and tour. Thank you Pink Floyd.

The idea. The scenario. The music. The performance. The Band. The greatest.

I can only say that Pompeii and Pink Floyd talk for themselves. It transmitted me the complete idea of what Pink Floyd is...or was in that time. After seeing this movie every music lover will be you delighted and every Pink Floyd fan will be enlightened (and if you do not like music nor pink floyd at all don't bother continuing reading this commentary).

The songs perfectly match the Greek amphitheatre, the space sequences shown, and every song was PERFECTLY performed, so exact, including the participation of a dog singin the blues in "Mademoiselle Nobs", Roger banging the gong with the sun behind (an amazing picture!!!), the speechless improvising between songs, that leaves you only with the desire of having been there when it all happened.

It also contains some fragments of what was the beginning of the recording of the masterpiece "Dark Side of the Moon" and commentaries by the four, which you'll find very interesting and wise, which give you also the perspective of Pink Floyd by its members.

Buy, beg, borrow or steal...(well, not steal), but see it right away cause Adrian Maben and Pink Floyd really hit the spot in this one.

It really should be no surprise that Pink Floyd of all bands could put together such a fantastic live performance. PULSE is one of the best live sets I have ever seen, but for the longest time Live at Pompeii eluded my attention. The first twelve minutes and the last twelve minutes of the movie are devoted to the best version of "Echoes" that I have ever heard. Other songs included in the set are "One of These Days", "A Saucerful of Secrets", and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". Depending on which version you watch, you will also get a glimpse of the band working in the studio on tracks for Dark Side of the Moon.

The cinematography of the movie has already been complimented upon by numerous reviewers, but it is definitely worth complimenting again, because it is so good. The actual interviews with band members vary in quality. Most interviews with Roger Waters involve him just messing with the interviewer. Mason and Gilmour are alright, but the best interview of the film is probably with the most under-appreciated member of the band, keyboardist Richard Wright. I watched this movie under the impression that is was only live set, and instead became an interesting mixture of live performances of music video quality intertwined with interviews and just filming the band hanging out in the studio. It almost seems like a documentary, and it works refreshingly well.

If I had to give the highlights of the performances, I would say that "Echoes" is a very obvious choice and is by far the highlight of the set. A not so obvious second in my opinion is "Careful With That Axe Eugene". This song manages to be so menacing yet subtle that I just can't help but like it. In both cases I find these performances superior to the studio recordings. The main detractor of this film is that "Echoes" is broken up into two parts. With a song so psychedelic and epic, it is such a shame it was cut in half. If the movie ended with the song in its entirety, it would have been almost perfect.

I have been watching this DVD of Pompeii over and over and I just can't seem to get enough of it. I happen to really enjoy the interviews with the band members as I find them to be quite amusing! They have left my friends and I with many memorable quotes to use. The music on the Pompeii disc is unbelievably incredible and it only makes me appreciate the Floyd that much more. This DVD is the best ever. I do believe however that only a true Floyd fan can truly appreciate this movie, including the interviews. The shot of Dave with his headphones on coming out from behind the shadows to look at the cameraman just sends me over the edge every time I watch it. It makes me feel as if he is just looking at me, and it makes me melt every time. Nick to me seems a tad pompous at times but I understand he is from the upper crust of society. Rick seems a bit mousy at times, but his playing outdoes any of that. Roger of course is genius and Dave is unrivaled in his playing (and his looks!!)

I absolutely love the Pink Floyd, but have been let down by Floyd-related things in the past, so I was quite wary of this movie. It managed to win me over, however, and now it's one of my favourites.

It was absolutely hysterical to see Mason go absolutely wild and smash his drums so hard that one of his sticks was flung off into the distance. It was amazing, how fast he managed to recover with a spare. Makes you wonder if he has some sort of quick release drum stick gadget hidden somewhere in his pants.

All in all, a fantastic piece. I highly recommend it!