Ummagumma- Studio Disc or Live Disc

[mhspiper]

Which disc of Ummagumma do you guys prefer? Personally, it would have to be the live disc. I can just let it repeat forever on my turntable (especially side 2). The disc has so much live power (not saying that I dislike the studio disc, I just like the other better)

[AstroDomine]

I really like the studio disc, so much good material on it.

[mosespa]

I've stated before that I fail to see the point in comparing one disc of a double set against another.

I hold the view that a double album is meant to be taken as a whole...if I were going to listen to any of Ummagumma, I would be more likely to put in disc one, let it play and then put in disc two and let it play.

However, I didn't see this as an option...so, just to keep from looking like a total ass by refusing to take part but post anyway; I'll say disc one.

Because, for the most part, once the song gets underway and the audience shuts up (and they DO shut up for the most part,) then it sounds like a studio album that actually captures the energy of a live performance.

I'd even dare to say that it might just be THE perfect live album...all killer, no filler.

[mhspiper]

My fave song on the studio disc is absolutely "Grantchester Meadows." Quite possible the most peaceful Floyd song ever! And I do agree it should be taken as a whole. Just like "The Wall" (although everybody probably has a preference as to which disc of "The Wall" they like the material of the best)

[mosespa]

This may sound a little odd, but I have a certain "concept" that I've worked up that I like to keep in mind while listening to Ummagumma. It's kind of cheesy, but it's just the idea that disc one is a concert that the band plays...after the concert, they go back to their rehearsal space or studio or whatever and just kind of play as a warm up for whatever PF album ends up getting played next.

Because there WILL be another one played after it, lol.

[mhspiper]

Yes, mosespa, it is cheesy. But it is fun, also. And it's what will be in mind next time I listen to "Ummagumma":)

[mosespa]

And it's what will be in mind next time I listen to "Ummagumma":)

My insanity spreads

[J Ed]

Ummagummas a different sort of double album than The Wall
it really is two distinct ideas for an album packaged as a single product
I see no more reason to listen to both halves in one sitting than with A Nice Pair
I think, after abandoning The Man and The Journey, that they were a little lost about what to do for their next release, and had two halfbaked ideas, neither entirely satisfactory, so put them both out together

the studio record in fact could be looked at as four seperate mini-albums in itself, as the four Floyds didnt worry about what the others were doing when they assembled their bits - to listen to all four parts in sequence a listener would be imposing a narrative upon the four pieces that the individual musicians did not intend

anyway I like the live record, it flows nicely, the songs improve upon the studio versions, and until I found a boot of the Pompeii soundtrack, it was the only Live Floyd album in my collection

[mosespa]

Ummagummas a different sort of double album than The Wall
it really is two distinct ideas for an album packaged as a single product
I see no more reason to listen to both halves in one sitting than with A Nice Pair

Be that as it may, they could have released each album seperately...but they didn't. Even if the reasoning is only because niether half would stand on it's own, that indicates a certain cohesiveness (however ill-executed,) to the album as a whole.

It's not two seperate albums released together (as "Use Your Illusions" for an example,) but a double album released as a package.

I think, after abandoning The Man and The Journey, that they were a little lost about what to do for their next release, and had two halfbaked ideas, neither entirely satisfactory, so put them both out together

Right...they put them out together as parts of the same package. Again, however tenuous it might be, they obviously felt that it made sense for the two albums to be parts of the same whole.

the studio record in fact could be looked at as four seperate mini-albums in itself, as the four Floyds didnt worry about what the others were doing when they assembled their bits - to listen to all four parts in sequence a listener would be imposing a narrative upon the four pieces that the individual musicians did not intend

Really? Because I don't see it that way.

One COULD listen to the parts without imposing a narrative on them...in much the same way that one can listen to The White Album without imposing a narrative on it.

Not all albums have narratives, you know...in fact, most of them don't.

[PublicImage]

Right...they put them out together as parts of the same package. Again, however tenuous it might be, they obviously felt that it made sense for the two albums to be parts of the same whole.

Well, they were wrong. It does not make sense and they both work better seperately.

[Dark Lord Guy]

They should have wited til '71 or so to release a live album. A double even - consisting of the four Ummagumma tracks, "Embryo", "One of These Days", and "Echoes". Basically the 'Pompeii soundtrack + 2'...

[Harpo]

They should have wited til '71 or so to release a live album. A double even - consisting of the four Ummagumma tracks, "Embryo", "One of These Days", and "Echoes". Basically the 'Pompeii soundtrack + 2'...

But their intention in 1969 was to release those live songs so that they could then *stop* playing them and move on to new material. It backfired of course, making those songs more popular with the fans, so that AD wasn't dropped from the set for a further 18 months or so, ASOS another year after that, and the other two tracks were still a regular part of the set until four years after Ummagumma's release - by which time that new material had long since come and gone

[moom]

No matter how much I love their live shows, the studio stuff is more for me Like i've saod before, both gentle and striking, and avant-garde

[bong]

Absolutely the live disc.

[Dellinger]

Live.