Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Discussions about Pink Floyd and Solo Official Album CDs and DVDs.

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drafsack
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Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by drafsack »

Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

This thread is to discuss Pink Floyds Live at Pompeii.

It has been available as a Video, DVD and Laser disc and is also available as a ‘directors cut’

Feel free to discuss any of the formats!

Image

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Basic Track Listing:
Echoes
Careful With That Axe Eugene
A Saucerful of Secrets
Us and Them
One of These Days
Mademoiselle Nobs
Brain Damage
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Echoes
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J Ed
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by J Ed »

I believe Pompeii to be the single most essential item in their catalog between Piper and Dark Side,
documenting perfectly how trippy their live set was and adding all those great visuals of Pompeii and Vesuvius
much better than any of the 68-72 studio albums, which were uneven in comparison

this is a difficult dvd to lend to newbies, as it has to be explained to watch the original version, hidden as a bonus track, and only after watching that a few times then watch the directors cut for the interviews
normal folks dont have the patience for all that and will just watch the directors cut, and that will be their their Pompeii, the poor lost souls

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(thanks for adding threads for the videos, Draf)
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Stephen
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by Stephen »

I watched this at the cinema back in the early 70's which was the best way to see it. I've got it on VHS and DVD but to be honest I can't remember what the difference is between the original and directors cut now. If it's a hidden track on the DVD then I must have missed it :? and if it's on my VHS then I can't watch that anyway. I'm not someone who gets over excited at seeing Floyd perform as it detracts from the music for me but, as J Ed says, it's a good record of that period.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by Jimi Dean Barrett »

I think there were two videos of this.
One was a Channel 5 (Before the actual Channel 5 network got the green light) that was an edit of all the songs put together, and then the pink video (which I had) that had the songs edited with them arsing about in Abbey Road.
Isn't the directors cut DVD got more footage but the extra interviews are in black and white?
Might have to get this again. My old copy is starting to wear out!
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by drafsack »

The difference between the 2 videos is that one has the Abbey road footage and is a direct copy of the film and the other doesn't - just the songs and on the DVD i think the cinema version of the film is as an extra and the directors cut has some cartoon films instead of the reels of film he lost
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by Stephen »

Regarding seeing the movie, I remember that it was the first time I realised that the one line of lyrics Nick said was 'One of these days ....etc ' in the song of the same name. I'd listened to Meddle many times by then but such is my indifference to most lyrics that I didn't know what he said until it was written up on the cinema screen. :) . Also, I couldn't believe that someone could dislike the crust on apple pie.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by my breakfast. »

I prefer the version without the Abbey Road stupidity personally. I think they ruined the video with the DVD Director's Cut. Who needs circa 1995 CGI of space stuff? Its dated worse than the footage! Also watching them a bit stoned in the studio pretending to record overdubs and chat like old Etonians in the common room is fun once but boring on repeated plays.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by Hudini »

I think that both original film and the director's cut have a lot of weaknesses, and neither really solves the problems of the other. The original video is too short and too intense, and the Abbey Road footage does help the flow of the movie by slowing the pace a bit where needed and extending the movie to a reasonable length for a full-length feature. On the other hand, the director's cut uses too much of awfully dated computer animations, mostly in completely wrong places. The planets sequence is in the right place, IMHO, and it is better than the long boring zoom that goes on for minutes on end, but the eruption sequence is completely inappropriate and inadequate. Besides, neither of the versions clears the mess of camera malfunction on "One Of These Days", which made the great version of the song terminally boring to watch since it features almost nothing but Nick's mug all the way through. Musically, "Live At Pompeii" is one of the best (if not THE best) Pink Floyd performances ever, but the video does nothing to help it. It is fun to watch from time to time, but I prefer listening to the audio only.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by Jack Wolf »

Live At Pompeii is what turned me into a PF fan. Watching clips from that performance on youtube a few years back and I was hooked.
I don't have a preference for either cut, though the Director's cut has some nice alternate shots.

Original Cut
http://youtu.be/zXjyEUlNT3A

Director's Cut
http://youtu.be/fOi2nVB31GM
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by progo »

The 'interviews' that Maben tries to do in the DC are retrospectively quite interesting. You know, now that the 80s have passed and the band splitted.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by crowman »

Live at Pompeii was the first pre-Dark Side Floyd I'd ever heard. I found it in the local video store in the early 90s, with no cover, and thought it was a video of a recent Momentary Lapse concert. Imagine my surprise when I took it home and watched it - I sat there wide eyed and open mouthed as I watched and heard "Echoes" for the very first time. To this day it's still one of my all time favourite musical performances of any artist ever. "Saucerful", particularly the end section, took my breath away, and "Careful With That Axe" and "Set The Controls" were just amazing.

Because of those last three songs, I was spurred on to check out Ummagumma which in turn led me to discover "Astronomy Domine". After that I had to hear Piper and became a committed Syd fan, which I remain to this day.

I only ever watch the original version on the DVD, the director's cut does nothing for me.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by dreamsalone »

Yeah, I think Live in Pompeii is quite good, easy to get hooked on, as well. But not the director's cut, I agree it's absolute shame and ruins the original feeling.
Last edited by dreamsalone on Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by Enish »

The Pompeii concert movie should be essential viewing for anyone who wants to get a good look at the band's musicianship from their pre-Dark Side days. The movie highlights at least one defining performance from each of the members. This is also a good way for Nick Mason fans to justify the drummer's creative output in the band, as his performances in "One of These Days" and "A Saucerful of Secrets" are some of the best I've seen or heard (He even loses a drumstick at one point and still keeps going!). Aside from the actual concert footage, the interview clips with the band are priceless, since it shatters the impression they impose on non-fans that they're brooding, pretentious rock stars. 5/5

Also, if any of you are interested, there are pitch-corrected versions of the concert segments on YouTube. I know that there have been torrents of a pitch-corrected Pompeii concert in the past, but it's on YouTube for your convenience.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by Frankymole »

The DVD has the original concert film without Abbey Road / interview segments, and also the CGI-"enhanced" modern version (made specifically for the DVD), but sadly it doesn't have the VHS's intermediate extended version (with concert + Abbey Road but excluding the rubbish new CGI). I don't think that version has ever been available digitally.
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Re: Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Post by danielcaux »

Indeed there are 3 version of Pompeii, the 1972 cut, the 1974 cut and the Director's cut. The VHS version is the best one by far, I believe it's the 1974 cut, with the color interviews interposed between the original "concert". It has the best of both worlds, the funny interviews and sneak peaks on their studio work (the re-recordings of On The Run and Brain Damage are also highlights of the film for me), and the original concert footage of the 1972 cut, without all that CGI crap and stupid liquid titles the director's cut has.

Pity isn't availabe digitally, and probably never will be.