Pink Floyd - Ummagumma

 

The double album "Ummagumma" was a huge disappointment when I bought it. I thought the live album was pretty decent, although I was already familiar with "Careful With That Axe Eugene" as it was on the "Relics" compilation album, whilst the two songs on Side Two were on "A Saucerful of Secrets". "Astronomy Domine" was new to me though, as at the time I was still to acquire "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", and I quite liked the version here.

Although there is nearly 40 minutes of live music, it is only four tracks, with extended instrumentation to extend the timings compared to the studio versions. It might have been nice to have included a couple of short songs for a bit of variety.

Whilst it might sound like a good idea to give each band member half a side to come up with something of their own, it merely proved that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The word experimental can be used to describe large chunks of it, although pretentious crap also fits. It seems the band had been given a sounds effects machine and they were determined to overuse it.

The best thing about "Ummagumma" is its cover, which I now know features a Droste effect, where in the picture on the wall, the band members keep change places.

Listening again to "Ummagumma" after a gap of at least 45 years, my opinion hasn't changed.

Side One opens with Syd Barrett's "Astronomy Domine" at double the length of the original, with a lengthy keyboard solo repeating the main riff. It is still the best track on the album.

"Careful With That Axe, Eugene" has gentle cymbals to start with, then a soft psychedelic organ. The pace changes around the three minute mark with the spoken line of the title, screams and bass and guitar kick in and the drumming gets a lot heavier. It was nice to hear it again.

The version of "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" is double the length of the album version, with the drumming much more to the fore and the vocal barely a whisper. There are some weird noises in the middle section, before the bass riff returns.

I didn't really like the studio version "A Saucerful Of Secrets" but part 4 here is much improved with some elegant organ and supporting drumming building to the crescendo, where just Gilmour's voice replaces the choir on the studio version.

Richard Wright's contribution is "Sysyphus", at nearly 14 minutes long, and in four parts is mostly pretentious rubbish. Sisyphus is a character from Greek mythology whom the gods forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity. Part 1 is a short piece with mellotron and drums and is vaguely menacing. Part 2 begins with  almost pleasant piano a la a Chopin sonata, but becomes just a pounding of the keys as if a small child had been let loose on the keyboard and is unlistenable. Part 3 consists of piano and noises similar to "Several Species Of Small Fury Animals ( see below ), whilst Part 4 has a slow, spacy mellotron with a hint of "Silent Night", leading into the last four minutes of tuneless noise, until finishing with a reprise of the motif from Part 1.

Roger Waters' "Grantchester Meadows" is actually a song !  It is over 7 minutes long, with birdsong for a lengthy intro before becoming a gentle pastoral piece, with just voice and acoustic guitar. I keep thinking that the tender acoustic guitar solo will become Rod Stewart's "Gasoline Alley", but it doesn't, and instead there is the sound of a swan honking and then taking off from the water. The track finished finishes with the sound of a bee, then some footsteps, before the bee is swatted. 

Waters' second contribution is "Several Species Of Small Fury Animals". At 5 minutes long it is not music, just noise and is simply dreadful. It ends with some jibberish in a Scottish accent. Great title, dreadful track.

Side Four begins with David Gilmour's "The Narrow Way", which is in three parts. Part One is a listenable acoustic guitar piece until some slide guitar and noises spoil it near the end. Part 2 has a sinister guitar and a bass riff similar to "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" before becoming more unlistenable noise. Part 3 has some singing and a reasonable tune.

Coming from the drummer, Nick Mason's "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"is predictably a waste of vinyl. A short flute intro is harmless enough but the second part is percussion, tape effects and then a drum solo before a reprise of flutes for the exit. I'll be happy to never have to hear it again.......

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Astronomy Domine
2. Careful With That Axe Eugene

Side Two :

1. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
2. A Saucerful Of Secrets

 

Side Three :

1. Sysyphus
2. Grantchester Meadows
3. Several Species Of Small Fury Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict

 

Side Four :

1. The Narrow Way
2. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party

 

Released 1969
UK Chart Position :5

 

Pink Floyd - Soundtrack From The Film More

 

Released in 1969, "The Soundtrack From The Film More" was the third album by Pink Floyd. "More" was a debut film from director Barbet Schroeder, and when I acquired the album in the mid 1970s the only thing I knew about Schroeder was that he had also been the director of the 1972 film "La Vallee", for which Floyd had also produced the soundtrack.

Schroeder went on to achieve wider recognition for being the director of "Single White Female" and had a cameo as the French President in the file "Mars Attacks".

The stars of "More" were Mimsi Farmer and Klaus Grunberg. I'd not heard of them at the time and still have no idea who they are, apart from Farmer was American and Grunberg was German.

I have not seen "More" and it is not something I have ever seen in the UK TV schedules, although I can now see it is on YouTube to watch if I want to.

Wikipedia reports that the film was in English and set in Ibiza and Paris, with the main theme being about heroin addiction and with the main character committing suicide at the end of the film by a drug overdose after discovering his lover had been cheating on him with her ex-boyfriend.

The album cover I have was from EMI Italiana SPA and lists the band as The Pink Floyd rather than just Pink Floyd.

Prior to buying the album I was aware of "Cirrus Minor" and "The Nile Song", as both songs were on the "Relics" compilation which I already had. At the time I thought "Green Is The Colour" and "Cymbaline" were fantastic songs  and showcased the growing maturity of Roger Waters' lyrics. However, I thought side two was mostly awful and was probably played it only a handful of times. Apart from the four songs mentioned above I had no recollection of any of the other tracks.

Dave Gilmour sings the lead vocal on all songs. "More" is the only album where this happens until Roger Waters left the band.

The album opens with "Cirrus Minor", with birds tweeting for nearly a minute for the intro, before a gentle acoustic guitar and psychedelic organ come in. The slow and dreamy pastoral ballad finishes with a lengthy choral organ outro very similar to the final section of "A Saucerful Of Secrets". The track doesn't have any drumming or percussion, and I have no what the song is about !

"The Nile Song" comes as a bit of a shock as Floyd do their best Black Sabbath heavy metal impression, and if it had been released 20 years later it might have been called grunge ! There is an insane guitar solo and manic drumming. Gilmour’s gruff vocal is very much in contrast to some of the tender singing on other tracks. You would never guess this was Pink Floyd.......

The mood reverts back to dreamy and pastoral with "The Crying Song" with the return of slow acoustic guitar and keyboards giving the song a lullaby feel, before a slide guitar outro. Floyd were ahead of Mott The Hoople as Gilmour sings “We roll and roll, help me roll away the stones"!

The instrumental "Up The Khyber" features drumming very similar to the second section of "A Saucerful Of Secrets" and some jazz piano as if a cat was walking across the keyboard, before some psychedelic organ. I can't say I like it very much.

"Green Is The Colour" is  beautiful song with a nice plucked acoustic guitar intro and tin whistle, not played particularly well by Nick Mason’s wife. Gilmour provides another tender vocal over Richard Wright's tinkling of the ivories, before a lovely piano dominated outro."Green is the colour of her kind, quickness of the eye deceives the mind. Envy is the bond between the hopeful and the damned".

The Carole King style piano again underpins the playing of "Cymbaline", which is the most sophisticated song on the album. I love the the lengthy organ outro. "Your manager and agent are both busy on the phone, selling coloured photographs to magazines back home".

Side one closes with "Party Sequence" an instrumental just over a minute long, being mostly a drum solo with the tin whistle making another appearance.

There is only one proper song on side two, with "Ibiza Bar" being virtually "Nile Song 2". The barely a minute long "A Spanish Piece" is quite interesting with flamenco style guitar and Gilmour speaking with a dreadful Spaghetti Western Mexican accent. "Pass The Tequilla, Manuel" and "Laugh at my lisp and I kill you !"

The best of the four remaining instrumentals is "Main Theme", with gongs/cymbals to begin with, then a psychedelic organ before a Kraftwerk style motif on organ. It was probably a decade ahead of its time.

As it says on the tin, "More Blues" is a blues instrumental with just guitar and light drums, with the guitar lines hinting at the guitar to come in 1975 on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".

"Dramatic Theme" is mostly forgettable psychedelic guitar whilst the dreadful seven minute long "Quicksilver" is mostly a repeat of the first part of "A Saucerful of Secrets".

The instrumentals on More are mostly filler, and whilst they are probably suitable as background noise to the drama in the film, most of them don't stand up on their own. The notable exception was "Main Theme" which surprised me by how good it sounds now. 

"Green Is The Colour" and "Cymbaline" remain important songs in the Pink Floyd back catalogue.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Cirrus Minor
2. The Nile Song
3. Crying Song
4. Up The Khyber
5. Green Is The Colour
6. Cymbaline
7. Party Sequence

Side Two :

1. Main Theme
2. Ibiza Bar
3. More Blues
4. Quicksilver
5. A Spanish Piece
6. Dramatic Theme

Released 1969
UK Chart Position : 9

Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets

 

"A Saucerful Of Secrets" was the second album from Pink Floyd. As described in the review of "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", I sold my copy after purchasing the double compilation album " A Nice Pair", which was cheaper than a single copy of Piper.

Whilst I quite liked the album, I thought it to be a mismash of styles, with Floyd clearly not knowing what direction to take after the departure of Syd Barrett, previously their main song-writer, singer and guitarist, and being replaced by David Gilmour.

The album had three lengthy tracks to re-enforce their space cadet credentials, two piano dominated melodic songs from keyboard player Richard Wright, a lightweight almost fun song from Roger Walters, and "Jugband Blues", the final contribution from Syd, which shone a bright light on his ongoing mental decay, and is by far and away the most interesting song on the album.

I had been aware of three of the tracks on the album prior to buying it. "Remember A Day" had been included on the "Relics" compiliation, whilst live versions of "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" and A Saucerful Of Secrets" were on "Ummagumma".

The album begins with "Let There Be More Light" which has a throbbing bass and swirling keyboards for the intro, before leading into a slow, repetitive verse sung by Wright, then Gilmour sings the rising refrain. The keyboards somehow remind me a little of Procol Harem and there is some psychedelic guitar for the lengthy outro. The lyrics seem to be about an alien spaceship landing at the Mildenhall Air Force Base in Suffolk but there is also a reference to The Beatles and LSD with line "Lucy In The Sky !". It sounded much better than I remembered.

"Remember A Day", written and sung by Richard Wright, has a dreamy feel to it. Syd Barrett contributes on the slide guitar but the ivory playing dominates, although the pounding drums are significant.

"Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" has a dominant bass riff, but there is also tribal drums, crashing cymbals and eerie keyboards.

The Beatles like "Corporal Clegg" closes side one and is sung by Nick Mason, with Gilmour and Wright signing the dreamy chorus. It is perhaps most notably for its Kazoo solo played by drummer Mason.

"A Saucerful Of Secrets" takes up most of side two, being a 12 minute long instrumental in four parts. The opening section reminds me of the music from the Clangers, the second section is basically a drum solo with some random poundings on a piano and distorted guitar sounds. The third part has some funeral style keyboards before moving into an uplifting organ piece with a choir singing a wordless chorus. Listening to it now it sounds a mess, and for me the final section is the only part worth listening to again. I always thought the live version was better, we will see if that is still the case when I get around to playing "Ummagumma" again !

"See-Saw" is dreamy piano ballad written and sung by Richard Wright, who also plays the organ, mellotron and xylophone. It does sound very 1960s but is another track that was better than I remembered.

The album finishes with "Jugband Blues". Despite his ongoing Schizophrenia, it shows that Barrett was aware that he was being forced out of the band. "It’s awfully considerate of you to think of me here, and I’m most obliged to you for making it clear that I’m not here". The song has a jaunty brass section before submerging into sounds of The Salvation Army playing as if they were marching in the street. The song powerfully ends with just a faintly strummed guitar and the vocal of "And the sea isn’t green, and I love the Queen. And what exactly is a dream? And what exactly is a joke?"

In summary, "A Saucerful Of Secrets" is a much better album than many people give credit to, although I could do away with the title track.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Let there Be More Light
2. Remember A Day
3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
4. Corporal Clegg

Side One :

1. A Saucerful Of Secrets
2. See-Saw
3. Jugband Blues

Released 1968
UK Chart Position : 9