Pink Floyd Album: “Pulse [Slipcase]”

Like so many others, I reluctantly and sadly gave up on Pink Floyd after The Wall. Final Cut is too dismal, and without Roger Waters, how could they possibly still be the true Pink Floyd we all know and love? I missed them terribly, and I wanted more. In my bias (and I'm not proud of this), Momentary Lapse seemed more a solo album, or perhaps an offshoot of PF, but not the real Pink Floyd, and I scarcely gave it a chance. Not long ago, a friend loaned me Pulse, mainly to hear the entire performance of Dark Side (which is excellent). The other familiar songs were good, too, even the singles I had heard from Momentary Lapse.

Before returning the CD to my friend, I felt obliged from loyalty to the great years to at least give the unknowns a serious ear. Randomly, I started with "Keep Talking." To my complete wonder and amazement, here was a true Pink Floyd song, as pure and as enthralling as anything from Animals or Wish You Were Here. It must be a lucky fluke, I thought. My second choice was "Sorrow," simply because it is long. Again, I found myself grinning and drawn in exactly like during their prime. It was wonderful to realize that the mistake was mine. These songs definitely ARE true Pink Floyd, and taking nothing away from Roger Waters, he is NOT an essential ingredient after all. So I went back - "What Do You Want With Me," "Coming Back to Life," "A Great Day For Freedom," "High Hopes," and "Sorrow" again (even better the second time). I felt like I had discovered a rare gem I never knew existed - another lost Pink Floyd masterpiece. How could I have been so blind and so deaf? Since 1980, I have thirsted for more Pink Floyd, and here it has been all along!

To those others like me who may have given up on them and have always wanted more, give Pulse a chance. Listen closely, turn it up, and see if you are not transported to the same place that PF has always been able to take us. I defy you to hear that little concert within the concert and not run out and buy Division Bell and Momentary Lapse. Gilmour, Mason, and Wright, please forgive my own lapse. Thank you all once again.

Forget the three stars shown -- I voted five, but Amazon's website goofed. This one's a five, believe me!

Somehow, I skipped over Pink Floyd while getting older and never really noticed them. A longing for some good British band music led me to give Pulse a shot and boy was I surprised. I'd always thought their songs that I heard on pop radio were sort of 'down' because of the lyrics. Yes, there are negative themes here, but there are an equal number of passages where the minor keys are resolved into beautiful, shining majors. Gilmour is a stupendous, versatile guitar player. I have to rate him as one of the best lead guitarists I've ever heard -- intelligent work that doesn't rely on cliches that are repeated over and over (Ever take a close listen to Clapton, even going back to the original Layla? I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about him. He's smooth, but not really very inventive -- and he plays off pitch, as well!). These two CD's will satisfy anyone thirsting for guitar elevated to an art form.

At first I was disappointed because Gilmour's voice on these CD's doesn't sound like I was expecting. It's not as clear as the studio versions of these songs that were recorded 25 years ago. But after listening several times, I actually like his mature voice better. It has a nice quality to it.

What amazes me is that these three remaining Floyds have played these songs live countless times. But there is not even a hint of jadedness here. They really put everything they had into the music and that's impressive. The recordings are superb for live recordings.

I could go on -- great backup vocals, great bass, neat interchanges between the fans and the band. The version of "Money" on this album is just really great. It makes the original studio version sound very canned. This one breathes with interesting parts that'll have the darned thing going through your head over and over and over again.

If you're even half interested in Pink Floyd, you won't be sorry with this purchase.

It seems this CD, and the DVD, are the products David Gilmour fought for all these years. Doing most of the lead vocals, playing the bulk of the guitar solos, and having longtime bandmates Nick Mason and Rick Wright on the stage with him, with no apparent conflict within the band, and possibly the biggest, most elaborate lightshow in history to compliment the sound, are all elements for the end result of decades of wrangling with others, often with frustrating results. Given, Roger Waters was, and is, a superior songwriter and conceptualist, but missing in his work is the texture his former bandmates added to it. But, this isn't a review about Waters. This is about Gilmour, Mason, and Wright, the auxiliary musicians, and this stellar document.

I attended the Pittsburgh leg of the "Division Bell" tour, in May of 1994, and as good as the video and sound of the CD are, it's not like seeing this spectacle in person. The show I saw opened with "Astronomy Domine," and this really surprised me. In an interview I read in a magazine once (can't remember which one), Nick Mason said he loved "Astronomy Domine," but for the life of him, he couldn't picture David Gilmour, in dignified middle age, shreiking out Syd Barrett's lyrics about the I Ching and interstellar exploration to an audience, and being taken seriously. Of the four men who played on the original version, we now only have two (Mason and Wright), and a slew of others, and I can see why some purists would be a little miffed at this. It's Syd Barrett's song, and Gilmour wasn't even a member of Pink Floyd when it was written. But, Gilmour has remained Barrett's friend over the years, and it was a nice gesture to commemorate him with one of his most successful songs on the biggest tour his former band ever embarked on.

The sound quality on this disc is loud and clear, just like the show. It's a tri-parteid event, the first part using familiar material at first, focusing mostly on what was new material at the time. The set closer, "One Of These Days," doesn't have the bite the "Pompeii" video had soundwise, but it is the single most mind-blowing part of the show, with the possible exception of the show's finale. (though it's not on the compact disc-bummer!) Oscillating lights, liquid projections, lasers, smoke, explosions, and huge, evil-looking inflatable pigs with boars' tusks peering out of windows built into the top of the stage backdrop, more than make up for the smooth, lifeless tempo of the song as they have grown to play it. It's not supposed to "swing" as it does here, but in this case, the song's tempo is incidental. It is just an excercise in excess. In fact, the whole show is a triumph of excess.

As others have said, part two of the show is the complete "Dark Side Of The Moon." The show I attended, didn't have this; they only played five selections from it. So, listening to the CD and watching the video, gives a one a rare treat, most of the original personnel playing their biggest-selling LP, all the way through, and it's a real treat. But I have to say, even though the original will always have something subsequent versions lack, the definitive version of "The Great Gig In The Sky" is the one heard on "The Delicate Sound Of Thunder" video. I don't even know if this is still available, but it will change the way you listen to this piece. Originally called "The Mortality Suite," the vocal was developed by Claire Torry for "The Dark Side Of The Moon", on instructions to sing wordlessly about the spectre of death. And she really delivered. The "Pulse" version is good, but the one I keep going on about ("Delicate Sound..."), features vocals by Rachel Fury, Durga McBroom (on this tour as well), and Margaret Taylor. Taylor's performance will absolutely FLOOR you. That's all I can say about it. No description.

They added a funky section to "Money" for the live shows quite some time before this tour, and some people really don't like it. I like it, and I like it without that section, as well. Can't pick one over the other, though, I just listen to them and appreciate them on their own merits. "Any Colour You Like" is a return to the days when they played London's UFO Club, and even though the visuals are just some swirling lights, it's the same thing they used in the old days, and it's just a pleasant jam session, two chords back and forth, very relaxing. Over the years, Waters has been on the receiving end of my criticism over his singing abilities, but on "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse," his presence is missed. Gilmour's voice is technically superior, but he doesn't sing this with the same conviction as Waters. This is the reason no material from 1977's "Animals" is included on this, or "Delicate Sound." And I felt the visuals here took from the music. It is a song about losing one's hold on reality, but the clip shows the world's politicians in stock footage. Yes, you can say politicians are insane, but this takes away from the nature of the rest of the piece. We're all just one bad day away from our heads "exploding with dark forbodings." And "Eclipse" is another one tailored to Waters' voice. But the whole piece would suffer without it. In all, though, they did a remarkable job.

The third part is the encore. The same running order as "Delicate Sound," but a little more in the production. The audience sings along with "Wish You Were Here," but they render a version of "Comfortably Numb" that is in a class all its own. This is Gilmour's chance to let his Stratocaster speak to you, one on one. A song you can just get lost in.

And of course, "Run Like Hell," the grand finale, just completely envelops the stage and audience in light and sound. Not one of my favorite songs, but they play it well. Again, missing is that voice only Waters can deliver, but the production as a whole, more than makes up for it.

This has been a lengthy review, and I could have made it even more so, but I do need to have a cut-off point. I read review after review about Gilmour's laziness, and Waters' control issues, and Mason and Wright being only window dressing, and most of these people just want to love one camp and hate the other, but I consider myself a true Pink Floyd fan, and have been for well over thirty years, and I like some Floyd works more than others. Some don't hold up, but "Pulse" is an appropriate ending to one of the the most influential collective careers in the history of contemporary music. And, the reunion at "Live 8" closed the book on a good note.

One of my all-time favorite bands. Ever. Good work, gentlemen!

In the seventies, Pink Floyd was an incredible live band. It wasn't just the visual show or the surround sound. It was the music. In the first set, they would experiment with new material. In the second set, they would play old material in new and exciting ways. Atom Heart Mother and Echoes were played in numerous different ways and at one time were even combined into one song. Before Dark Side of the Moon was released on album they would play an early version of it called Eclipsed, that was quite a bit different than the finished product. On the tour to support Dark Side of the Moon, they played early versions of songs from Animals and Wish You Were Here. They also played a great extended version of Dark Side of the Moon that was an hour long.

Pulse is from the 1994-5 tour to support the Division Bell CD. Midway through the tour, they decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dark Side of the Moon by playing the complete piece. Pulse represents a typical Pink Floyd concert. Most of the first set is new material from A Momentary Lapse of Reason and the Division Bell. The second set is the older material.

The big disappointment here is that most of the material doesn't vary much from the studio versions. Except for the jam in the middle of Money, the whole of Dark Side of the Moon sounds just like the studio LP, but not as good. The only songs where the group really breaks out are Comfortably Numb and Run. But similar live versions of those songs can be found the Delicate Sound of Thunder.

This is a better CD than the Delicate Sound of Thunder, but if you have one it isn't necessary to get the other. Pulse used to come with a blinking LED that pulsed to the heartbeat at the beginning of Dark Side of the Moon.

For either of the Pink Floyd live CD's the videos would be a much better choice. On the Delicate Sound of Thunder, you get more tracks. On Pulse, they leave off one unnecessary track. But, in both cases, you get to hear the music in the context of the visual show. This is much more impressive, since the performances don't stand up on their own.

Please don't give any credence to Rob O'Connor's Amazon.com Editorial review. None. Zip. Nada! The man is obviously deaf, drunk, and devoid of the least bit of intellect and taste required to recognize good music, good audio engineering, and good production in general. P¤U¤L¤S¤E was originally released in June of 95 and sold over 2 million copies in only one month. It debuted in the number one position due to preorders and I purchased one of the original CD's when record stores still existed. It was released in a box with a pulsing (blinking) red light on the spine and the two CD's were housed inside both covers of a book which slipped in and out of the case nicely. A very nice production job on the marketing and if you can lay your hands on one of these now collectibles you will find the battery is easily replaceable and the album will still blink (unless someone let the battery sit inside and corrode horribly). Mine actually lasted over three years without needing initial replacing! I think it averages about 2 years on a new battery each time and it is still blinking away! Ah but you want to hear about the music! I don't know what the latest CD release is housed in but I can tell you that even if the latest release is not "re-mastered" worry not. PULSE was one of the best engineered live albums and one of the best 90's releases period! The clarity, the definition, the balance of loudness (too many remasters end up bottoming out horribly), and the audience amplitude are all meticulously produced in order to give the listener a wonderful live-capture feeling (without the swell of audience drowning out the music) while keeping the virtuosity of Pink Floyd right up front and separated into gorgeous stereo definition. Even on a surround system where you set your amplifier to "concert surround" settings, the stereo will translate beautifully into pseudo-surround. Gilmour's guitar as always is one of, if not THE, greatest guitar sounds in the world and he stretches his studio solos out here without becoming repetitive and boring. His notes snatch glimpses of glory and emote right up there on the Carlos Santana level. The Floyd, even without Waters, are also, as usual, perfect! Pink Floyd have always been known as perfectionists. In the old days, they marked the floor up with little x's as designated places to stand whether you were the saxophonist, a backup singer, or David yourself, and God-forbid you stray from your mark or the band would just go crazy. The visual effects were note-for-note tied to the music with seldom to never an error. Any concert of theirs you attended was an event worth remembering and cherishing. The music on both discs here, already reviewed ad infinitum on these pages, is just plain glorious! The Dark Side Of The Moon is a very nice treat with some embellishments that add to and do not detract from the original. One note here, no malice to the glorious original of Clare Torry, but huge kudos have to be sent out to the astounding vocals of Sam Brown on Great Gig In The Sky! I honestly love this version more than the original just because of her solo. If you are unfamiliar with Sam Brown, she is mainly a European act, member of Jools Holland (original founding member of Squeeze) band and daughter of English rock and roller Joe Brown, all who were very close friends to George Harrison. Jools and Sam perform Harrison's last recording Horse To Water, on The Concert For George. Sam's vocals on that piece rival the best sounds to ever come from the lips of Aretha Franklin, that's how good a singer she is, and here, Pink Floyd let her loose on one of the craziest but greatest songs to ever come from their archives. Her work on backing is all over both of these CD's and one has to acknowledge that the backing vocals on PULSE are some of the finest ever produced on a Floyd album. As for the rest of the music, just read more reviews and look at the overall ranking and that should tell you whether or not you would be wasting your money here. Not! This is one of the best live recordings ever made, yes! Let's put it simply:

The album starts moody with an incredible opening salvo of Shine On You Crazy Diamond featuring all the best parts and while the audience is reeling from that, the spacey dissonance and drums of Astronomy Domine rendered in the Ummagumma style (with the sad exception that the flying saucer sound-effect is missing as well as the quiet organ solo in the middle, this is the only bad mark I can give the entire PULSE set). From there we get the best extended versions of the best of Momentary Lapse Of Reason, Division Bell, Gilmour's best songs from The Wall, a heart-felt rendering of Wish You Were Here, and all of Dark Side Of The Moon from heartbeat and laughter to heartbeat fade-out, there is no DARK side of the moon, really... Now what more could a Pink Floyd fan ask for? And if you are a novice looking for a good selection of Floyd, do not let the word "live" scare you away! You know how Dave Matthews Band excels in the concert versions of their songs? While ditto The Pink Floyd!

Nuff Said! Buy!