Disco de Pink Floyd: “Ummagumma”

Released in 1969, this experimental album consisted of solo works by each member of the band along with a disc of live material. I think that of the pre-Dark Side of the Moon albums, this may be the most difficult to listen to for most folks, although I really do like this album and appreciate the fact that the band was experimenting with different approaches to composition. The lineup at this point included Rick Wright (organ, piano, mellotron, vocals); Roger Waters (bass, vocals); Nick Mason (drums and percussion); and David Gilmour (electric and acoustic guitars; vocals).

The solo works are quite different from one another with Rick's moody keyboard opus demonstrating his fondness for Stockhausen and featuring some very dissonant and atonal sections. Dave's piece was a bit more of a straightforward rock piece and very good, although he has been quoted as saying he did not like it very much. Nick's drum piece is excellent and demonstrates just how creative a drummer he was (and still is) - for those of you that are curious, his track is not just a drum solo, but a very interesting "sound collage" with drums. Roger's pieces range from the pastoral (Grantchester Meadows) to the downright bizarre (Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict). The latter piece is purely a sound collage, with little in the way of what one would regard as melody, harmony, etc. Still, it is interesting nonetheless.

The live disc is what I used to get excited about and features excellent versions of A Saucerful of Secrets and especially Careful with that Axe Eugene - the screams are positively hair-raising. The energy of the live performances is pretty intense and the brooding and creepy mood of tunes like Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun is something that never fails to excite (or frighten depending on your perspective).

This remastered version is pretty good and features a mini-poster along with the two CDs packaged in a green cardboard case. The sound quality of the studio pieces is not bad, although the sound quality of the live disc is a bit grainy - very listenable though.

All in all, this is a good album by Pink Floyd that features the group experimenting through their solo works, and demonstrating what an exciting live unit they were. In fact, the live set is an excellent document from this early phase of Pink Floyd. Ummagumma (which is slang for copulation I believe) is recommended along with Piper at the Gates of Dawn 1967); A Saucerful of Secrets (1968); More (1969); Atom Heart Mother (1970); Meddle (1971); Obscured by Clouds (1972); and Animals (1977).

Pink Floyd's collossal ability is showcased here, on this phenomenal double album. As a musical statement, it is often misunderstood, but it's brilliance lies in its striking originality. At just over 86 minutes long Ummagumma is the Floyd's unique exposition on the capabilities of experimental music. It consists of one live disc and one studio disc. The live album blows away all competition in a dazzeling explosion of glorious space rock-Pink Floyd style. The studio album allows each member to record individually. The results reveal deep talent and imagination and it's a shame that so few people bother to listen to it.

The live album is just too cool not to be Floyd. The four tracks, extended versions of "Astronomy Domine", "Careful with that Axe, Eugene", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "A Saucerful of Secrets", all achieve such incredible sonic depth that it's difficult to imagine that sound coming from any physical object or being. Few bands had the intuitive chemistry of the Pink Floyd and, in my humble opinion, none had the composing ability or distinctive sound. In all honesty, the Who were probably THE greatest live band of all time, but my personal preference is for the Floyd (but I still think "The Who Live at Leeds" is the ultimate live rock'n'roll album).

The Floyd's brand of psychedelic jamming is unique and these live cuts are a treat for the enlightened listener's ears. The instruments are at one with the muscicians and the musicians are at one with each other. Roger contributes pulsating bass, hearty whacks to a gong and some terrifying screams. His whispered vocals on "Set the controls..." are suitably mysterious. Dave goes at his guitar like a demon and his wordless vocals on "Saucerful..." are exceptional. Rick's keyboards, both the sinister soloing and the shimmering chords, are integral to the sound and Nick lays down more dynamic grooves than you'd think possible in just four numbers. The track selection is faultless (not that they were spoilt for choice at this stage in their career!). "Astronomy Domine" is the perfect opener, with its many explosive climaxes. Daves guitar seems to roar gently inbetween notes but there is nothing gentle about his playing on the fearsome "Eugene", where his wall-of-sound approach, which kicks in after Roger's famous scream, consists mainly of menacing powerchords, punctuated by high-pitched feedback shrieks. The hypnotic dirge, "Set the controls..." builds up to a frenzied clatter of drums and various edge-of-the-universe sounds. Then the band treat us to a truly memorable rendition of "A Saucerful of Secrets". It begins with the sombre bass and organ soundscape of the first movement (titled "something else") before the first glass-splintering organ licks signal the start of the chaotic second movement (aptly titled "syncopated pandamonium"). The third movement, "storm signal", is dominated by Nick's insistent drum pattern. The final movement, "Celestial voices", is a beautiful dreamscape that lifts the soul with a sensational mixture of drums, bass, organ, guitar and soulful wailing. This is the pure undiluted sound of Pink Floyd putting all of their effort into making music and never bothering with a lyric when a murderous scream will do.

On the studio album, each member does his own thing, sometimes to jaw-dropping effect. At other times they are content to merely make the listener aware that some sounds exist that nobody ever made before. It begins with Wright's keyboard-orientated, avant garde classical instrumental, "Sysyphus". It's indulgent and over-serious but brilliant and it proves what an excellent composer Rick is.

After the classical grandeur of "Sysyphus", Roger gives us the wonderfully mellow ballad, "Grantchester Meadows". It really does bring "sounds of yesterday into this city room". The birdsong, trickling water, acoustic guitar, smooth singing and soothing lyrics create a dreamy seven minutes of relaxation, which ends with the sound of an unfortunate fly being swatted (typical of Water's humour). Roger's other composition is the mad piece of entertainment: "Several species of small fury animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict". (the pict is almost incomprehensible but I'm sure he says something about "the wind cried mary" and "Bob is dead!"

Dave created something wonderful with "the narrow way", a three part epic that begins with a tuneful acoustic guitar section that has heavenly backing vocals and weird effects in the background that jump beautifully between the guitar notes and gradually get louder and then sink into a dark and unnerving riff that sounds like Tony Iommi playing "set the controls..." on a worn out telecaster with only three strings. Part three is really classic though. The singing is really good and the fact that Gilmour uses keybourds, bass and drums as well as guitar make it sound more like a group effort than the other studio cuts.

"The Narrow way" would have made a climatic ending but as an encore comes Nick Mason's effort. "The Grand Visier's Garden party" is a complex sound collage, which builds layers of percussion and stretches recording technology to the brink. It makes an interesting listen and the drum solo at the end of part two is superb. Nick closes the piece and the album with unassuming flutes.

Ummagumma is a monument of couragious sound experiments that has every right to the respect it never gets. Incidentally, "ummagumma" is an English euphemism for shagging.

My God, this album! When our poshly spoken psychedelic hero'sfirst unleashed it upon an unsuspecting record buying public, mostFloyd fans were still lamenting the departure of arch-loon Syd Barrett from the band. `Piper at the Gates of Dawn' was a distant memory and `Saucerful of Secrets' had given us a first glimpse of the new David Gilmour-driven musical re-energisation of the weird world of Roger Waters' mind. The live album of this two record set has blistering versions of four pieces drawn from previous albums and those of us lucky to have caught them live at this stage in their career, will never forget the raw power and weirdness of `Astronomy Domine', `Careful With That Axe Eugene', `Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun' and `Saucerful of Secrets'. `Careful with that Axe Eugene' must have one of the eeriest openings of all time, building quietly, menacingly, until Waters' bass line seems to pause in one key before the awful agony of that inhuman scream. The cosmic sounds of `Set the Controls', made it easy to imagine oneself alone aboard an old twenty-third century doomed space wreck, whilst the inexorable crescendo of the last section of `Saucerful of Secrets', has to be one of the great moments in rock history - up there with the opening riff of `Voodoo Chile', or Jimmy Page's classic chord sequence in `Stairway to Heaven'. As if this wasn't enough to satisfy the cravings of fifty million space cadets, the studio recording took the listener to a place further out than Timothy Leary's mind! People who don't remember what sound recording was like before stereo, will have to try and imagine what effect the luminosity of this music had on the listener of the day. It wasn't that stereo was new technology, but this was the first time I can remember it being used in such a way. From it's ominous opening and Rick Wright's Satie-esque piano meanderings which eventually collapse into madness, on through the surreal pastoral tranquility of `Grantchester Meadows' and the utterly lunatic and wonderfully satirical, `Several Species of Small Furry Animals etc'. Having revisited this music in the year 2000, this reviewer is pleased to report that it still has the power to amaze and enthrall and to those younger music fans who are unaware of Pink Floyd pre-DSOTM, I urge you to beg, borrow or steal a copy of the re-mastered 1994 version and take a couple of hours out, to set sail on this venerable ocean of weirdness.

It was pretty hard for me to choose a Floyd album to review as I consider most of their records close, personal friends. But after mulling it over, I settled on Ummagumma. It isn't my favorite Floyd album. Heck, it's not even in my top five, but I chose to focus on this album for a number of reasons.

When this record first came out, Pink Floyd's future was anything but certain. They had just lost their lead singer and chief composer, Syd Barrett, and the rest of the band (including newly joined Dave Gilmour) was struggling to take up the reins. Saucerful of Secrets, their second studio album, was the band's first outing without Syd, and while it wasn't necessarilly a bad album, it had failed to live up to their groundbreaking debut. What they really needed at this point was to solidify their fan base while exerting their own skills as songwriters. Ummagumma was their attempt to do just that.

This double disc is divided into live tracks and studio compositions. The first disc is a glorious, if brief, return to roots with early songs performed alongside newer compositions, such as Water's beautiful deep space psychedelic 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.' This live material is entirely satisfying due to the quality of the performances, but also on account of the fact that little of Floyd's early live work is documented. Other than bootlegs, Live at Pompeii is perhaps the only other live recording that addresses this critical phase in Floyd's development.

The second disc, however, is where the fun starts. Each member set out to write his own compositions... and what results we are treated to. Waters' song, 'Several small species of animals... ,' is perhaps the weirdest track you will encounter, but it's just the tip of the psychedelic iceberg. 'Grandshester Meadows' is a delicate piece that anticipates such future ballads as 'If' and 'Is there anybody out there?' 'The Grand Viziers Garden Party' is a long psychedlic piece that builds to a climax with Waters laying down a wailing vocal. The songs are as varied as imaginable... and it quickly becomes evident that from this primordial and multi-colored ooze the Dark Side of the Moon would someday emerge.

I bought this album right around my 13th birthday back in 1970. It sure knocked me for a loop back then. I didn't play it all that much (with the exception of the live sections) until 4 years later. For the most part, the studio material is a real hodgepodge of half baked musical and non musical ideas. This is not the stuff that one would associate with Pink Floyd, the rock icons, yet I'm perversely drawn back to it from time to time. I don't expect today's 20 year old to get " Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving Withe A Pict" Unless of course, he has it blasting from his car stereo and is cow tipping with his friends at 3am under the influenece of Window Pane LSD, and no, this is not an endorsement of such behavior :)~ But I digress. The live part of the album is really quite good. "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" "Astronomy Domine" and "Saucer full Of Secrets" are classic acid drenched Floyd. The began to refine and tone down that aspect of their sound with each passing release after this. Why only 3 stars? I give the live half 4 and the studio half 2. Mainly because Timothy Leary's dead