Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 10/03/2006Conceived by the French director Adrian Maben as “an anti-Woodstock film,” Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was shot in October 1971 in a vacant, 2,000-year-old amphitheater–a venue chosen to accentuate the grandeur and spaciousness of the band’s Meddle-era music. This disc contains a new, 90-minute director’s cut as well as the original 60-minute concert film, whose production and effects feel inescapably dated. Maben’s cut goes to great lengths to lend the film a more contemporary feel, but it’s the earlier version that makes this disc such a gem, being more focused on the music and more wholistic in vision. The anamorphic, 16:9 director’s cut interweaves the Pompeii performances with fascinating but distracting interviews and music snippets filmed later (mostly during the recording of Dark Side of the Moon). The movie was originally prepared in a 4:3 aspect ratio, however, and the widescreen version crops perfectly framed images like the nine-square mosaic of drummer Nick Mason in “One of These Days.” The original offers plenty of closeups of fingers on frets and keys, with shots that are often luxuriously long in duration. And the picture quality from Pompeii is revelatory: outstandingly sharp and clear, rich in subtle grades of light and color.
Generous extras include everything from original posters, reviews, bootleg album covers, and song lyrics to a 24-minute interview with Maben. But for all the director’s talk of the glorious acoustics in Pompeii’s amphitheater, there’s little natural ambience to be heard. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is clear, dry, and two-dimensional, though notably better than any previous video release. –Michael Mikesell
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April 6, 2008
#1
This is not a music DVD. It is a movie about stoned out rock stars. I was very disappointed.
April 6, 2008
#2
I wish we could return this DVD. It is pure junk. Nothing but total confusion.
April 6, 2008
#3
I love Pink Floyd’s music, and love the “Delicate Sound of Thunder” video. So I bought this one. YUCK! It’s one of those depressing 1970′s art films that somehow manage to accrue a cult following. There’s too much pre-concert “behind the scenes” footage, the picture quality is poor, the cinematography is horrible, and – well, I have only watched it once. It almost ruined my love for the band. It portrays them as real lowlife scuzzballs.
April 6, 2008
#4
Although the director’s effort is fairly allright the DVD does not have certain features of a live show.
1.No crowd at all (most important)
2.Few tracks (dissapointing)
Much appreciate if Amazon.com could add “Pink Floyd – Live in Venice” DVD into the store.
April 6, 2008
#5
Hey, Pink
I hope I am not being presumptuous by using your first name, but familiarity seems appropriate in this case. I have a question for you. Exactly what were you trying to prove in Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii? I have been to Pompeii. I have been to the mountaintop of Vesuvius. The souls of those who died in the volcanic eruption one millennium, nine centuries, one score and five years ago heard your performance and they are groaning.
You were given four pieces of electronic equipment and told to do something with them. The implication was that you were going to do something musical with them. What you concocted was a piece of work that only someone savoring the effects of an ecstasy-marijuana-crack cocktail could begin to understand.
Pink, that was not music. Count Basie was music. Frank Sinatra was music. The Beatles were music. Pavorotti looks like music. The Miracles and the Temptations were real music. Aretha Franklin defines music. What you presented will probably cause Vesuvius to come to life again.
You are beginning to make me think that Camille Paglia was correct when she said rock musicians should be forced to have classical training before they are allowed to create their own art. I will take it one step further. I say artists such as Pink Floyd should be forced to sit at the feet of the classical artists to learn a thing or two. Since the classical artists are all dead, that will solve the problem.
Pink, I suggest you relinquish your rights to the name. You are an insult to all that is pink. Even the panther is having second thoughts about being associated with the color.
Sincerely
Loup