Like a lot of fans, I first saw Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii in high school. I loved Pink Floyd at the time, and had really looked forward to seeing them play among ancient Roman ruins. But it was a midnight movie, and I dozed off here and there. And while the music and the setting were cool, I can’t say I fully appreciated the moods, ideas and concepts that the band or the film’s producers were going for.
Today, I came across a “director’s cut” of the Live at Pompeii. It’s a reworking of the film that was released in 2003, with additional interviews and some additional imagery of planets, sun flares and other space-themed visuals (which sounds cheesy, but in the context of the film it works).
I can’t remember exactly how this new version compares to the ‘original’ cut, but watching it now — more than 40 years after it was first released — the film turns out to be absolutely fascinating. Watch an embed below.
If you’re a fan, and you haven’t seen this in a while, it’s worth a watch, as it offers not only a time capsule experience of the band in its prime, but excellent insights into the four bandmates’ creative process.
For instance:
It’s fascinating to see the band talk about their experiments with electronics — fiddling with nobs in the studio, and then playing back a snippet of music that is immediately recognizable as being from Dark Side of the Moon (which hadn’t been released yet). This was true state-of-the-art equipment they had at hand, and they were taking it places that it had likely never been.
In another segment, they play “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” juxtaposing live performance with shots of sun flares and also some (unnamed and obviously ancient) frescos. During the latter, which appear during the song’s haunting vocal line, it’s suddenly very clear that the group has taken influence from Gregorian chants on this song — something that had never occurred to me before.
And while it includes some epic segments that were indeed shot in Pompeii — the great Roman city in southern Italy that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption 2000 years ago — this isn’t just a concert film. It’s really a documentary about the band and where they were at the time — which was, between gaining some fame (they’d just released Meddle) and about to explode with Dark Side of the Moon.
And speaking of the concert footage, it’s fantastic.
Live at Pompeii DVD cover
Information on the film:
1. “Echoes, Part 1″/”On the Run” (Studio Footage) (Uncredited) (from Meddle/The Dark Side of the Moon, 1971/1973)
2. “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” (B-side of “Point Me at the Sky” single, 1968)
3. “A Saucerful of Secrets” (from A Saucerful of Secrets, 1968)
4. “Us and Them” (Studio Footage) (from The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973)
5. “One of These Days I’m Going to Cut You into Little Pieces” (from Meddle, 1971; also known as “One of These Days”)
6. “Mademoiselle Nobs” (from Meddle, 1971; previously known as “Seamus”)
7. “Brain Damage” (Studio Footage) (from The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973)
8. “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (from A Saucerful of Secrets, 1968) 9. “Echoes, Part 2” (from Meddle, 1971)
91 mins total
Directed by :Adrian Maben
Produced by : Steve O’Rourke
Michele Arnaud
Reiner Moritz
Starring: Pink Floyd
Music by : Pink Floyd
Cinematography :
Willy Kurant
Gabor Pogany
Editing:Jose Pinheiro
Distributed by: Universal Home Video
Purchase a DVD copy of Live at Pompeii through Amazon.
