Although disbanded for decades, the surviving members of Pink Floyd continue to authorize excellent reissue projects. While not reaching the volume of such artists as the Grateful Dead or Neil Young, or as momentous in terms of fan and press coverage as The Beatles, these reissues are well-conceived and high-quality productions.
The latest is a reissue of the group’s concert film Live at Pompeii, retitled here Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII, available on Blu-ray and DVD and with companion audio releases on CD and, for the first time ever, vinyl. The film has been available on VHS and DVD, including a 2003 DVD of the director’s cut. A CD was first issued as part of The Early Years 1965–1972 box set, released in 2016. The Pink Floyd lineup here is Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright.
This live concert film, originally released in 1972 and filmed in 1971 by European cinematographers Willy Kurant and Gábor Pogány and directed by French filmmaker Adrian Maben, is of the group performing at the ruins of a Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy, with no audience and including additional footage. It is important to note that Kurant worked with such iconic European directors of the 1960s and 1970s as Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Alain Robbe-Grilles, and Volker Schlöndorff, not to mention Orson Welles. Pogány’s career lasted from 1941 through 1971, and he also worked with a who’s who of directors.
Maben also directed a documentary film with Pink Floyd, which has a short segment in the Live at Pompeii releases entitled Chit Chat with Oysters. The film was believed to be lost but was rediscovered by Maben in 2013. It has never been shown and resides in the archive of the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. Maben has done many documentaries, including on the artists Rene Magritte and Hieronymus Bosch and the photographer Helmut Newton.
The music that is part of this release is almost exclusively from the group’s albums prior to its iconic Dark Side of the Moon, released in 1973, with “Echoes – Part 1” opening the concert and film and “Echoes – Part 2” closing it. There are two tracks from Meddle and two from Saucerful of Secrets. There are scenes interspersed throughout from Abbey Road Studios of the group working on Dark Side of the Moon, which is also included in the Classic Albums documentary of the making of the album. During the interview segments, it’s clear the group is trying to grapple with its psychedelic roots and shake off the connotation that that is still the kind of group they are, and perhaps trying to distance themselves from the related drug-taking that seemed to go hand in glove with that genre of music.
Maben has done a remarkable job taking what is essentially a fairly bare bones setting and creating an evocative backdrop to songs that almost seem like they were created for just such a dramatic, if simple setting. Seeing the group performing what at the time was the latest in cutting-edge, electronic progressive album rock in such an ancient setting provides a moving juxtaposition of the past and present, and maybe even the future. Scenes are shot during the day and at night. Given the quality and depth of this film, it’s curious why Maben hasn’t made more films and isn’t better known.
I can remember seeing the film in a theater during a midnight showing after the Dark Side of the Moon album came out. Unfamiliar with the material at the time and only just getting into the group on the heels of the massive success of Dark Side of the Moon, it didn’t have a major impact on me. All these years later, having become very familiar with this music, it’s like rediscovering an old friend.
This is yet another chapter in the cinematic life of Pink Floyd. The group worked on the soundtrack albums for the films More, from 1969, directed by Barbet Schroeder, which was the Swiss director’s first film, and Obscured by Clouds, which came out the same year as the Pompeii concert film, also directed by Barbet Schroeder, with the title of the film actually La Vallée.
The group’s music is also featured in the films Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London from Peter Whitehead’s 1967 seminal documentary on Swinging London (issued in a slightly different form as London 66/67 and released in 1995) and 1970’s Michelangelo Antonioni-directed Zabriskie Point, coming four years after the decade-defining 1966 film Blow-Up, from Antonioni. There was also a film version of The Wall, released in 1982 and directed by Alan Parker. Additionally, there have been other concert films, and the group’s music has been featured in other visual works.
While the exquisite restoration of the film, digitally remastered from the original 35mm footage, is a revelation, for Floyd fans, having this music available on vinyl for the first time is a game-changer. The two-album vinyl set comes in a gatefold package, with the same pictures and text from the booklet included in the Blu-ray and DVD already on the album jacket and custom sleeves. In addition, there is a massive poster for the film included with the vinyl package.
This soundtrack and DVD/Blu-ray were remixed by Steven Wilson, master of the progressive rock remix. The Blu-ray and DVD come with a 12-page book, and the Blu-ray is available in three formats: 96kHz / 24bit LPCM uncompressed, 96kHz / 24bit 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos. The Dolby Atmos mix is only available for the feature film. There is a version on the disc that doesn’t include any of the interviews or non-concert-performing segments.
The film reflects how extraordinary Pink Floyd was at that time. With just a simple guitar/ bass/ drums/ percussion/ keyboard/ vocals setup, the group created music that was an intoxicating blend of guitar-driven rock and experimental space-age progressive music, which was just as effective outside of the confines and electronic assistance of the recording studio. The Blu-ray and vinyl editions are must-haves for fans of Pink Floyd and ‘70s British rock at its best.
A worthy companion to this release is Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s 2017 film Live at Pompeii.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
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