In a sense,
\nUmmagumma<\/i> can be seen as a disc which was supposed to close
\na period of Pink Floyd’s history. Summing up the first few years of
\nthe band’s history with their first live release, and having a
\nstudio disc tacked on which allowed each member of the band to
\nexplore their own musical patterns, this was, according to
\nAll-Music Guide<\/i>, one of the band’s best-selling discs for
\nyears.<\/p>\n
But it would also be incorrect to say that
\nUmmagumma<\/i> marked the end of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic side in
\nterms of album releases. True, they were still a few years away
\nfrom their breakthrough disc
\nThe Dark Side Of The Moon<\/i>, or even
\nMeddle<\/i>, but there was still a bit more musical weirdness to
\nexpect from the Floyd before they almost became an AOR band.<\/p>\n
I’ve owned this record for well over a decade, and despite
\nnumerous listenings over the years,
\nUmmagumma<\/i> is still a record which both delights and
\nconfounds me. It all depends on which portion I listen to at a
\ncertain stage in my life, and the answer never seems to be the same
\ntwice. Something tells me that the casual listener will find this
\ndisc a bit too much to take, while someone who has dabbled in
\npre-1973 Floyd will understand things a little more.<\/p>\n
The live disc is made up of a whole four songs, the most notable
\nprobably being “Astronomy Domine,” which loses little of its luster
\nin the live setting. Even without Syd Barrett, there is enough
\nspaciness in the performance of this track to keep the memory of
\nhis presence alive. Likewise, “Set The Controls For The Heart Of
\nThe Sun” drifts off a little too much into the ether, but Roger
\nWaters and crew do have the power to reel it back in without losing
\na lot of the song’s power.<\/p>\n
The same can’t quite be said for the other two tracks. “Careful
\nWith That Axe, Eugene” is a bizarre trip that doesn’t really seem
\nto go anywhere – and, if you listen closely enough, you could
\nalmost swear that Aerosmith copped their guitar licks for “Living
\nOn The Edge” from this one. Likewise, “A Saucerful Of Secrets” just
\ndoesn’t seem to translate as well in the live setting as it did in
\nthe studio – though I’m willing to concede that maybe seeing it
\nperformed in the flesh would have made things a bit clearer.<\/p>\n
Of the four musicians’ contributions on the studio disc, is it
\nreally any surprise that Waters and guitarist Dave Gilmour provide
\nthe most clear efforts? Waters’s two tracks, “Grantchester Meadows”
\nand the trippy “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered
\nTogether In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict,” almost show the
\ndirection that Pink Floyd would be going in the mid-’70s, and are
\nmost enjoyable. (I liked putting on the latter track in the last
\nfew weeks just to piss off my wife – nothing like hearing what
\nsounds like squirrels on acid eminating from the speakers to get a
\ntoaster hurled at your head.) As for Gilmour, if there were ever
\nany doubt about his abilities as a guitar player or songwriter, the
\nthree-song suite “The Narrow Way” removes all doubt.<\/p>\n
Richard Wright’s four-song suite “Sysyphus” tries to be a magnum
\nopus, but after the overture, it seems to dissolve into just so
\nmuch noodling on the keyboards. If the mess of keyboard scrunches
\nwas supposed to illustrate the myth of Sysyphus pushing the boulder
\nup the hill for eternity, well, mission failed. Likewise, Nick
\nMason’s three-song suite “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party” starts
\noff strongly, but turns into almost a collection of sound effects,
\nand doesn’t really serve its purpose very well.<\/p>\n
If I’m so critical of
\nUmmagumma<\/i>, how come I continue to dust it off on a regular
\nbasis and slap it onto the turntable? Truth is, I dunno. As much as
\nI am critical about certain aspects of this release, there is
\nsomething that draws me back to it time and time again to give
\nthings another shot. Or maybe it’s the animals in the cave calling
\nto me. Either way, approach this one with caution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5677],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-38429","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pink-floyd","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38429"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}