The band was filmed in a centuries-old amphitheatre in the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy. Caught at their artistic zenith on the cusp of their recording of The Dark Side of the Moon, the film includes songs that had cemented their reputation as acid rock’s true titans in a field that had de-evolved into occasionally odd and boring mixtures of jazz fusion and prog rock. As if to enhance the vibe behind such classic skull-fucks like Echoes, One of These Days, and A Saucerful of Secrets, the Meddle-era band foreshadowed their Wall-escapades from 1979-1981 by playing in front of an invisible barrier. Yep, instead of constructing a wall with hundreds of white square blocks, the Floyd played in front of no one except the camera and recording crew. That’s right—an empty, ancient temple housing the sounds of the most futuristic band of all time.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2hFZ8KnsSo
The entire group played as one focused unit in those days, and history shows that the album released the year after the original one-hour Pompeii film would portray the band as a working unit for the last and, arguably, finest time. Other classic rock albums would follow—Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall—but the black platter with the prisms, heartbeats, and tales of the weakened human condition held together by Waters’ concept, incredibly sublime music played by Gilmour, Wright, and Nick Mason, and Alan Parsons’ engineering, signaled the beginning of the end of their alliance as partners.
But it was in Pompeii where the band truly held their final concert as a band sans pressure, and just getting off on playing music. They had to—no one was there, but the four of them and the crew so, they played their surreal gems rooted in architectural studies, the blues, and crazy notions that great music doesn’t always need to be something that can be read from a chart. Yes, miking a dog, and letting him bark for the ages, as they did on Mademoiselle Nobs, is, perhaps, a bit too much self-indulgent wankery, but give the Floyd their due—often maligned for being insufferably pompous, they at least had the good sense to play with a genuine intensity that even Johnny Rotten couldn’t muster in between wearing his “Pink Floyd Sucks” T-shirt, and spewing contempt on a crowd that would return to the Floyd more often than he imagined.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2hFZ8KnsSo
The one-hour 1972 film was greatly expanded with additional DSOTM studio footage, and various interviews (including…ahem…a very high and hilarious Roger Waters), and released as a much ballyhooed Director’s Cut in 2003 on DVD. Fortunately, for their legions of fans, the work lived up to the hype as the film and sound quality are at the peak levels that have almost always been associated with the legendary Pink Floyd brand (uhh…except for the times when they were recording canines, of course).
I will not cheapen this Hidden Flick tribute to Wright by singling out his work in the film. I believe the real treasure of Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii is the fact that the band was a BAND in every sense of the word. That would not be the case after international stardom arrived with The Dark Side of the Moon, as the individuals began to splinter off, and fade into the background under the tight control of the dictatorial Roger Waters—a move not always unwelcome from my critical vantage point. Alas, that is a topic for another time, another wall of commentary. Watch the film (or again, if necessary), and lest I forget:
Good Night and Shine On, King Richard. We hardly knew ye, but we loved your music.
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