Pink Floyd - Pulse (Two Discs) (DVD) (RESCHEDULED) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Characters / Performances	Good
Soundtrack	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Full Concert Performance of Dark Side of the Moon .  .  .  .
Disadvantages:	Took almost 12 Years to be released .  .  .  .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

It seems very ironic indeed, that the Day this newly released DVD package dropped through my letter box, that Sky News were releasing details of the rather sad news that Roger " Syd" Barrett had passed away.....

For those of you that don't recognise the name Syd Barrett, and there will be quite a lot of people that don't, Mr Barrett was one of the founder members of Pink Floyd, and the inspiration that put the Band on the map in the first place, all those Years ago,and possibly without his influence, The Pink Floyd and this DVD would never have seen the light of Day, neither would the rest of the repertoire of Pink Floyd either....

Anyway....on to this " Special Edition " 2 Disc version of Pulse..

This is no newcomer to the music scene at all, as it was originally released way back in the mid 90s, as a one Disc / Video and has been released on CD too..

So what do you get now in 2006.....

Well its a nice little hard back Book set up, with the 2 Discs inside, and looking very pretty too, on top of each other, both with the same " Pulse " logo, telling you which is Disc 1 and Disc 2, quite simple really...

Disc One...

As soon as you put the Discs in your player, the menu gives you the option of choosing your optimum sound which are...

Dolby Digital 5.1/ 448 kbps
Dolby Digital 5.1/ 640 kbps
Stereo

The small booklet supplied tells you, that those of us interested in a better Audio quality should use the 640 kbps option, and I agree with that one having tried both sound systems, it seems a lot clearer indeed, but is for the Concert sound only....

The concerts were recorded at Earls Court, London in 1994, as part of The Division Bell tour, and I was fortunate enough to be there for two of the nights, and they were quite spectacular concerts indeed, and the first Disc carries you effortlessly through some of the highlights of the first half of the show.....

Track Listing is...

Shine on you Crazy Diamond
Learning to Fly
High Hopes
Take it Back
Coming back to Life
Sorrow
Keep Talking
Another brick in the Wall
One of these Days

Its a good enough account of the Concerts overall, with all of the tracks having the distinct Dave Gilmour guitar sound, and all the usual Floyd stage dynamics, and I'm pretty sure that anyone who was there will be more than happy to relive their experiences, having said that I would also think it may be very tedious for someone who was not there, or is not a big fan of Pink Floyd....

Disc Two.....

Once again you get the Audio set up menu with the option of the best sound , and on this Disc it should certainly be taken...

Its a full audio / visual performance of the classic " Dark Side of the Moon " which is probably one of the most famous albums of all time, so you are shown exactly what this is like live in Concert, complete with all the special effects that come with it, and I do believe this is the first time that you will have seen this on DVD officially.....

Track Listing.....

Speak to Me
Breathe in the Air
On the Run
Time
The Great Gig in the Sky
Money
Us and Them
Any Colour you Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse

So after that wonderful complete performance, we are then treated to the usual Floyd " anthems " to finish off the show, with all the stage lights blazing which are...

Wish you were Here
Comfortably Numb
Run like Hell

And thats the Concert part of the Discs over, However there is a lot, lot more on these DVD's than just that...

The DVD Extras:

Far too many to list them all individually, but firstly, what I really liked, was the little booklet which comes with this package, and inside it has the complete Menu for the both Discs, simply laid out, so you can easily navigate your way around the whole DVD "Extra " tree roots.....

There is some great back stage footage of the Band on Tour here in the " Say Goodbye to life as we know it " feature. Another very good section is the " Bootlegging the Bootleggers " snippet, which looks like amateur footage of the Band in Concert, filmed from all angles, with a hand held Camera, and goes to show how poor the quality of bootlegs are. Very clever indeed....

Another Pink Floyd concert trait over the Years has been to show films on a rear projection screen to accompany the music, now these are here for all to see, complete with alternative versions too, many of which I have never seen before, listed under the "Screen Films " feature.

There are also some very nice features on the Bands cover art, stage plans, tour dates, photo galleries, old video clips from 1987, plus many other snippets of Floyd history.

So after writing all that, what is the overall verdict I hear you ask.......or have you all fallen to sleep !!!!!!.....

Well, as a life long Pink Floyd fan, I personally think this is a brilliant package, with well over 4 hours of material on here, which includes 145 minutes of Concert material, and of course the highlight is the complete " Dark side of the Moon " performance, and I think all Floyd fans will buy this.

However, for non Floyd fans I think it may be a bit too much of the same, for too long, but I would still recommended it overall, and with Amazon selling it for only £13:99, its a good price to have a piece of History in your DVD collection....

Shine On..........

R.I.P ...Roger " Syd " Barrett......1946-2006.....

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, has played his last tune......