Live at Pompeii

PINK FLOYD’S CLASSIC 1972 FILM LIVE AT POMPEII DEBUTS ON DVD IN EXPANDED EDITION WITH ADDED DIRECTOR’S CUT AND NEW DOCUMENTARY

The quintessential band of psychedelia--both visually and musically--and the most popular progressive rock band in history, performed a concert in 1971 at the ancient Roman amphitheater at Pompeii. The following year, Pink Floyd’s Live At Pompeii, a stunning audiovisual experience, was released to theaters. Now the legendary film, and gold-certified home video, has been expanded for its DVD debut as Live At Pompeii: The Director’s Cut (Hip-O Records), released October 21, 2003.

Along with the original theatrical 60-minute version of the film, Live At Pompeii: The Director’s Cut adds a 91-minute version created by the original director Adrian Maben. Never-before-released footage of guitarist David Gilmour, bassist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright working on Live At Pompeii in Paris, atmospheric space shots and a host of new visual effects mark the new rendition. Included too are interviews with the bandmembers during the recording of what would be their monumental 1973 album Dark Side Of The Moon; footage that lengthened the original film to a concert/documentary homevideo offering in the ‘80s.

A new bonus is a 20-minute documentary featuring an interview with Maben discussing both the original film and his extended Director’s Cut. The DVD also boasts lyrics, a photo gallery and an Odds N’ Sods section featuring posters and album art.

Live At Pompeii was recorded over four days and nights in early October 1971, set against the sun-splashed arena by day and the eerily-lit remnants of volcanic destruction by night. The concert begins and ends with the massive composition “Echoes” from the band’s then-new album Meddle (in fact, in the U.S. the film was titled Echoes: Pink Floyd). Performances of songs from Meddle and earlier LPs include dramatic nighttime stagings of “Careful With That Axe, Eugene” and “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun,” and a daylight “A Saucerful Of Secrets” during which an energetic Waters jumps around banging a huge gong. The other songs heard are “Us And Them,” “One Of These Days,” “Mademoiselle Nobs” and “Brain Damage.”

Even the interviews and clips of the band at Abbey Road Studios are entertaining, from Waters’ rant about the coming economic collapse to Mason’s opinion on pie crust. The studio footage also provides snippets of alternate versions of “Us And Them,” “Brain Damage” and Dark Side Of The Moon’s “On The Run.”

Originally formed in 1965, Pink Floyd melded together cinematic compositions, grand orchestrations and guitar god sonic sculptures into a colorful, imaginative, surrealistic and highly inventive musical experience. Today, nearly 1,000,000 Pink Floyd albums are still sold each year worldwide as new generations discover how epic rock can be.

PINK FLOYD / LIVE AT POMPEII - DVD