Pink Floyd, without the glamour
Last week saw the release of the soundtrack from a live Pink Floyd performance from the 70’s. Having seen the film many years ago, I was quite excited. I was also thrilled that the release was being produced by prog-rock resuscitationist, Steven Wilson. Wilson has been remastering, remixing and generally improving recordings from the early prog rock era with great success, and I felt he was the perfect person to breathe new life into this work.
Now, it may just be me, but after giving this a good listen, I found myself wishing I was watching the film. The imagery of an empty Roman amphitheatre, David Gilmour with his top off and the hairiest versions of the rest of the band rendering tunes from “The Floyd’s” most delightfully psychedelic period was a fantastic experience for a younger me, who had never had the opportunity to see them live (I was too young!!).
Take the imagery away, and I felt the music was a little low-key and rambling not to mention just a tad too perfect! This is not their fault, it is an inseparable connection I have made, and I cannot reconcile having one without the other.
On a much smaller scale, I often play and sing with my daughter, Jen, at a musical event that some chums and I organise in our village. The drummer of Wünderhorse, Jamie Staples, was born and raised in the village, and his parents are good friends and movers and shakers in the village social scene. Jen and I decided to give them a treat and perform a version of a Wünderhorse song (Purple). Jamie’s mum dutifully videoed our performance on her phone and sent it through tears of pride to her son.
Earlier this year, I had a chat with Jamie and asked him what he thought. He didn’t say much but was clearly underwhelmed. I comfort myself knowing that his experience of our performance was through a mobile phone, so the sound was probably terrible, and that visually, we probably weren’t displaying the same levels of energy Wünderhorse do at their gigs. In short, you kinda had to be there to experience the “glamour” of our captivating performance.
This is the case with most mobile renderings of live music events that people punish me by making me watch. I absolutely hate people filming and posting our live performances on social media. For a start, it is rude to do so without permission, and most importantly, unless the person watching was in the audience at the time, they will never get the “glamour” which is the essence of live performance.
Wunderhorse have just embarked on a UK tour - Go and see them for a lively night of great songs and a lively performance!
That’s all,
Take care,
Carl
Editor
