A Great Music Video Pick

After watching this video, I realized how rare this movie is. It contains behind-the-scenes camera work of Pink Floyd recording arguably their best album, Dark Side of the Moon. It has footage of Gilmour jamming on his guitar live and in the studio, Roger Waters messing around with a lot of interesting audio gadgets which look like they belong in a low budget 1950's sci-fi movie, and Nick Mason as a younger, more reckless drummer.

However, in the 70's this was state of the art music to be making. Even today in the 21st century, not many bands have achieved a comparable level of musical perfection that Pink Floyd has; even with all of the digital editing equipment of today.

So, this is quite a rare movie into the insights of the music business, but it is also a rare grouping of early 'music videos' as well. With a setlist that includes Echoes, Saucerful of Secrets, and more... you are given a concert of both quality and length of play.

The setting, Pompeii, is in itself, one of the most interesting aspects of the film. It's a naturally psychadelic place; eerie in a very artsy way, and the director of this film brings those elements out well. This is a live video set in a town that died over 500 years ago, and the Floyd play the venue with supernatural precision.

But aside from all that great music and scenery, the best parts are the scenes of The Floyd eating lunch as they argue about obscure audio properties like 'toppiness' and complain about apple pies with no crust. It is these types of scenes that may have had some influence on the Spinal Tap movies. They melt well with the interviews of the individual band members, and a some of the most memorable gems of the film come from the band members' individual insights into their craft. Whether they are remarking about their feelings on the business of selling music, or the art of making it, it is very entertaining and occasionally insightful. But David Gilmour's hasty reply during a recording session says it all:

"Where would rock'n'Roll be without feedback?"