Customer Reviews

Delicate Sound Of Thunder

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Pink Floyd's first official multiple disc live album entitled Delicate Sound of Thunder was released in November of 1988(the satellite video was released in June of 1989). The album(and video) was recorded over five nights at the Nassau Coliseum in New York in August of 1988(the end of the regular Momentary Lapse tour '87-'88. The band would tour Europe again in 1989/90 in support of Delicate Sound with the tour called Another Lapse). The band first attempted to record a live album and video in November of 1987 in Atlanta but the band were not up to par. Subsequently, they tried again in the summer of 1988. As a result, a great live album. The album has superb live versions of Yet Another Movie, Round and Around, On The Turning Away and One of These Days. The fans' much reviled track The Dogs of War is superior to its studio counterpart with Nick Mason playing drums this time and Rick Wright playing on keyboards like he did in the old days(the two are the only two original Floyd members who did every tour) and of course David Gilmour's vocals and superb guitar work. Other standouts are Wish You Were Here and Learning To Fly. The other tracks are great like Shine on You Crazy Diamond and the Dark Side and Wall material but are much better on the 1995 live disc Pulse. Missing on this disc is Signs Of Life and One Slip which are available on the now out-of-print video version. Gilmour produced the album and mixed it at Abbey Road Studios. The album did well for a live album as it peaked at #11 on the album charts in the US and #4 on the US CD charts and went Triple Platinum upon release with 3 million sold. Not too shabby for a live release. I first got this album in November of 1988 on cassette and this was the 20th CD I ever owned when I upgraded in September of 1991 when my father bought me this CD. Highly recommended!

I believe there is something of a generation gap in terms of Pink Floyd fans' appreciation of this live double album released in 1988. Older fans who experienced all of the band's genius in the 1960s and 1970s may have had a little trouble adjusting to the reconstitution of the band (without Roger Waters) in the 1980s. As for me, I had only recently discovered the band at that time - 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason was actually the first Floyd CD I bought. I had seen The Wall and was somewhat familiar with some of the classic cuts from Dark Side of the Moon, but Delicate Sound of Thunder was essentially my first real introduction to the musical mystique of Pink Floyd. I happen to much prefer Roger Waters' vocals on vintage Floyd tracks, but I am still impressed with David Gilmour's vocals and the energy with which Waters' former band mates resurrected Pink Floyd after the bitter breakup of the band. The fact that I really learned such songs as Comfortably Numb and Time from Gilmour's versions on this live album actually allows me to appreciate Waters' original vocals even more while never looking down on these recordings as inferior versions. Had I been a fan of Pink Floyd since the beginning (and I would have been if I had been born a decade or two earlier), I imagine I would have had trouble adjusting to the Waters-less ensemble showcasing their wares here. The only unhappy feelings I personally have toward this album come from the fact that I didn't get the chance to see them perform in the concert tour from which this music is derived.

The fifteen tracks included on these two CDs represent a mix of the new and the timeless. Five of the ten songs from 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason are included: Learning to Fly, The Dogs of War, On the Turning Away, Yet Another Movie, and Sorrow. I happen to think AMLR was a great album, and the live performances of these songs really do them justice; On the Turning Away is a particularly incredible live track.

Of course, one's attention is always fixed most closely on the timeless Pink Floyd songs. Dark Side of the Moon is represented here by three songs: Time, Money, and Us and Them (of course, the second CD in 1995's Pulse contains a live performance of the entire Dark Side of the Moon album). The backup singers do get to be a little annoying on the drawn-out version of Money. Wish You Were Here supplies its own title track, an always-welcome addition to the fun, as well as this album's opening number Shine on You Crazy Diamond. One of These Days stands out as the only purely instrumental track on the double album. I am not a big fan of extended instrumental pieces, but Pink Floyd prove to be the exception to the rule - largely due to Gilmour's devastatingly impressive guitar work. Shine on You Crazy Diamond always reminds me a little bit of the old Doctor Who theme song, and that bit of nostalgia only makes me enjoy the music even more. This second disc closes with three songs from The Wall: the ever-popular Another Brick in the Wall Part II, Comfortably Numb (featuring a particularly scintillating guitar solo by Gilmour), and Run Like Hell.

Delicate Sound of Thunder has, in some ways, been superseded by 1995's Pulse double live album - but a number of the timeless tracks found here on Delicate Sound of Thunder cannot be found there. I can understand why some Floyd fanatics aren't overly impressed with this 1988 release, but a newly-reconstituted Pink Floyd (sans Waters) at slightly less than their best is still way, way better than almost everything else out there. The fact that Gilmour and the guys could deliver such quality performances of songs so intimately associated with Roger Waters proves just how timeless the music of Pink Floyd is.

mere words cannot describe the greatness of this classic live album from floyd containing sorrow,on the turning away,wish you were here and comfortably numb.buy it today!!!!!.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST LIVE COMPILATIONS YOU WILL EVER GET TO HEAR.IT FEATURES ALL THEIR HITS.DISREGARD ALL ONE STAR REVIEWS AND BUY THIS SUPERB ALBUM.FIVE STARS.

another 'not recommended' review for this group and their colorless sounds - a crise de nerfs for your ears. Two discs and 15 meanders into musical confusion. Not recommended.

THESE TWO CD'S FEATURE SOME OF THE GREATEST ROCK SONGS EVER WRITTEN LIKE COMFORTABLY NUMB,SORROW,MONEY,ON THE TURNING AWAY AND MORE.ONE OF MY FAVOURITE LIVE CD'S ALONG WITH LED ZEPPELIN'S HOW THE WEST WAS WON.VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.A MUST HAVE.

Pink Floyd's first official multiple disc live album entitled Delicate Sound of Thunder was released in November of 1988(the satellite video was released in June of 1989). The album(and video) was recorded over five nights at the Nassau Coliseum in New York in August of 1988(the end of the regular Momentary Lapse tour '87-'88. The band would tour Europe again in 1989/90 in support of Delicate Sound with the tour called Another Lapse). The band first attempted to record a live album and video in November of 1987 in Atlanta but the band were not up to par. Subsequently, they tried again in the summer of 1988. As a result, a great live album. The album has superb live versions of Yet Another Movie, Round and Around, On The Turning Away and One of These Days. The fans' much reviled track The Dogs of War is superior to its studio counterpart with Nick Mason playing drums this time and Rick Wright playing on keyboards like he did in the old days(the two are the only two original Floyd members who did every tour) and of course David Gilmour's vocals and superb guitar work. Other standouts are Wish You Were Here and Learning To Fly. The other tracks are great like Shine on You Crazy Diamond and the Dark Side and Wall material but are much better on the 1995 live disc Pulse. Missing on this disc is Signs Of Life and One Slip which are available on the now out-of-print video version. Gilmour produced the album and mixed it at Abbey Road Studios. The album did well for a live album as it peaked at #11 on the album charts in the US and #4 on the US CD charts and went Triple Platinum upon release with 3 million sold. Not too shabby for a live release. I first got this album in November of 1988 on cassette and this was the 20th CD I ever owned when I upgraded in September of 1991 when my father bought me this CD. Highly recommended!

Just way too cool. Roger Waters is great, but I don't miss him. Yes, I think the remaining members have every right to claim the fame of the name Pink Floyd. Awesome Album. The Great Gig in the Sky just gives goosebumps. The arrangements on this album - guitar, keyboards, sax, etc. are consumate Pink Floyd. I think David Gilmour is an excellent blues vocalist. Next to Led Zepplin, my all time favorite band.

I just scrolled through the past reviews on this CD, and I was surprised to find so many negative (as well as positive) reviews. This has long been one of my all time favorite live rock albums. I feel compelled to come to its defense.

The essential thing to realize about this CD is that, at this point in time, Pink Floyd had become David Gilmour's band. He performs all the major vocals and guitar solos. Gilmour's voice is admittedly thin and average. But the reason I love this album is that I love Gilmour's guitar playing. His playing has a uniquely moody, theatrical quality. His solos on "Yet Another Movie", "On the Turning Away", and "Comfortably Numb" are filled with an emotional pathos few rock guitarists even strive to achieve. Whether you like this album or not boils down to whether you are temperamentally attuned to Gilmour's somewhat downbeat emotionalism. If you like intensely moody rock guitar work, you will definitely love this CD.

By loving this album, I mean no disrespect to Roger Waters, the erstwhile leader of this band who had a falling out prior to these performances. I have mixed feelings on whether this band has the right to claim the Pink Floyd franchise without Waters. Regardless, this CD has some of the most powerfully brooding songs and live rock guitar performances I have ever heard. I continue to enjoy listening to it, as well as playing along with David Gilmour on my electric guitar.

There are numerous reasons to give this live double CD less than five stars, but in spite of those reasons I've listened to this CD for two days straight, at least ten times. While the CD may have its flaws, the dark, brooding sound and heavy wallowing bass matched my mood, and reminded me once more of Pink Floyd's eminence in Progressive Rock.

I have the advantage of being unfamiliar with Floyd's first live album, thus not having a comparison point. Comparing this album to the other live albums I've heard, the principal thing I noticed was that the crowd noise was reasonably minimal. Second, the bass is very heavy and either represents the mixing or the way Floyd plays in concert. I suspect that at least some of the bass is due to the mixing since one effect of the deeper bass would be to mute the crowd sound somewhat. The result is a live album that nearly has a studio album feel to it.

As for the songs themselves, many of them come across very well. I particularly like "The Dogs of War" and "Run like Hell," but many of the other songs come across quite nicely as well. The live versions of the songs from "Dark Side of the Moon" I thought were interesting and serviceable. Admittedly the sound is different without Roger Waters, but the songs still come across with the distinctive Pink Floyd sound.

Other reviewers have commented on the saxophone and the female backup singers. Being a fan of the saxophone I thought the sax on the songs helped distinguish the songs from the studio albums. I generally expect live versions to be different from studio versions. Sometimes the live version works well, other times not. In this case I enjoyed the unique contributions of the saxophone. As for the female backup singers, there are a few places where they are a bit obtrusive and add little to the songs, but fortunately those places are relatively few.

The difficulty with recommending this CD is that Pink Floyd fans are technically astute people, and I think many Floyd fans will prefer the mathematical precision of a studio album over a loosely choreographed live album. Pink Floyd's music is well arranged and created in the fashion of classical music and the extrinsic distractions of crowd noise and special effects can spoil the effect for some fans. I enjoy the variations from the studio albums, and the generally low crowd noise was not a distraction to me. If you are seeking an album to relive a live Floyd experience, sans Roger Waters, this album is a good one. If you are looking for a collection of Pink Floyd's best through the time of "A Momentary Lapse of Reason," but are not particularly interested in a live album, then you may want to pass this one by.