THE LATER YEARS 1987 - 2019

I was nearly out of my teens and a huge Floyd fan when the band re-constituted, and I was over the moon about it. I enjoyed A Momentary Lapse of Reason immensely, while recognizing that the band was not quite what they used to be. The album was too slick and 80s sounding, but I did enjoy a few tracks - One Slip and Dogs of War in particular. A few years later, the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder came out, and it was my dream come true: Finally, a live Floyd album! I had just taken up jogging, and I always associate those running days with that live album, since it was all I listened to when I ran.

So I was curious about this new release. They've "remixed" Momentary Lapse, and included new songs previously left off Delicate Sound of Thunder. The remixed album (live drums now, and Wright's keyboard have been restored) is interesting, but in my opinion the original version is still the definitive versions. Some things have been added (Wright's keys), some are gone (e.g. Gilmour's "awww"s on Dogs of War during the sax solo).

The biggest selling point for me is the restored tracks on the live album, especially Welcome to the Machine and One Slip. I was blown away by the live version of Welcome to the Machine in particular. It's so lively, and such an interesting take on the classic, that's it's shocking the band left it off the original release. The only thing that saddens me is that the 20 year old me missed out on it, back when I thought they were the greatest band on the planet. (Now if we could only get an official live version of Poles Apart added to Pulse in the future...)

On the other hand, the live album too has been "remixed." Not only is the mix much different from the original Delicate Sound of Thunder album, but I believe that originally the band had "improved" the tracks by working on them in the studio. But now it seems they've undone that. Again, I prefer the original "improved" mixes. I noticed the biggest difference with Comfortably Numb, especially in the vocal sections that Waters used to sing. I much prefer the original DSoT version. The changes are such that it's practically a different live album now, which isn't a bad thing...