INSIDE PINK FLOYD

This is one out of many "Critical Review / Inside" DVD collection. What is different here is that the members of the band do take part and provide interviews about their work their interaction. I believe that those hints are a definite plus to this particular document.

A long episode (almost 13 minutes) is dedicated to their debut album: "Piper". Some fine documents can be seen as the promotional video for "Arnold Lane" and some shots of "Let's All Make Love In London" with shots from "Interstellar Overdrive".

I also picked up one funny quote from Roger: "I was demoted from lead guitar to rhythm guitar and finally bass. There was always this frightful fear I could end up as the drummer"!

There are also three members from "Mostly Autumn" who are being interviewed. While Heather Findley and Bryan Josh are talking about the band, the influences and the music in general; Ian Jennings (their keyboards player) has a more technical angle which is one of the less interesting aspect of this collection (in general).

The images used to illustrate "See Emily Play" were shot in Brussels in 67 by the Belgian television. I once saw the whole stuff (about twenty minutes of play back in the surroundings of the Atomium). This long section about "ASOS" (over eleven minutes) is mostly dedicated to Syd and the growing problems that the band was experiencing with him (till his replacement by David).

After a short interlude about "More", the stress is mainly put on the live record from "Ummagumma" and the importance of their live sets. Another quote from Roger about it: "Ummagumma, yeah. What a disaster!"?(five minutes are spent on this double album).

About "Atom Heart Mother", the interview of Nick shows how difficult is was to record this album with the orchestra and I quote again Roger "I wouldn't dream of performing anything that embarrassing?I'm not playing that rubbish." What's valuable here are some footage of the track being played by the band only in a live representation. David's view about the album is the following: "ATM now strikes me as absolute crap". This chapter lasts for about eight minutes. 41

I particularly like the sequence about "Meddle" for several reasons: first, it was my first Floyd album that I purchased (back in 71) and second two of my fave tracks are featured (I guess that I don't need to tell you which ones, right)? David is more enthusiast about "Echoes" than previous songs from the band. He said: "At the end of Echoes is this kind of guitar orchestra going on?I still think this is wonderful". I bet you it is!!! A mere six minutes for these two fabulous songs (none of the others from this album are covered). 47

The next part is the best known visually since it uses footage from "Live At Pompei" namely "ASOS", "One Of These Days", "Echoes". The problem at this stage is that the length of the sequences are shorter and shorter. Only three minutes for this huge "live" album (and two for "Obscured by Clouds").

This DVD ends up on their first masterpiece: DSOTM (ten minutes). Footage to illustrate this section are taken from a Dutch TV programme broadcasted in 1989 and offer little interest therefore. I like the interview form David who says: "With DSOTM we were moving in a quite different league". Nick, on the contrary, says : "It's easy to see DSOTM as a turning point now, but we just considered it was just the next album we were working on".

Clare Tory's opinion about the superb "Great Gig In The Sky" is also of value. She had basically no clue at all before the recording of what was expected from her, nor did the band. "It was just an experiment". But a great one!

My version is the second issue and holds some 62 minutes of footage plus a seventeen minutes version of "Echoes" played live by "Mostly Autumn". A nice bonus should I say.

In all, this document is informative for the casual fan; not too much for the Floyd maniac. Three stars.

Inside Pink Floyd, a critical review 1967-1974 (released 2003)

As a reviewer of progressive music I have developed a critical view on music, and thus on our beloved Pink Floyd. I bought this dvd because it was cheap and I didn't know a lot about the Floyd at the time. The material presented shows one hour of 'experts' talking about the first albums of the band and giving them a rating. Some information about the album is nice for the fans of the band, but people who already dug into the history of the Floyd won't hear much news. Some footage of the first period of Pink Floyd is nice to see and may evoke to get some people interested in the first four album of the band. The bonus features contain a version of Mostly Autumn playing Echoes live. Though they play the track accurately, they fail to get the real Pink Floyd atmosphere and especially the guitar solo's seem to be an obstacle.

Conclusion. This is for completionists and hard-core fans, for it isn't interesting to watch more then one time. Spend you money on some other Pink Floyd dvd is my advice. Two stars.

A major, G, F Sharp (unexpected!), another F, E. Name that tune?

This is one of the better "Inside" documentaries produced by Bob Carruthers. Here, he has gathered together a number of worthy contributors including interviews by all the band members plus Ron Geesin (who worked with the band on "Atom Heart Mother"). The interviews are not always exclusive to this production and even those which are have appeared on other critical reviews, but they are relevant and interesting nonetheless.

A number of hangers on also make up the numbers, including several members of Mostly Autumn. The main justification for their inclusion (apart from possible commercial overlap) seems to be that they are fans of Pink Floyd. Heather Findlay's contribution is largely superficial and based around simply listening to the albums and reading the sleeves. She is clearly far too young to have any personal recollections to offer. Keyboard player Iain Jenkins offers a painstaking note by note analysis of some of the music, which shows off his musical pedigree but is dull as ditch-water. The bonus section contains a 17 minute version of "Echoes" performed by Mostly Autumn.

The array of journalists and music experts who comment on and assess all the albums from "Piper at the gates of dawn" through to "Dark side of the moon" are the same guys who appear on pretty much all of these productions. As usual, I find Michael Heatley's to be the least considered, but much of the rest is informed if hardly incisive.

Each album, including those made for films, is given a roughly equal share of the limelight, although the Barrett era is dwelt upon a little too long. "Dark side of the moon", where this story stops, is of course hailed as the defining moment of the band, but for the definitive analysis of that album the "Classic albums" production is the one to go for.

In terms of visual content, the usual copyright concerns preclude the producers from offering any extended video of the band. That said, there are plenty of rare clips including the band performing an "improvisation" on the BBC's "Tomorrow's world" and playing a without orchestra version of "Atom heart mother".

The band's subsequent rejection of much of their early work is covered well, as is the evolving notion that Syd Barrett's relevance to the band has been overstated with the passing of time.

Overall, a worthwhile effort which will be of particular interest for those seeking a snapshot summary of the early days of this legendary band.

BEWARE! ?. Of unsprupulous others who make DVD documentaries with 'INDEPENDENT EDITORIAL CONTROL'. They contain the same old clips seen in legitimate 'docos' interspersed with 'nobody' talkiing heads and cover bands playing floyd numbers because the makers of these DVD's have no legal access to actual pink floyd material.

These DVD's overlap dramatically, using the same material over and over, mostly Syd era stuff, even when the title of the DVD refers to later albums or periods, the same Syd era stuff is trotted out to fill space.

If you must buy any of these DVDs then buy one of the more 'general' ones that covers the whole history and then STOP there. Look for the 2 disk releases ? they are the better ones, or the Inside Pink Floyd volumes 1&2.

AVOID those titles as individual album reviews in particular as these are generally the worst. These DVD;s contain nothing new for the Floyd aficionado. Especially avoid the 4 disk sets as these contain the sam amount as the 2 disk sets, simply spread out on to 4 shorter disks.

You have been warned! Don't waste your money

The inside series of DVDs are a compelling snapshot of prog history for the progressive rock fan. It is worth noting that there are a series of "Inside" DVDs available, including Van der Graaf Generator, Yes, Supertramp, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Genesis and of course "Inside Pink Floyd". Each DVD is in Dolby digital 5.1 and DTS so the sound is incomparable.

The Inside series is an independent critical review featuring rare archive footage much of which has been previously unavailable on DVD. Pink Floyd clips from the Barret era are here focussing on Piper at the Gates of Dawn for much of the program. It is a rare treat to see Waters and Gilmour together In the Dark Side of The Moon era too. We hear from band members about the recording process and I was surprised to see performances from More and Obscured by Clouds that are rare indeed.

Musicologists of varying backgrounds critically assess the music to discover the essence of the band. It is a very brief look at the band as are all of these DVDs of the "Inside" series, clocking just over one hour in length. Therefore it is more of a taster for those new to Pink Floyd or for those who just want to look back at the golden years of this quintessential prog rock band.