PINK FLOYD REVISITED

No, no, no, no, NO! This DVD isn't a masterpiece at all, let alone being it a good one. This is just a stupid idea from the record company, because someone said about M.A. in a review: "Is this band the next Pink Floyd?" As a result, Mostly Autumn played a show with only Pink Floyd songs in the first half. The reaction of the audience shouting out for Mostly Autumn-songs after "Sheep" says clearly what the fans think of this stupid idea. Even worse, I spoke to Bryan Josh after a concert and he said to me that he didn't want to play "Echoes" at all, but the record company made him do it! So, then who should be happy with a DVD based on an idea that neither the band or the fans liked?! And the worst of all: Sound and vision on this disc are totally out of sync. OK, there's a second disc which is filled with only M.A.-songs (apart from the Genesis- cover "Afterglow), but that disc had already been released before. All in all there is no reason at all to buy this DVD.

I like this DVD. It could be even better if things get like the record company initially planned. The announcement told: "On August 26th Mostly Autumn will be performing a unique set of classic Pink Floyd material arranged and performed by Mostly Autumn. It takes place right in the courtyard of Warwick Castle, the finest medieval castle in England. The performance will include a full "V"-style light and laser show!! This is not a concert. It's a private performance which is being filmed before an invited audience. No tickets will be on sale to the public. The only way to receive an invitation is to subscribe for the MOSTLY FLOYD DVD."

But due to some unforeseen circumstances the concert took place in another venue and (what a pity) without laser show. I can say, to Classic Rock Productions credit, the label brought apologizes to each subscriber, and everyone, who pre-ordered the MOSTLY FLOYD DVD, received 2 DVD set instead of single DVD.

Bryan Josh often said that FLOYD music is one of his biggest musical influences. So it is absolutely natural for MOSTLY AUTUMN to play some of PF material. All songs are performed as close to originals as possible, but it is MOSTLY AUTUMN own sound. Bryan's voice and guitar playing style fit to FLOYD songs perfectly. Female backing vocals add some new colors to the songs. It was a surprise for MA fans, Liam Davison "came out of the shadow" and played a lot of guitar solos. And the main thing, the band saved the songs' atmosphere (I think it is the most complicated task for any band making FLOYD covers). Anyway this disc is much better than any of FLOYD tribute albums I've heard.

The show starts with "Pigs On The Wing", the last song is "Pigs On The Wing (Part 2)" (it is not mentioned on the cover). It gives the feel of completeness to the whole programme.

There are no weak tracks at all, but highlights of the concert, in my opinion, are:

- "Echoes" - probably the best moment of the show, with excellent guitar work from Bryan Josh and Liam Davison, keyboards and drums are also very good. Breathtaking performance, only PINK FLOYD themselves made it better!

- "Julia Dream" - Heather's lead vocals, Angela plays whistles. Unusual but nice interpretation.

- "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell" - lead vocals are shared beautifully between Brian, Heather and Liam. Again great guitar work from Bryan and Liam.

I think this disc can be interesting for PINK FLOYD fans and a is must for fans of MOSTLY AUTUMN.

Disc 2 (free bonus disc) contains MOSTLY AUTUMN songs and a GENESIS cover "Afterglow". It was a good idea to complement FLOYD set with MA own material. Thus people who buy "one more tribute album" can see that MOSTLY AUTUMN is not a one more cover band, but a great band with unique sound. We see here everything what was expected in PF set: screen projections, light and laser show; plus guest musicians, Troy Donockley (pipes, mandolin, guitar) and The Regent String Quartet. The sound is rich, as usual, and visual show gives another dimension to the music. Tracks 1 - 8 and 12 are from the "Passengers" album . In this conceptual album MOSTLY AUTUMN share with us their thoughts of life, death and rebirth.

"Evergreen", "Heroes Never Die", "Never The Rainbow" and "Mother Nature" are truly some of the band's best songs. You can also find in extra features (besides a couple of promo videos) another bands masterpiece, "The Night Sky" - the song which is actually older than the band itself. Old MA fans surely know this story, but for others these memories from 2001 Brian Josh interview might be interesting: "In fact "The Night Sky" ... was done in my head really. I was in the Lake District 10 years ago and I was marvelling at the mountains, the snow and the stars and the whole thing just happened." He also recalled that he imagined each sound of this song, he only didn't have the band to perform it (it was 1991).

All MOSTLY AUTUMN trademarks are here: emotional singing, sometimes gentle, sometimes rocking, wonderful guitar and keyboard solos, good musicianship from all band members and guest musicians. If we remember the history of great rock bands, most of them had a charismatic frontman, which is so important for any band's success. MOSTLY AUTUMN have at least two charismatic persons, Brian Josh and Heather Findlay.

In my opinion artistic level of MOSTLY AUTUMN is close to GENESIS, PINK FLOYD and other great bands. Therefore it is always interesting to listen how the band makes covers. I like MOSTLY AUTUMN interpretation of GENESIS "Afterglow", because of female vocals it sounds even warmer than the original.

Sound quality is good on both discs (stereo, DD 5.1 and DTS options are available). Unfortunately some mistiming between sound and video takes place on disc 1.

Unfortunately Mostly Autumn was persuaded to create this DVD. The first DVD with the Floyd tracks on it is a disaster. Just compare this with the Pompeii video of Floyd themselves. The second disk contains mostly tracks you can find on the V-Shows or The Story So Far. They made an excellent redition of Genesis' Afterglow but this effort doe not save this DVD for me.

Well you know that I don't like this kind of operation, above all if the music project comes from a good ensemble like M.A. Don't get me wrong, the execution of a few famous tunes by Pink Floyd is not bad, also regarding of the particular arrangements, but I don't think that their real purpose was without particular pretensions, in the sense that I think it's a question of business only. As a matter of fact M.A. is increasing his audience in the UK nowadays, in spite of such an "old" progressive rock being relegated to the unknown underground scene. Nevertheless their music-genre of course is a mix of hard rock, folk-prog, with a few hints only of the "floydian" mood, so their gigs could make their style more accessible, more than all the efforts performed by the "pure" progressive musicians inside the underground scene. Ok actually they are not properly fitted into the "floydian" style neither into a progressive scene in general, so M.A. perhaps don't regard themselves as a prog band and my idea could be wrong.never mind, at the end the present DVD couldn't witness something more than a diverse manner to arrange and execute the songs from the most famous 70's rock band in the UK, even though not all the listeners are able to perceive such a further aspect: for me it's not a different point of view, but a simple execution of some cover-songs, according to the taste of each member, in order to get more and more interest from the major labels. this DVD live is not useful in the modern progressive scene, however being suitable for their collectors only!!

DO NOT BUY THIS DVD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! This DVD is everything we don't want to see from record companies like 'Classic Rock Productions' out to make a quick buck. The band themselves state they didn't want to participate on this, but were forced to by contractual obligations.

It's too bad, because Mostly Autumn are actually a decent band. Floyd fans won't like this DVD because they will say 'Who the f*$& is Mostly Autumn to play and critique Pink Floyd?!!??" Mostly Autumn fans (do they have many?) will cringe in horror as their prog band stoops to the level of 'Cover band'.

The DVD consists of two musical sets on two different DVD's. The first DVD is where the band plays Floyd covers (i.e. the bait!) And the second DVD is a musical set where Mostly Autumn plays all original material, which is what the crowd viewing them actually wants to hear! (the hook) If this DVD has any value at all, it is where MA play some of their own material live, primarily from their 2003 "Passengers" album. If only this DVD was marketed as a Mostly Autumn DVD (instead of a cheap Floyd rip-off) then it might warrant a more positive review. Then again, it would not get as high of an audience nor sales.

Mostly Autumn have, and play, very unique music all of their own, so go and try some of their studio albums instead of dumping your money into this tripe! 0/5 stars if we could actually use that rating still...

You've got to be freakin' kidding.

At first, I just couldn't believe that Mostly Autumn is taking it's relative success so seriously. You heard me. Even if Mostly Autumn is a major band in the minor league that's progressive rock, taking on Pink Floyd is at best suicidal for their reputation.

These guys are way, way too big fans of Pink Floyd to make an appreciation.This DVD has basically no interviews from the original members, the whole opinions are from the members of the band. I mean, would you buy a DVD of my opinion about Rush? Even if I'm really deep into the band and some of my opinions are reasonnable, it's not me people wanna hear about! I haven't learn anything new. The important records are reviewed too fast for the sake of listening to what the band members feel about. Once again, would you invest in a DVD about the history of the Boston Celtics done by the waterboy? This is bordeline crazy marketing.

Whoever is their marketing manager, this guy's got to be fired fast. The task of briefing people about one of the most influencial bands of all time's gotta be well done. They bitten too much than they could chew; Pink Floyd is in the dictionnary for heaven's sake!

The epitomy of embarrassement.

4 stars. Why such a high note? Well, first there is the price. Two for one, always worth considering. Secondly, the shows theirselfs. Willing or not, the band really does a good job emulating ther idols, spoiled only by the lack of quality of both filming and sound. But then there is the second DVD, with a great show of MA doing what they do best, and it makes this DVD an excelent ourchase if you don't own any previous video concerts from the band.

Being a fan of both Pink Floyd and Mostly Autumn makes this an interesting item for me. And I also have been fortunate enough to see M.A. do their 'Floyd' set live. The choice of material covered is quite varied from 'Fat old sun' through 'Pigs on the wing' to 'Run like hell'. On this show the lighting show is very good and the camera work is equal to most DVDs not by the huge music acts. Overall the band do a very good job of covering some of Pink Floyd's finest especially my favourite on this DVD 'Echoes'.

The second DVD is basically a greatest hits live recorded at the Astoria. More good camera work helps to show the band playing at their best, backed up by an interesting light show. This is essential for the fans of M.A. but for others there are better options of their material. But still it's worth checking out for the Floyd revisited disc.

I have reviewed the "soundtrack" (CD version, I mean) already and rated it with four stars. So basically, this DVD only adds more to the feeling. You can effectively see who is doing what during this very pleasant set. Because there is no doubt : it is a very good set.

MA's own work is heavily marked by Floyd and they have never hidden their admiration for this great band. What I can see on this DVD is that the band members are having fun on stage, that the numbers are brilliantly played and that the crowd enjoys really much TILL THE END of the set.

As for the CD, "Julia's Dream" is the weakest moment while "Fat Old Sun" and "Echoes" are brilliantly interpreted. On the contrary of many reviewers, I do not have any particular bad feeling about MA covering Floyd.

They have their own repertoire and if at times they want to enjoy and play some Floyd songs, why not ? Even if some commercial calculation is back there, I only can applaude such a good performance. I have always preferred MA live and this set is real good.

I also have to say that since I saw the DVD "The Story So Far", I was quite charmed not only by the performance from the band but also by the extreme beauty and talent of Heather. I guess that no one can blame her for that.

She is really great during "Confortably Numb" and in the backing for "Echoes". The role of Bryan Josh also needs to be highlighted. His performance is fantastic. On the guitar of course but on the vocals as well. His warm voice fits perfectly well on these songs.

Liam Davison is also very impressive on the guitar during "Fat Old Sun" and on the vocals during "Hey You". His intro for "Run Like Hell" is as close as you can get from the original but for professional musicians, I guess that this is just business as usual. But still...

It is a very nice trip back in time and a great tribute to one of the most influent band on this site. As for the CD, I will rate the DVD with four stars.

My first run through this DVD was corrupted by various annoying interruptions and assorted boring priorities, so I remember the Floyd covers as being quite interesting but little memory of their own material. Two 2 hour plus concerts on seemingly the same day in the summer of 2004 is obviously a feat that requires some initial respect. I finally gave this 2 CD set its respectful due and shut the outer world off completely, cranked up the volume (Live prog is especially horrendous in muted volume situations) and let the impressions blanket me in comfort. Renditions faithful to the Pink credo were somehow anti-climactic, the missing link being the super clash of egos but Mostly Autumn did a great job with slightly different versions of classics such as "Echoes" "Run Like Hell", "Comfortably Numb" , "Hey You" and "Another Brick" , displaying obvious reverence to their inspirational mentors. Truth is Heather Findlay is a gorgeous woman, extraordinarily seductive and its comes as no surprise that between song yells from the predominantly male (Duh.) audience are variations of "Heather, will you marry me?" Not only does Heather Findlay possess a unique voice but she is some kind of visual treat ,sensually catty, smilingly beguiling but when she gets down, she is a hot babe. No wonder Fish flipped his rather imposing gills over her. Lucky bastard! Without needing to give a "blow by blow" account, suffice to state that the overall impression emanating from Mostly Autumn's live greatest hits, is one of acceptance that we are in the presence of some interesting, unique and quite enthralling progressive music. The celtic-folk touches are greatly enhanced in such a rockier live environment , with their classics "Evergreen", "Mother Nature", "Another Life" "Heroes Never Die" and "Simple Ways", all given the full proggy bliss blowout, replete with some thunderous lead guitar by leader Bryan Josh, whose white Fender Strat never looked more imperial. The crown jewel here is the magnificent "Distant Train", a brilliant piece off the Passengers album that hooked me within the first seconds, an evocative symbiosis of electronica and pure orchestral symphonics that receive a "Metropolis" (Fritz Lang's famous B&W movie) visual arrangement displayed on the overhead Floydian circle screen. This is a prog masterpiece, as raw powered strings raise the roof on a bewilderingly beautiful melody. Hackett would be proud and jealous! The ace crew is led by keyboardist Ian Jennings, who excels in this live setting with some inventive passages both on piano and synths, his presumed brother Andrew on drums ("Found in a scrap yard" is some kind on internal joke), the steady Andy Smith on bass, Liam Davison on rhythm and atmospheric guitar, Angela Goldthorpe on flute, keys and vocals. Finally, the show ends with a simple version of Genesis' Afterglow, a title that is most appropriate to end the night. But the best song, "The Night Sky" from the same marathon concert, is actually a bonus track (?) featuring Troy Donockley of Iona fame on traditional Irish instruments (pipes and mandolin) which is positively riveting, basking in torrents of gushing emotion , slashed by some gut wrenching Bryan Josh leads, scorchingly beautiful. Why it was not included on the set list is beyond my comprehension, perhaps pearl in the oyster syndrome! This DVD closes the proggier chapter of MA's career as they have chosen a different path. Not too sure that it will work but..after the cold winter, hazy spring and a hot summer, maybe there will be a mostly autumn again. 4 ladies of the lake

I have to say I was appalled by the low ratings this DVD got (at least the first ones), since I have always loved Pink Floyd Revisited (OK, I got it: the title is really unfortunate, to say the least!, and misleading). In fact, when I bought it I was delighted because the band was obviously inspired by PF and the covers they played were very good ones, specially that they chose some more obscure tunes and decided to cover one of my fave PF songs, Echoes. Not too many bands have the guts to do this one and get away with it. In fact, I don´t know any other who indeed played this one in full. And remember, I am a big Floyd fan.

The second disc is Mostly Autumn doing what they do best: their own original songs. And both the quality of the material and the performances are also very high. So I had nothing to complain about this DVD. In fact, I wish they played more PF songs. They were respectful to their idols and showed they also had their own stuff to set aside any "cover band" label that some could bear on them. It was a tribute, from an excellent band to a legendary one.

A fine show that I wish I was there to watch it personally. I´m glad they recorded it for posterity. For me is a classic performance.