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Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon Live at Wembley 1974 CD (album) cover

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON LIVE AT WEMBLEY 1974

Pink Floyd

Psychedelic/Space Rock

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4 stars An interesting release, this one. It's live so it's certainly different from the original studio recording. I get the sense from listening to this album that the band spent some time all learning their parts, where they fit in and how to play their pieces in sequence in a live setting. There is a little bit of hesitation in some of the playing by the band and some of the transitions from instrumental to vocal pieces sound a bit rushed but not enough to distract the listener too much. However, I am left wondering if a few of Gilmour's vocals have been redone recently in the studio. Gilmour's guitar shines very brightly throughout and Waters' bass parts sound rich and perfect. Wright's keys seem a bit buried in the mix sometimes and Mason's drums tend to come across as a bit withdrawn, until side two releases him to really play, up there with the others. Side one throughout, on the vinyl version is very good if a bit muted. Side two is where this album really comes alive. The version of Us and Them on here is just magnificent. One thing. This live album has to be played loud. Very loud. That way, all the sounds coming through both left and right channels really sound fantastic. Despite some parts sounding a little bit like easy listening background lounge Muzak, overall this is an enjoyable listen which left me wishing I was there, when it was recorded.
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Posted Monday, August 7, 2023 | Review Permalink
Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Pink Floyd's live appearance at Wembley in 1974 is an absolutely epochal performance from the band. Naturally, they performed the entirety of The Dark Side of the Moon, which by the point had been so extensively road-tested that they'd had it down to a fine art and worked in a number of variations from the studio release which makes this performance an intriguing alternative spin on the album.

In addition, the encore was a fabulous performance of Echoes - and before Dark Side they rolled out performances of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Raving and Drooling, and You've Gotta Be Crazy, the latter two songs eventually making it onto Animals with somewhat tweaked lyrics as Sheep and Dogs, which really showcase how the core of their next two studio albums were, musically speaking, essentially already worked out even at this point in time.

Unfortunately, there's a big problem with this live release of the show... it doesn't include the full performance! Only the Dark Side of the Moon is included here; the other tracks have seen official releases, but if you want to get legitimate copies you'll need to go trawling through various expensive boxed sets from the band. This is not only highly irritating, but also kind of self-defeating on the part of the band - if they'd put out more full shows as standalone releases they'd surely be able to put a dent in the swathe of deeply inferior bootleg recordings circulating of their material. As it stands, the sound of the Wembley concert is exceptionally good - it's just a shame that it's such a pain to actually assemble the whole thing in the best possible quallity. Five star performance, five star concert setlist as a whole, but this can only ever be a four star release at most because of the terrible decision not to just release the whole concert as a unit.

Report this review (#3147315)
Posted Thursday, January 23, 2025 | Review Permalink

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