P-U-L-S-E

In many ways this live set was my introduction to Pink Floyd, and prog in general. It was a fairly recent release when I got it; I think it was Christmas '95 I received it for a present(my request). I had the cassette version, which features tracks not on the CD version(more on that later). I'm not exactly sure why I wanted the cassette version(didn't have the blinking light!), I had a CD player. Anyway, I'm glad I had this in that format for the bonus stuff(now I'm not so happy I still have it because I have nothing to play it on!).

I was familiar with some of the Floyd's music already, but believe it or not, this was the first time I had heard DSOTM in it's entirety. In some ways I think this version is superior to the original(yes, I just said that). For one thing, Gilmour was always a better singer than Waters, and he does all the lead vocals except the ones by Wright. Disc/tape 1 has better versions of songs from TDB than the studio album. Also, the songs from AMLOR here are not only better than the original studio versions, they are also much better than the ones on the Delicate Sound live set. In fact, all the songs that are on both sets are much better on PULSE. "Astronomy Domine" was brought back to life for TDB tour; it was the first time the band had played the song live since 1971! This version is good and somehow doesn't manage to sound like either the PATGOD or Ummagumma versions. The version of "Comfortably Numb" here is perhaps the best due to the extended guitar solo(the studio solo gets faded out).

OK, now the bonus stuff. First of all, my cassette had an amazing version of "One Of These Days"(the one on Meddle is my all-time fav Floyd song). The buildup to the "one of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces" part is very spacey and well done. On cassette, DSOTM was all on one side; the other side had the 3 encore songs that came after plus about 30-45 minutes of sound effects. Yep, nothing but sound effects! I have no idea if the LP versions also had this or not. But let me tell you that as a teenager "under the influence" this stuff was a wild ride for the ears! I wouldn't call PULSE essential but it's a good introduction to PInk Floyd.