Fans of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd believe the live versions of classic tracks are “significantly weaker” than their studio alternatives.
While not every band can offer up an album as strong as Talking Heads‘ Stop Making Sense or Cheap Trick‘s At Budokan, the Roger Waters and David Gilmour-featuring group has offered up strong pieces of work from the stage. From their recently released Live at Wembley and Live at Pompeii offerings to older albums such as Delicate Sound of Thunder, there is plenty from Pink Floyd that could be considered strong live material. Not so to listeners who believe the studio versions are not just superior, but leagues better than the live version alternatives. Fans took to the r/PinkFloyd subreddit to share their thoughts on what made the studio material so much stronger.
A fan posted their “live concert hot take” to the forum, sharing: “I only seem to be able to get into Pink Floyd concerts that came out before the release of The Dark Side Of the Moon. I’m not sure what the issue is because the live recordings I’ve heard from ’67 all the way to Live at Pompeii are fantastic even if the audio quality can be poor at times.
“I tried listening to the ’74 Wembley concert alongside the ’75 LA Arena and I just found all the songs to be significantly weaker than their studio counterparts. Pulse is really good, but still falls flat a lot of times for me at least. Does anyone else agree with this? I usually love live albums (the Grateful Dead is my favorite band) which sucks because I was looking forward to digging through some Pink Floyd bootlegs/official releases but I’m not entirely sure anymore.”
Other fans suggested a later album from the ones listed above as the place to start with Pink Floyd’s live discography. One person wrote: “Listen to the 1977 Oakland Coliseum show.” Another added: “The Oakland show has great sound quality and a good performance but I personally prefer the performance from Montreal 1977. The guitarwork is fire, particularly during Shine on You Crazy Diamond Pts. 6-9 and Pigs.”
A third added: “Montreal we got Drift Away Blues. Oakland we go Careful With That Axe, Eugene. the only two songs that were not pefromed at any other shows on that tour. plus the ‘trained not to spit on the fan’ incident that lead to The Wall concept.”
Others pointed to Waters’ solo adaptation of The Wall, which he toured from 2010 to 2013. A fan wrote: “I think Roger’s 2010-13 production of The Wall was far superior to the studio album or the Pink Floyd concerts. It’s heavier, and has more going on in the background to add body to the sound. Other live recordings to me are a bit weak in their sound.”
Another agreed, writing: “I would agree with this if the Is There Anybody Out There? live album didn’t exist. It’s the definitive version of The Wall for me. But I do really love Roger’s production. Top three shows I’ve ever seen without question.”
Some were in agreement with the original poster too, pointing out that Pink Floyd were at their best when in a studio. The fan wrote: “I prefer the renditions of The Dark Side of the Moon done in ’72 and ’73 to those performed later (Pulse is an exception – it’s mostly amazing, in my opinion). For some reason the 74/75 versions feel a bit flat to me – the Blackberries (backing singers) sounded fresh and vibrant in ’73, but to my ear by the time you get to ’75 they feel like they are just going through the motions. And the ’72 versions are interesting just to hear the proto-The Dark Side of the Moon developing.
“However, I do like the versions of Shine On and Have a Cigar though from ’74/’75 and prefer them to the ’77 versions where Snowy took over some of the solo work – even though Shine On is incomplete, I still think it sounds better, and every solo is a Gilmour solo so it’s automatically fire. Also, the guitars are a bit too overdriven/distorted and less clean sounding in ’77 – ideal for the Animals material, but not as well suited for the more mellow sounds of Wish You Were Here.
“And the less said about the change to the arrangement of Echoes in ’74, the better. It sounded massively better before they stuck the sax solo and the backing singers into it.”
Another added: “You have to understand that Pink Floyd was still doing a The Dark Side of The Moon tour well into 1975. So from 1972 to 1975 they toured The Dark Side Of the Moon with some changes to the setlist. Despite them releasing Wish You Were Here in 1975, they didn’t really do a proper tour of Wish You Were Here until In The Flesh in 1977 with Animals thrown in there too for promotion as well.
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