Remastered and re-released in IMAX, Pink Floyd at Pompeii sheds light (and sound) on a band searching for its next steps.
Pink Floyd has always had an interesting relationship with the visual medium. Highlights of the band’s early days include live performances in front of flashing lights and abstract figures warping to the sounds of Syd Barrett’s guitar. The irony is that being seen more and more is (partly) what drove Barrett to his mental decline and eventual departure from the band in early 1968. Though adding guitarist David Gilmour, the Floyd didn’t trot back into the spotlight with a brand new look for the masses. In fact, they spent the next three years experimenting with their skillset trying to find a truly engaging new sound. Many would assume that sound was on 1973’s cultural landmark The Dark Side of the Moon, but it was actually found in 1971 with, as Roger Waters called it, “a great noise.”
That noise is the opening piano notes of “Echoes,” which also starts (and bookends) Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII. Originally released in 1972 and now remastered for IMAX screens Pink Floyd at Pompeii sees the art rockers closing-in on the crystalline madness that would be heard on Dark Side. Half concert film, half making-of documentary, it sees what would be considered the “classic” band lineup starting to gel together and morph into the omnipresent band they’re considered today. Part of that is via live footage of the band playing in the ruins of an amphitheater in the lost city of Pompeii, with other segments featuring the band in Abbey Road Studios working on cuts for The Dark Side of the Moon.
Look (and listen) close.
The Pompeii footage does wonders for the Floyd aura. The slow zoom-in on the band starting “Echoes,” their skeleton recording crew, and the bare equipment surrounding them all in the amphitheater make it all feel like a crash site of the spaceship the Floyd arrived on. Whatever remastering done to the footage and audio was well worth it, as you can feel every sharp note of Gilmour’s guitar and appreciate the jazzy precision of Nick Mason’s drumming. With the band usually obscured by video screens and plaster white bricks, seeing Mason effortlessly roll through his snares and bass drums on “One of These Days” helps him emerge as perhaps the band’s most underrated member.
Director Adrian Maben isn’t the fanciest with documentary filmmaking, but he sure loves a slow panning dolly shot. Perhaps it’s a way to make the appearances of the band roll out as ominously as the music does. He and whoever remastered the footage certainly deserve props for capturing the Floyd in such pristine conditions. You can even see the eczema on organist Rick Wright’s face. The Pompeii footage is intercut with shots of faded mosaics and the band wandering through the mountainside like a troupe of scavengers. Are they lost, or trekking towards a great discovery? Whatever it is, they seem to be getting close to it.
Putting it together.
The real journey for the Floyd is in the Abbey Road footage, where the boys tinker with the pieces of a few Dark Side tracks. For all the creeping dread in the air generated by “On the Run” it’s fascinating to see Roger Waters carefully fiddle with two portable synthesizers like a scientist splitting an atom. You do see early signs of Waters tightening his grip on the band, starting and stopping Gilmour as he chips away at a background part of “Brain Damage.”
Much like The Beatles before them, the Floyd never cared much for rock & roll stardom or any grand cultural impact they’d cause. The Abbey Road footage also comes with brief interviews humanizing Gilmour and Waters (still in their late 20s at the time) as curious musicians waiting for their next breakthrough. And, like the Pompeii segments, they’re oh so close to brilliance as seen with Wright playing beautiful piano notes that would fill the spaces in “Us and Them.”
Back down to Earth.
We’re in the middle of a golden age of classic rock documentaries that skirt the typical formula. The Beatles: Get Back showed a band coming apart, together, then apart again. Becoming Led Zeppelin showed the titanic arena rockers were really just guys looking for steady gigs. Pink Floyd at Pompeii isn’t exactly a “new” film, but it does give the band some new context. For all the trippy visuals and flashing lights they put in front of them, the band was just four musicians constantly figuring things out.
Presentation is important, especially in art rock. Phil Collins admitted that Genesis was “very boring to look at” before Peter Gabriel tried wearing a fox’s head onstage. David Bowie’s rough draft of Ziggy Stardust (his short-lived 1970 band The Hype) was nearly booed offstage during their first show. It’s wild to call a performance in the ruins of an ancient civilization a “soft launch,” but Pink Floyd at Pompeii shows a band ready for some kind of takeoff. Maybe they’d ascend, or maybe they’d crash and burn. No one knew then, but something was there obscured by a great noise.
Pink Floyd at Pompeii is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer here.
Images courtesy of Sony Music. Read more articles by Jon Winkler here.
