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Rating: PULSE THE SURPLUS.
Well. . . I'd say let's skip the usual pointless chatter about who Pink Floyd is, Syd Barrett, the flying pig, and The Wall, blah blah. These are well-known things, now even found as stickers in the 6-pack Kinder Cereali boxes at SMA. Instead, I'd like to draw your attention (for a few minutes) to this double musical DVD, yet another Semi-Christmas Treat (albeit far in advance) for fans that presents - beware - almost the same double CD (or almost) from 1995 BUT in a version with images taken from those famous concerts: essentially 2 CDs in DVD format. (For those who didn’t know, a "Pulse Baby" version played by Nason, Wright, and Gilmour's sons is already scheduled for 2008, and in 2009 the double "Pulsatilla", a version of the same 2 CDs remastered by the new emerging writer… It seems like nonsense, but you'll see if it isn't so!)
I'm not saying it's a bad testimony or poorly done work, not at all. . . it’s still Pink Floyd and there’s still the usual good music. . . I'm just saying that fans, record labels, and media are picking at an (excellent) corpse like insatiable vultures willing to do anything to grab what's left. What more is there to say? Are there unseen clips? never-before-seen photo galleries, snippets from cartoons? a rare video of Gilmour clipping his toenails? "Wish You Were Here" sung with Billy Corgan, "Time" performed by Iam James, "Money" sung by Cristiano Malgioglio (no. . . not that yet)? the names of the tour's crew?! The names of the webmasters who managed the site? In short. . . How much more can be squeezed out of these three dinosaurs who are nearing retirement? How much longer will the record label keep scraping the barrel?! How much more fluff will the most praised Pink Floyd fans in Rock History have to endure?! And above all: how many more millions of euros will flow into the perpetually dry coffers of English EMI Records (and those of the three surviving band members now a faded pink)?! Why must everything (or much of it at the dawn of this century) be reduced to the haphazard and uncontrolled marketing of artistic products born with far nobler intents? Why must we constantly bow to this damn Global Marketing, the true Hidden Plague of the coming years?
A Proposal: and instead of sucking up yet another DVD-SPECIAL-DOUBLE-SURROUND-LAMEROTANT-SUPERCAZZOLA ETC., what if we all chip in together, like 1 euro each (considering we are 20 million young people only in Italy, shouldn't that be enough?) and donate it to the "poor-bloodsucker-Emi-English" wouldn't that be an idea?! Just to see what effect it gives as our local doctor from Brianza would say. . . So, let's write then, in block letters and legible handwriting:
"I, the undersigned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . born in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . residing in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Italy), DONATE the sum of 1 Euro to your label so you won't hassle us anymore with triple Deluxe, Gold Platinum Lead Collection compilations, Live Blah Acoustic etc. Please, take this money and let's not talk about it anymore. Goodbye and thanks. Sincerely (signature). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "
Send it all to: EMI House, 43 Brook Green, London, W6 7EF
And let's see if by Easter (at least), we can avoid the usual promotional package of a "Live Pulse Unplugged Session" with the same tracks from Gilmour and company's demos in the garage under the house on the same old squeaky 4-track more creaky than Jack (who’s back in the group). Want to bet 1 euro that by Easter something similar comes out? You say no?! Shake my hand; I'm in!
For the maniacs, here's the complete Tracklist:
Part 1: Shine On You Crazy Diamond; Learning To Fly; High Hopes; Take It Back; Coming Back To Life; Sorrow; Keep Talking; Another Brick In The Wall (part 2); One of These Days; Screen Films: ; Shine On You Crazy Diamond; High Hopes; Learning to Fly; Bootlegging the Bootleggers: ; What Do You Want From Me; On The Turning Way; Poles Apart; Marooned. Videos: Learning To Fly; Take It Back; Tour stuff: Maps, itinerary, stage plans.
Tracklist Concert - Part 2: Speak To Me; Breathe; On The Run; Time; The Great Gig In The Sky; Money; Us And Them; Any Colour You Like; Brain Damage; Eclipse; Wish You Were Here; Comfortably Numb; Run Like Hell. Screen Films: Speak To Me (graphic); On The Run; Time 1994; The Great Gig in the Sky (wave); Money; Us And Them 1987 - Brain Damage -Eclipse; Alternate Screen Films: ; Speak to Me 1987; Time (Ian Eames); The Great Gig In The Sky (animation); Money (Alien) -Us And Them 1994; Behind the Scenes Footage: ; Goodbye To Life As We Know It ; Photo Gallery; The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony (US 1996) - Wish You Were Here with Billy Corgan.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Astronomy Domine (04:19)
Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda
And Titania, Neptune, Titan.
Stars can frighten.
Blinding signs flap,
Flicker, flicker, flicker blam. Pow, pow.
Stairway scare Dan Dare who's there?
Lime and limpid green
The sounds surrounds the icy waters underground
Lime and limpid green
The sounds surrounds the icy waters underground.
04 Learning to Fly (05:16)
Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no turning back
A flight of fancy on a windswept field
Standing alone my senses reeled
A fatal attraction holding me fast
How can I escape this irresistible grasp?
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
Ice is forming on the tips of my wings
Unheeded warnings, I thought I thought of everything
No navigator to find my way home
Unladened, empty and turned to stone
A soul in tension that's learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I
Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,
My grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air,
Across the clouds I see my shadow fly
Out of the corner of my watering eye
A dream unthreatened by the morning light
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night
There's no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I
05 Keep Talking (06:53)
For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk
There's a silence surrounding me
I can't seem to think straight
I'll sit in the corner
No one can bother me
I think I should speak now
I can't seem to speak now
My words won't come out right
I feel like I'm drowning
I'm feeling weak now
But I can't show my weakness
I sometimes wonder
Where do we go from here
It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
Where do we go from here
It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
I feel like I'm drowning
You know I can't breathe now
We're going nowhere
We're going nowhere
07 Hey You (04:38)
Hey you! Out there in the cold
Getting lonely, getting old, can you feel me?
Hey you! Standing in the aisles
With itchy feet and fading smiles, can you feel me?
Hey you! Don't help them to bury the light
Don't give in without a fight.
Hey you! Out there on your own
Sitting naked by the phone, would you touch me?
Hey you! With your ear against the wall
Waiting for someone to call out, would you touch me?
Hey you! Would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I'm coming home
But it was only a fantasy
The wall was too high as you can see
No matter how he tried he could not break free
And the worms ate into his brain.
Hey you! Out there on the road
Always doing what you're told, can you help me?
Hey you! Out there beyond the wall
Breaking bottles in the hall, can you help me?
Hey you! Don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall.
''{spoken} [Click of TV being turned on]
Well, only got an hour of daylight left. Better get started.
Isn't it unsafe to travel at night?
It'll be a lot less safe to stay here. You're father's gunna pick up our trail before long
Can Loca ride?
Yeah, I can ride... Magaret, time to go! Maigret, thank you for everything.
Goodbye Chenga.
Goodbye miss...
I'll be back''
09 Sorrow (10:47)
The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land
Plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky:
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers,
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough
His blood has frozen & curdled with fright
His knees have trembled & given way in the night
His hand has weakened at the moment of truth
His step has faltered
One world, one soul
Time pass, the river rolls
And he talks to the river of lost love and dedication
And silent replies that swirl invitation
Flow dark and troubled to an oily sea
A grim intimation of what is to be
There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
And there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder that words,
Of promises broken
10 High Hopes (07:52)
Beyond the horizon of the place
we lived when we were young
in a world of magnets and miracles.
Our thoughts strayed constantly
and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun.
Along the long road and on down the causeway
Do they still meet there by the cut?
There was a ragged band
that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures
trying to tie us to the ground
to a life consumed by slow decay.
The grass was greener.
The light was brighter.
With friends surrounded.
The nights of wonder.
Looking beyond the embers
of bridges glowing behind us
to a glimpse of how green it
was on the other side
Steps taken forwards
but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide.
At a higher altitude
with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights
of that dreamed of world.
Encumbered forever
by desire and ambition
There's a hunger
still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still
stray to the horizon
Though down this road
we've been so many times.
The grass was greener.
The light was brighter.
The taste was sweeter.
The nights of wonder.
With friends surrounded.
The dawn mist glowing.
The water flowing.
The endless river.
Forever and ever.
11 Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 (07:06)
The opening quote is from the 1933 light heavyweight boxing match between Max Baer and Max Schmeling
We don't need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave the kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave us kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
We don't need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave the kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave us kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
Spoken:
'Wrong, Do it again!
Wrong, Do it again!
If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding.
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?
You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddie!'
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Other reviews
By aniel
This album is the last true testament of the 'live' and vibrant music of Pink Floyd.
Pulse is an excellent (and undisputed) testament to their artistic longevity.
By Lord DarthVader
"Pulse is nothing more than a summary at the end of a book that represents a chapter in the history of modern music."
"Class cannot be reviewed and exported to others; class is destined to spark discussion because not everyone is able to grasp it."
