Album: Ummagumma
Year Released: 1969
Lineup:
Pink Floyd
- David Gilmour – lead guitar, vocals (live album); voices on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict";[46] acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and vocals on "The Narrow Way"
- Nick Mason – drums (live album); percussion, effects on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" parts 1 & 2
- Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals (live album); acoustic guitars and vocals on "Grantchester Meadows", voices on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"
- Richard Wright – keyboards, vocals (live album); organ, piano, Mellotron and percussion on "Sysyphus"
Additional personnel
- Lindy Mason – flutes on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" Parts 1 & 3 (uncredited)[18]
- Brian Humphries – engineering (live album)
- Pink Floyd – production (live album)
- Peter Mew – engineering (studio album)
- Norman Smith – production (studio album)
- Hipgnosis – sleeve design and photographs
Track Listing:
Live Album
Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Astronomy Domine" 8:25
2. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" 8:47
Total length: 17:12
Side two
No. Title Length
1. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" 9:21
2. "A Saucerful of Secrets" 12:51
Total length: 22:12
Album Length: 39:24
Studio Album
Side three
No. Title Length
1. "Sisyphus" 13:32
2. "Grantchester Meadows" 7:23
3. "Several Species of Small Furry Animals 4:47
Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"
Total length: 25:42
Side four
No. Title Length
1. "The Narrow Way" 12:14
2. "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" 8:55
Total length: 21:09
Album Length: 46:51
Total Length: 86:32
Overall Thoughts:
The fourth album by Pink Floyd is "Ummagumma", a double album. The first album is a live recording of their previous songs, and the second album is a studio recording of new material- but with each member of the band writing a track without the others.
The live album is... fine. There doesn't seem to be anything added to the music by performing live- the audience is barely heard, and the songs don't seem to be significantly different than the studio versions. There is one unreleased song ("Careful With That Axe, Eugene") that sounds like the spiritual sequel to "The End" by the Doors- long bits of organ music punctuated by screaming and yelling. The other songs are just longer versions of the songs already released on other albums.
The studio album is more interesting, but it's not a group project- rather, it's each member tackling their own song (Waters has two 'shorter' songs instead of one long song).
Richard Wright has the first song of the studio album, "Sisyphus". It's New Age music-instrumental, fine, far too long and forgettable.
Roger Waters wrote a pair of songs- "Grantchester Meadows" and "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict". "Granchester Meadows" is a nice, sweet song that Waters ruins by ending with the sound of a fly being swatted. "Several Species..." is as pretentious and obnoxious as the endless title suggests. It's not even a song- just a bunch of sounds put together.
David Gilmour composed "The Narrow Way", a guitar- focussed song. It plays to his strengths, and the song works- especially the opening shuffle. It's the best song on the studio tracks.
Nick Mason wrote "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"- a strange combination of Folk music, New Age music, and vocal effects. Mason's drumming holds it together.
In a way, "Ummagumma" is Pink Floyd, deconstructed. Roger Waters had a ton of ideas but needed the other members of the band to pull them off musically and reign in his worst impulses. Richard Wright is an excellent keyboardest who meanders without a good direction. Mason and Gilmour are fine but incomplete. Pink Floyd is defnitely a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Ranking of Pink Floyd Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):
- A Saucerful of Secrets
- Ummagumma
- More
- Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs (changing as more albums are reviewed):
- "Let There Be More Light", A Saucerful of Secrets
- "Set The Controls For the Heart of the Sun", A Saucerful of Secrets
- "Remember A Day", A Saucerful of Secrets
- "Cirrus Minor", More
- "Flaming", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
- "Astronomy Dominé", A Piper At the Gates of Dawn
- "A Saucerful of Secrets", A Saucerful of Secrets
- "The Narrow Way", Ummagumma
- "Crying Song", More
- "The Nile Song", More
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