Ummagumma (EMI, 1969 – remastered in 2011)
Pink Floyd’s first double album, Ummagumma, was originally released in 1969. The album was digitally remastered in 2011 by James Guthrie and Joel Plante. This new version is better enjoyed with headphones or a high quality audio system.
Ummagumma is divided into two very different recordings. The first disc is a live album that includes some of their best known pieces from previous albums: ‘Astronomy Domine’, ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ and ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’. In addition there is an eerie cinematic piece titled ‘Careful with that Axe, Eugene.’ This electric organ–led track progresses with increasing intensity until you hear a deranged scream by Roger Waters. There are a lot of stories about the meaning of the song. Most people seem to think that it is related to an axe murderer.
Album 2 is a studio recording where each member of the band presents his own experiments. ‘Sysyphus’ is the brainchild of keyboardist Richard Wright who plays a combination of symphonic rock with mellotron, piano and percussion and atonal experimental music on keyboards and percussion.
The keyboard fest is followed by the laid back ‘Grantchester Meadows’ by Roger Waters, with its pastoral strums of acoustic guitars, vocals and sounds of birds (not sure if they are real or synthesized). Waters’ next piece is crazier and has a very long title: ‘Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict.’ The sounds of the little furries are wacky and very funny.
Back to acoustic guitars with David Gilmour’s ‘The Narrow Way.’ In the first part, Gilmour blends blues acoustic guitar with electric guitar riffs and explorations. Experimental, but very beautiful at the same time. Part 2 sounds like repetitive hard rock mixed with electronics. Part three is a delectable melancholic song.
‘The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party’ is Nick Mason’s suite. It begins with a solo flute that leads into a series of drum experimentations and ends with a very short flute piece.
Ummagumma shows Pink Floyd at a transitional stage, definitely moving away from psychedelic pop and into an experimental form of rock, combining rock with classical music elements and electronic music and effects. It was the birth of a form of progressive rock later known as space rock. Ummagumma is also one of the most individualist albums by the band.