“Crisp audio complements the improved visuals, and hindsight lends the interviews extra resonance”: Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII is a stunning historical artefact

Restoration shines new light on classic footage shot during a transitional moment that would change music for ever

Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII
(Image: © Sony)

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Readers of a certain age may recall seeing Pink Floyd At Pompeii as part of a series of all-nighter screenings featuring various rock docs in the mid-70s – events frequently accompanied by a large alcohol intake beforehand. Inevitably, as the movies in the dark and warmth of the cinema ticked by, and the booze and the wee hours took their toll, falling asleep was often the outcome.

Happily there’s no danger of nodding off in front of this extended edition of Floyd’s historic performance exhumed from their archives. With the 85-minute feature film version and a 60-minute edit, lovingly restored from the original 35mm negative, and audio remixed by Steven Wilson in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo, this 54-year-old concert now boasts crisp audio that nicely complements the improved visuals. Vinyl fans will also covet the two-LP soundtrack accompanying this release.

Taking place in a deserted amphitheatre in October 1971 with roadies and director Adrian Maben’s camera crew looking on, the group roam through a memorable set including A Saucerful Of Secrets, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, Careful With That Axe, Eugene and a truly vibrant rendition of Echoes from Meddle – which the band had only finished mixing the previous month.

Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII - Echoes - Part 1 - Edit - YouTube Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII - Echoes - Part 1 - Edit - YouTube
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The performance, interspersed with studio footage and interviews, captures Floyd at a major transition in their career. While the music of Echoes has a foot in their psych/underground past, it also points to future elements they’re seen honing for The Dark Side Of The Moon, which will arrive just three months later.

Hindsight inevitably freights portions of the interviews with a degree of extra resonance. Roger Waters – seen in Abbey Road studios working on a record that would sell more than four million copies in the UK alone – scoffs at the then-media reports that rock was a dying art form, declaring, “The market in rock’n’roll is expanding at a phenomenal rate.”

Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII - One of These Days (Official Music Video) - YouTube Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII - One of These Days (Official Music Video) - YouTube
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Elsewhere, the ever-diplomatic Nick Mason, asked about the state of the band’s interpersonal relationships, states that all is well; but admits that the real danger to future cohesion could be “when one person finds that what he’s doing doesn’t interest him, or he feels he could do something better by himself.”

Even the amphitheatre’s oval in which the band play seems to foreshadow the famous circular projection screen that would feature in Floyd shows from 1974 onwards.

All told, this is a truly historic artefact.

Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII is out now in DVD, Blu-ray, CD and vinyl formats.

Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII - Official Trailer - YouTube Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII - Official Trailer - YouTube
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Sid Smith

Sid's feature articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications including Prog, Classic Rock, Record Collector, Q, Mojo and Uncut. A full-time freelance writer with hundreds of sleevenotes and essays for both indie and major record labels to his credit, his book, In The Court Of King Crimson, an acclaimed biography of King Crimson, was substantially revised and expanded in 2019 to coincide with the band’s 50th Anniversary. Alongside appearances on radio and TV, he has lectured on jazz and progressive music in the UK and Europe.  

A resident of Whitley Bay in north-east England, he spends far too much time posting photographs of LPs he's listening to on Twitter and Facebook.