Album title: Ummagumma
Artiste: Pink Floyd
Nationality: British
Label: Harvest
Year: 1969
Grade: B
Landmark value: Given that this was essentially the first official live Floyd album and also featured compositions from each member, as well as being the first produced entirely without Syd Barrett, I'd say it ranks pretty high amongst the classics of prog rock, but I wonder does it really deserve to? Even the band have all dismissed it as “horrible” (Gilmour), “a failed experiment” (Mason) and “a disaster” (Waters). It was, however, received very favourably at the time, and is probably only seen as “the worst of rock excess”, as one critic put it in 2001, after the takedown of prog by punk rock, with Floyd being one of the major targets accused of being overblown and pompous.
Tracklisting: (Live)
Astronomy domine/ Careful with that axe, Eugene/ Set the controls for the heart of the sun/ A saucerful of secrets (Studio)
Sysyphus (Parts 1 -4)/Grantchester Meadows/Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a Pict/ The narrow way (Parts 1-3)/The Grand Vizier's garden party (Part 1: Entrance; Part 2: Entertainment; Part 3: Exit)
Comments: AS the live tracks have already been discussed within the confines of their original studio versions, (other than "Careful with that axe, Eugene", which is a great instrumental but I can't write too much more about it) I'll jump right to the solo material, which opens with a thirteen-minute classical piano driven composition by, who else, Richard Wright, which, while excellent, certainly can't escape the accusation of being indulgent. You know, after a rather unexpectedly relaxing listen to Zappa I find this hard to get through; it's so up its own arse. I like Wright, but frankly this never needed to see the light of day, and doesn't give me much confidence for the rest to follow. The last part, at least, is soothing and relaxing after the somewhat histrionic effects of the previous two. Waters's effort seems to be more in the vein of a laidback folk song, very low-key and seemingly on acoustic guitar, the birdsong is a nice touch, but then in typical Waters fashion, where everyone else has one he has to have two, and so “Several species ...” is another of his, following hard on the heels of “Grantchester Meadows”, and as different to it as can be. A real experimental, pscyh, avant-garde piece, it's the only one I know from here, as I had heard it before when some guys I knew were discussing crazy song titles and were trying to get this right (they didn't); it's nonsense but it's damn funny anyway.
Gilmour then gets his chance, with “The nervous way”, and unsurprisingly it's very guitar based. It's good, there's no doubt about that, but it's clear it's a moment of pure indulgence for him, a chance to play around with some of his toys, although part three is the closest of what I would call a proper Pink Floyd track, with nice vocals from Gilmour and some cool slide guitar. Meanwhile Mason's three-part “The Grand Vizier's garden party” of course contains an extended drum solo: to paraphrase the spoken lead-out on their classic
Dark Side of the Moon, matter of fact, it's
all a drum solo. Almost. Of the eight minutes it runs for, seven are skinbashing. Sigh. There's some nice flute from his wife and some interesting effects, but still, sigh.
Favourite track(s): Grantchester Meadows, The nervous way (part 3)
Least favourite track(s): The Grand Vizier's garden party
Overall impression: I'm never really sure what the idea is with this album. For a band who had put out basically two proper albums (and one soundtrack) prior to this, I don't see the need for a live recording, but even if so, if that was all it was, then fine. It would then not be featured here until much later, if and when I decide to include live albums. But then you have each of the band members indulging themselves, basically solo, for the other half of the record. As Richard Wright himself later admitted, “pretentious”, and I would certainly agree with him.
Personal Rating: 
Legacy Rating: 
Final Rating: 