Ummagumma review

The 4th studio album by Pink Floyd. This is a double album; the first side is a live album and the second side has solo compositions from each band member.

Tracks:

1. Astronomy Domine: 7/10 this starts with an excellent intro before descending into generic rock fare. It's very well-played, but I can get well-executed guitar riffs from at least 50 other bands and so this feels a bit disappointing and safe. It's still decent though.

2. Careful With That Axe, Eugene: 9/10 sometimes understated, sometimes demented, always unpredictable, this epic instrumental truly is beautiful chaos.

3. Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun: 8/10 I wasn't a huge fan of the studio version of this one which was released 2 albums ago. This live version is far better, since it's louder and contains many insane sound effects.

4. A Saucerful of Secrets: 10/10 if anyone asks why Pink Floyd is my favourite band, this would be a perfect explanation. It's even better than the studio version.

5. Sysyphus: 7/10 Richard Wright's 4-part solo composition suffers from being overlong, uneven and overdone at times but has many inspired moments.

6. Grantchester Meadows: 4/10 this one is literally just an aimless 7 minute tune which strands some excellent imagery in a bland acoustic guitar track with less charisma than a mouldy sandwich. No thanks.

7. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict: 5/10 quite interesting in some ways, but this fails to toe the line between interesting musical experimentation and over-indulgence.

8. The Narrow Way: 7/10 perfectly good but not particularly memorable. You'd expect a solo composition from the man behind some of the greatest guitar solos ever to be a bit better.

9. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party: 5/10 this one is just lots of percussion, and much of it isn't even that great.

Best song: A Saucerful of Secrets
Worst song: Grantchester Meadows

Summary: This is half a good album. The live section is terrific and sees Pink Floyd at the peak of their insane, psychedelic powers. They were obviously brilliant when performing on stage. Unfortunately, the experiment to have several solo compositions on side 2 didn't pay off at all, and thankfully the band never tried that again. Most of the songs are sub-par, the experimentation goes too far and much of the time the instrumentals sound like a load of screeching animals. Probably Pink Floyd's worst album, although not a complete dud.



Final rating: 6/10