Customer Reviews

Pink Floyd In Concert: Delicate Sound Of Thunder [VHS]

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and a score of other musicians perform to a rabid crowd at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York in this 1989 concert video.

While many fans fuss about Roger Waters' absence from the band (as if other great bands have never split up or lost members), Gilmour and company hold together some great songs despite some all too florid direction from music video icon Isham.

Opening and closing with "Shine On," Isham's camera does find incredible backstage footage of the elaborate laser light show accompanying the music. A giant round screen in the middle of the stage plays host to laser light and various film and video incarnations of the Pink Floyd songs being performed. Isham's direction through the first nine or ten songs is fluid and interesting. His camera goes slow motion, capturing the audience's rapture and the band's expertise.

Other songs featured and performed are: "Signs of Life," "Learning to Fly" (with a too short drum solo), "Sorrow," "The Dogs of War" (with a great accompanying video), "On the Turning Away" (the most subdued track), "One of These Days," "Time" (the strongest performance here), "On the Run," "The Great Gig in the Sky," "Wish You Were Here," "Us and Them" (which goes on way too long), "Money," "Comfortably Numb," "One Slip" (the second best sequence), and "Run Like Hell."

About an hour into this one hundred minute video, Isham's camera gets irritating. The songs are great, but he never strays from his directing formula until close to the end of the concert. He is a visualist without a vision, trying to mask unknown flaws or his lack of original ideas after an initial genius outpouring. On the positive side, there is nary a cameraman to be seen anywhere onstage, thanks to some expert editing.

The musicians here enjoy the set as much as the audience. Gilmour is caught grinning on occasion, something I do not think he has done on camera since the late '60's. This is not the time to mourn and complain about Waters' departure, this is the time to listen to some truly great music.

While any Pink Floyd fan should snatch this up, film fans in general might like the different take Isham gives to the concert film before becoming a victim to his own excess. Better than most concert films out there, "Delicate Sound of Thunder" booms and roars and provides enough eye-wow to last a while. I do recommend it.

This is unrated, and contains mild profanity and very mild adult situations.

I couldn't believe the review I read in Rolling Stone Magazine when this video first came out. The reviewer said that this video wasn't worth watching, he said you should just put on an old Pink Floyd album and stare into a lava lamp. Since that day, I've not looked at another issue of Rolling Stone!

Not only is the band excellent in this video, the actual production is SEAMLESS. And you can tell the directing and editing was done by top quality professionals.

One of my favorite examples of this is a quick audience shot when the Pig came floating out. There is a slow motion close up of this guy and if you read his lips, he says, "Holy ..., That's the ... Pig!" Which is overlapped as the Pig comes out.

It was things like that that totally blew me away and left me thinking this is the best concert video I ever saw. With a close second to Talking Head's Stop Making Sense.

WHERE'S THE DVD ?!?!?!?!

I was so impressed with the video and audio quality of the VHS tape, that I deeply regret playing it so frequently. I can't wait to obtain a glass copy. I foolishly decided to skip this concert tour after Walters left. I saw the next tour and realized how great this group is. The artistry in the video and audio is unsurpassed. I grew up with this music and now I realize its significance. I can relate to the Europeans that attend the same operas year after year. The Floyd's show and music has my favorite arias that I can sing over and over!

I was fortunate to stumble upon this video in a used goods store. I have a very good Hifi SVHS VCR, and recently have bought a 32" Wega Sony. I was floored by the quality of the audio visual experience that watching this video provided me. I've always liked Pink Floyd music though never got to see them live. Everything about this show is very well done, and the capture of it on film is also quite good (with a few minor flaws as have already been discussed by others). I can't believe the range of opinions on this video, at opposite ends of the spectrum. I myself found it exceptionally good. The musicians are all extremely good, the backup singers are superb, and David Gilmour very ably pulls it all together, in a quiet but charismatic and warm way (I love the way he's always sending little smiles to the audience). I have read somewhere that Gilmour was always a more open and congenial person, than Roger Waters (who has a reputation for being more introspective and gloomy at times - a bit like the character in The Wall perhaps?). It shows on this video, the way he interacts with the audience and with the other musicians. His guitar playing is absolutely wonderful: not flashy or showoffish, but crisp, eloquent and very confident. He is one of the underrated rock guitarists of all time, in my opinion; many of his solos are absolute classics in my opinion. I wonder if he's still playing, 12 years later. I heard he accompanied Paul McCartney at a Millenium concert at the old bar where the Beatles used to play in Liverpool - that must have been quite an event. I recall watching Water's The Wall concert video (from the Berlin Wall) which was very impressive, and that there were a couple of very able guitarists playing with him there. David Gilmour shows in this video that no one can interpret Pink Floyd songs on guitar as well as he does. Bravo, David!

I bought this video as soon as he was available, and from the begining I loved it. For me was (and probably it still is) the best live show I ever seen. Even after seeing them at a show in Lisbon, from the Pulse Tour (that was 6 stars...), I must confess that from the music performance point of view, the Delicate Sounf of Thunder video has the best performances from Pink Floyd, specially on songs like, "Dogs of Wars", "Money", "Great Gig in the Sky" (that was a piece! ), "On the turning away", "Sorrow", etc, etc. Is the best! However, from the production point of view, I think that the video is great in images, but has too many confusion in the mixtures, some images are paste even if they don't make part of the music that the band are playing, and so on. Was a try to fill de eyes, but... too much, forgetting what was important : the band performance, wich was quite amazing. The back vocals are quite impressive, Gilmourd is at his best, Gary Wallis and the percussion is a show within the show, Nick Mason very effective, despite his calm... Well, 5 stars. And what about PULSE? 5 Stars too, but more on production than for the acting....

"Delicate Sound of Thunder" is an essential video for the Floydian who appreciates the post-Waters incarnation of the band. Most of the songs are from either "The Dark Side of the Moon" or "A Momentary Lapse of Reason." Predictably, 'One of These Days' is the token song from the band's early era. Viewers like me who believe that "Momentary Lapse" is one of the most unappreciated discs in the Floydian discography will especially enjoy this musical and visual treat. The obvious comparison for this product is the "Pulse" DVD. While this captures Floyd touring for "A Momentary Lapse of Reason," "Pulse" showcases a full-length concert during the "The Division Bell" time period. Fans were starved for almost a decade to finally see Pink Floyd return to the stage. Moving past the legal squabbling, David Gilmour took this version of the band on tour with fresh new songs that over time became classics. Setting aside the controversial issues (who's band is it anyway - why does Gilmour seem ashamed of the band's earlier music and almost never play anything before 1973), this is a magical evening. If the viewer can move past the knit-picking and appreciate this for what it is, "Delicate Sound of Thunder" will provide great satisfaction.

If you're a Yankee who's dissapointed and baffled by this never having been released on DVD in NTSC format, there is hope. First, the viewer can watch the PAL format disc on a DVD-ROM equipped PC. Don't want to sit down at your computer and watch a live concert for 91 minutes? With Nero software, the files can be converted into NTSC format while burning the concert onto a DVD+R. If this sounds too techy, the American viewer will have to stick with the VHS version.

I have just listened to my ageing tape of the DSOT concert yet again. I don't listen to it nearly as much these days, not because I don't want to, but because the tape is showing real signs of wear and one day it isn't going to be there for me any more. This concert has to be put onto DVD, it is one of my very favourites and I have been listening to the floyd since very early days. Aahh, the seventies, what a wonderful time was had...

Pink Floyd's Delicate Sounds Of Thunder was and still to this day one of, if not the best produced concert films ever. From it's stunning visual effects to it's extreamly high quality fidelity. Director Wayne Isham was definitly at the top of his game when he was commisioned to work this project.
The entire film flows with grandure and the post Waters Floyd never looked any better.

I've seen every Live Pink Floyd VHS. To me this selection has the best song list, camera angles, and the Sound Mix is the best.
It should be noted that the Sound Engineer(Buford Jones) for this tour and who also took the live tapes and mixed them in the Studio for the VHS won a Grammy that year for Best Sound Production of the Year. There are also some interesting and fantastic rear screen projection in this performance. The Director (Wayne Isham) is top notch. His more recent Videos are also great. This video does the best job of capturing Live Performance, due to the expertise of the entire Production crew and of course some of the Bands best performances. The awesome Lighting in this (by Marc Brickman) was not comprimised in the least for tape.

I have seen this video and have been to NY to see the concert myself. This is a 5* video.The cast is full of Pink Floyd spirit.For those of you who have seen this video,know what I am talking about.The back up vocalist's the [girls] who sang along were spectacular,more so than the girls in the pulse video.The percussionest is non stop and pleasent to the ears.The background video footage is very good. The sound is loud and clear.Over all this is just a great video and worth putting it back in production (TODAY). Though I am aware that , that will not probably be at all the case.And that I know Why!But lets just say that It is in my opinion that what ever problems that the artist have,the music is out there for people to enjoy. So I say just let it go.You have the money you need to live.... and have made the music that has aroused the hearts and souls of many true followers,who want nothing more than to squeeze what evers left out of the group.I would like to see more of what ever else that can be released to be released. Thank you,