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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great tracks from the first post-Waters concert tour, January 15, 2005
I believe there is something of a generation gap in terms of Pink Floyd fans' appreciation of this live double album released in 1988. Older fans who experienced all of the band's genius in the 1960s and 1970s may have had a little trouble adjusting to the reconstitution of the band (without Roger Waters) in the 1980s. As for me, I had only recently discovered the band at that time - 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason was actually the first Floyd CD I bought. I had seen The Wall and was somewhat familiar with some of the classic cuts from Dark Side of the Moon, but Delicate Sound of Thunder was essentially my first real introduction to the musical mystique of Pink Floyd. I happen to much prefer Roger Waters' vocals on vintage Floyd tracks, but I am still impressed with David Gilmour's vocals and the energy with which Waters' former band mates resurrected Pink Floyd after the bitter breakup of the band. The fact that I really learned such songs as Comfortably Numb and Time from Gilmour's versions on this live album actually allows me to appreciate Waters' original vocals even more while never looking down on these recordings as inferior versions. Had I been a fan of Pink Floyd since the beginning (and I would have been if I had been born a decade or two earlier), I imagine I would have had trouble adjusting to the Waters-less ensemble showcasing their wares here. The only unhappy feelings I personally have toward this album come from the fact that I didn't get the chance to see them perform in the concert tour from which this music is derived.
The fifteen tracks included on these two CDs represent a mix of the new and the timeless. Five of the ten songs from 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason are included: Learning to Fly, The Dogs of War, On the Turning Away, Yet Another Movie, and Sorrow. I happen to think AMLR was a great album, and the live performances of these songs really do them justice; On the Turning Away is a particularly incredible live track.
Of course, one's attention is always fixed most closely on the timeless Pink Floyd songs. Dark Side of the Moon is represented here by three songs: Time, Money, and Us and Them (of course, the second CD in 1995's Pulse contains a live performance of the entire Dark Side of the Moon album). The backup singers do get to be a little annoying on the drawn-out version of Money. Wish You Were Here supplies its own title track, an always-welcome addition to the fun, as well as this album's opening number Shine on You Crazy Diamond. One of These Days stands out as the only purely instrumental track on the double album. I am not a big fan of extended instrumental pieces, but Pink Floyd prove to be the exception to the rule - largely due to Gilmour's devastatingly impressive guitar work. Shine on You Crazy Diamond always reminds me a little bit of the old Doctor Who theme song, and that bit of nostalgia only makes me enjoy the music even more. This second disc closes with three songs from The Wall: the ever-popular Another Brick in the Wall Part II, Comfortably Numb (featuring a particularly scintillating guitar solo by Gilmour), and Run Like Hell.
Delicate Sound of Thunder has, in some ways, been superseded by 1995's Pulse double live album - but a number of the timeless tracks found here on Delicate Sound of Thunder cannot be found there. I can understand why some Floyd fanatics aren't overly impressed with this 1988 release, but a newly-reconstituted Pink Floyd (sans Waters) at slightly less than their best is still way, way better than almost everything else out there. The fact that Gilmour and the guys could deliver such quality performances of songs so intimately associated with Roger Waters proves just how timeless the music of Pink Floyd is.
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26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Floyd Lives!, January 21, 2004
There are numerous reasons to give this live double CD less than five stars, but in spite of those reasons I've listened to this CD for two days straight, at least ten times. While the CD may have its flaws, the dark, brooding sound and heavy wallowing bass matched my mood, and reminded me once more of Pink Floyd's eminence in Progressive Rock.I have the advantage of being unfamiliar with Floyd's first live album, thus not having a comparison point. Comparing this album to the other live albums I've heard, the principal thing I noticed was that the crowd noise was reasonably minimal. Second, the bass is very heavy and either represents the mixing or the way Floyd plays in concert. I suspect that at least some of the bass is due to the mixing since one effect of the deeper bass would be to mute the crowd sound somewhat. The result is a live album that nearly has a studio album feel to it. As for the songs themselves, many of them come across very well. I particularly like "The Dogs of War" and "Run like Hell," but many of the other songs come across quite nicely as well. The live versions of the songs from "Dark Side of the Moon" I thought were interesting and serviceable. Admittedly the sound is different without Roger Waters, but the songs still come across with the distinctive Pink Floyd sound. Other reviewers have commented on the saxophone and the female backup singers. Being a fan of the saxophone I thought the sax on the songs helped distinguish the songs from the studio albums. I generally expect live versions to be different from studio versions. Sometimes the live version works well, other times not. In this case I enjoyed the unique contributions of the saxophone. As for the female backup singers, there are a few places where they are a bit obtrusive and add little to the songs, but fortunately those places are relatively few. The difficulty with recommending this CD is that Pink Floyd fans are technically astute people, and I think many Floyd fans will prefer the mathematical precision of a studio album over a loosely choreographed live album. Pink Floyd's music is well arranged and created in the fashion of classical music and the extrinsic distractions of crowd noise and special effects can spoil the effect for some fans. I enjoy the variations from the studio albums, and the generally low crowd noise was not a distraction to me. If you are seeking an album to relive a live Floyd experience, sans Roger Waters, this album is a good one. If you are looking for a collection of Pink Floyd's best through the time of "A Momentary Lapse of Reason," but are not particularly interested in a live album, then you may want to pass this one by.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Obscured by p*u*l*s*e, December 9, 2005
As the years went by, PULSE somewhat made a lot of people to "forget" this jewel.
Of course Pulse has been more publicized in the media, has more songs and the complete performance of DSOTM, but...
Delicate Sound of Thunder was released by the time legal conflicts were still ongoing against Roger Waters. So the remaining Floydians, Mason and Gilmour had the enormous challenge of completing a new tour without Waters and originally Wright, and the not-less-important task to cash in on pretended success to cover expenses originated from the numerous legal affairs occuring at the same time (Mason had to sell one of his many collection cars to finance part of the tour, a sad goodbye for him to one of his most beloved -and expensive- collector items).
Rick Wright was legally separated from the band previously by Roger's attorneys and had to appear as a contractor, rather than as a permanent member of the band, situation that was corrected later, in time for the release of The Division Bell.
So, against all odds, Pink Floyd (read Gilmour & Mason + Wright and a whole bunch of session musicians) returned with a vengeance, the most successful tour of 1987, even more than the Roling Stones'.
All that sort of repressed anger became loose and transformed itself into unbelievable playing that, luckily for us, was trapped in Delicate Sound of Thunder.
If you had (I hope you will) the chance to watch the VHS of the same name (when will we have the DVD? Now that Pulse has been announced for DVD release, my hope returns), you'll notice that Gilmour has a big smile on his face most of the time, you can tell they are enjoying themselves and having fun. That sort of environment is felt in its audio portion, the CD.
Go buy it in case you're still "one of the few" "obscured by clouds". Unless you have "brain damage" or have been "eclipsed" by Pulse, you gotta get your hands on this excellent item.
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by Pink Floyd 
