Quote Originally Posted by Ianofsmeg16
...what do you Floyd-a-holics think?
Live Floyd?

Boy, are you in the right forum.

First off, Live at Pompeii is both a fantastic film and a fantastic album. The new DVD of the film is crystal clear with great sound and includes both a new version and the original film. Great stuff!

Ummagumma is another must have. The first half is live music and the second half is very experimental studio work.

There are a ton of bootlegs and imports out there as well, which are wonderful. I have several versions of some Floyd songs like Echoes, Fat Old Sun, A Saucerful of Secrets and many others. Some versions are fantastic and some are very nearly disastrous. But they are an excellent way of seeing the true nature of the band. There is one bootleg of a concert in Amsterdam where they forget lines, screw up the effects, blow the solos, all sorts of stuff, but it makes for very interesting listening.

Echoes, for example, has been performed quietly, raunchy, and jazzy (Boston Gardens version). Nice to hear different versions that fit different moods.

The live version of Dark Side of the Moon in London '72 is fantastic. Almost grungy, but very cool. Worth the effort to get. As is the '74 concert in Santa Monica (I think). they we're in top shape that night. They did a version of Fat Old Sun live that is quite unlike the studio version. They tear it out into an opus with great keyboard and guitar solos. Quite possibly my favorite Floyd song of all.

Also, there is a live version of Animals that is almost heavy metal. The copy I have is very bad quality but it's still great. Often, their live stuff blows away the studio work. That shows the band had real talent.

Best of all, a new DVD of their last concert series in '96 is coming out soon. Apparently there's some great old concert footage included as well. Looking forward to this very, very much!