Pulse

It has never mattered which of Pink Floyd's leaders (Barrett, Waters, Gilmour) is at the controls, the band has always been about grandeur. The epic scale of their psychedelic explorations, the life-altering themes of their recordings, the ground-breaking, conceptual stagings, all have helped in the construction of the group's mythology. And more than any other rock band's, Pink Floyd myths have lived on and prospered even as the band and its fan-base have evolved with time. more...

A live, double-album, PULSE works not only as a great extended postcard of 1994's biggest tour, but as Pink Floyd's myth re-charger. Consider the facts: the release was celebrated with a laser-light show atop the Empire State Building, and the spine of the CD package features a perpetually blinking light. But, as is always the case with Pink Floyd, there is reason to their madness. The blinking light harkens back to the heartbeat that is the unifying theme of their classic DARK SIDE OF THE MOON album, which is performed in its entirety on disc two.
Disc one is an approximation of the band's first set, featuring a powerful run through Syd Barrett's "Astronomy Domine" (the definition of late '60s British psychedelia), as well as a host of songs from 1987's MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON and '94's DIVISION BELL. But the second set is the true keeper of the two. Having made its tour debut on the 25th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing (how's that for a myth?), DARK SIDE loses none of its glow when transferred to a live setting. David Gilmour ably handles Roger Waters' vocal parts, but escapes comparisons by throwing the focus on instrumental interludes that further the imagination--"On The Run", for instance, sounds like a true precursor to The Orb's ambient noodlings. Still, the radio hits ("Money", "Us And Them", "Brain Damage") are all re-interpreted enough to sound novel, but familiar enough to feel like ours. In this way, Pink Floyd are our own Homer, our own Jason & The Argonauts: their stories have been with us forever, but we never mind hearing them again.