Pink Floyd Delicate Sound of Thunder Remix and Remastered: The Best Live Album showcasing the Band at their Peak

 

 

For a longtime fan of the legendary Pink Floyd, I've always felt that like a lot of other iconic Rock bands, many of their songs sounded even better in Live situations than in the studio especially given David Gilmour's skyscraper Guitar solos which really came to life during live improvisations. And as Gilmour's uniquely melodic and evocative playing comprises a large part of the sonic atmosphere of all Pink Floyd classics--from the poignant Shine on you crazy Diamond to the ethereal Comfortably Numb, it had always seemed to me that the band's catalogue really needed a few live albums that could capture the very best renditions of those classics.

 

Sure P.U.L.S.E is a great Live Album containing some of the best versions of several of the band's most beloved songs, and Gilmour's extended Guitar solos really take the already great studio versions to whole new heights of musical richness. But even with all the pristine live recordings, there were several reasons that stop P.U.L.S.E from being the quintessential Pink Floyd live album and one of them is that it was recorded during the absolute last phase of the Division Bell tour and it felt like the band was just going through the motions at that point. So despite being an overall great compilation of live versions of many of their iconic songs, P.U.L.S.E wasn't quite Pink Floyd at their absolute best. 

 

Also, the selection of recordings in P.U.L.S.E could've been much better as there are several Guitar solos that Gilmour had played throughout that tour which easily trump the ones we've heard in the live album, for example the version of Comfortably Numb that was played in New Orleans far surpassed the one that went on record. Personally I've always wished that we got the ones with the better live solos instead of most of the recordings that ended up in P.U.L.S.E. 

Although I'm being heavily biased in favor of the Guitar solos over everything else, but honestly it's those improvised and extended solos that have always been the musical highlights when it comes to the live versions of the Pink Floyd songs, at least for me.

 

And that's exactly what makes the remixed and remastered version of Delicate Sound of Thunder (DSOT) so special and timely as it's in this era where the band had reached it's peak in terms of pure musicianship--Gilmour was arguably at his best and most fluid when it came to his playing and the same can be said for both Rick and Nick as there were an added energy and life in their performances in the original DSOT recordings that's just through the roof. Also I've always found Gimour's guitar solos in this tour as far more energetic and adventurous than their counterparts in P.U.L.S.E. and the touch-ups and added polishes in this updated version makes those already fantastic solos shine even more. Sure the solos in P.U.L.S.E are more structured and have a 'composed' feel to them, but I still prefer the unbounded energy of the DSOT versions. 

So if you've previously owned the original Delicate Sound of Thunder Double Live Album and were on the fence whether to buy this one or not, I can assure you that the newly remixed versions are completely worth it. The Guitar solos are longer and there's an added sonic flourish in them that makes the overall sound even more livelier and just significantly better than the old ones in every possible way, and of course the new versions of Sorrow and Comfortably Numb will make it impossible to go back to the older recordings. I absolutely love all the Guitar solos here and how they all sound noticably better than the original DSOT versions (they all sounded a bit flat and compressed in comparison) and feel that many of the live solos are easily among the very best live versions out there. 

And to sum it up, if you've trudged through countless bootleg versions of the many Pink Floyd live performances in search for the greatest live David Gilmour solos throughout the years (like I have), there are several ones in this live compilation that will completely fill you up (the solos in On the Turning Away and Sorrow rank as some of the finest live renditions of those solos). For me, it's an essential piece in the Pink Floyd sonic tapestry that really captures the band at their peak in terms of pure musicianship and simply the best live album of their entire career, or at least until they can dig up something even better from the archives.