Review Summary: It's an album(the studio one) that Pink Floyd decided to never do again and that was a good thing. However, the live one is great.
First I’m going to say that I love the live album but I don’t like the studio one. I would give a poorer rating if it was just the studio and a higher one for just the live, but I just found an in-between score.
01 - Astronomy Domine
What can I say? Astronomy Domine just can’t go wrong. However, it got better. The original psychedelic/space rock only song now becomes a mix with a progressive-ish feel(notice the instrumental part at the middle of the song?) and it just makes this an awesome version of the song. Gimour’s vocals don’t disappoint in relation to Syd’s, too. Well, thanks to the progressiveness of this version of the song it also becomes calming at times, which is wonderful in an album that will be soon followed with agressive, haunting sounds. [4.5/5.0]
02 - Careful With That Axe, Eugene
It starts a little off but it definitely impresses me after Waters’ shout when the guitar starts. Oh, an amazing piece. Not to mention the amazing bassline and the accompanying organ. The percussion is cool, but just doesn’t stand out. A good piece, but is just too progressive for what it gives us(which is about 2 minutes of relatively loud music). Even after that, a great piece. [3.5/5.0]
03 - Set The Controls For The Heart For The Sun
In my opinion, one of the best Floyd songs. The lyrics are simple yet meaningful and fit well within the melody. One of the few songs where the percussion stands out, the percussion and the organ are main pieces. Again, the song is notably more progressive-ish than the original album version, with a quiet middle part. It is quite different than the original one, but I qualify it as a little worse. Probably because of the white noise. [4.5/5.0]
04 - A Saucerful Of Secrets
Saucerful is a meaningful song in Pink Floyd’s history. Ummagumma feels like its “first part”(until the drum tape loop ends). It starts simple and proceeds into a drum tape loop with overly distorted guitars. Strictly average. However, not everything is lost. After the drum tape loops end the song is saved by the organs Wright play and then gets progressively better until the guitar starts again and it becomes just pure awesomeness until the end of the song. [3.5/5.0]
01 - Sysyphus
Oh, Sysyphus. It was one of the first few Floyd songs(besides Another Brick In The Wall) I listened to and it put me off for about a year until I finally took courage and listened to Pink Floyd again. Anyways, Sysyphus starts promising, with a great intro but that can only deliver if it has a meaning and... yeah, it doesn’t have a meaning after all. When Part II(The CD one) starts it doesn’t have anything to do with Part I. However, as a separate piece it is good... until Wright decides to start playing random, non-related, senseless notes. Then Part III(again, the CD one) starts and... what the actual ***? The worst part of Sysyphus, with random notes playing and some distorted gibbering from Wright. Now comes Part IV(CD too) with its simple notes that again have no meaning whatsoever. At least they aren’t random. Well, strictly average track. Finally comes the vinyl’s Part IV(at 9:41 of the whole Sysyphus song) which started off scaring me and promising a lot and then nothing. It gets some good parts, but I can’t feel anything from it. It’s like Wright was playing lots of notes and thinking that people would like it because it’s weird. Thankfully, the Sysyphus ends with a good outro which is basically the intro. C’mon Wright, you’re not as good as Waters or Gilmour but you did some awesome songs. [1.5/5.0]
02 - Grantchester Meadows
A soothing song. It sounds a lot like Atom Heart Mother’s “If” but with an even more folk-ish “feel” to it. The lyrics are great and the animal sounds are actually a plus to the music, not the centerpiece of the music like it is on SSOSFAGTIACAGWAP, giving a “nature” feel to the music which correlates with the lyrics. The bad part is that the music repeats itself but even this doesn’t make the music bad. [3.5/5.0]
03 - Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict
This is not music. This is Roger Waters clapping and singing nonsense things while seeing the reaction of animals and at the end muttering nonsense lyrics in a weird accent. And he tapes that. And puts on a ***ing album. By ***ing Pink Floyd. That’s the best you can do after Syd’s departure? It’s hard to imagine that it is the same person IN THIS ALBUM wrote Grantchester Meadows. [0.5/5.0]
04 - The Narrow Way
Well, the music is introduced with a space-ish effect which is followed by a great acoustic guitar work and at around 3 minutes and a half the distorted guitar effects just get me. Sadly, Gilmour overuses them a bit which kind of brings down the score of the song but he really makes up with the ending which is their first real try at progressive rock. Also, the song’s lyrics fit well within the melody and the melody even adds meaning to them by having a “dark” part in the middle. This song is the best in the studio album and is overrall an excellent song. [4.0/5.0]
05 - The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party
The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party starts off with a flute solo which is kinda good and then after a drumroll gets into random note playing and random drumming. After a while there starts a "melody" with seemingly only one note and then finally Nick Mason fully f's up the song with the tape loops he plays senselessly. Then comes a strictly average drum solo and finally a kinda good flute piece by Mason's (then) wife. So, the only averagely good parts of the song aren't even done by Mason. Yup, this song absolutely sucks. [1.0/5.0]
Overrall, the best member in this album is Gilmour and then comes the least worse ones which are in order Waters, Wright, Mason’s (then) wife and Mason. Like Mason himself said, it was a good thing that they didn’t do it again.
