1961

Technology & Information / Re: The great (well, not so great) storage upgrade

« on: October 04, 2014, 09:51:25 PM »

Done and done:

  ...
  /dev/sdc1: Moved: 99.9%
  /dev/sdc1: Moved: 100.0%
root@vader:~# vgreduce data /dev/sdc1
  Removed "/dev/sdc1" from volume group "data"

I now have 2 TB of free space in my volume group, plus an unused 2 TB hard drive.

1962

Technology & Information / Re: The great (well, not so great) storage upgrade

« on: October 04, 2014, 06:25:36 PM »

Only plebs have data that is not speed critical. All of you data should be SSD based.

You do understand that the primary advantage to solid-state storage is latency and not throughput, right? If you're doing sequential reads, such as for music and movies (which makes up the bulk of my data), an SSD is significantly more expensive for no real benefit.

On the other hand, booting an OS requires reads all over the place to load all the various executables and libraries your system needs, so it makes sense to put that on an SSD.

1963

Announcements / Re: Why we won't upgrade to SMF 2.0.8

« on: October 04, 2014, 06:06:07 PM »

Most of our concerns regarding SMF 2.0.8 have been fixed in 2.0.9, which was released just a few days ago. As such, we've now upgraded to the latest version.

1964

Technology & Information / Re: The great (well, not so great) storage upgrade

« on: October 04, 2014, 04:59:31 PM »

Capacity upgrades are so 2000's. In this decade it's all about speed upgrades. If your read/write speed is below 1 GB/s you're doing it wrong.

It's easy to have both. I have an SSD where low-latency access is required (mainly my OS, git repositories, and frequently-used application data), and HDDs for the bulk of my data which is not speed-critical.

Also, I am now migrating data between drives:

root@vader:~# cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdb

WARNING!
========
This will overwrite data on /dev/sdb irrevocably.

Are you sure? (Type uppercase yes): YES
Enter passphrase:
Verify passphrase:
root@vader:~# cryptsetup open --type luks /dev/sdb sdb
Enter passphrase for /dev/sdb:
root@vader:~# pvcreate /dev/mapper/sdb
  Physical volume "/dev/mapper/sdb" successfully created
root@vader:~# vgextend data /dev/mapper/sdb
  Volume group "data" successfully extended
root@vader:~# pvmove /dev/sdc1
  /dev/sdc1: Moved: 0.0%
  /dev/sdc1: Moved: 0.1%

Linux is so great.

1965

Technology & Information / Re: The great (well, not so great) storage upgrade

« on: October 04, 2014, 04:43:34 PM »

What in the name of code are you filling your drive up with?

Lots of things.

The initial drive swap went mostly without a hitch. The only trouble I encountered was that when I yanked a SATA cable out of one of the old drives, the connector snapped clean in half. Nothing a bit of superglue couldn't fix, even if it cost me a few square millimetres of epidermis.

1966

Technology & Information / The great (well, not so great) storage upgrade

« on: October 04, 2014, 04:01:07 PM »

As some of you may remember, some time ago I bought a new computer with 2 TB of storage, plus another 2 TB for backups. Well, two and a half years after that fateful purchase decision, I am now almost out of space.

Just the other day, I bought two 4 TB drives (of the same brand and product line) to replace my existing 2 TB drives. I don't have any spare SATA cables, so I'll have to replace one at a time, but thanks to the magic of Linux LVM I can move data from one drive to the other while the system is running, so I only need to reboot briefly to exchange drives.

I'll also be taking this opportunity, in light of our recent Orwellian legislation, to encrypt the new drive before I put any data on it.

Let's get this party started!

1967

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: October 04, 2014, 01:56:57 PM »

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
Film (directed by Adrian Maben)

Recorded: October - December 1971
Released: September 1972

Band lineup

Roger Waters (bass, guitar on "Mademoiselle Nobs")
David Gilmour (guitar, harmonica on "Mademoiselle Nobs")
Richard Wright (keyboards)
Nick Mason (drums)
Mademoiselle Nobs (howling on "Mademoiselle Nobs")

All tracks authored by Pink Floyd, except where noted.

Songs included (in order of appearance)

Speak To Me (Mason)
Echoes, Part 1
Careful With That Axe, Eugene
A Saucerful of Secrets
One of These Days
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters)
Mademoiselle Nobs
Echoes, Part 2

Review

This is the first released film with Pink Floyd in which the main focus is their music. I'd only seen the Director's Cut before now, so I watched the original 1972 version this time. It's a lot shorter, with only the band's performances and not the mock studio footage, which is really just filler anyway.

The opening piece isn't titled in the film, but it is an early version of Speak To Me, from their upcoming album The Dark Side of the Moon. The first minute or so of the film is completely black, and then abruptly cuts to footage of a ruined street in Pompeii. The film features various shots of ruins in Pompeii, in addition to Pink Floyd performing in the main amphitheatre. One of the aims of the film was to show the band playing in a deserted venue, as a response to concert films which place excessive focus on the audience.

Except for Speak To Me, the film is bookended by Echoes, as the band were promoting Meddle at the time of filming. This live version of Echoes, split between the "funky" section and the "whale song" section, has a much more raw feel to it than the polished rendition on Meddle. It's interesting to see the band perform this song, but they also don't do anything in particular with it that they didn't on the album, making this sound like a carbon copy of the studio recording. It's good, but nothing you won't get on Meddle unless you like watching shirtless guys with long hair.

Between the two parts of Echoes are the real treats. Eugene and Saucerful, as the weathered veterans of Floyd set lists, are as interesting as ever; in particular, I find it interesting to watch just how the band makes all the sound effects in Saucerful. Set the Controls is the other veteran, which is as dull as ever, except for the second half of the improvisations where Rick does his own thing on the organ.

One of These Days is something of a disappointment. It's not a bad performance, it's just that the studio version uses a lot of tape editing to get the sounds which make it unique as a piece, something completely lost in this live rendition. Somewhat unexpectedly, they would finally nail a live version of this 17 years later on Delicate Sound of Thunder, but more on that later.

Finally, Mademoiselle Nobs is a version of Seamus with a different dog and no lyrics. Roger plays the guitar on this while David takes a harmonica solo and Rick plays the dog. It's as much of a fun, silly tune as it was on Meddle, and in this case, there's not much to be disappointing with.

I love this film, as I find it to be a priceless document of pre-Dark Side Floyd. I don't want to leave the impression that I have something against it, it's just that I've already highlighted how great Eugene and Saucerful are live, and the rest of it is mainly regurgitated album material, so there's not much to cover that I haven't already.

1968

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: October 04, 2014, 11:35:17 AM »

Meddle
Studio album


Recorded: January - August 1971
Released: 30 October 1971

Band lineup

Roger Waters (bass, rhythm guitar on "San Tropez")
David Gilmour (guitar, second bass on "One of These Days", harmonica on "Seamus")
Richard Wright (keyboards)
Nick Mason (drums)
Seamus (howling on "Seamus")

Side A

1. One of These Days (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason) (5:57)
2. A Pillow of Winds (Waters, Gilmour) (5:10)
3. Fearless (Waters, Gilmour) (6:08)
  * Includes "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Rodgers, Hammerstein)
4. San Tropez (Waters) (3:43)
5. Seamus (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason) (2:16)

Side B

1. Echoes (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason) (23:29)

Review

Meddle is an excellent follow-up to Atom Heart Mother, and they both have similar structure; one side being a single long track, and the other having numerous shorter songs. The most significant difference is that while Atom had tracks written by individual band members, each having their own strengths and weaknesses, this is the first Pink Floyd album to be dominated by Waters/Gilmour collaborations, and that makes a world of difference.

One of These Days is instrumental, except for a single line spoken by Nick Mason ("one of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces"). It's based around a bass line Roger came up with, using the Binson Echorec to create a triplet rhythm -- as far as I know, the first time Pink Floyd deliberately set the Echorec to produce echoes in time with the music. On top of that, there are some interesting tape effects, with backwards cymbal crashes leading into forwards synth chords, the whole thing culminating in a lap steel solo. Very nice, and perhaps Floyd's best short opener.

A Pillow of Winds sounds like a cross between If and Fat Old Sun. It has Roger's propensity for writing slow, acoustic songs, combined with David's blues licks, creating a sound that would identify Pink Floyd for many years to come. Fearless carries on this trend of combining Roger and David's talents into something that is greater than the sum of its parts, with lyrics about Roger's passion for football. I'm about as far from a sports fan as you can get, but even I can't help but be moved by this piece, which culminates in a chorus of You'll Never Walk Alone.

San Tropez and Seamus round out side A with a bit of fun. San Tropez is a song Roger wrote about Saint-Tropez in France, with a much lighter, catchier feel than the other tracks on side A. Seamus is just a silly blues about a dog named Seamus, who can be heard howling on the recording. Say what you will about it being a throwaway, directionless song, but I find it provides the perfect foreshadowing of things to come on side B; the calm before the storm, if you will.

Ah yes, side B. Echoes begins as simply and subtly as it possibly can; with a single, high C# note on piano, played through a Leslie speaker. It sounds like a sonar pulse, and as the other instruments come in over the course of the first two minutes of the song, there is a general feeling of being underwater that I can't quite explain. This music creates the image in my head of a beautiful coral reef, slowly being lit up by a new dawn.

The vocals on Echoes are magnificent, and it has the best lyrics since Syd left the band. This is an early example of how well David and Rick could harmonise together, a pairing that would frequently characterise the Pink Floyd sound going forward. It's hard to describe what the lyrics are about, since they really just create imagery moreso than telling a narrative or making a point.

After the first two verses, we get a guitar solo from David. This is, without a doubt, the best performance he has delivered since joining the band in 1968, soaring majestically over these chords like a dolphin surfacing for air, leading us to the second distinct part of the song. The band abruptly segues from the slow-paced intro vamp into an uptempo funk feel, with the bass and especially the organ driving the beat forward, while David's guitar continues bringing up the front line.

This isn't really a solo, though; more like isolated, sporadic improvisations, between which there is either just the vamp, or an organ fill from Rick. With Roger and Nick keeping a solid beat going the whole time, the overall effect is really fantastic. Eventually, this fades out, to be replaced with a steady synth drone and a guitar fed backwards through a wah pedal. The latter effect results in a guitar tone that sounds eerily similar to whale song, adding to the undersea imagery of the piece.

The whale song gradually gives way to a tense two-chord vamp which slowly builds in intensity over several minutes, eventually building up to the third and final verse of the song. Afterwards, Rick and David jam for a while on piano and guitar, which slowly fades out into echoing voices slowly ascending in pitch, concluding the album. It's certainly more focused than Atom Heart Mother, although I find some parts drag on for a while after they've stopped being interesting, which is why I prefer the earlier track.

This album marks a transitional point from '60s psychedelic Floyd to '70s progressive Floyd. Full disclosure: I actually prefer the former, so my opinions are likely to be biased from here onwards. I do like this album though, a lot, and I think it makes a great pairing with Atom Heart Mother. Being more accessible than its predecessor, I would recommend this as a starting point to anyone interested in exploring Pink Floyd's material.

1969

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: October 04, 2014, 10:26:24 AM »

Relics
Compilation album


Recorded: 1967 - 1969
Released: 14 May 1971

Band lineup

Syd Barrett (guitar on side A and "Bike")
Roger Waters (bass)
David Gilmour (guitar on side B, except "Bike")
Richard Wright (keyboards, trombone on "Biding My Time")
Nick Mason (drums)

Side A

1. Arnold Layne (Barrett) (2:56)
  * Originally released as a single.
2. Interstellar Overdrive (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason) (9:43)
  * Originally released on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
3. See Emily Play (Barrett) (2:53)
  * Originally released as a single.
4. Remember a Day (Wright) (4:29)
  * Originally released on A Saucerful of Secrets.
5. Paintbox (Wright) (3:33)
  * Originally released as the B-side to "Apples and Oranges".

Side B

1. Julia Dream (Waters) (2:37)
  * Originally released as the B-side to "It Would Be So Nice".
2. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason) (5:45)
  * Originally released as the B-side to "Point Me At the Sky".
3. Cirrus Minor (Waters) (5:18)
  * Originally from the film More.
4. The Nile Song (Waters) (3:25)
  * Originally from the film More.
5. Biding My Time (Waters) (5:18)
  * Previously unreleased.
6. Bike (Barrett) (3:21)
  * Originally released on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Review

As is typically the case with compilation albums, this seems to have been put together by the record company to make an extra buck and keep Pink Floyd in the public eye. There's little thought given to sequencing or the flow of the album, and "Interstellar Overdrive" fades out rather than segue into "See Emily Play", which would have been an awesome way to preserve the continuity at the end of the album version.

I've included it here for two reasons. One, it includes some early singles in album form, and although it was not the first Pink Floyd compilation album to do so, it was the first to achieve widespread popularity. Two, and more importantly, it contains a single track ("Biding My Time") which has never been released on any other album.

I've reviewed most of these tracks in their original contexts already, and most of them (especially the Piper cuts) work much better in their original context than they do here. Of note, though, is the fact that some tracks ("Paintbox", "Julia Dream" and "Careful With That Axe, Eugene") appear here in stereo for the first time. "Interstellar Overdrive" is also stereo here, but it's a false stereo rendering of the original mono mix rather than an actual stereo mix. Aside from that, these tracks are identical to those I already reviewed.

So, Biding My Time. This track alone is an excellent reason to seek out this album, and it's truly mind-boggling that it was never released prior to this, because it's really fucking good. It opens with a quiet, reflective jazzy riff and some lyrics, sung by Roger, about the protagonist wanting to relax and enjoy "the fireside, and the warm light, and the love in her eyes".

Then, out of nowhere, there's a key change and the band drops straight into the most raw blues rock you'll ever hear from Pink Floyd. Three solid minutes of Pink Floyd just rocking out, with Rick on trombone instead of keyboards for a change, makes this the least Floydy Floyd you'll ever hear. It's a pity they forgot how to stop being serious and just jam in their later years, because they were quite capable of it when they wanted to be.

This is worthwhile getting just for Biding My Time, but you can skip the other tracks and just get the original albums instead. This just doesn't work as an album.

1970

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: October 04, 2014, 08:41:42 AM »

Atom Heart Mother
Studio album


Recorded: February - August 1970
Released: 2 October 1970

Band lineup

Roger Waters (bass)
David Gilmour (guitar)
Richard Wright (keyboards)
Nick Mason (drums)

Also featuring EMI Pops Orchestra and John Alldis Choir on "Atom Heart Mother".

Side A

1. Atom Heart Mother (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason, Ron Geesin) (23:44)
  I. Father's Shout
  II. Breast Milky
  III. Mother Fore
  IV. Funky Dung
  V. Mind Your Throats Please
  VI. Remergence

Side B

1. If (Waters) (4:31)
2. Summer '68 (Wright) (5:29)
3. Fat Old Sun (Gilmour) (5:22)
4. Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason) (infinite, with about 13 minutes of music)
  I. Rise and Shine
  II. Sunny Side Up
  III. Morning Glory

Review

Holy cow! Who'd hoof thought the meandering works of late '60s Floyd could lead up to something so mooving? This record begins with nearly calf an hour of udder brilliance, followed by a few shorter compositions which graze out the studio part of Ummagumma by comparison. I ain't got no beef with this.

It's not just the music which makes this album such a special part of Floyd's catalogue. If you buy a copy of this album on CD, it comes complete with a double-sided sheet with two nonsense recipes, one of which is written in German. The English one (from what I recall; I've long since lost my physical copy of the album) consists of a set of progressively larger animals stuffed inside one another, starting with (I think) a chicken and ending with a camel.

Side A of this record is, in this reviewer's opinion, the single best 24 minutes Pink Floyd ever committed to tape. It's a six-movement epic with orchestral and choral parts composed by Ron Geesin, and overdubbed on the band's original studio track while Pink Floyd was on tour. The result is remarkably coherent; the band, orchestra and choir seem to work together as if they had performed the piece in a single take.

Geesin's talents really shine here, with some of the band's more eccentric improvisations accompanied by equally eccentric brass outbursts, yet with one never eclipsing the other. Other highlights include a cello solo followed by a Gilmour lap steel solo, as well as Funky Dung, a groovy blues jam with overdubbed nonsense chanting from the choir. There are also odd sound effects and interjections at times; notably, the sound of a motorbike accelerating heralds the second refrain, and much later in the piece, a heavily-distorted voice announcing "silence in the studio!" fills the same role.

The centrepiece of Atom Heart Mother is a 9-bar chord progression originally created by Gilmour. The band developed this into a shadow of the piece that we have here while on tour, and then Geesin wrote an orchestral melody which rides atop Gilmour's guitar as naturally as if it had been there from day 1. This is repeated a few times throughout the piece, finally returning as its conclusion, with choral accompaniment added to its majesty.

Flip the record to Side B, and the powerful climax of the title track is immediately contrasted by the calm, acoustic opening to If. This piece, a melancholy song by Roger describing possible outcomes of various premises, ending with "if I were a good man, I'd talk with you more often than I do", musically sounds like a midway point between Grantchester Meadows and Brain Damage. Similarity to the latter is strengthened by references to insanity ("if I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain"). This represents a new maturity to Roger's songwriting that would carry Pink Floyd through the '70s.

Summer '68 highlights why lyrical duties would soon be relegated to Roger exclusively. The music is somewhat interesting, being rather similar to Rick's songs on A Saucerful of Secrets, but the lyrics really make me cringe. There seems to be no attention given to rhyming or meter, but unlike Syd's deviation from standard lyrical formulation, there doesn't seem to be any artistic intent here. They're just poorly written lyrics.

Summer '68 climaxes with a big brass send-off (possibly the same orchestra as on side A), and as the reverb from the ending dies out, the church bells which begin Fat Old Sun fade in. David's lyrics aren't quite as cringey as Rick's, and the music is certainly an improvement from The Narrow Way. The highlight of the track comes after David stops singing and picks up his guitar, giving a taste of the inspired blues rock solos he would deliver for the decade to come.

Side B is saved from being just a collection of decent songs by the closing 13-minute song about breakfast. Yes, this song opens with the sound of a dripping tap, followed by roadie Alan Styles moving around a kitchen and talking about what he likes to eat for breakfast. The three movements of this piece are entirely separate musical performances, with a return to the breakfast sounds in between.

The band parts of Breakfast get progressively more interesting as the song proceeds. Rise and Shine is a moderately-paced tune mostly driven by piano and organ parts which serves as little more than a cutesy intro, while Sunny Side Up is much slower and consists of three acoustic guitars and a lap steel. This is one of the most relaxing Floyd pieces I've ever listened to, and throughout the piece, there are various sounds of Alan eating and/or cooking breakfast.

Sunny Side Up fades out, we have Alan talk a bit more about getting the band ready for a gig, and then the tour de force of side B comes in. Morning Glory is played over an organ chord progression that somehow gives the feeling of continuously ascending. First comes a piano solo from Rick, and then David's guitar joins the fun. The guitar solo is good, but it's mixed into the background at times, so it's hard to stay focused on it for long. Yet again, the effect is made more interesting by the continued presence of Alan talking about his breakfast.

The band stops playing, Alan leaves, and the dripping tap returns in a locked groove, giving the track effectively infinite length. Overall, Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast is far more interesting for the atmosphere it creates than for any specific feature of the instrumentation. This atmosphere is constructed not only from the band's instruments, but from the sound effects and talking about Alan's breakfast.

In my view, this album is the best thing Floyd ever released. While some of the songs on side B are little more than throwaway pop tunes, the bulk of the album (the title track and Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast) more than make up for that, turning this into a remarkable amalgamation of rock band, orchestra, choir and breakfast. If you listen to any pre-Dark Side Floyd album, make it this one, and be sure to buy the CD so you get a copy of the essential recipes.

1971

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Australian anti-terrorism laws

« on: October 04, 2014, 07:15:42 AM »

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-02/parliament-burka-rules-introduced/5786132

For fuck's sake.

For fuck's fucking sake.

Seriously.

1972

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: October 03, 2014, 06:10:11 PM »

Zabriskie Point
Film (directed by Michelangelo Antonioni)

Released: 9 February 1970

Band lineup

Roger Waters (bass)
David Gilmour (guitar)
Richard Wright (keyboards)
Nick Mason (drums)

All tracks authored by Pink Floyd.

Songs included (in order of appearance)

Heart Beat, Pig Meat
Crumbling Land
Come In Number 51, Your Time is Up (aka Careful With That Axe, Eugene)

Numerous incidental music was also recorded for the film, but not included on the original soundtrack album. (Some of it was later included on a bonus disc for the CD release.)

Review

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. While Pink Floyd had a much more minor role in the scoring of Zabriskie Point than in More, only having three songs in the film amidst contributions from various other artists, the film itself was a lot more engaging and left a more intense impression on me.

The plot concerns two lovers brought together from opposite echelons of society. I find myself having to look up their names, because rather significantly, they do not refer to each other by name for the bulk of the film. Their names (Mark and Daria) are only used by people they know in their mundane lives; Mark being a student fighting oppressive police brutality in California, and Daria being an employee of a very wealthy businessman.

I won't go into too many more details, because it is a fantastic film and you really should watch it to find out the rest. It was quite intense with imagery and symbolism at times, so I think I'll be watching it again myself to pick up on all the things I missed. I also appreciated the panoramic shots of desolate Californian countryside, including the titular Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, where the two protagonists spend most of their time together.

Onto the music, then. Heart Beat, Pig Meat opens the film, and is really the highlight as far as new Pink Floyd material goes. It consists of a regular, repetitive beat (no doubt the "Heart Beat"), with various sound effects and organ licks making up the variety. It's certainly unique as a Floyd piece, although I wouldn't be surprised if this was the inspiration for Speak To Me three years later.

Crumbling Land is a generic country rock song, and Zabriskie Point is full of generic country rock by various bands, so I didn't even register this as being by Pink Floyd during the film. There's really not much more to say about it; it stands alone amongst Floyd material as a cutesy country ballad, but it's also not a style they did particularly well.

And then there's the retitled re-recording of Careful With That Axe, Eugene, sans the titular lyric. Number 51 is musically quite similar to Eugene, but various wordless vocal noises (fed through a Binson Echorec, naturally) from Roger dominate the first couple of minutes, something which would later find its way into live renditions of Eugene. Also, the mix is substantially different from any previous version, with Roger's screaming being way up in the foreground. This recording accompanies the violent explosions at the very end of the film, and is the last piece of music in Zabriskie Point, save for the closing credits. It fits this slot very well, and this already-powerful monster improvisation seems to take on a new life in the context of the film.

Floyd's incidental music is somewhat difficult to pick out from the rest, since Antonioni had fairly specific requirements that suppressed Floyd's own style to a degree, so I don't have much to say about that.

Well, that's that. This is the first film I've watched as part of this review-fest that I would describe as "great", and not just for the Floyd, which is somewhat underwhelming this time around. This is something no film enthusiast (and I know we have a few here) should miss.

1973

Technology & Information / Re: Introducing Windows 10

« on: October 02, 2014, 01:34:04 PM »

Apparently this is why they can't call it Windows 9:

https://searchcode.com/?q=if(version%2Cstartswith(%22windows+9%22)

1974

Suggestions & Concerns / Re: Secure Connections

« on: October 01, 2014, 03:15:05 PM »

This is now underway. I'd expect to have it sorted by the end of this month.

As you'd have noticed, this wasn't done by the end of the month. At this point, I have no direct control over the process; I'm verifying my address with the SSL certificate provider, but the thing they've sent me to confirm it hasn't arrived yet. I wouldn't expect it to be too much longer, though, and once that's out of the way it's a strictly technical process.

1975

Technology & Information / Re: Introducing Windows 10

« on: October 01, 2014, 06:06:53 AM »

Still doesn't beat the jump from 3.11 to 95.

1976

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: September 28, 2014, 04:23:23 PM »

Interstellar Zappadrive
Live bootleg


Recorded: 25 October 1969
Actuel Music Festival, Amougies, Belgium

Band lineup

Roger Waters (bass)
David Gilmour (guitar)
Richard Wright (keyboards)
Nick Mason (drums)
Frank Zappa (guitar on "Interstellar Overdrive")

Track listing

1. Astronomy Domine (Barrett) (9:52)
2. Green is the Colour (Waters) (4:11)
3. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour) (9:45)
4. Tuning Up With Zappa (2:30)
5. Interstellar Overdrive (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason) (20:34)
6. Tuning Up (:52)
7. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters) (12:08)
8. A Saucerful of Secrets (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour) (17:59)

Review

You didn't really expect me to leave this out, did you?

This bootleg provides a unique insight into the format of '69 Floyd's live shows, as well as being an historic document of the only known Zappa performance with Pink Floyd. It's far from the best unofficial recording I've heard, but considering the time period, it's survived rather well.

Astronomy Domine kicks things off, and this is exactly the same arrangement heard on Ummagumma. I find the organ solo here to be more interesting than on the aforementioned release, but it's otherwise much the same. Green and Careful are played together as a piece, which works very well. As usual, Green is the Colour is far better live than in the studio, with the band doing some extended jamming over what would be the fade-out on the album version. Then Careful is very similar again to Ummagumma; nothing to see here.

Then comes the fun part. An announcement is made (in French) that Frank Zappa will be joining Pink Floyd for the next song, to much cheering from the audience. The head of Interstellar Overdrive has evolved substantially since 1967, growing an extended organ flourish intro, and being performed as hard rock rather than psychedelic rock (the feel is very similar to The Nile Song). But then Zappa picks up his guitar...

Suddenly, the improvisational bulk of Interstellar Overdrive sounds like something straight off Hot Rats or Chunga's Revenge. It's incredible the extent to which Frank's presence manages to mould this tune into something even greater than it already is. Frank and Roger in particular seem to bounce off each other well; at one point, Roger begins making a ticking noise on his bass similar to the intro to "Time", which Frank quickly cottons onto and begins building that into his solo.

David and Rick get some time in the spotlight too, but by now, the band is grooving along like the Mothers in the middle of King Kong, and the result is a completely different Interstellar Overdrive from anything else I've heard. After Rick's solo, the band and Zappa perform a good six minutes or so of additional improvisation leading up to the return to the head, which itself is played with a lot more improvisational fanfare and little fills than usual, sounding much more like the Mothers than we're used to from Pink Floyd. Tasty.

Unfortunately, the next song is Set the Controls, which manages to be even more of a letdown than Dinah-Moe Humm. This is, once again, the same arrangement as on Ummagumma, although (perhaps simply as a result of the poorer quality of the tape) I find this not to be quite as ambient. Somehow, the band keeps this up for 12 minutes without falling asleep.

Highlight number two of this tape comes with A Saucerful of Secrets. This comes with a much longer Something Else than previously, with David and Rick taking turns between Echorec chaos and ambient organ chords, repeatedly teasing us with a build-up and then falling back down. Finally, after over five minutes, we get the real McCoy; David drowns out everyone else with some fantastic Echorec abuse and Syncopated Pandemonium begins.

Syncopated Pandemonium runs for over five minutes itself, sounding somewhat like Return of the Son of Monster Magnet at times -- perhaps some of the inspiration the band took from Zappa earlier had stuck. Anyway, this extended bout of chaos only makes Storm Signal, and the inevitable ensuing Celestial Voices chords, so much sweeter when they finally arrive.

I don't need to tell you by now that Celestial Voices is, in this reviewer's opinion, one of the most beautiful compositions Pink Floyd ever committed to tape. The way this finale builds up in live performances is truly orgasmic; from Rick playing (on this tape, barely audible) slow chords on the organ, to Nick joining in with a steady rock beat, to David bringing his guitar into the mix, and then finally his powerful soaring lead vocal to complete the picture.

This is just my little indulgence. The sound on this tape is poor enough that unless you're as into Zappa as I am, it probably isn't worth your time. Highlights are Interstellar Overdrive (of course) and A Saucerful of Secrets, and it's worth hearing at least one live Green is the Colour, but the rest of this material is covered just as well on Ummagumma.

1977

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: September 28, 2014, 01:38:15 PM »

Ummagumma
Live/studio double album


Recorded: April - June 1969
Released: 25 October 1969

Band lineup

Roger Waters (bass)
David Gilmour (guitar)
Richard Wright (keyboards)
Nick Mason (drums)

Side A (live)

1. Astronomy Domine (Barrett) (8:32)
2. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour) (8:49)

Side B (live)

1. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Waters) (9:27)
2. A Saucerful of Secrets (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour) (12:48)

Side C (studio)

1. Sysyphus (parts 1-4) (Wright) (13:28)
2. Grantchester Meadows (Waters) (7:26)
3. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict (Waters) (4:59)

Side D (studio)

1. The Narrow Way (parts 1-3) (Gilmour) (12:17)
2. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Mason) (8:46)
  I. Entrance
  II. Entertainment
  III. Exit

Review

This is really best thought of as two distinct albums; a live album of previously-released material, and a studio album consisting of solo projects from each band member. I'll review each half separately for that reason.

The live record contains excerpts from two different concerts in mid-1969, and is exemplary of their touring style at the time, containing four long, mostly improvised songs. Every one of these performances is longer than the corresponding studio recording of that track, with the added time consisting mainly of extended improvisation.

Astronomy Domine opens the album, and this is the only live track I think is inferior to its studio rendition. It's not that it's bad, but this song always felt somewhat hollow without Syd. The extended improvisations in the middle are what save this version from being completely unmemorable.

Careful With That Axe, Eugene sounds much more energetic here than it did in the studio, with Roger's screams being much more chilling, and everyone seeming to stretch their legs a bit more during the improvisations, but is structurally very similar to the studio release. Even Set the Controls is half-decent here, this being the least objectionable version of it owing to the large deviation taken from the main vamp during Rick's organ solo. At times, there is no vamp at all, just organ sounds and echoes thereof creating a very eerie atmosphere.

The live album reaches its climax with A Saucerful of Secrets, which somehow manages to outdo even the majesty of its studio recording. Most of the song is played similarly to the studio version, but with the added spontaneity and enthusiasm that comes from playing to a live audience; and, of course, the drum loop is not a tape loop here, but a live performance. The real high point comes in the final "Celestial Voices" section; instead of the relaxed, atmospheric organ and vocal harmonies on the record, this turns into a full-band rock jam over the ending chord progression, with Gilmour singing his heart out as the sole vocalist on this version. I can't describe how amazing this sounds here. Just listen to it.

Now, the studio half of this album. It's a bit of a gimmick; rather than make an album together, the band elected to each produce half an LP side's worth of material independently. The results varied widely, depending on the experience each band member had with writing songs; while Roger and Rick had been coming up with material for the band for two years now, Gilmour and Mason had until now been mostly passive participants, only playing the material they were given. At the same time, the trends seen here are an interesting preview of the direction the band would take in the future, when one member or another became the dominant force.

Rick's piece, Sysyphus, is a four-part instrumental, and is my favourite of the four individual efforts. It begins with a grandiose, pompous opening theme (part 1), which soon gives way to an interesting, multi-layered piano piece (part 2). After a brief period of silence, part 3 comes in, with some very interesting rhythmic interplay combined with what sounds like sped-up piano. Part 4 is a very relaxed affair to round things off, fading out almost to silence, before suddenly returning to the main opening theme.

Roger contributed two shorter tracks for his part. The first of these is a slow, acoustic number about the meadows in Grantchester, England, describing the tranquility of the place. I find it quite similar to Cirrus Minor, especially since it also includes chirping bird noises, among other animal sounds. Towards the end, as the main song fades out, the sound of a fly buzzing around becomes the dominant event, and the song ends with the sound of a person making a few attempts at swatting the fly, finally being successful.

As the fly gets swatted, Roger's second piece comes in immediately. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict -- the title says it all, really. This piece consists of various sped-up vocal and percussive effects to create the impression of a large number of small furry animals, well, grooving. The last minute or so has Roger doing his best impression of a craggy Scotsman, while around him one of the animals makes an occasional squeaking noise.

I would love to tell you how David's performance goes, but I slept through most of it. No, but all kidding aside, this consists mainly of some guitar wankery and crappy lyrics. The vocal melody is quite well done, and features David harmonising with himself, but the lyrics are terribly written and the song just goes nowhere. I'd like to put this down to his inexperience with songwriting, but On an Island (his 2006 solo album) follows exactly the same pattern.

Nick, rather surprisingly, brings some life back into the album with 7-minute half-drum solo, half-studio edited percussive composition. The intro (Entrance) and outro (Exit) to his piece feature his wife playing flute, which wraps the composition nicely and provides closure to the album. The percussion part that takes up most of it is very well executed, if a bit long. I hadn't expected Nick to pull off something this enjoyable.

And there you have it. Ummagumma is definitely worth getting for the live album, but the novelty of the studio album somewhat outstrips its musical value. I enjoy it, but the band members don't work nearly as well independently as they do together, and so it fails to live up to the expectations set by Piper and Saucerful.

1978

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: September 28, 2014, 11:00:34 AM »

More
Film (directed by Barbet Schroeder)

Released: 4 August 1969

Band lineup

Roger Waters (bass)
David Gilmour (guitar)
Richard Wright (keyboards)
Nick Mason (drums)

Songs included (in order of appearance)

Main Theme (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
Ibiza Bar (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
The Nile Song (Waters)
Cymbaline (Waters)
Party Sequence (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
Green is the Colour (Waters)
Quicksilver (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
Cirrus Minor (Waters)
More Blues (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
Crying Song (Waters)
Up the Khyber (Mason, Wright)
Dramatic Theme (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)
Green is the Colour (reprise) (Waters)

Short fragments of Main Theme are also repeated several times throughout the film.

Songs I didn't spot that are on the soundtrack album

A Spanish Piece (Gilmour)

Review

I'm already familiar with the soundtrack album Pink Floyd released for this film, but I had never seen the film itself, so I decided to take this opportunity to do so.

This is the second film to be scored by Pink Floyd, and the first one for which they produced actual songs, though most of the material is still just incidental music. The incidental music actually works a lot better in the context of the film than on the album, and most of it is worked into the film's setting by means of a tape recorder playing, or sometimes a live band, which I find to be a nice touch. Only a few pieces (Main Theme, Quicksilver and Dramatic Theme come to mind) have no in-setting presence. I also didn't hear A Spanish Piece anywhere, but it's so short and appropriate for this film's setting that it would be easy to miss as being a Floyd song.

The film itself is an interesting watch; while most of the dialogue is in English, there are a few scenes in French, German and Spanish, which make it hard to follow at times. It tells the story of a German hitch-hiker, Stefan, who finds himself in Paris with no money. He befriends a guy he meets in a poker game when he runs out of money, and together they manage to scrape up some cash through less-than-honest means. During this time, he meets a girl called Estelle, and there begins the main plot.

Throughout the film, it is gradually revealed that Estelle is a drug addict. She introduces Stefan to marijuana, and invites him to come with her to the Spanish island of Ibiza. He agrees, and in doing so, begins a gradual decline that would take him through experimentation with heroin and LSD at the encouragement of Estelle. Meanwhile, Estelle is revealed to have questionable connections with a mysterious Dr. Wolf, who owns a number of businesses on the island.

At the end of the film, Stefan has become addicted to heroin, and it is revealed that Estelle has always been an addict and has hidden her habit from him the whole time. She also reveals, in exchange for a dose of heroin, that she has been sleeping with Dr. Wolf behind his back. At this point, Stefan goes outside and begs one of the local inhabitants for some heroin. The film ends with him dying from an overdose.

While it is plagued by poor acting and screenwriting at times, it does work quite well as a romantic tragedy. As the film goes on, it becomes more and more clear to the viewer that Estelle is too unstable to maintain a relationship with, something Stefan is blinded to by a combination of love and drugs. Near the end of the film, he has an opportunity to leave Ibiza and return to Paris, which he passes up in order to stay with Estelle.

Right, now for the music. The incidental music is fairly typical early Floyd, albeit more subdued than usual most of the time in order to create a particular atmosphere for a scene. Much of it is heavily driven by Rick's Farfisa organ chords, with the notable exception of Up the Khyber, which consists of tense piano chords over one of Nick's signature mallet tom rhythms, very similar to the "Syncopated Pandemonium" section of A Saucerful of Secrets.

The songs are substantially more interesting. Cirrus Minor and Green is the Colour are both slow, tranquil acoustic songs, ostensibly about hallucinogenic drug use. The Nile Song and Ibiza Bar are very similar, bordering on hard rock, and both have lyrics which seem to be either about bad experiences with drugs, or using drugs to escape bad experiences. Cymbaline; which, along with Green is the Colour, would become a touring staple for the next couple of years; is one of Waters's better early songwriting endeavours, and tells of an uncertain journey with a lot of tense imagery. This could refer to experimentation with new drugs, or refer to the overall plot of the film, as it is used at a key turning point when Stefan decides to go with Estelle to Ibiza.

Then there's A Spanish Piece, which is Gilmour's first Floyd song. Well, "song" may be somewhat generous. It consists of an acoustic guitar playing and a guy with a faux Spanish accent drinking tequila and threatening to kill someone if they laugh at his lisp, and is the only track I didn't hear in the film. Not that it's a huge loss.

So there it is. I was pleasantly surprised by the film, and while it isn't great, I would say it's worth at least one watch. The soundtrack album is worth getting for the songs, but you can skip the incidental music.

1979

Technology & Information / Re: Glad I don't have a Linux thingy

« on: September 28, 2014, 05:20:48 AM »

We've discovered a new category of potential bugs in shells. Yes, you're gonna see a couple of them. If you're going to think they're one and the same bug, chances are you have more serious security problems than bash.

Arguably, the bug is that function imports are a thing. The idea that you can have code automagically imported from data, especially data as unpredictable as the environment, is just wrong, and I'm not aware of anybody ever actually making use of it. The correct fix would be to remove that functionality entirely; yes, it's an API change, but it's such a broken API that this is one of the very rare cases where that would be appropriate.

1980

Arts & Entertainment / Re: The Pink Floyd discography listen-through

« on: September 27, 2014, 06:56:04 PM »

The Committee
Film (directed by Peter Sykes)

Released: 1968

Review

I can't find much information about this film, nor a copy of the film itself; all I could find was a download of Pink Floyd's musical contributions to it in MP3. This seems to have been bootlegged onto vinyl from a VHS recording of the film, and then digitised at some point, as I can hear multiple different kinds of noise on it.

There's no band lineup listed, because I don't know if this was before or after Syd left. The guitar parts sound like Gilmour, but there was a brief time for which they were both in the band at the same time. There's no track listing because these tracks don't have names; they're just tagged as various parts of "The Committee".

The first part is a pretty cool jam, with the somewhat unconventional feature of being completely backwards. (The download I found included both forwards and backwards versions of it, but the music is backwards in the "forwards" version, so I'm guessing it was backwards in the original film.) Part 2 is pretty catchy, starting out with bird sounds similar to the start of Cirrus Minor, and then suddenly turning into something like surf music.

Parts 3, 4 and 6 are just organ/guitar chords playing behind conversations happening in the film; the conversation is in the foreground, but the music is interesting to hear nevertheless. Part 5 is pretty interesting, with a repeating, one-note bass line similar to part VI of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and echoey, staccato piano notes.

Part 7 seems like a shortened performance of Careful With That Axe, Eugene without the screaming, and part 8 sounds quite similar to the final part of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (though I don't think it's exactly the same). Maybe this was an early version of that piece.

Anyway, I just wanted to include this for completeness. It's such an obscure film that I can't imagine anyone caring too much about this, and while the music is nice, there's nothing unique that makes it worth seeking out.