Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (Echoes: Pink Floyd) (1972)

Live at Pompeii is less a concert film and more of a time capsule of a bygone era of psychedelic rock on one hand and a look at the making of one of the greatest albums of all time on the other hand. What's funny about Pompeii is that it was shot before Floyd became mega stars, back in an era when they were a cult band that couldn't really receive much airplay because the songs were either too damn long or too damn weird. Watching the film now, as a Floyd fan, you see some of the bands mad experiments: Careful with that Axe Eugen, the song with one lyric and screaming or the precursor to all things Floydian after it Echoes, which sounds almost Morriconeish. The band, playing in an empty stadium and frolic among the ruins feels like a demented Hard Day's Night in hell. What's really interesting is when we go into the studio. We're treated to the band recording Dark Side of the Moon at Abbey Road in its rawest form. The band functioned as one unit at this point and this was their masterpiece in progress. It's like watching Da Vinci work. A weird concert film, Pompeii was yet another experiment by the worlds most experimental;l band. A dated piece for sure, but still enjoyable (to Floyd fans at least).