Celebrating 3 score years of the tectonic shift created by prog rock and jazz fusion bands from 1969-70, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason revisits the initial albums that were much more jazzy, experimental and essentially ignored after their breakthrough Dark Side of The Moon. Mason’s band of Gary Kemp/g-voc, Guy Pratt/b-voc, Dom Beken/key-voc and Lee Harris/key-voc not only recreate the tunes during the May 3 & 4, 2019 concerts, but give a fresh coat of paint to the works, reminding us just how adventurous the music was back during the Nixon Administration. Where did we go wrong?
The band doesn’t do all of the tunes from the first Syd Barrett album, but what they do sounds fresh and invigorating, with Mason boldly trudging through the dark “Let There Be More Light”, delivering tom toms to Pratt’s bass line like vintage Art Blakey on ‘Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun” and producing his patented pattern on the snares as he veers through the ominous organ on “Saucerful Of Secrets”.
The team treats the crowd to the debut album as Kemp and Pratt deliver rich harmonies to the poppish pieces “See Emily Play” while the psychedelic gem “Astronomy Domine” is a solid yet spacey rocker. Even material from the obscure soundtrack More is delivered on the folksy “Green Is The Color” and 60s pop “The Nile Song”.
Red meat for Floyd fans is thrown to the lions with a classy medley of “If” and “Atom Heart Mother” with Mason’s dynamics in full force, while the throbbing bass of “One Of These Days” sizzles into the hard hitting climax.
This was actually the Pink Floyd I initially heard as a kid, so to return to it makes me surprised as to how strong the material is, as well as how creative the tunes and arrangements were. If you’re unaware of this era, do yourself a favor and grab this one, even if you don’t know the difference between bubble gum and umma gumma.