Ummagumma

"Sysyphus" redirects here. For the figure of Greek mythology, see Sisyphus.

Ummagumma
Studio album / Live album by Pink Floyd
Released 25 October 1969
Recorded 27 April 1969 at the Mothers Club, Birmingham, England
2 May 1969 at Manchester College of Commerce, Manchester, England
Genre Experimental rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, avant-garde, musique concrète
Length 86:21
Label Harvest
Producer Pink Floyd, Norman Smith
Pink Floyd chronology
More
(1969)		 Ummagumma
(1969)		 Atom Heart Mother
(1970)
Pink Floyd live albums chronology
Ummagumma
(1969)		 Delicate Sound of Thunder
(1988)

Ummagumma is the fourth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It is a double album and was released on 25 October 1969, through Harvest Records. The first disc is a live album that contains part of their normal set list of the time, while the second contains solo compositions by each member of the band recorded as their fourth studio album. The artwork was designed by regular Floyd collaborators Hipgnosis and features a number of pictures of the band combined to give a Droste effect.

Although the album was well received at the time of release, and was a top five hit in the UK album charts, it has since been looked upon unfavourably by the band, who have expressed negative opinions about it in interviews. Nevertheless, the album has been reissued on CD several times, along with the rest of their catalogue.

Title

The album's title supposedly comes from Cambridge slang for sex,[1][2] commonly used by Pink Floyd friend and occasional roadie, Iain "Emo" Moore, who would say "I'm going back to the house for some ummagumma". According to Moore, he made up the term himself.[3]

Background

Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict
This song on the studio disc featured a variety of vocal and percussion effects sped up, slowed down, reversed, and spliced together.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
The site of Mothers Club, Birmingham, where some of the live album was recorded

Although the sleeve notes say that the live material was recorded in June 1969, the live album of Ummagumma was recorded live at Mothers Club, Birmingham on 27 April 1969 and the following week at Manchester College of Commerce on 2 May of the same year as part of The Man and The Journey Tour.[4][5] The band had also recorded a live version of "Interstellar Overdrive" (from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn) intended for placement on side one of the live album, and "The Embryo", which was recorded in the studio before it was decided that the band members each come up with their own material.[4]

The studio album came as a result of Richard Wright wanting to make "real music", where each of the four group members (in order: Wright, Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason) had half an LP side each to create a solo work without involvement from the others.[4] Wright's contribution, "Sysyphus", was named after a character in Greek mythology, usually spelled "Sisyphus",[6] and contained a combination of various keyboards, including piano and mellotron. Although initially enthusiastic about making a solo contribution,[7] Wright later described it as "pretentious".[4] Waters' "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" contained a variety of vocal[8] and percussion effects treated at various speeds, both forwards and backwards, and was influenced by Ron Geesin,[8] who would later collaborate with both Waters and Pink Floyd. Waters' other contribution Grantchester Meadows was a more pastoral acoustic offering and was usually played as an opening to concerts over 1969.[9] Gilmour has since stated he was apprehensive about creating a solo work, and admits he "went into a studio and started waffling about, tacking bits and pieces together",[10] although part one of "The Narrow Way" had already been performed as "Baby Blue Shuffle in D Major" in a BBC radio session in December 1968.[11] Gilmour said he "just bullshitted" through the piece.[4] He asked Waters to write some lyrics for his compositions, but he refused to do so.[4] Mason's "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" featured his then wife, Lindy, playing flute,[8] and Mason playing a seven-minute drum solo.[4]

Packaging

The cover artwork shows a Droste effect featuring the group, with a picture hanging on the wall showing the same scene, except that the band members have switched positions.[5] The cover of the original LP varies between the British, American/Canadian and Australian releases. The British version has the album Gigi leaning against the wall immediately above the "Pink Floyd" letters.[5] At a talk given at Borders bookstore in Cambridge on 1 November 2008, as part of the "City Wakes" project, Storm Thorgerson explained that the album was introduced as a red herring to provoke debate, and that it has no intended meaning. On most copies of American and Canadian editions, the Gigi cover is airbrushed to a plain white sleeve, apparently because of copyright concerns; however, the earliest American copies do show the Gigi cover,[12] and it was restored for the American remastered CD edition. On the Australian edition, the Gigi cover is completely airbrushed, not even leaving a white square behind. The house used as the location for the front cover of the album is located in Great Shelford, near Cambridge.[13]

On the rear cover, roadies Alan Styles (who also appears in "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast") and Peter Watts are shown with the band's equipment laid out on a taxiway at Biggin Hill Airport. This concept was proposed by Mason, with the intention of replicating the "exploded" drawings of military aircraft and their payloads, which were popular at the time.[5]

Song titles on the back are laid out slightly differently in British vs. North American editions; the most important difference being the inclusion of subtitles for the four sections of "A Saucerful of Secrets". These subtitles only appeared on American and Canadian editions of this album, but not on the British edition; nor did they appear on original pressings of A Saucerful of Secrets.[14]

The inner gatefold art shows separate black-and-white photos of the band members. Gilmour is seen standing in front of the Elfin Oak. Original vinyl editions showed Waters with his first wife, Judy Trim, but she has been cropped out of the picture on most CD editions (with the original photo's caption "Roger Waters (and Jude)" accordingly changed to just "Roger Waters"). The uncropped picture was restored for the album's inclusion in the box set Oh, by the Way.[5]

Release history

Ummagumma was released in the UK and US on 25 October and 10 November 1969, respectively. It reached number 5 on the UK albums chart[15] and number 74 in the US, marking the first time the band reached the top 100 there.[16] The album was certified gold in the US in February 1974 and platinum in March 1994. American versions of the cassette retained only "Astronomy Domine" from the live set and omitted the three other tracks.[17] In 1987, the album was re-released on a two-CD set. A digitally remastered version was issued in 1994.[18]

In 2009, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album's release, Thorgerson sold a limited number of autographed lithographs of the front cover.[19] Although the 2011 re-release campaign Why Pink Floyd...? presented all fourteen albums newly remastered in 2011, only the studio disc of Ummagumma was remastered – the live disc is the previous 1994 version.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[20]
The Daily Telegraph[21]
The Great Rock Discography7/10[22]
MusicHound2.5/5[23]
Paste5.0/10[24]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[25]
Sputnikmusic4/5[26]
Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music[22]

On release, Ummagumma received favourable reviews.[7][8] International Times were particularly positive about the live album, with the reviewer describing it as "probably one of the best live recordings I have ever heard".[27] Vox included the live half of this album on its list of 'The Greatest Live Albums Ever'.[22] Stylus Magazine were very positive towards the album, saying the live half "as a visceral document of the early Floyd’s proclivity for atmospheric, energetic jamming, there’s nothing else like it" and the studio half "somehow transcends its fractured construction to make a full album-length statement".[28]

However, the band have since been dismissive and critical of the work. Recalling the album in later years, Waters said: "Ummagumma – what a disaster!",[29] while in 1995, Gilmour described the album as "horrible".[30] In a 1984 interview, Mason said: "I thought it was a very good and interesting little exercise, the whole business of everyone doing a bit. But I still feel really that that's quite a good example of the sum being greater than the parts …"[31] Later, he described it as "a failed experiment", adding that "the most significant thing is that we didn't do it again".[32]

Paste, reviewing the 2011 re-release, described the album as "rock excess of the worst kind", although the writer praised the live version of "Careful with that Axe, Eugene".[24] Robert Christgau has suggested that the album's "hypnotic melodies" made it "an admirable record to fall asleep to".[33]

Track listing

Record one – live album
Side one
No. TitleRecording date Length
1. "Astronomy Domine" (Syd Barrett)27 April 1969 8:32
2. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason, David Gilmour)2 May 1969 8:49
Side two
No. TitleRecording date Length
3. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Waters)2 May 1969 9:27
4. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (Waters, Wright, Mason, Gilmour)27 April 1969 12:48
Record two – studio album
Side three
No. Title Length
1. "Sysyphus (Parts 1–4)[lower-alpha 1]" (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 four
No. Title Length
4. "The Narrow Way (Parts 1–3)" (Gilmour) 12:17
5. "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Part 1: Entrance; Part 2: Entertainment; Part 3: Exit)" (Mason) 8:46

Personnel

Pink Floyd
  • David Gilmour – lead guitar, vocals, all instruments and vocals on "The Narrow Way"
  • Nick Mason – percussion, all instruments (except flutes) on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"
  • Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, all instruments and vocals on "Grantchester Meadows" and all instruments on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"
  • Richard Wright – organ, keyboards, vocals, all instruments and vocals on "Sysyphus"
Additional personnel
  • Lindy Mason – flutes on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" parts I and III (uncredited)
  • Brian Humphries – engineering (live album)
  • Pink Floyd – production (live album)
  • Peter Mew – engineering (studio album)
  • Norman Smith – production (studio album)
  • Hipgnosis – sleeve design and photographs
  • Ron Geesin – additional vocals on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"[34]

Sales chart performance

Year Chart Position
1969 UK Albums Chart 5[35]
1970 Billboard Pop Albums 74[36]

Notes

  1. ↑ On compact disc, part one was split into two halves, labeled "Part I" and "Part II". Consequently, the original part two became "Part III", while parts three and four became "Part IV".

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Schaffner, Nicholas (2005). Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (New ed.). London: Helter Skelter. p. 157. ISBN 1-905139-09-8.
  2. ↑ Manning, Toby (2006). The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 160. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
  3. ↑ Blake, Mark. Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Da Capo Press Inc. p. 137. ISBN 978-0306817526. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schaffner, Nicholas (2005). Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (New ed.). London: Helter Skelter. p. 156. ISBN 1-905139-09-8.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Mabbett 2010, p. 160.
  6. ↑ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
  7. 1 2 Mason, Nick (2011) [2004]. Philip Dodd, ed. Inside Out – A Personal History of Pink Floyd (Paperback ed.). Phoenix. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-7538-1906-7.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Manning, Toby (2006). The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (1st ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 161. ISBN 1-84353-575-0.
  9. ↑ Mason, Nick (2011) [2004]. Philip Dodd, ed. Inside Out – A Personal History of Pink Floyd (Paperback ed.). Phoenix. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-7538-1906-7.
  10. ↑ Fielder, Hugh (2013). Pink Floyd: Behind the Wall. (via Google Books} (Race Point Publishing). p. 48.
  11. ↑ "BBC – Radio 1 – Keeping It Peel – 02/12/1968 Pink Floyd". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  12. ↑ Umphred, Neil (1994). Goldmine's Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums (Fourth ed.). Krause Publications. p. 548.
  13. ↑ Glenn Povey, Echoes: the complete history of Pink Floyd, pg. 29, Mind Head Publishing (2007), ISBN 0-9554624-0-1
  14. ↑ Ummagumma (Media notes). Capitol Records. 1969. STBB-388. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  15. ↑ "Pink Floyd | Artist | Official Charts". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  16. ↑ DeRisto, Nick (25 October 2014). "45 Years Ago: Pink Floyd Tries to Find Its Way With ‘Ummagumma’". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  17. ↑ Ummagumma (Media notes). Capitol / EMI. 1973. 4XVV 388. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  18. ↑ "Ummagumma – Pink Floyd : Releases". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "Pink Floyd News :: Brain Damage – Pink Floyd's Ummagumma – 40th Anniversary Marked with New Memorabilia". brain-damage.co.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  20. ↑ Eder, Bruce. "Ummagumma – Pink Floyd: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards: AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  21. ↑ McCormick, Neil (20 May 2014). "Pink Floyd's 14 studio albums rated". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  22. 1 2 3 "Pink Floyd Ummagumma". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  23. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 872. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  24. 1 2 Deusner, Stephen (29 September 2011). "Pink Floyd: Ummagumma ("Why Pink Floyd?" Reissue) :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste". Paste. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  25. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (2 November 2004). "Pink Floyd: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media, Fireside Books. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  26. ↑ Campbell, Hernan. "Pink Floyd Ummagumma". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 26 August 2015. line feed character in |title= at position 11 (help)
  27. ↑ Povey, Glenn (2006). Echoes: The Complete History of Pink Floyd (New ed.). Mind Head Publishing. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-9554624-0-5. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  28. ↑ Howard, Ed (1 September 2003). "Pink Floyd – Ummagumma – On Second Thought". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  29. ↑ "(CD) Pink Floyd: Ummagumma". audio-music.info. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  30. ↑ Wolfgang Huebel and Thomas Huetlin. "Total Silence or War". Brain-Damage.co.uk. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Gilmour, Waters, Mason, Wright: Shakes of Pink – The Source, 1984 – All Pink Floyd Fan Network". Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  32. ↑ Omnibus. November 1994. 60 minutes in. BBC.
  33. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother". Consumer Guide. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  34. ↑ Mason, Stewart. "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict – Pink Floyd". Rovi Corporation. Allmusic. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
  35. ↑ "The Official Charts Company – Ummagumma by Pink Floyd Search". The Official Charts Company. 6 May 2013.
  36. ↑ "Pink Floyd – Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 October 2012.

Sources

  • Mabbett, Andy (2010). Pink Floyd- The music and the mystery. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-857-12418-0. 

External links

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