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Welcome to The Second Disc’s first Holiday Gift Guide Review of the season! Between now and Christmas, we’ll be spotlighting various titles that just might make ideal holiday gifts for the music lovers in your life. Watch this space for the upcoming launch of the full Holiday Gift Guide!
Flying hospital beds, laser-eyed pigs, and fire. No, it’s not a sci-fi flick, it’s Pink Floyd. Long known for their spectacular blending of stage displays, props, and music, the band kicked it up a notch for the 1988-1990 tours in support of A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The David Gilmour-led lineup (featuring Nick Mason on drums and Richard Wright on keyboards, alongside an array of backing musicians) documented the tour with Delicate Sound of Thunder, a live album and concert film featuring highlights from five nights at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. After years out of print, the film reemerged on 2019’s Later Years box. Now fans who may have skipped over that set have an opportunity to purchase Delicate Sound of Thunder on one format or another: as a 2-CD set, a 3-LP box, DVD, Blu-ray, or a multiformat box set (with exclusive bonus tracks).
The concert film has been restored and expanded to 16 songs, using more than 100 cans of original 35mm film negatives, which were transferred to 4K and newly re-edited by Barry Trickett with Aubrey Powell directing. The sound has also been remixed by David Gilmour, Andy Jackson, and Damon Immons using the original multitrack sources. The results are altogether incredible. This isn’t your usual “music in the fronts, audience in the rears” concert film experience. The immersive audio mix places you right in the middle of the action, with a balanced soundstage that beautifully incorporates all your speakers. A high-resolution stereo mix is also available, but this is Pink Floyd we’re talking about – you’ll want to keep this one in surround.
The visuals have been nicely re-edited to match current expectations for music-centric, focused concert films, with more emphasis on the band and fewer ’80s-style effects. To give you an idea of the changes, Pink Floyd’s team put together this side-by-side comparison of the original 1988 cut and the re-edit of “Comfortably Numb” and “The Great Gig in the Sky.” You can check them out below!
Watch: Comfortably Numb (Delicate Sound Of Thunder) [Original Vs Restored]
Watch: The Great Gig In The Sky (Delicate Sound Of Thunder) [Original Vs Restored]
In addition to the DVD and Blu-ray sets that TSD was able to review, the band has also released a 2-CD collection with the 2019 remixes of the full show in the correct sequence. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the standard DVD or Blu-ray sets. Those are missing the tracks “Yet Another Movie,” “Round and Around,” A New Machine Pt. 1,” “Terminal Frost,” and “A New Machine Pt. 2.” To see these tracks, you’ll have to get the deluxe box set edition of Delicate Sound of Thunder which brings together the new 2-CD remix, and the DVD and Blu-ray, each with the same bonus tracks.
As for the packaging, the Blu-ray and DVD versions are each housed in a digipak within a handsome die-cut sleeve. Inside is a full-color, 24-page booklet featuring photos of the band and complete credits. It’s not as packed as the deluxe box, which adds a double-sided poster and postcards in an Endless River-like lift-off box, but like most Pink Floyd products, it’s well designed with a defined lightbulb theme carried on throughout.
Whether you’ve been coveting your 1989 VHS tape for decades or you’re new to Gilmour-era Pink Floyd, you’ll want to add this gorgeous re-edit of the film to your collection. With improved visuals, more songs, and a gorgeous mix, this new edition is the best way to enjoy Delicate Sound of Thunder. The DVD, Blu-ray, 2-CD, 3-LP, and CD/BR/DVD configurations are available now wherever fine music is sold.