Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 21, 2020

The figurative sound of thunder may not have been exactly delicate with regard to the roiling interrelationships of the band members of Pink Floyd in the period leading up to the series of concerts given in 1988 at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York that have been aggregated as Delicate Sound of Thunder. The very fact that there was a “Pink Floyd” (with that name) might be deemed something of a minor miracle, given the conflict between Roger Waters and David Gilmour in particular, and perhaps for that reason there’s an arguably slightly dissociative feeling to some of Delicate Sound of Thunder, despite a generally high level of musicianship and some of Pink Floyd’s flair for showmanship in the ancillary elements of the concert like videos. Delicate Sound of Thunder was part of the pretty pricey Pink Floyd: The Later Years set that was released about a year or so ago (I just recently received a review copy, and so will be writing about the immense set soon, hopefully at least a bit before the holidays, when some might be considering an exorbitant gift for someone, possibly including themselves). Now, however, it is out in two standalone releases, this (relatively) less expensive one, as well as Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder, a so-called “Super Deluxe Edition” that includes a DVD, CD and some bonus non-disc swag like a book.

Fans of the group will no doubt recognize the fact that at least some of the material outlined below in the set list was co-written by Roger Waters, which might suggest this was a "no hard feelings" tour of sorts, even if several sources who should certainly know have indicated whatever truce may have been achieved had come not all that long before this tour was undertaken. As it stands, the "official" group here is limited to David Gilmour on guitars and vocals, Nick Mason on drums (playing with some kind of fun illuminated drumsticks that change colors), and Richard Wright on keyboards and vocals. There's a rather large backup band that includes more keys, guitars, percussion and vocals, and Scott Page has some almost gonzo sax solos where he's hauling around more than one instrument at time. While the concert does include a number of tunes from the then quite recent A Momentary Lapse of Reason, there's a smattering of songs from other albums, including of course The Dark Side of the Moon.

The set list for the concert includes the following songs:

• 1. Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-5
• 2. Signs of Life
• 3. Learning to Fly
• 4. Sorrow
• 5. The Dogs of War
• 6. On the Turning Away
• 7. One of These Days
• 8. Time
• 9. On the Run
• 10. The Great Gig in the Sky
• 11. Wish You Were Here
• 12. Us and Them
• 13. Money
• 14. Comfortably Numb
• 15. One Slip
• 16. Run Like Hell

Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Pink Floyd Records with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While the insert booklet unfortunately doesn't provide any real technical data, I found this article in Rolling Stone that mentions a 4K restoration from "the original 35 mm film" (as the article states), though I'm assuming this master was culled from either a negative or interpositive, and not from a print (if anyone has authoritative information in that regard, Private Message me and I'll happily post an update here). This is by and large a great looking transfer, but there are some rather large variances in clarity and detail levels between the "live" concert fare and some of the cutaways to the video elements which the audience in the arena is seeing projected on various screens. The concert footage can sometimes look rather gritty, maybe even a bit noisy, when the stage is bathed in blue tones in particular (which it often is), as can be seen in several of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. Better lit material has a much more finely resolved grain field, and fine detail in particular is more consistent in these moments. A lot of the cutaway material is considerably more detailed in general, and because so much of it is in brighter lighting conditions, the palette pops with more authority. There are some very minor signs of age, with tiny white flecks and the like occasionally showing up.

Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder features LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, though this is another live concert disc which has been authored to default to the stereo track, so have your remote handy if you want to experience the surround track. Both tracks offer sterling fidelity, but this is another release where I personally wish the vocals could have been mixed a bit more forward. This struck me on both tracks (often stereo iterations sound better to me in terms of vocal prioritization), so I'm assuming this was part of a deliberate choice on David Gilmour, who reportedly supervised the remix. Otherwise, there's a very nice spacious quality in the surround mix, and there is some very forceful midrange and low end (the thumping quasi-tympani at the open of Dogs of War may rattle the floorboards for some). There is a nice precision to the layering of the instrumentation, and the rhythm instruments in particular pack some considerable punch. There are a few kind of curious mix choices other than the vocals, as in some of the cutaways to the filmed material, where background clamor of the audience kind of sounds almost like white noise at times.

Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there are no on disc supplements (and the score above reflects that fact), this is quite handsomely packaged, with a kind of cool die cut slipbox. The DigiPack includes a slightly oversized booklet which has some great stills and things like personnel lists (including the entire tour personnel, which is multitudinous) and songwriting credits.

Pink Floyd: Delicate Sound of Thunder Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In terms of that "no hard feelings" aspect to this concert, it might have been fun to have called this Waters Under the Bridge, and, yes, that's a horrible joke. This is a nice aggregation of Pink Floyd material, and the band typically sounds tight and energetic. Video quality here is a little hazy and/or gritty at times, at least partially due to the surplus of blue and red stage lighting, neither of which tend to support great fine detail levels, but the audio is outstanding, even if I personally wished the vocals had been mixed forward at least a little bit more. Recommended.