Pink Floyd: David Gilmour (vocals, guitars); Richard Wright (vocals, keyboards); Nick Mason (drums).

Additional personnel: Tim Renwick (vocals, guitar); Jon Carin (vocals, keyboards); Guy Pratt (vocals, bass); Dick Parry (saxophone); Gary Wallis (percussion); Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine, Durga McBroom (background vocals).

Recorded live in Europe and The United Kingdom in 1994.

No matter which of Pink Floyd's leaders (Barrett, Waters, Gilmour) is at the controls, the band has always been about grandeur. The epic scale of their psychedelic explorations, the life-altering themes of their recordings, their ground-breaking, conceptual stagings, have all helped in the construction of the group's mythology. And more than any other rock band's, Pink Floyd's myths have endured even as the band and its fans have grown older.

A live double album, PULSE works not only as an extended postcard of 1994's biggest tour, but as the Floyd's myth re-charger. Consider the facts: the release was celebrated with a laser-light show atop the Empire State Building, and the spine of the CD package features a perpetually blinking light. But, as is always the case with Pink Floyd, there is method in their madness. The blinking light harkens back to the heartbeat that is the unifying theme of their classic DARK SIDE OF THE MOON album, which is performed in its entirety on disc two.

Disc one is an approximation of the band's first set, featuring a powerful run through Syd Barrett's "Astronomy Domine" (the definition of late-'60s British psychedelia), as well as a host of songs from 1987's MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON and '94s DIVISION BELL. But the second set is the true keeper of the two. Having made its tour debut on the 25th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, DARK SIDE loses none of its glow when transferred to a live setting. David Gilmour ably handles Roger Waters' vocal parts, and emphasizes instrumental interludes--"On The Run," for instance, sounds like a true precursor to The Orb's ambient noodlings. The radio hits ("Money," "Us and Them," "Brain Damage") are all re-interpreted enough to sound novel, but still retain a comforting familiarity.

What the critics say…

Q (7/95, pp.122-123) - 3 Stars - Good - "…The music on PULSE is generally good and often splendid….a beautiful artifact…"