What is amazing to me as I watched this video, is that the 60's material comes across so MUCH fresher than any 80's stuff, visually and quite often sonically!
As great as David Gilmour's solo work was, this production REALLY comes across with high cheese factor. Even with the all-star line-up he recruited for the About Face Tour. This is the professionally filmed and released home video that is now out of print. As with other Cat's Meow releases, a straight dub of the videotape (2nd generation maybe?)...great dub but not a digital master copy if you know what I mean. They certainly provide great value with this release by including a couple of Gilmour's new promo videos at the time..."Blue Light" & "All Lovers Are Deranged". Great tunes. Also, included is the 30 minute documentary, filmed for MTV, "After The Floyd"...which assisted in bringing fans up-to-date on the David Gilmour/Pink Floyd saga at the time (1984).
The band recruited for this road tour included Bad Company guitarist, Mick Ralphs....Chris Slade on Drums (AC/DC, The Firm) with Gregg Dechart, Mickey Feat, Jody Linscott and Raff Ravenscroft. A superb band but also really bland. This just illustrates how chemistry is the intangible for success in music. Roy Harper also makes a guest appearance on "Short & Sweet".
This really is a worthwhile title if you don't have any of the material. It's just that I was eager to view this one and wondered why about a third of the way through it! The performance in the core concert featured just isn't inspired on any level. It comes across as a glorified promo for About Face, which is really what it was I guess!
The video quality is excellent, as is the sound. Straight-forward but thoughtful compilation from Cat's Meow.
