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Ummagumma

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Untitled

Ummagumma is a double album by Pink Floyd, released in 1969 by Harvest and EMI in the United Kingdom and Harvest and Capitol in the United States. Disc A is a live album of their normal set list of the time, while disc B contains compositions by each member of the band recorded as a studio album.

Title

The album's title supposedly comes from a Cambridge slang word for sex, commonly used by one of Pink Floyd's friends and occasional roadie, Ian "Emo" Moore, who would say 'I'm going back to the house for some Ummagumma'.[1] However, some band members have since stated that the word was "totally made up and means nothing at all".[2] In footage of the band rehearsing for a Royal Albert Hall appearance in 1969, one of the band members can be heard, off camera, quietly chanting the word "ummagumma".

Background

Although the sleeve notes say that the live material was recorded in June 1969, the first disc 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 1969; the second disc included four solo segments, one half-side of vinyl each by, in order: Richard Wright, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason.

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. The tracks were dropped at the last minute, probably to maintain the sound fidelity of the record, but numerous test pressings with the original track list were given to friends of the band, including John Peel. The reason for the cut of "Interstellar Overdrive" was most likely due to time constraints, as it was over 13 minutes long.

Cover art

The cover shows the members of the band, with a picture hanging on the wall showing the same scene, except the band members have switched positions. The picture on the wall also includes the picture on the wall, creating a recursion effect (i.e. the Droste effect), with each recursion showing band members exchanging positions. After 4 variations of the scene, the final picture within picture is the cover of the previous Pink Floyd album, A Saucerful of Secrets. The latter, however, is absent from the CD release; instead, the recursion effect is seemingly ad infinitum.

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. 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,[3] and it was restored for the American 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.[4]

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

Song titles on the back are laid out slightly differently in British vs. North American editions; the most important difference being the inclusion of sub-titles 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.[citation needed]

The inner gatefold art shows separate black and white photos of the band members. David 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.

Release history

The album was released in the United Kingdom on 25 October 1969 and then in the US on 10 November 1969. The album reached number five on the UK album charts and number 74 on the US album charts, marking the first time the band reached the top 100 in the US. The album was certified Gold in the US in February 1974 and Platinum in March 1994. In 1987, the album was re-released on a two CD set. A digitally re-mastered version was released in 1994 in the UK and 1995 in the US.

The CD edition includes a longer version of "Sysyphus"—extended to 13:26, with the movements lasting 1:08, 3:30, 1:49, and 6:59. The original "Part 1" of "Sysyphus" was split into two tracks and called "Part 1" and "Part 2". "Part 2" on vinyl became "Part 3" on CD, and "Part 3" and "Part 4" were combined into the CD's "Part 4" (the original "Part 4" begins with the lengthy orchestral thud.) "The Narrow Way" and "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" were also split into their three parts for easier navigation.

Track listing

Record One (Live album)

Side One

  1. "Astronomy Domine" (Syd Barrett) – 8:29 – 27 April 1969
  2. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (Roger Waters, Rick Wright, David Gilmour, Nick Mason) – 8:50 – 2 May 1969

Side Two

  1. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Waters) – 9:12 – 2 May 1969
  2. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (Gilmour/Waters/Wright/Mason) – 12:48 – 27 April 1969
    1. "Something Else"
    2. "Syncopated Pandemonium"
    3. "Storm Signal"
    4. "Celestial Voices"
Record Two (Studio album)

Side Three

  1. "Sysyphus" (Wright) – 12:59
    • Part 1 – 4:29
    • Part 2 – 1:45
    • Part 3 – 3:07
    • Part 4 – 3:38
  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

  1. "The Narrow Way" (Gilmour) – 12:17
    • Part 1 – 3:27
    • Part 2 – 2:53
    • Part 3 – 5:57
  2. "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" (Mason) – 8:44
    • Part 1: "Entrance" – 1:00
    • Part 2: "Entertainment" – 7:06
    • Part 3: "Exit" – 0:38

Cassette edition

Side A
  1. "Sysyphus" (Wright) – 12:59
  2. "Astronomy Domine" (Syd Barrett) – 8:29
  3. "Grantchester Meadows" (Waters) – 7:26
  4. "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" (Waters) – 4:59
  5. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (Waters/Wright/Gilmour/Mason) – 8:50
Side B
  1. "The Narrow Way" (Gilmour) – 12:17
  2. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (Waters) – 9:12
  3. "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" (Mason) – 8:44
  4. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (Gilmour/Waters/Mason/Wright) – 12:48

Personnel

Pink Floyd
  • David Gilmour – guitars; vocals on "Astronomy Domine", "A Saucerful of Secrets"; all instruments and vocals on "The Narrow Way" parts 1 and 2; guitar, drums, lead vocals on "The Narrow Way" part 3.
  • Nick Mason – drums and percussion; all instruments on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"
  • Roger Waters – bass guitar; vocals on "Careful with That Axe, Eugene", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "Grantchester Meadows"; acoustic guitar on "Grantchester Meadows"; tape effects and voices on "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict".
  • Richard Wright – keyboards; vibraphone; vocals on "Astronomy Domine"; all instruments on "Sysyphus"

Quotes

"What was your inspiration for The Narrow Way (on Ummagumma) your first major Floyd composition?"

"Well, we'd decided to make the damn album, and each of us to do a piece of music on our own... it was just desperation really, trying to think of something to do, to write by myself. I'd never written anything before, I just went into a studio and started waffling about, tacking bits and pieces together. I haven't heard it in years. I've no idea what it's like." - David Gilmour - Sounds "Guitar Heroes" Magazine, May 1983

"What do you think of your early records like Atom Heart Mother and Ummagumma today?"

"I think both are pretty horrible. Well, the live disc of Ummagumma might be all right, but even that isn't recorded well." - David Gilmour — Der Spiegel No. 23 - 5 June 1995

"When you listen to Ummagumma, you get the feeling that each one of you is doing his own music, not caring much about the others."

"That's right. I can't be precise, but we were very individualistic at the time." - Nick Mason — March 1973[citation needed]

"The back of Ummagumma comes from something Nick Mason did". - Storm Thorgerson - Guitar World - February 1998

Sales chart performance

Year Chart Position
1969 UK Albums Chart 5[5]
1970 Billboard Pop Albums 74[6]

References

  1. ^ Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story Of Pink Floyd
  2. ^ pinkfloyd-co.com
  3. ^ Neil Umphred, Goldmine Price Guide to Collectible Record Albums, Fifth Edition, 1996, Krause Publications
  4. ^ Glenn Povey, Echoes: the complete history of Pink Floyd, pg. 29, Mind Head Publishing (2007), ISBN 0955462401
  5. ^ "Chart Stats - Pink Floyd". www.chartstats.com. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
  6. ^ allmusic ((( Pink Floyd > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums ))
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