Delicate Sound of Thunder

For the concert video, see Delicate Sound of Thunder (film).

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Delicate Sound of Thunder is a double live album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd which was recorded over five nights at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York in August 1988 and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in September 1988. It was released on 22 November 1988, through EMI Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States.

Recording

The band recorded and filmed their series of shows at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia in November 1987 for a potential live concert film and album. However, the band was not happy with the results. Consequently, the material from these shows would make up videos and B-sides for the A Momentary Lapse of Reason singles and later these shows were released as bootleg recordings entitled Pink Floyd: The Calhoun Tapes and Would You Buy a Ticket to This Show. Then in August 1988, the band went to Nassau Coliseum and filmed and recorded their five night stand at the end of the initial Momentary Lapse 1987/88 tour.

Release

The album was released in 1988 as a double LP, double cassette, and a double CD, each format containing a slightly different track listing. The album includes many works from A Momentary Lapse of Reason as well as tracks from older Pink Floyd albums. The double LP release did not have "Us and Them" on the track listing. Both the double LP and the double cassette had "Wish You Were Here" between "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" and "Comfortably Numb".

Although David Gilmour stated around the time of its release and on a radio interview in 1992 that the album contained no studio overdubbing whatsoever, he embellished the tracks during mixing with some extra acoustic guitar on "Comfortably Numb", according to engineer Buford Jones. In addition, some harmonies were replaced by studio re-takes: Richard Wright re-did his vocal on "Us and Them" and Sam Brown replaced Rachel Fury's part in "Comfortably Numb".

Chart performance

Delicate Sound of Thunder reached #11 on the Billboard 200 and is currently listed as Triple Platinum in U.S. sales — it was certified Gold and Platinum on 23 January 1989 and Triple Platinum in April 1997.

In space

Delicate Sound of Thunder became the first rock album to be played in space, as Soviet cosmonauts took it aboard Soyuz TM-7.

The double LP was also the band's only album to be officially released in the Soviet Union by the state-owned label Melodiya.

Track listing

CD

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date	Length
1.	"Shine On You Crazy Diamond"	Roger Waters/David Gilmour/Richard Wright	20 August 1988	11:53
2.	"Learning to Fly"	Gilmour/Bob Ezrin/Jon Carin/Anthony Moore	23 August 1988	5:27
3.	"Yet Another Movie"	Gilmour/Pat Leonard	19 August 1988	6:21
4.	"Round and Around"	Gilmour	19 August 1988	0:33
5.	"Sorrow"	Gilmour	23 August 1988	9:28
6.	"The Dogs of War"	Gilmour/Moore	21 August 1988	7:18
7.	"On the Turning Away"	Gilmour/Moore	20 August 1988	7:58

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date	Length
1.	"One of These Days"	Waters/Gilmour/Nick Mason/Wright	23 August 1988	6:15
2.	"Time"	Waters/Gilmour/Mason/Wright	19 August 1988	5:16
3.	"Wish You Were Here"	Waters/Gilmour	20 August 1988	4:49
4.	"Us and Them"	Waters/Wright	22 August 1988	7:22
5.	"Money"	Waters	23 August 1988	9:52
6.	"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"	Waters	19 August 1988	5:28
7.	"Comfortably Numb"	Waters/Gilmour	23 August 1988	8:56
8.	"Run Like Hell"	Waters/Gilmour	21 August 1988	7:12

LP / Cassette

Side 1

1. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
2. "Learning to Fly"
3. "Yet Another Movie"
4. "Round and Around"

Side 2

1. "Sorrow"
2. "The Dogs of War"
3. "On the Turning Away"

Side 3

1. "One of These Days"
2. "Time"
3. "Us and Them" (cassette only, omitted from LP).
4. "Money"
5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"

Side 4

1. "Wish You Were Here"
2. "Comfortably Numb"
3. "Run Like Hell"

Songs omitted from the album

The concerts the album was taken from also featured the following songs which were not included on the album:

• "Signs of Life" *
• "A New Machine"
• "Terminal Frost"
• "On the Run" *
• "The Great Gig in the Sky" *
• "Welcome to the Machine"
• "One Slip" *

Songs with asterisk (*) are included in the video version.

Personnel

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – guitars, lead vocals
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion, vocal sample on "One of These Days"
• Richard Wright – keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Time" & "Comfortably Numb"

Additional musicians

• Jon Carin – keyboards, programming, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Comfortably Numb"
• Rachel Fury – backing vocals
• Durga McBroom – backing vocals
• Scott Page – saxophones, guitar
• Guy Pratt – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell"
• Tim Renwick – guitars, backing vocals
• Margaret Taylor – backing vocals (also known as Machan Taylor)
• Gary Wallis – percussion, additional keyboards on "Comfortably Numb"

Production

• Doug Sax – mastering
• David Gleeson – assistant engineering
• Buford Jones – engineering
• Dimo Safari – band photography
• Storm Thorgerson and Nick Marchant  – cover design and graphics

Sales chart performance

Year	Chart	Position
1988	UK Albums Chart	11
	The Billboard 200	11
	Norwegian Record Charts	2
	Swiss Charts	4
	Austrian album charts	15
	Dutch album charts	20
	Swedish album charts	14
	Australian album charts	4
	New Zealand album charts	4