TheyвЂ™re abrasive and unpredictable and feral and scary. As much as Pink Floyd became defined by lengthy instrumentation with Wish You Were Here, Animals, and to a lesser degree вЂњEchoes,вЂќ вЂњCarefulвЂќ and вЂњSaucerful,вЂќ while pushing and exceeding the ten minute mark, donвЂ™t tread the same grounds of orchestration and sophistication.

Like many I had to backtrack from Meddle to Live at Pompeii and Ummagumma in order to experience songs like вЂњCareful With that Axe, EugeneвЂќ and вЂњSet The Controls for the Heart of the Sun.вЂќ And, again, like many IвЂ™ve never quite forgiven the world for so perilously tossing 1968 вЂ“ 1970 Floyd into the precipice of ambivalent curiosity. Yes, it was a time of palpable transition and the search for solid footing as a band was apparent in the music itself, but with Ummagumma we have a wildly embryonic vertical slice of group that exists in a space working beyond boundaries and limitations to simultaneously create some truly singular and moving works of music worth cherishing as well as some borderline-unlistenable half-cocked noodling. Though that end still remains quite overlooked and pondered for the sake of what was to follow in its wake and how Pink Floyd managed to contextualize those more experimental tendencies into songs like вЂњThe Great Gig in the SkyвЂќ or вЂњShine on You Crazy Diamond,вЂќ which is unfair. The 1970 film, Live at Pompeii might be a better sampler and conclusion of sorts to the more psychedelic and less progressive end of FloydвЂ™s trajectory, packaging the space-rock classics in a more cohesive and viable document. The first half of Ummagumma in fact so typifies the opposite of what Waters and company become by the time that definitive string of albums appeared that its hard to reconcile the sound as being a result of the same four Englishman.

But regarding those four tracks, itвЂ™s perhaps the only post- Piper, pre- Meddle Floyd document to capture the brilliance of a more exploratory band that seems to belong more to the German psychedelia that came with Ash Ra Tempel and Amon Duul rather than where the band came to define themselves on The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. Floyd was still in the throws of an identity-loss with the absence of leader Syd Barrett that they wouldnвЂ™t quite recover from until 1971 on Meddle. вЂњAstronomy DomineвЂќ was taken from the groupвЂ™s 1967 debut, The PIper at the Gates at Dawn, вЂњSet the Controls to the Heart of the SunвЂќ and вЂњSaucerful of SecretsвЂќ can be found on the record named for the latter song, and вЂњCareful With that Axe, EugeneвЂќ was a B-side from the Saucerful sessions. But even those first four compositions are telling. And the double album itself is a split between four of the most interesting and moving psychedelic excursions the band ever recorded, and some of the most over-indulgent, divergent, and uninspired art-piece improvisations you can find in the Pink Floyd archive. The album sleeve is a sort of pointlessly busy portrait within portrait of the band in all their long-haired, blank t-shirt glory. вЂњUmmagummaвЂќ is a colloquial slang for sex (maybe).

Ummagumma is a pretty good snapshot of where Pink Floyd was in вЂ™69.

Pink floyd ummagumma album