Pink Floyd – Pulse

Pulse is a double album and the second live album by Pink Floyd, released on 29 May 1995 by EMI in Europe and Columbia in the US. It has also been released on video and DVD.

Recordings for this release took place from August to October 1994 during the tour in support of their album “The Division Bell”.

Pulse topped the charts in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia, etc. It has been certified double platinum in the United States and triple platinum in Canada.

The cassette and vinyl versions included two additional tracks.

Notably, the second CD includes a complete live version of The Dark Side of the Moon. It also includes “Astronomy Domine”, a Syd Barrett song that had not been played since the early 1970s. The track “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II” includes short parts of the songs “Another Brick in the Wall, Part I”, “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” and “Another Brick in the Wall, Part III”.

Unlike the previous live album Delicate Sound of Thunder, none of the songs were re-recorded in the studio. However, the band and sound engineer James Guthrie fixed songs that had bad notes, as heard on some bootlegs, by lifting solos and correcting vocal lines from other shows as the band did most of the recording in Europe. The album was mixed using QSound technology, which produces 3D sound effects even in two-channel stereo.

In the United States, despite its $34.99 price tag, which included a flashing light and two AA batteries, Pulse debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 during the week of June 24, 1995, and with 198,000 copies sold, it became the first multi-disc album to top the Billboard 200. The following week, it dropped to number three and remained on the chart for a total of twenty-two weeks. It was certified two-times platinum by the RIAA on July 31, 1995, for sales of one million copies.

On July 1, 1995, the video version of Pulse debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top Music Videos chart with 16,500 copies sold. The video was certified eight-times platinum by the RIAA on July 31, 2006 for sales of 800,000 copies.

The video release (on VHS and Laserdisc) also contained the song “Take It Back” and a nearly complete performance from their October 20 performance at Earl’s Court in London. The DVD version of Pulse was released on July 10, 2006.

The vinyl release was released as a four-LP set and included “One of These Days”, which was also featured on the cassette release, as well as a version of a large photo booklet.

The original CD cover features an eye-shaped machine with clocks inside, with a planet in the center and the outside showing its evolution as one moves backward. It starts in the sea, moves to bacteria that evolve into fish, then into egg-like creatures, then into eggs that hatch into birds, and the birds follow the trail of an airplane. There are six pyramids in the desert, and at the bottom of the sea, one can also observe a city on the coast.

The debut album was presented in a light show from the top of the Empire State Building in New York with music broadcast from a New York radio station.

The first CD editions were accompanied by a red LED flashing on the back of the case. The design was done by EMI collaborator Jon Kempner, who was also awarded the platinum disc.

Nick Mason said of this idea, that it was a packaging that they thought was fun. It was started by Storm Thorgerson, who is associated with Dark Side and Pulse, who, as a live album, wanted a “live” cover.

Through this excellent live performance I select, what else, “Another Brick In The Wall Part II”.

Tracklist

1-01 Shine On You Crazy Diamond 13:35
1-02 Astronomy Domine 4:20
1-03 What Do You Want From Me 4:09
1-04 Learning To Fly 5:15
1-05 Keep Talking 6:52
1-06 Coming Back To Life 6:56
1-07 Hey You 4:39
1-08 A Great Day For Freedom 4:30
1-09 Sorrow 10:49
1-10 High Hopes 7:52
1-11 Another Brick In The Wall (Part Two) 7:07
2-01 Speak To Me 2:30
2-02 Breathe 2:33
2-03 On The Run 3:47
2-04 Time 6:46
2-05 The Great Gig In The Sky 5:52
2-06 Money 8:54
2-07 Us And Them 6:57
2-08 Any Colour You Like 3:21
2-09 Brain Damage 3:45
2-10 Eclipse 2:37
2-11 Wish You Were Here 6:35
2-12 Comfortably Numb 9:29
2-13 Run Like Hell 8:36