Ummagumma by Pink Floyd

The band had to prove to itself and to the music world that it could keep existing and thriving without Barrett.  EMI, their record label, was doubtful about their commercial potential without their former frontman.  Pink Floyd, in fact, struggled to write pop songs or radio singles, preferring long instrumental suites instead.

The idea for Ummagumma, a double album split between live recordings and solo studio pieces, wasn’t the result of a precise plan, but rather of a collective creative block.  It was Gilmour who proposed the solution of dividing the vinyl space equally among the four members, each of whom would have about 10 minutes to record in the studio in total autonomy.  This experiment was meant to gauge each person’s individual abilities.

At the same time, Pink Floyd were becoming an exceptional live band, known for their cosmic improvisations.  They therefore decided to include on the first disc the definitive versions of their live staples, to show the world what they could do on stage.

Ummagumma is the product of a period in which Pink Floyd were still learning to take their first steps without Barrett.  It would be precisely the extremism of this experiment that would lead them, the following year, to the maturity of Atom Heart Mother and to the beginning of their golden age in the ’70s.

The title “ummagumma” comes from a Cambridge slang expression used to mean sexual intercourse.

The first disc, recorded between April and May ’69 at the Mothers Club in Birmingham and at the Manchester College of Commerce, offers live versions of already-known pieces such as “Astronomy Domine” and “Careful with That Axe, Eugene”.

The second disc, instead, was born as an experiment to test the band.  David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason each composed and recorded a section of about ten minutes at Abbey Road Studios, working completely alone.

Let’s look at the album’s structure.

The first disc of Ummagumma collects the live recordings handled by engineer Brian Humphries, and offers a snapshot of the band at the peak of its psychedelic and cosmic phase. 

These live versions differ greatly from their studio counterparts.  In 1969, Pink Floyd were gradually moving away from the typical structure of the early psychedelic-pop song, to embrace an avant-garde space-rock sound, marked by extended improvisations, dark and hypnotic atmospheres.  Overall, all the live tracks on Ummagumma are much longer, heavier and more sinister than the originals.

“Astronomy Domine”, written almost entirely by Syd Barrett, is a psychedelic track taken from Pink Floyd’s debut album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” from 1967. The studio version, about four minutes long, is driven by Barrett’s voice and sharp guitar, creating a tight rhythm and a sci‑fi yet pop atmosphere.  In the live version on “Ummagumma”, David Gilmour’s guitar replaces Barrett’s, pushing the track to over eight minutes. The tempo slows, Richard Wright’s organ takes a dominant role, and the central section develops into a long, dark and menacing instrumental jam.

“Careful with That Axe, Eugene”, composed by Waters, Wright, Mason and Gilmour, runs 8 minutes and 50 seconds.  Originally released as the B-side of the single “Point Me at the Sky” in December 1968, it had never been included on an official studio album before “Ummagumma”. The 1968 studio version is shorter, about 5 minutes, and built around a hypnotic bass figure and whispers.  The live version on “Ummagumma”, instead, is essentially the definitive take.  The atmosphere becomes incredibly tense and dramatic, culminating in Roger Waters’ chilling scream halfway through, far more powerful, wild and terrifying than on the studio version.  This scream is followed by a brutally violent rock explosion from Gilmour on guitar.

“Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, composed by Waters, is a piece of nine minutes and twelve seconds taken from the 1968 album “A Saucerful of Secrets”, Pink Floyd’s second studio record. In the 1968 studio version, the track comes across as a hypnotic experience, with an exotic, Eastern touch.  Nick Mason plays the percussion, creating a muted, whispered atmosphere. This version lasts about five minutes. In the live version included on “Ummagumma”, the song expands to over nine minutes. The middle section turns into an epic improvisation, dominated by Wright’s Farfisa organ, which produces distorted, ghostly sounds, giving the impression of a real space journey, before returning to Waters’ obsessive bass riff.

“A Saucerful of Secrets”, the title track of the 1968 album of the same name, is a nearly 12-minute piece that represents a true experiment in white noise, avant-garde and sonic chaos.  The studio version, recorded by layering tapes and manipulating instruments, stands as an avant-garde sound exploration.  On stage the band manages to recreate and amplify this chaos in real time.  The central section, “Syncopated Pandemonium”, stands out for an aggressiveness and violence in Mason’s drums that are decidedly more pronounced than in the studio version.  The finale, “Celestial Voices”, while losing the pipe-organ track, gains extraordinary emotional force thanks to the epic, melancholy choirs sung live by Gilmour and Wright, blending with the guitar in an evocative, immersive atmosphere.

On the second disc, each Pink Floyd member had about a quarter of the time available to express their creativity independently. Richard Wright contributed “Sysyphus” (Parts 1–4), an avant-garde piece blending classical and electronic influences, inspired by the myth of Sisyphus. Roger Waters, instead, offered two distinct pieces: “Grantchester Meadows”, an acoustic, pastoral folk ode evoking the Cambridge countryside, and “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict”, an experimental work of pure vocal avant-garde and variable-speed tape manipulation. David Gilmour presented “The Narrow Way” (Parts 1–3), a suite that moves through different sounds, from acoustic guitar to psychedelic and electric rock.  Interestingly, Gilmour admitted he asked Waters for help with the lyrics, but the latter refused. Finally, Nick Mason penned “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party” (Parts 1–3), a percussion-centered composition built on drum loops, enriched by the participation of flautist Lindy Mason, his wife at the time.

The cover of Ummagumma is one of the most iconic and intriguing in rock. Created by the Hipgnosis studio, it hides details and unusual curiosities for the time.

The main image portrays the four Pink Floyd members in the porch of a country house.  The most interesting detail is the Droste effect, a kind of “picture within a picture”: on the left wall there is a framed image that replicates the cover exactly, but with one fundamental change each time.

The band members swap places in each inner sequence.

The order of positions is as follows:

    1. Outer cover: David Gilmour in the foreground on the chair, followed by Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright (lying on the grass).

    2. First inner picture: Roger Waters on the chair.

    3. Second inner picture: Nick Mason on the chair.

    4. Third inner picture: Richard Wright on the chair.

In the fourth and last level of the recursive picture (visible only with a magnifying glass or in high-definition prints), the band disappears, replaced by the cover of A Saucerful of Secrets (1968).

A curious detail concerns the cover of an album placed near David Gilmour: the soundtrack to Gigi (1958). In the American, Canadian and Australian editions, it was whitened out due to copyright issues, while in modern editions it has been digitally restored.

The back of the vinyl is just as iconic, showing the band’s concert gear neatly arranged on an airstrip, with roadies Peter Watts and Alan Styles in the foreground.  This photo was a tribute to the crew and a statement of the power of their live equipment, in line with the “live album” concept.

Ummagumma represents one of the most intriguing moments in Pink Floyd’s history, sitting at the center of a stark contrast: the band has almost always disowned it, while critics and audiences of the time welcomed it with enthusiasm.

Over the years, Pink Floyd have never made a secret of their disdain for their fourth album, Ummagumma.  With time and worldwide success, they began to see it as a confused project, born of laziness and a lack of shared ideas.

Nick Mason, the drummer, called it a “failed experiment”, adding with a touch of irony that the most important thing about that album is that they never made it again.

Roger Waters, the bassist, has repeatedly described it as a “total disaster”, saving very little of the studio recordings, aside from his ballad Grantchester Meadows. 

David Gilmour, the guitarist, admitted bluntly that, in his view, the studio side is “horrible”. He recalled that they went into Abbey Road with no songs ready: “We were short of material… I didn’t write anything before going into the studio, I started putting random bits together.” Gilmour also criticized the sound quality. 

The only thing the band has always defended, even if only partly, is the live half, which they consider a good document of their onstage power in that period.

In 1969, despite the musicians being skeptical, music critics welcomed “Ummagumma” with enthusiasm. At the end of the ’60s, breaking with conventions was seen as the highest artistic expression.  Many outlets called it a masterpiece of the avant-garde and the emerging progressive rock, praising the courage to experiment with white noise, loops and musical deconstruction.  Thanks to positive reviews, the album achieved unexpected commercial success, entering the top 5 of the UK charts (their best result up to that point) and making the band known in the United States as well.

In my opinion, the live side is an undisputed masterpiece, a space-rock milestone, the peak of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic phase, an essential historical document of their evolution.  By contrast, the Studio side doesn’t convince me. Tracks like Wright’s or Mason’s are pure style exercises, although pieces like “The Narrow Way” (Gilmour) and “Grantchester Meadows” (Waters) deserve credit for anticipating the acoustic, dreamy atmospheres that would characterize the later albums “Meddle” and “Atom Heart Mother”.

These two sides of the album make it a necessary album to have in a collection, but not a masterpiece.

My Version

Label: Pink Floyd Records – PFRLP4, Pink Floyd Records – 0825646493166
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold, 180 Gram
Country: Worldwide
Released: 3 Jun 2016

Tracklist

Live Album 
A1 Pink Floyd– Astronomy Domine
A2 Pink Floyd– Careful With That Axe Eugene
B1 Pink Floyd– Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
B2 Pink Floyd– A Saucerful Of Secrets
 

Studio Album
Richard Wright Sysyphus 
C1.1 – Part 1
C1.2 – Part 2
C1.3 – Part 3
C1.4 – Part 4
C2 Roger Waters– Grantchester Meadows
C3 Roger Waters– Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict
David Gilmour The Narrow Way 
D1.1 – Part 1
D1.2 – Part 2
D1.3 – Part 3
Nick Mason The Grand Vizier's Garden Party 
D2.1 – Part 1 - Entrance
D2.2 – Part 2 - Entertainment
D2.3 – Part 3 - Exit

Lineup

David Gilmour: Lead guitar, vocals (on the live disc); all instruments (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums) and vocals on his solo suite The Narrow Way.

Roger Waters: Bass, vocals (on the live disc); acoustic guitar, vocals and taped sound effects on his solo tracks Grantchester Meadows and Several Species.... 

Richard Wright: Farfisa organ, keyboards, vocals (on the live disc); piano, organ, mellotron, percussion and xylophone on his solo suite Sysyphus.

Nick Mason: Drums, percussion (on the live disc); all percussion instruments (acoustic and electronic) on his solo suite The Grand Vizier's Garden Party. 

With

Lindy Mason (Nick Mason’s wife at the time): She played flute on her husband’s suite, specifically on the tracks The Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Part 1 - Entrance) and (Part 3 - Exit)

Although he does not play on the album, Syd Barrett is credited as the writer of the track Astronomy Domine, performed live by the band on the first disc