"Ummagumma" (1969) is a Pink Floyd album/project that was very important in the band's career. Much more than it seems from such distance today because in those days of 1969, it tries to search a future for the band while establishing what they were and how their (short) past songs evolved. In some way we can ear them playing together and live, doing her best in the late 60s and in another proof of concept understand what was the (sound and ideas) universe of all the four members when they contribute with their stuff individually.
In my opinion we can clearly note that:
- Roger Waters was always more interested in describe ideas on tracks with his own obsessions and intimate feelings (and authority) with a more natural but wide landscape - something that his pastoral approaches worked really well for several times; The curious fact is that his contribution in studio shows himself much more solo than all the others;
- Nick Mason, seems more interested in aesthetics and what levels a music can achieve with different and experimental rhythms while also trying to wide their sound to new feelings that other instruments reworked in studio could provide to musical aspects;
- David Guilmour, shows here that he got a more song approach and trying to give harmonies to it, traveling from light to dark and coming back, in form of guitars sounds and matching that with voice. He does in a way that opens the need of been integrated and surrounded by a band playing;
- Richard Wright had the opportunity to show how far he could create music and he does that with a sense of grandiloquence attitude where we can feel this is something made to be scaled to be epic. What we get is music floating from her fingers but never songs.
I think that all those individual energies has made them in a path of discovery of what they really has become. This album contributed largely for a more opened attitude in their records (songs and music), something that new "The Endless River" (2014) has some clear bridges to this one (like in "Sum", "Skins", "Autumn '68", "TBS9" or "TBS14").
Finally, an album cover that, in is own style, has become something like a revelation to the band future. It's like a prediction of Pink Floyd's future leadership... from a band of 4... to Waters domination... and ending in Guilmour.
It was always there in front of us since 1969... wow!
