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Ummagumma
Ummagumma
Studio album / Live album by Pink Floyd
Released November 7, 1969
Recorded April 27 and May 2, 1969 (live album)
1969 (studio album)
Studio Abbey Road Studios
Venue Mothers Club, Birmingham
Manchester College of Commerce, Manchester
Label Harvest
Length 86:32 (total)
39:36 (live album)
46:56 (studio album)
Genres Psychedelic rock • experimental rock • avant-garde • space rock
Producers Pink Floyd • Norman Smith


Releases and track listings[]

UK release (November 7, 1969) runtime: 86:32
Side one
17:12
No. Song name Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
1 "Astronomy Domine" Syd Barrett David Gilmour(high)Richard Wright(low)Roger Waters(backing) 8:25
2 "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" Waters • Gilmour • Wright • Mason Waters(scream) • Gilmour(spoken) 8:47
Side two
22:22
1 "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" Waters Waters 9:21
2 "A Saucerful of Secrets"
  • "Something Else"
  • "Syncopated Pandemonium"
  • "Storm Singal"
  • "Celestial Voices"
Waters • Gilmour • Wright • Mason instrumental 12:51
Side three
25:42
1 "Sysyphus"
  • "Part I" - 1:10
  • "Part II" - 3:31
  • "Part III" - 1:50
  • "Part IV" - 7:01
Wright instrumental 13:32
2 "Grantchester Meadows" Waters Waters 7:23
3 "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" Waters Waters 4:47
Side four
21:09
1 "The Narrow Way"
  • "Part I" - 3:27
  • "Part II" - 2:53
  • "Part III" - 5:57
Gilmour Gilmour 12:14
2 "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party"
  • "Part I" - 0:59
  • "Part II" - 7:05
  • "Part III" - 0:39
Mason instrumental 8:55

On the original vinyl release, "The Narrow Way" and "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" were single tracks. On the remastered re-release, Part 1 of "Sysyphus" was split into two tracks and labelled "Part 1" and "Part 2". Part 2 on vinyl became "Part 3" on CD, while "Part 4" of the re-release consists of Parts 3 and 4 ("Part 4" beginning with the large orchestral thud). Original track times are listed in brackets above. The band also recorded a live version of "Interstellar Overdrive", intended for placement on the live album. The track was dropped at the last minute, most likely to maintain the sound fidelity of the record, but numerous bootlegs were given to friends of the band including John Peel

Credits[]

Pink Floyd

  • Roger Waters - bass guitar(1-4, 6), acoustic guitar(6), tape effects(6-7), lead vocals(3, 6), backing vocals(1), vocalizations(2, 4, 7)
  • David Gilmour - lead guitar(1-4, 8), acoustic guitar(8), bass guitar(8), piano(8), organ(8), Mellotron(8), drums(8), percussion(8), lead vocals(1, 8), vocalizations(4)
  • Richard Wright - keyboards(1-5), piano(5), organ(5), Melltoron(5), percussion(5), lead vocals(1), vocalizations(4)
  • Nick Mason - drums(1-4, 9), percussion(1-4, 9), effects(9)

Additional personnel

  • Lindy Mason - flutes(9)
  • Brian Humphries - engineering(live album)
  • Pink Floyd - production(live album)
  • Peter Mew - engineering(studio album)
  • Norman Smith - production(studio album)
  • Hipgnosis - sleeve design, photographs

Info[]

  • The title Ummagumma supposedly comes from British slang for sex, but the band has stated the word means nothing at all.
  • The live disc was recorded at Mothers Club, Birmingham, on 4/27/69 and the following week at Manchester College of Commerce, on May 2. The other had four solo segments, a half-side of vinyl each by Gilmour, Wright, Mason, and Waters.
  • The album reached #5 on the UK charts and #74 on the US charts, the first time they broke the top 100 in the US. The album was certified Gold in the US in February, 1974 and Platinum in March, 1994.
  • In 1987, this was re-released on a two CD set. A digitally remastered version was released in 1994 in the UK and 1995 in the US. Neither CD release includes the picture of Waters' first wife, which had appeared on the inner-gatefold sleeve of the original vinyl issue.
  • The cover of the original LP varies between the British, Canadian and American releases. The British version has the album Gigi leaning against the wall above the 'Pink Floyd' letters. On the original American album version, however, this was airbrushed to a plain white sleeve, apparently from copyright concerns (though the Gigi cover appears in US CD version's booklet). Inside the cover is a picture of David Gilmour in front of the Elfin Oak. The rear cover (or cover of the Live Album) shows the band's equipment laid out on a runway at Biggin Hill Airfield.
  • The album is the last to feature photos of the band members on the outer cover, though both Meddle and A Momentary Lapse Of Reason would feature members of the band inside the gatefolds. They are seated in the order, from front-to-back, of Gilmour (in his bare feet), Waters, Mason and Wright. In each successive "reflection" in the upper-left corner, they move each band member forward one space, with the front-most member going to the back. On the US album (with the airbrushed Gigi cover), in the smallest "reflection", with Wright in the foreground, instead of another "reflection" the cover of A Saucerful of Secrets appears. On the UK version, the "reflection" has Gilmour in front once again.
  • Until The Division Bell, Ummagumma was the only Pink Floyd album to feature a female instrumentalist. Lindy, Nick Mason's wife at the time, played flute on parts 1 and 3 of "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party". Part 3 is among the shortest Pink Floyd songs ever released; only "Stop" 0:30, from The Wall, and "A New Machine (Part 2)" 0:38, from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, are of equal or shorter length.
  • It is mainly instrumental, with 10 of the 16 tracks being vocals. On top of this, two of the non-instrumental tracks are live versions of other songs, and one track's "vocals" are actually Roger Waters' voice sped up to imitate animal noises.
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