Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
For those that found they could not find a way to listen to the abundance of bootleg recordings on offer during their youth, the sudden influx of band endorsed releases of some of the more dedicated listeners would have salivated over is a testament to the power of time and persuasion; Time that eventually all hard line stances must soften, and the persuasion…well that can come from many quarters but notably from the understanding that music requires an audience, and what does an audience have, legitimacy.
For Pink Floyd, arguably amongst the greatest bands to have ever brought imagination to the crowded amphitheatres and concert halls worldwide, there is no danger of being seen as anything other than authentic, but knowing there are some recordings that are being permitted the light of day, no longer to be used as a kind of underground currency that prohibits the sound quality in favour of exercising a fix by those in need of a constant refreshment of enjoyment.
This act of endorsing a once out of reach recording is evident in the release of the fabled evening in 1975 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, an evening of high intensity, and one that sits between the studio albums of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, less than six months from the latter’s unveiling and one that held an almost impossibility, showcasing a couple of tracks that would not become known in their complete form for another couple of years; placing trust in such a way that the crowd knew without doubt that there was more to come from the quartet.
April 26th 1975, a day which in truth held nothing else of significance in amongst a sea of troubles around the world but which highlighted perhaps the absolute cracks and fragility that would be encapsulated in the 1977 album Animals, and to which was in depth and frighteningly familiar in Dark Side and Wish You Were Here. It is in the working titles of Raving And Drooling and You’ve Got To Be Crazy that the recording stands in its impossible beauty; embracing almost every unadulterated brilliance that spread over a decade of music and a foursome that underscored everything that was endearing about the Progressive movement.
Live From Los Angeles Sports Arena may be the product of the infamy of Record Store Day, a complex arrangement that straddles between cloaked capitalism and unchecked philanthropy, but it cannot be denied that is an extremely good listen, a void answered in the catalogue of live albums of the band and one that digs deep into the whole of Dark Side of the Moon, unblemished observances of Wish You Were Here, and the expected resilience of Echoes; it is a purpose of intent, of underlining the Progressive cool and angst, the anger, the fierce drive, and the schism, the madness, the sheer pull of aggressive lyrical extremes and sound of expression cohabiting the same space and time with precision and class.
Live From Los Angeles Sports Arena is a release of musical examination, of underscoring a demand of the fans to be able to hear all they can, no matter how many times it may be available, as though just by hearing it opens more doors, more spaces in which the emotion can be embraced.
A deserved release, important, forceful, and timely, as only Pink Floyd ever seem to be. Ian D. Hall