A Technicolor Dream (Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett/Eagle DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Main Program: B-

 

 

The interesting parade of Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd material continues with a new documentary entitled A Technicolor Dream with new interviews, vintage footage, plenty of London footage (then & now) and the actual music of the band at their early peak.  Running 90 minutes long, it is just long enough without becoming a run on program and that is good.

 

There is much new footage of London to the point that it almost backfires, but little footage exists of the 14-hour event that took place on 4/29/67 that is more than key enough to document and this does its best job with the limited archival (especially direct archival) materials it has at its dispose.  If the interviews go on too much, you might be tempted to skip them, but if not, know there are more of them in the supplements.  Best of all, this ambitious program does its best to capture the time and the band with the other big psychedelic album (besides The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s, of course) and is worth a look.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is on the soft side and made more inconsistent by the mix of old footage and other still items.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is better with the new interviews well-recorded.  The combination can be interesting.  Extras include additional interviews and exceptional music film clips (Music Video precursors) of the band performing to Astronomy Domine, Scarecrow and Arnold Layne.

 

For more of the Barrett/Floyd era on this site, you might want to start with this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6252/Pink+Floyd+–+The+Piper

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo