P*U*L*S*E
Recorded:  October 20, 1994
Running Time: Apprx. 145 mins.
Ranking: #2 out of 5 videos
Video Highlight: Take It Back
Video Low Point: One Of These Days
Comments:  This is the best concert video ever filmed.  Not a single song on here is less than excellent, and it's amazing to see them performed.  If you've never been to a Pink Floyd concert, this is just about as close as you can come.  Everything is here, from the incredibly light-show to the circular screen and even the giant pig.  You get more music with the album version of P*U*L*S*E, but the video offers many things that the album cannot, most notably the videos played on the circular screen during select songs, as well as the chance to watch in awe as Gilmour makes magic with his guitar.  There are several songs on the album that are not on the video, but the video does offer two songs that don't appear on the album.  I have given full reviews and lyrics of those here, as well as comments on all of the other songs.
Take It Back
Written by: Gilmour & Bob Ezrin, Polly Samson, Nick Laird-Clowes
From: The Division Bell
Best Version: P*U*L*S*E (film)
Rating: *****
Comments:  This is my least favourite song of The Division Bell, but seeing it performed live, it has a completely different affect.  The light show that accompanies this music is among the best on the video.  With each new blaring chord, a different colour lights up the stage, and it works extremely well.  This is an extremely beautiful song, and the live performance brings out its beauty.
Lyrics:

her love rains down on me, as easy as the breeze
i listen to her breathing, it sounds like waves on the sea
i was thinking all about her, burning with rage and desire
we were spinning into darkness and the earth was on fire

she can Take It Back, she might Take It Back someday

so i spy on her, i lie to her, i make promises i cannot keep
and i hear her laughter rising, rising from the deep
and i make her prove her love to me, i take all that i can take
and i push her to the limit, to see if she will break

she might Take It Back, she can Take It Back someday

now i have seen the warnings screaming from all sides
it's easy to ignore them, and god knows i've tried
but all of this temptation, you know it turns my faith to lies
until i could not hear the danger, or see the rising tide

she can Take It Back, she will Take It Back someday
she can Take It Back, she will Take It Back someday
she will Take It Back, she will Take It Back someday
One Of These Days
Written by: Mason, Gilmour, Waters, Wright
From: Meddle
Best Version: Meddle
Rating: *****
Comments:  This song isn't as good as the other extra song from the video, but it's still incredibly good.  The album goes as far back as The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, but the video only goes as far as Meddle, so this is the oldest song you get, and it comes right before they go into Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety.  The song is played perfectly, with just the right amount of power and energy, and the light show that goes with it is spectacular, featuring two pulsating ellipses made up of smaller ellipses of light that dominate the back of the stage during the bass solo.
(no lyrics)
Words:  One of These Days i'm going to cut you into little pieces
Other Songs From P*U*L*S*E

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)
This is the perfect song to begin any prolongued period of non-stop Floyd.  As in the album, all parts of the song are played with the exception of VI (the best part) and IX (the last part).  This song features a video on the circular screen depicting the life of a young man as he leaves his youth behind for a promising future, and ends up at the bottom.  This is a brilliant video, all done without words through the use of visual metaphors.  The highlight of the video is the "descent" of the character through a bunch of trippy Computer-Animated images, to end up at the bottom of an empty pool, brushing lillies.  This is an exceptional piece of art-work, and something you can only get with the video.
Learning To Fly (Gilmour & Anthony Moore, Bob Ezrin, Jon Carin)
There is a video here also, but it's basically a bunch of air-related images, including planes and clouds and things.  There is a lot less conceptualism here, but that's okay, because the song focusses on the players, and in particular the vocals of David Gilmour.  It's not one of the best parts of the video, but every minute of it is enjoyable.  Gilmour welcomes the audience at the end.
High Hopes (Gilmour & Polly Samson)
This is unspeakably good.  The lyrical part doesn't match the album for power, but there is some sort of power behind this song that is brought out through the images of Storm Thorgerson on the circular screen.  I don't think there is any Computer Graphics, but the images on the screen are incredibly powerful in such subtle ways.  This songs has moved me to tears, and watching it on this video seems to have the power to bring the tears out even stronger.  I cannot describe the brilliance of the images of this song.  It may be worth getting the video just to see them.
Coming Back To Life (Gilmour)
This song comes right after "Take It Back" as it does in the studio album.  It's a very beautiful song, and no images are supplied here to aid it.  It works well on its own, and while it can be rather weak in comparison to some of the other songs of the video, it's still a wonderful piece of music to see performed.
Sorrow (Gilmour)
Words cannot describe the power that lies beneath this song.  There are no circular screen images like in "High Hopes", but there is enough power in this music to surpass the emotion put forth in that song.  At the very beginning, all is very dark and quiet, then Gilmour's guitar comes blaring in with the opening notes, and a multi-coloured strobe light goes off behind him.  This is an extremely powerful effect, and it works so well with the awesome opening to this very strong piece of music.  The lyrics are sung with the same desperate beauty that they have in the album version, and then the bridge comes on, the stage lighting up with extreme brightness, and then darkening again for the slow portion, during which the only lights are two crossing green beams that vibrate with every slight bit of music.  But the real power here lies once the lyrics end, with the instrumental, and finally concluding with a reprise of the opening, and the multi-coloured strobe light, ending the song just as strongly as it began.
Keep Talking (Gilmour, Wright & Polly Samson)
This is an awesome song, and it's here in its best version.  There are lots of images projected onto the back of the stage during this song, but nothing on the circular screen.  This is the first song where the back-up singers have a chance to sing more than just backing vocals, and they are incredible.  The highlight of this song comes when Gilmour finishes singing his part, and then uses a voice box hooked up to the microphone to produce some heart-piercing sounds that work wonderfully with the music.
Another Brick In The Wall part 2 (Waters)
This is the most infamous part of the video for Floyd enthusiasts, because this is the song in which the message appears.  The song opens with an instrumental version of "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives" and just as the part where the heavy vocals come on to build-up for the song, a projection appears on the back of the stage with letters clearly spelling out the word "Enigma".  This was one of the clues that the Publius Enigma gave to offer proof of his credibility when it came to his messages about the hidden puzzle behind The Division Bell.  (See The Division Bell page for more information about the Enigma.)  Aside from that, this is an excellent piece of music, and is one of the best versions of this widely popular song.
Speak To Me (Mason)
After "Meddle" everything goes quiet as the gentle drum-beats gradually raise in volume and the circular screen puts up a few images.  Soon, the familiar voices can be heard over the noise, and you know that Dark Side Of The Moon has begun.  While none of the live versions of these songs are as good as their perfect original versions, they are still among the best music ever recorded, and it's quite an experience to see them performed live.
Breathe (Waters, Gilmour, Wright)
This officially kicks off the DSotM segment of the concert, and mainly focusses on the vocals, without offering any circular screen images or distracting projections.  Richard Wright now makes his presence known by singing the chorus solo, and quite powerfully.  This is an incredibly beautiful song, and it is here in full beauty.
On The Run (Gilmour, Waters)
Despite its perfection, this is the weakest song of DSotM when it comes to keeping your ears occupied, but the video fixes that by doing more than enough to keep your eyes occupied.  The circular screen shows a video of a man sitting in a hospital bed, apparently having some pretty serious hallucinations in which his bed rolls out of the hospital onto a runway, and then takes off into the night.  The song climaxes with a planes flying over the audience and seemingly crashing into the seats.
Time (Mason, Waters, Wright, Gilmour)
The highlight of this song when it comes to the video is the beginning, after the ringing clocks and before the lyrics, during that incredibly slow build-up.  The circular screen is graced by some very intense Computer Animated images of clocks and gears and all sorts of Time-related images.  The rest of the song is done beautifully, although not matching the perfection of the album version.
The Great Gig In The Sky (Wright)
This is one of the best treats that P*U*L*S*E, and the video in particular, has to offer.  This emotion-packed, unimaginably beautiful instrumental showcases the Floyd's three incredibly talented back-up singers.  The camera never leaves their faces as you watch them belt out each of their respective parts of the vocal improvisation.  The first woman pours her heart into the fast, screaming portion of the song, the second (my favourite) puts her soul behind the next portion, and the last brings the song to a close.  They don't match the unbelievable vocals of Clare Torry who sang on the original album, but they certainly leave nothing to be desired.
Money (Waters)
The most up-beat song of DSotM, this is performed as up-beat as possible in sharp contrast to the very dark melodies of the previous song.  The only flaw here is that the instrumental portion goes on for just a bit longer than it should, and since the circular screen offers no help to the eye, the mind is left to wander from the music.  Still, a great and necessary part of the performance.
Us And Them (Waters, Wright)
Pure beauty and emotion are played here in this very blue song, highlighted by a very subtly powerful video on the circular screen of crowds of people in business suits going about their lives lacking any sort of identity or individuality.  The strength of this song has a lot to do with the saxophone, played by Dick Parry, whose talent for pouring emotion into his instrument matches that of any central member of the band.
Any Colour You Like (Gilmour, Mason Wright)
This is the underrated, best song of Dark Side of the Moon, and as it's played here, it seems that the band members themselves have equally underrated it.  Most of the live versions come pretty close to matching the beauty of their originals, but this doesn't even come close.  It sounds a lot different, almost empty, and you can tell that the band is not really that into it.  That doesn't mean, however, that this is a bad part of the video.  In fact, it's still an excellent piece of music, but it is lacking so much of the strength that makes it great on the studio album.
Brain Damage (Waters)
This is the only part of the video that I can't stand.  It has nothing to do with the music, which is as good as ever, but rather the images on the circular screen.  This is the only piece of footage not produced by Storm Thorgerson, and to put it quite bluntly, it sucks.  It's just a bunch of clips of politicians doing stuff.  I suppose somebody somewhere thought it would be cute to show politicians in a song about "lunatics", and some of the lyrics do suggest things about world leaders, but this video just doesn't fit.  I'd like to be transported to another world by Floyd music, not shown home videos of George Bush's golf trip.  The video itself is poorly directed, without flow or purpose other than to match the playing time of the song.  I just close my eyes through this portion of the video, and let my own mind produce the images to this exceptionally good music.
Eclipse (Waters)
The final number on the ticket for the show, this is the climax.  The lyrics are sung as good as they can get without Roger, and the images are simple and fantastic.  As the song progresses, the circular screen becomes the sun, slowly being covered by a shadow, which completely envelopes it at the end, and the entire stage becomes the Moon.  Once the song is over, Gilmour thanks "his old friend" Roger for writing all the beautiful words that he's had the privelege of singing, and thanks the audience for coming.
Wish You Were Here (Waters, Gilmour)
It's not over yet, though.  This is a Pink Floyd show, after all, and there's bound to be a few encores.  The stage is now completely dark, the audience still on their feet when the recording of "Wish You Were Here" begins to play.  After a short while, a real guitar joins in with the recorded one, and then Gilmour comes in with his acoustic, and the stage is completely lit again.  The audience sings along here, and everything works beautifully.
Comfortably Numb (Gilmour, Waters)
If you haven't read my review of this song on the P*U*L*S*E album page, check it out now.  This is without a shred of doubt the greatest piece of music ever recorded, and only on the video do you get to actually see it being performed.  I won't go into how incredibly deeply and profoundly this music can move you, because I've already said more than enough on the album page.  What I'll talk about here is the treat your eyes get while watching this magnificent spectacle.  You see Wright as he sings the verses, and Gilmour as he sings the choruses, and then you get to watch the audience throughout the solo.  During this indescribably great piece of music, a mirror ball descends from the center of the stadium, and opens up, projecting thousands upon thousands of points of light all around the stadium and onto every member of the crowd.  There is one camera shot in particular that I find to be one of the most powerful shots of any concert video.  It is a camera shot taken from the audience, showing the first fifty or so rows of people watching the stage, completely motionless except for a solitary hand waving about in the air, completely and utterly in awe from the music coming from what they see before them.  Thousands of people, all having one of the most religious and memorable experiences of their lives, listening to the greatest song ever recorded as it's being played.
Run Like Hell (Gilmour, Waters)
It would be a crime to give the audience that treat and then leave them hanging there drooling and having to just go home.  For this reason, a third encore is offered, and it rocks like nothing else can.  Run Like Hell is played with the utmost intensity here, and is sung without any lack of emotion by David Gilmour and Guy Pratt, who pours every ounce of energy in his being into belting out those lyrics at the top of his lungs.  The end of the song features Mason's never-ending pounding of the drums, the stage now lit so brightly that not one person can be made out through the spinning lights.  Finally, the lights of the circular screen, blow into thousands of sparks as the song ends, and the incredible concert comes to a close.