Bookmark as:http://www.pf-roio.de/roio/roio-cd/variations_absense.cd.html
Format: 8CD + VHS (PAL) + T-shirt + book
Catalog: DIA 001/8
Misc.:<no info>
Produced:<no info>
Date: 6705 -94
Cover: 35 cm diameter circular black box. Front and back: Pictures of the moon. The book features a discography including numerous roios.
Sources: May 1967- 1994 Numerous different sources. Disc 1: 1-10 Studio outtakes May 1967-March 1968. 11-20 Studio outtakes April 1968-November 1970 (* in fact from Zabriskie Point soundtrack, Relics, Pompeii) Disc 2: 1-8 Recorded Live At BBC Studios During 1969 spring sessions (* In fact BBC sessions 68-69) 9-13 Unreleased and Outtakes 71/72 14-16 Recorded Live at Winterland, SF, Oct.21.1970 Disc 3: 1-5 Recorded Live at Paris Theatre, London DEC.12.1970 - 400 people only (* In fact BBC session 16/07/70) 5-6 Recorded live at Playhouse theatre, London May 15.1971 (* In fact BBC session 12/10/71) 7 Recorded live at Montreux Jazz festival, Switzerland, Sept.18.19.1971 Disc 4: 1 Recorded live at Montreux Jazz festival, Switzerland, Sept.18.19.1971 2-7 Recorded live at Rainbow theatre, London, Feb.20.1972 8-11 Recorded live in Sapporo, Japan, DEC.3.1972 (* In fact MARCH 12th, 1972) 12 Recorded live at Pompei, Italy, April 15.1972 Disc 5: 1-2 Recorded live at Madison Square Garden, New York, July 22.1975 (* In fact July 2nd, 1977) 3-8 Recorded live at Oakland Colisseum 1977 (Plays The "Animals") Disc 6: 1-20 Recorded live at Nassau Colisseum N.Y.C. April 20.1980 - Play The "Wall" (* In fact London, 17/06/1981) 6-10 Pink Floyd, Recorded live at "Rosemont Horizon" Chicago, Sept.18.1987 (* In fact 28/09/1987) Disc 7: 1-5 Dave Gilmour Band, Recorded live at "Allentown Stadium Arena" Allentown, Pennsylvania, Oct 8.1984 (* In fact July 12, 1984) 11-12 Roger Waters & Bleeding Heart Band, recorded live at "Colisseum" Quebec, May 22.1987, Canada (* In fact November 7, 1987) Disc 8: 1-2 Recorded live in Tokyo, Japan, Oct.19.1988 (* In fact from DSOT) 3-4 Recorded live in Venezia, Italy, August 30.1989 (* In fact 15/07/89) 5-6 Recorded live at Knebworth, June 6.1990 7-10 Recorded live at Knebworth, 1994 (* In fact Earls court, London, 20/10/94) VHS: Recorded live at Madison Square Garden, New York, Oct.17.1987
Hires-coverscans: <no info>
MP3-Soundsample: <no info>

Tracks:

      Disc 1:
       1. Remember A Day                              4:30 
       2. Astronomy Domine                            4:08   
       3. Interstellar Overdrive                      3:05
       4. Apples & Oranges                            3:01
       5. It Would Be So Nice                         3:42
       6. Candy And A Currant Bun                     2:42
       7. Scream Thy Last Scream                      4:45
       8. See Emily Play                              2:55
       9. Flaming                                     2:48
      10. Paintbox                                    3:31
      11. Heart Beat, Pig Meat                        3:10
      12. Crumbling Land                              4:11
      13. Careful With That Axe, Eugene               4:57 
      14. Point Me At The Sky                         3:36
      15. Biding My Time                              5:16
      16. Embryo                                      4:38
      17. Mademoiselle Knobs                          1:50
      18. Julia Dream                                 2:38
      19. Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up          4:58
      20. Oenone                                      6:00

      Disc 2: 
       1. Let There Be More Light                     3:31
       2. Point Me At The Sky                         4:13
       3. Murderistic Woman                           2:12
       4. Julia Dream                                 2:06
       5. The Embryo                                  2:56
       6. A Saucerful Of Secrets                      6:35
       7. The Narrow Way                              4:21
       8. Green Is The Colour                         6:01
       9. Fingal's Cave                               1:56
      10. Rain In The Country                         7:03
      11. On The Run                                  3:21
      12. Brain Damage                                2:02
      13. Us And Them                                 7:08
      14. Grantchester Meadows                        6:39
      15. Astronomy Domine                            9:22
      16. Cymbaline                                   8:00

      Disc 3: 
       1. The Embryo                                 10:14
       2. Green Is the Colour                         4:11
       3. If                                          4:25
       4. Atom Heart Mother                          24:50
       5. Fat Old Sun                                14:15
       6. One Of These Days                           6:52
       7. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun  14:50

      Disc 4: 
       1. Echoes                                     24:25
       2. Speak To Me - Breathe                       2:55 
       3. On The Run                                  6:10
       4. Time                                        6:32
       5. Breathe (reprise)                           1:53
       6. The Great Gig In The Sky                    4:23
       7. Money                                       7:52
       8. Us And Them                                 2:56
       9. Any Colour You Like                         4:37
      10. Brain Damage                                4:41
      11. Eclipse                                     4:53
      12. A Saucerful Of Secrets                      9:40

      Disc 5
       1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond 1/5             13:45
       2. Welcome To The Machine                      8:29
       3. Sheep                                      10:52
       4. Pigs On The Wing 1                          2:12
       5. Dogs                                       18:26
       6. Pigs On The Wing 2                          2:14
       7. Pigs (Three Different Ones)                17:18
       8. Have A Cigar                                6:42

      Disc 6:
       1. In The Flesh                                3:45
       2. The Thin Ace                                2:49
       3. Another Brick In The Wall 1                 4:59
       4. The Happier Days Of Our Lives               1:52
       5. Another Brick In The Wall 2                 6:28
       6. Mother                                      8:44
       7. Goodbye Blue Sky                            4:03
       8. What shall We Do Now                        4:35
       9. Young Lust                                  5:32
      10. One Of My Turns                             4:08
      11. Don't Let Me Now                            2:19
      12. Empty Spaces                                2:00
      13. Another Brick In The Wall 3                 6:10
      14. Goodbye Cruel World                         1:54
      15. Hey You                                     4:57
      16. Is There Anybody Out There                  3:17
      17. Nobody Home                                 3:37
      18. Vera                                        2:08
      19. Bring The Boys Back Home                    1:45
      20. Waiting For The Worms                       5:10

      Disc 7: 
       1. Until We Sleep                              6:23
       2. All Lovers Are Deranged                     5:01
       3. Love On The Air                             6:16
       4. Short And Sweet                             7:55
       5. You Know I'm Right                          8:04
       6. Sings Of Life                               3:54
       7. Yet Another Movie                           7:35
       8. A New Machine 1                             1:52
       9. Terminal Frost                              6:39
      10. A New Machine 2                             9:57
      11. Powers That Be                              4:00
      12. Another Brick In The Wall                  10:18

      Disc 8:
       1. Learning To Fly                             5:24
       2. The Dogs Of War                             7:17
       3. Sorrow                                      7:45
       4. Run Like Hell                               7:10
       5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond                 11:07
       6. Comfortably Numb                            8:44
       7. High Hopes                                  8:15
       8. Take At Back                                5:59
       9. Coming Back To Life                         6:48
      10. Keep Talking                                7:35

      VHS: 
       1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond                 11:21
       2. Signs Of Life                               5:30
       3. Learning To Fly                             4:18
       4. Yet Another Movie                           7:20
       5. New Machine Part 1                          7:00
       6. Sorrow                                     10:48
       7. Dogs Of War                                 7:46
       8. On The Turning Away                         6:00
Band:
      Syd Barrett
      Roger Waters 
      David Gilmour
      Rick Wright 
      Nick Mason

Xref: Numerous, at least 80 roios on the database.
Quality:
  • VG-Sup most of the tracks are better than Ex -PATRICK
Comments: Track listing from cover, including errors.


A best of roios collection. All the material is available elsewhere and sounds to have been recorded from other roios. The package is beautiful, and the book is interesting. -PATRICK


The "box" is round and has a picture of the moon 'eclipsing' the sun. There are eight picture discs (they come in four slimline cases), four of which have pictures of the band (various eras), while the other four have pictures of four "stages" of an eclipse. The T-shirt (XXL) has the moon eclipsing the sun graphic with "Pink Floyd - Variations on a Theme of Absence" written around the graphic. The back of the box has another picture of the moon in front of the sun, as well as the track listings and their source. The source of the live stuff, as far as I can tell, is pretty crappy, but what would you expect (see below).


As my previous post suggested, this box is a pretty comprehensive collection. The only drawback I see with a box of this nature is that the entire performance is not present for the shows included and there is no new material. It is all familiar stuff, just repackaged. However, the quality and the quantity of stuff included in the box set makes it a very worthwhile addition to any collection, especially if you are just starting to collect roios.


You can tell that this box is a roio of roios, because they have made the same mistakes in the tracks that were made on the references (Disc 7 has New Machine 7 as track 10 and A Clear View makes the same mistake however the song is actually Sorrow). -ANON


The Video: The video IS in PAL format. Therefore, American/Japanese residents and residents of other countries that use NTSC encoding for their televison signals will not be able to view this video unless they have a PAL compatible VCR or pay (a lot of money) to get the video converted.


It adds up to almost exactly 60 minutes (time taken from VCR), and fades out early during the guitar solo of On the Turning Away. It is shot from a very oblique angle to the stage and hence few special effects are visible, there are almost no shots of "Mr. Screen". It is basically an hour of Dave + the band being shone on by different coloured lights, not that this is a bad thing. The video is a bit muddy but the pictures are clear enough and fairly steady. It is obviously a multiple-generation copy.


The audio: The audio is of consistenly high quality, show continuity has obviously been sacrificed in many cases to preserve quality. IMHO it is well worth it, almost everything sounds great. But, I am not exactly sure why there are at least 3 different versions of Embryo. (I am basing these observations of sound quality on my 1st generation tape copies of the CDs). If you are looking for entire shows, don't look here. However if you want to enjoy a consistently high quality set of recordings, this is the one. Most of the recordings are dramatically better than the rather rarer ones in Total Eclipse. - HAMISH


"Variations" is an excellent collection of live Floyd and studio outtakes. However, as many may have discovered, the $160 (what I payed) may be a bit steep for some.


A few things to note: Some tracks from disc one and two sound the same as rare singles available on the "Early Singles" CD that comes with the "Shine On" box set. Some examples are "Point Me at the Sky", "Apples and Oranges" and "See Emily Play." I'm not certain if they are EXACTLY the same becuase I haven't taken the time to listen to the tracks togther, but they are very close.


There are some good outtakes, i.e., early versions of "Embryo" and one of "Bidding My Time" (which would seem to fit perfectly on "Meddle").


Disc 2, tracks 11-13 and disc 4, track 12 are taken from the "Live in Venice" video. Disc 8,tracks 7,9-10 are VERY similar to the same tracks found on P.U.L.S.E. These I DID compare to each other, but don't feel certain to say either way.


If disc 6 is all "Wall", why not "Comfortably Numb"? The concert is pretty good, but perhaps dropping "Waiting for the Worms" and something else to make room for "Numb" would have been better.


If half of the "Darkside" Rainbow Theater concert is here, why not the rest?


The booklet has some interesting stuff from an interview with Gilmour. There are some funny points in the reading due to translation.


I enjoy this set because it covers just about everything. The sound quality overall is a nine, with many 10s and a few sevens and eights. One surprise: No "Wish You Were Here"!? -ANON



(Last update: 960609)

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