1966-1967 Pink Floyd: London 1966-1967 (DVD) 60 minutes Review taken from Amazon.com In terms of archival value, Pink Floyd: London, 1966-1967 is essential viewing for Floyd collectors and anyone who's curious about the swinging pop scene of London at the dawn of the psychedelic era. Casual fans be warned: This is not a concert film per se, nor will it satisfy anyone looking for a comprehensive history of "The Pink Floyd" (as the group was originally known) in its earliest incarnation. Rather, Peter Whitehead's film, originally titled Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (after a line from an Allen Ginsberg poem) was created as a dreamy, avant-garde portrait of the "Swinging London" scene, set to the music of Pink Floyd (in this case the improvisational epics "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Nick's Boogie"), accompanied by performance footage from the legendary UFO Club in 1966, a recording session at London's Sound Techniques studio on January 11, 1967 (which Whitehead specifically arranged to capture his soundtrack), and footage from the momentous "14 Hour Technicolor Dream" festival held at Alexandra Palace on April 29th, 1967. White combined elements of all three events to create his audiovisual collage--a kind of time-capsule mindscape that successfully conveys the spacey atmosphere of Pink Floyd's early (and instant) popularity. However fleeting (he's glimpsed relatively briefly, coaxing otherworldly sounds from his guitar, patched into a Binson Echorec tape echo device), the presence of Floyd cofounder Syd Barrett will prove fascinating to any devoted fan. The "Crazy Diamond" appears quite stoned (or at least totally immersed in his music), while Roger Waters provides a driving bass pulse, looking ever so much like a young, mod intellectual. Rick Wright appears calmly at his keyboard (also using the Binson Echorec), and Nick Mason drums through his experimental "Boogie," parts of which were transposed into the title track of A Saucerful of Secrets. The music (far more indicative of Early Floyd than the later studio versions) is also included on a stand-alone CD, and while none of this material is substantial enough to be truly fulfilling, it remains a priceless snapshot of the era, with fascinating glimpses of John Lennon attending the "Technicolor" event, unaware that his future wife, Yoko Ono, was presenting a performance-art installment just a few feet away. Whitehead's archival interview clips with Mick Jagger, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, and artist David Hockney add another facet of insight into one of the liveliest periods of popular culture. __Jeff Shannon ********************************************************** Review taken from Brain-Damage: Hot on the heels of the recent CD release, the long-awaited DVD of "Pink Floyd - London 1966-67" has now arrived. Attempts were made a couple of years ago to release this on DVD, but there were problems that stopped this happening. It's great news that these problems have now been overcome; it is bound to be a popular release. It is a fascinating look at the early days of the band, featuring the classic line-up of Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and Rick Wright, shown in action in the studio and live in concert, at the UFO club. Additional footage captures "swinging sixties" London and interviews with Mick Jagger, Michael Caine, David Hockney and Julie Christie. The DVD features full length and extremely rare performances from the band’s recording session at the now defunct Sound Techniques Studio, London, on the 11th and 12th of January 1967 for Peter Whitehead's "Tonight Let's Make Love In London" film. It also has footage of the now legendary 14 Hour Technicolor Dream Extravaganza gig in April 1967 at Alexandra Palace. The footage from Alexandra Palace includes Yoko Ono's performance art (with a model having her clothes cut off with a pair of scissors!) and a Sgt. Pepper-era John Lennon taking in the festivities. (John and Yoko had not then met.) The Floyd's performance at this show is not included, though. The first of the tracks, "Interstellar Overdrive", runs for over 17min. It's a great rendition of the track, with lots of deep bass and a lot of guitar experimentation by Syd Barrett. It shows the studio recording, edited into footage of the day. Nick in particular looks very fresh-faced and youthful, but remarkably serious over his drumkit. "Nick's Boogie" is a fascinating, atmospheric track, lasting around 12min, held together with Mason's purposeful tattoo. Principally a two-hand performance with Syd, the footage of this track consists of a lot of slow motion, especially of people dancing at UFO, and activity at the 24 hour Technicolor Dream, alongside some intriguing studio footage that shows how Syd created some of the more unusual sounds. Turning now to the presentation of the DVD, it is in 4:3 format (standard television shape, not widescreen), and you have two audio options - mono, or 5.1 surround sound. Due to the source material, the 5.1 surround is a pseudo-surround, which makes little use of the rear channels, simply piping a quiet mixdown to the rears, with a tiny amount of delay (presumably to give an impression of the sound bouncing off the rear walls of the studio). Whichever sound mix you select, you get a nice, crisp, soundtrack, with deep, clear bass notes. A nice job has been done with it, especially considering the original source materials. With regard to the picture, it is good - clear, colours are well-defined and whilst there is a certain softness to the picture, it is nicely mastered and presented. The opening titles are pretty poor though, but this only lasts for a few seconds before the opening bars of Interstellar Overdrive appear. The extras on the disc are almost 30min of interesting interviews from the 1960s of Mick Jagger, David Hockney, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, and an overview by the director, Peter Whitehead. The interviews are very dated but fascinating all the same. The most interesting of these, is the interview titled "Peter Whitehead's overview", a 4min look at his long-term friendship with Syd Barrett, long before the Floyd were formed, and a look at how the two tracks came to be recorded and used in "Tonite Let's All Make Love In London". A definite purchase for all fans of early Pink Floyd - where else can you find footage of the Syd Barrett line up recording in the studio? Picture quality is a marked improvement over the VHS version that was released some years ago, and the sound quality is very impressive.