“Not a band album”: Nick Mason on why ‘Ummagumma’ sounded dated
Countless now-iconic groups rose through the ranks during the 1960s, a period of prolific artistry and musical expression. Very few groups, however, fostered the same enduring success or infallible reputation as Pink Floyd. From their early triumphs in the form of Piper At the Gates of Dawn to the groundbreaking nature of The Dark Side of the Moon, it is easy to see why Floyd enjoys such an unparalleled level of respect within music circles. Nevertheless, that had not always been the case.
During the early days of the band at London Polytechnic in the mid-1960s, Pink Floyd had been disciples of the newly emerging landscape of psychedelic rock. Led by the captivating mind and musical genius that was Syd Barrett, the group developed a distinctive sound that very few other groups in the United Kingdom were even attempting. As such, Floyd quickly found an audience for these progenitive tones, all the more so when The Piper At the Gates of Dawn was released in 1967, spreading their sound to a more widespread audience across the nation.
It must be remembered, however, that Syd Barrett was the driving force behind that incredible album. So, when the songwriter was cruelly booted out of the band in 1968 as a result of mental health struggles and an ever-increasing dependency on mind-altering drugs, Pink Floyd were pretty lost. Following Barrett’s dismissal, the band spent a number of years struggling to find their feet without him. In the chaos, the band produced their fair share of miss-hits and failures, including the 1969 LP Ummagumma.
Composed of live recordings and individual solo efforts by each band member, Ummagumma is a sonically confused mess of an album. Although well-meaning in its aims to provide a farewell to the early period of the band, the final product feels hastily thrown together and without much cohesion or narrative. Certainly, it is a far cry from the genius of Piper At The Gates of Dawn, reflecting a group who are struggling to adapt to the loss of their primary songwriter.
Even the band members themselves have been openly critical of the album over the years since its initial release. “This was absolutely not a band album,” Nick Mason once declared. “The live stuff sounds incredibly antiquated now, although the fact of Pink Floyd playing at Mothers in Birmingham was considered a bit of an event at the time.” Floyd has always been famed for their incredible live performances, but a lack of care and technology when recording their Birmingham show meant the results on Ummagumma were disappointing.
Nevertheless, Mason recognises the importance of the release in terms of transitioning between the Barrett era and the brilliance of records like The Dark Side of the Moon, which would arrive a few years later. “We were looking for new ways of constructing an album, although I think what this demonstrates is that our sum is always better than the parts,” Mason shared.
Mason also lumped blame onto the band’s record label, declaring, “EMI was very hidebound in those days. It was still run by guys in white coats. I was prevented from editing my own tapes by a studio manager who told me I wasn’t a union member.” While these strange production problems certainly didn’t help the project, Mason editing his own tapes probably would not have saved Ummagumma entirely.
Luckily, Pink Floyd eventually managed to adapt to life without Syd Barrett, landing on their own unique sound and creating a wide variety of beloved albums in the process. Ummagumma might have been a failure, but it was not on the kind of catastrophic level that would have torn the band apart in its entirety.
