Delicate Sound of Thunder

For the concert video, see Delicate Sound of Thunder (film).

Untitled

Delicate Sound of Thunder is a Pink Floyd live double album from the David Gilmour-led era of the band which was recorded over five nights at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York in August 1988 and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in September 1988. It was released on 22 November 1988, through EMI Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. This would be the last Pink Floyd release made with vinyl as its' primary medium, all subsequent releases have been made with CD as their primary medium.

History

The band recorded and filmed their series of shows at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia in November 1987 for a potential live concert film and album. However, the band were not happy with the results. Consequently, the material from these shows would make up videos and B-sides for the A Momentary Lapse of Reason singles and later these shows were released as a bootleg recordings entitled Pink Floyd: The Calhoun Tapes and Would You Buy A Ticket To This Show. Then in August 1988, the band went to Nassau Coliseum and filmed and recorded their five night stand for Delicate Sound of Thunder at the end of the initial Momentary Lapse 1987/88 tour.

The album was released in 1988 as a double LP, double cassette, and a double CD, each format containing a slightly different track listing. The album includes many works from A Momentary Lapse of Reason as well as quite a few from older albums. The double LP format did not have "Us and Them" on the track listing. Both the double LP and the double cassette had "Wish You Were Here" between "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" and "Comfortably Numb".

Although David Gilmour stated around the time of its release and on a radio interview in 1992 that the album contained no studio overdubbing whatsoever, he embellished the tracks during mixing with some extra acoustic guitar on "Comfortably Numb", according to engineer Buford Jones. In addition, some harmonies were replaced by studio re-takes: Richard Wright re-did his vocal on "Us and Them" and Sam Brown replaced Rachel Fury's part in "Comfortably Numb".

Delicate Sound of Thunder reached #11 on the Billboard 200 and is currently listed as Triple Platinum in U.S. sales — it was certified Gold and Platinum on January 23, 1989 and Triple Platinum in April 1997.

Delicate Sound of Thunder became the first rock album to be played in space, as Soviet cosmonauts took it aboard Soyuz TM-7. They left the cassette box on Earth to save weight. The members of Pink Floyd were present at the launch. The double LP was also the band's only album to be officially released in the Soviet Union by the state-owned label Melodiya.

Track listing

CD

Disc 1

1. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
   (Above track is from Wish You Were Here)
2. "Learning To Fly"
3. "Yet Another Movie"
4. "Round and Around"
5. "Sorrow"
6. "The Dogs of War"
7. "On The Turning Away"
   (Above tracks are from A Momentary Lapse of Reason)

Disc 2

1. "One of These Days"
   (Above track is from Meddle)
2. "Time"
   (Above track is from Dark Side of the Moon)
3. "Wish You Were Here"
   (Above track is from Wish You Were Here)
4. "Us and Them"*
5. "Money"
   (Above tracks are from Dark Side of the Moon)
6. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
7. "Comfortably Numb"
8. "Run Like Hell"
   (Above tracks are from The Wall)

LP / Cassette

Side 1

1. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
2. "Learning To Fly
3. "Yet Another Movie"
4. "Round and Around"

Side 2

1. "Sorrow"
2. "The Dogs of War"
3. "On The Turning Away"

Side 3

1. "One of These Days"
2. "Time"
3. "Us and Them" (cassette only, omitted from LP).
4. "Money"
5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"

Side 4

1. "Wish You Were Here"
2. "Comfortably Numb"
3. "Run Like Hell"

Songs Omitted from the Album

The 1988 tour also featured the following songs which were not included on Delicate Sound of Thunder: "Signs of Life", "A New Machine", "Terminal Frost", "On The Run", "The Great Gig in the Sky", "Welcome To The Machine" & "One Slip". Some of which made it onto the video version instead.

Personnel

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – guitars, lead vocals
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion
• Richard Wright – keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Time" & "Comfortably Numb".

Additional musicians

• Jon Carin – keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Comfortably Numb"
• Rachel Fury – backing vocals
• Durga McBroom – backing vocals
• Scott Page – saxophones
• Guy Pratt – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell"
• Tim Renwick – guitars, vocals
• Margret Taylor – backing vocals
• Gary Wallis – percussion

Production

• Doug Sax – mastering
• David Hewitt – assistant engineering
• Buford Jones – engineering
• Dimo Safari – band photography
• Storm Thorgerson – cover design and graphics

Sales chart performance

Year	Chart	Position
1988	UK Albums Chart	11
1988	The Billboard 200	11
1988	Billboard CD Charts	5
1988	Norwegian Record Charts	2
1988	Swiss Charts	4