Surely a treat lies in store for Pink Floyd fans. The Pink Floyd concert recorded in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy is yours in its entirety with the addition of the latest sound effects.

While the original theatrical version from 1971 is about 60 minutes long and only has the recordings from Pompeii, the 1973 "full length version" was released with new clips added. Director Adrian Maben had visited Pink Floyd in the studio while they were recording the historical album ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. The full length version runs for about 80 minutes.

Now over 35 years later the newly released DVD has something new called "directors cut". Adrian Maben went back to the editing table, and has included a host of special effects with planetary images and rocket launches. He has made the new flick run about 92 minutes. While it is commendable fans will be happy to have a lot more on the DVD and by that we mean both the Directors Cut and the original theatrical version (1971 version – 61 minutes) in different segments.

The music of Pink Floyd can be described as colorful, imaginative, surrealistic, and highly inventive. Against the backdrop of the Mount Vesuvius and the deserted streets of Pompeii, Pink Floyd plays the songs from their album especially for Adrian Maben's cameras alone. The visuals and the shots…..close up and long shots taken of the band in the majestic ancient Roman amphitheatre among the ruins of old Pompeii is fabulous to say the least. It’s an audio visual treat, something that not any Pink Floyd or music lover has ever seen before. The filming was done during the night and day with the sun splashed all over the area during day and the eerie feeling of suspense at night.

 The set begins and ends with the massive composition of ‘Echoes’ from their album ‘Meddle’ also includes the following ‘Careful with that axe Eugene’, ‘A saucerful of secrets’, ‘Us and them’, ‘One of those days’, ‘Mademoiselle Nobbs’, ‘Brain Damage’, ‘Set the controls for the heart of the sun’. The song ‘Mademoiselle Nobbs has Rick's dog an Afghan Hound on vocals, the great howling mixed well with the instrumentation. The song has to be seen to be believed. ‘Careful with that axe Eugene’ and ‘Set the controls’ are shot at night with minimal lighting, giving off a wonderful setting. Don’t miss the moment when banging the huge gong on ‘A saucerful of secrets’. In the long version you have interviews with the band on various topics including the making of ‘Dark Side of the moon’ including footage taken from the actual recording sessions, some replies being very hilarious and some downright serious and music related.

Playing to an almost empty audience, Maben has taken the idea from a similar work done by Jonathan Demme's with Talking Heads on ‘Stop Making Sense’. Though there was no audience, a few kids managed to squeeze into and check on the proceedings of the set.

At the first watch you can make out that the band members Roger Waters and Rick Wright are absent from the concert footage. This is due to Adrian claim that the footage of both members was lost before the film was edited. Maben simply edited the film using what footage he had of the group, David Gilmour and Nick Mason.

Memorable moments would include is Roger Waters banging a gong against the setting sun, and the whole band with the backdrop of the amphitheatre. Also one close up shot is zoomed tot eh top of the amphitheatre. The sound of a few tracks can surely surpass any of their studio albums, a perfect example being Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, which is much longer and more distinct than its studio version.

The ‘Interview with the Director’ (24 minutes) is a must watch. Maben talks about the ideas behind the film and the discussions he had both with the band and their management. He discusses at length on the  experiences and difficulties he had filming in Pompeii, from a failure in electricity to handling the equipment and dealing with the administrative work to get permission to film in this historic place.  Maben had only three days both in the streets and the amphitheatre, with other recordings done at Paris and London given the tight schedule to which the band were operating.

This is a good DVD more for the fact that there is good music and less talk, surely a documentary well made. If Woodstock drew a million people, Pink Floyd has no one as their audience………their fans who watch this is their audience. Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Rick Mason and David Wright create a memorable watch.

The DVD comes with a great deal of extra features: There’s a collection of small image based features, including a photo gallery with 23 images of the band at work and play, album graphics containing images of the inner and outer covers of ‘Meddle’, ‘Ummagumma’, ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’, posters promoting the film, press/reviews from a couple of mags, bootleg cover images and other covers from previous releases of the film on video and video CD and roughs which look to be possibly conceptual drawings for the covers. The last two extras are a text based History of Pompeii with Maps and lyrics to Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and Echoes.

For Pink Floyd fans, or anyone even remotely interested in popular music that too live concerts, this is one DVD you just cannot miss.

-- Reviewed by Verus Ferreira