End & Aim (Siréne-244)
Palais des Sport, Lyon, France – December 10th, 1972
Disc 1: Speak To Me, Breathe, On The Run, Time, Breath (Reprise), The Great Gig In The Sky, Money, Us And Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, Eclipse
Disc 2: S. E., One Of These Days, Tuning, Careful With That Axe Eugene, Tuning, Echoes
Siréne features the last night of the European tour and also Pink Floyd’s final performance from 1972 with the release of End & Aim. The show started at 8:00PM, two hours later than scheduled due to the band being held up in customs at the Swiss border according to Povey and Russell’s In The Flesh book. This is the first release on silver disc for this show with the only other title being Across The Swiss Border on Digital Floyd Archives.
This recording from Lyon is a good clear audience source that favors the mid range frequencies which results in a thinner sound. The tape is still very listenable and even enjoyable for the most part but the louder portions can get a little rough. Luckily, the crowd is very quiet during the performances and save their applause for between tracks. The band is on and Wright’s keyboards are out front in the recording. He really plays some nice parts and this recording emphasizes that. This marks the last gig where the pre-recorded arrangements of “On The Run” and “The Great Gig In The Sky” were used. There is a brief low end tape problem during “Time” and unfortunately Gilmour’s solo in “Money” is almost non-existent until the breakdown. There are also a couple of tape problems during “Any Colour You Like” where a tape stretch is followed by a drop out.
Disc two sounds different and seems to have more tape noise present. There is a moderate amount of hiss and background noise throughout but an alternate source is not known. It could be that the taper moved his position between the break or maybe used a different brand of tape for the second half. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t sound as good as the first set. Again, Rick Wright stands out and is extra playful with the intro to “Echoes”. The tape fades quickly after the track with no encore present but “Childhood’s End” or “Set The Controls” were the possible front runners during this tour if anything was played.
End & Aim is an interesting choice by Siréne, and we thank them for making this available, especially since this show has only seen one other release. This is a great tour that is very well documented among many releases. This is not one of the best sounding recordings from the tour but if you’re looking for a good show, this one delivers. Unless a better sounding source surfaces, this will more than serve as an acceptable document. Hardcore collectors will enjoy this one.
