Zooropa (Sigma 13)
Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany – January 27th, 1977
Disc 1: Sheep, Pigs On The Wing 1, Dogs, Pigs On The Wing 2, Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Disc 2: Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-5, Welcome To The Machine, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9, Money
Now with three silver releases in the the past couple of years, Pink Floyd’s January 27th Frankfurt show is one of the most popular from their European tour. Occurring in the first week, this is one of the best sounding (but incomplete) recordings first surfaced on vinyl in 1987 on Welcome To The Machine(Bullshit Records Munchen / Crazy Diamond Productions PF 177-A/D) and later A Mysterie Called Floyd (Black And White Records BWR 83) with “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” “Pigs On The Wing,” “Pigs (Three Different Ones).
Highland utilized “Pigs On The Wing (part 1)”, “Pigs On The Wing (part 2)”, “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 1-5)”, “Welcome To The Machine”, “Have A Cigar” and “Wish You Were Here” from this show on In The Flesh/Europe Tour 1977 (HL 278/279). Several years ago Highland released this show again on Welcome To The Machine (Highland HL655/656), using the name and cover of the old vinyl release but utilizing the complete very good sounding second source.
The excellent sounding tape that sourced the vinyl surfaced, yet when Sigma released this show in January 2008 they followed the same road as Highland’s second release by using the complete but inferior source on Zoo (Sigma 7). Zooropa is a combination of the two audience sources. The inferior tape is used for the beginning and for most of the first song.
The better source begins at 11:57 in “Sheep” and runs through to 15:03 in “Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 6-9.” The inferior tape is edited in to complete that track and is used for the encore “Money.” The edits are gently handled as well. This is the work that really should have been done before with these source tapes and it is great to finally hear Sigma produce the definitive version of this show.
This is the show which Melody Maker reviewed and described the violence in the audience, including someone throwing a beer onto Nick Mason. It seems that Frankfurt was the trouble spot on the European tour and Led Zeppelin, Genesis, and Queen also had problems at this venue. Since this was the fourth performance of the Animals LP in concert the songs had not yet been stretched out and developed as they were in America later that summer.
The second half of the show with the Wish You Were Here LP is much stronger. The excellent sounding audience tape captures the intricate grand piano and acoustic guitar flourishes clearly during “Wish You Were Here” making this one of the most gorgeous live recordings of the piece. It is also the most human song compared to the mechanized behemoth of the nine parts of “Shine On Your Crazy Diamond.” Zooropa is limited to two hundred copies and stands as the definitive recording from the European tour.
