Pink Floyd – Home, Piggy, Home! (Tarantura TCDPF-4-1, 2)

Home, Piggy, Home! (Tarantura TCDPF-4-1, 2)

Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY – February 28th, 1980

Disc 1:  Announcements, In The Flesh?, The Thin Ice, Another Brick In The Wall – Part 1, The Happiest Days Of Our Lives, Another Brick In The Wall – Part 2, Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Empty Spaces, Young Lust, One Of My Turns, Don’t Leave Me Now, Another Brick In The Wall – Part 3, Goodbye Cruel World

Disc 2:  Hey You, Is There Anybody Out There?, Nobody Home, Vera, Bring The Boys Back Home, Comfortably Numb, The Show Must Go On, announcements, In The Flesh, Run Like Hell, Waiting For The Worms, Stop, The Trial, Outside The Wall

Pink Floyd’s final Wall show in New York at the Nassau Coliseum on February 28 was taped on a 700 cardiod>d5 W/dolby B on the floor, section A.  The result is a tape with all of the clarity, dynamics and stereo separation of an official release.  To the chagrin of the tapers, it was booted on vinyl many times in the past.  The tapers held back their February 26th tape for a long time in order to punish those who betrayed their trust.  We have to give thanks for the transgression because it meant that the rank and file, most of whom were not able to get tickets to even one show, were able to hear the magic of the show.  

The earliest vinyl boots include the three-LP set  And The Walls Came Down  (BH410).  Others are Pink Floyd – Live In Concert (BH-410), The Wall (Creative Artistry HPL 2773), The Wall Comes Alive (White Knight WK272), and the Japanese release The Wall Show In New York ’80 (427).  Compact disc versions include Another Brick In The Wall CD (On Stage CD 12088), Behind The Wall (Stonehenge STBX 022) three discs in a gorgeous box with the LA rehearsal tape, Wall Power (64-64-32/55) two discs with more muffled sound and gaps between the tracks on disc two, Monopoly (Digital Floyd Project DFP-103) and Welcome To The Wall (PR-Records 0103008).  Brick By Brick (Great Dane GDR CD 9313) is a three-disc set with this show plus the Los Angeles rehearsal tape in gorgeous packaging.

Tarantura’s Home, Piggy, Home! takes its title from, and is probably a copy of, the Digital Reproduction roio cdr produced several years ago.  Tarantura even include the paragraph on the back that accompanied the release:  “A phenomenal audience recording from February 28, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum. The level of clarity and detail of this source is nothing short of astonishing, especially considering this is a Pink Floyd show. All the instruments are captured just about perfectly with nice, solid bottom end and a good, crisp top end. This is definitely the best recording of the tour, aside from the official live release.

Roger’s introduction for “Run Like Hell” on this night was: “Do you like our pig? What? He’s not a very nice pig, but he’s a BIG PIG! This is a song for all the paranoids in the audience. It’s called Run Like Hell. Home piggy, Home!” “Run Like Hell” has a rather interesting sounding bass line during the running sequence. A special thanks to Ephraim for lending us the 1st gen source used for this production. No hiss or noise reduction was used in this production.

As with all Digital Reproductions releases, this is for free trade or blank trade only! Please do not buy, sell or distribute for profit. Help keep the spirit of trading alive and well. (July 2003)” Tarantura omit the plea to not sell it, of course.  Compared to the master clone of this tape, the label really cranked up the volume.  The music is louder, but so is the attendant hiss and the upper frequencies sound “squeezed” and unnatural.

The Thursday, February 28th show was the fifth of five scheduled in New York and this concert is the final time the four of them played together as Pink Floyd in America.  The press reports concerning the New York run of Wall shows were both laudatory (“the most lavish stage show in the history of rock” John Rockwell writes in the New York Times) to disparaging (Paul McGrath in The Toronto Globe And Mail complained about the music being lost in the spectacle and the musicians being “relentlessly tedious.”)  Long Island is a bastion of Pink Floyd fanaticism and tickets for all five concerts sold out in five hours.  Pink Floyd always placed a heavy emphasis upon the visual interpretations of their music in concert, resulting in a tightly rehearsed and scripted stage show.  Hearing these tapes is only on aspect of the experience and the full impact is obviously lost. 

This show is interesting because the band were comfortable enough with the material to expand some of the numbers with unique jams.  The concert begins with Gary Yudman’s announcements which dissolve into the opening, heavy metal power chords of “In The Flesh?”  “Another Brick In The Wall Part 2” was the big hit and the audience responds accordingly.  About two minutes into the song the band lose count, but Mason brings them back on track.  This is followed by version of “Mother” that reaches almost eight full minutes.  After “Empty Spaces” (aka “What Shall We Do Now?”)  Waters simply asks if everybody is having a “marvelous time” before introducing “Young Lust.” 

The “Last Few Bricks” medley is tracked together with “Another Brick In The Wall Part 3” and features Wright emphasizing the “worms” sound over the melodies.  After the twenty minute intermission the second half of the show begins on disc two, but the first verse of “Hey You” is missing.  During the “hotel room” interlude, channels from New York television are audible. 

This is a gimmick carried over from the last tour where “Wish You Were Here” began with a random journey through the radio dial.  Several commercials can be heard as well as a mention of then Chicago Blackhawks coach Eddie Johnston.  “Comfortably Numb” is an obvious highlight and Gilmour delivers a note perfect solo in the song’s middle.  “Run Like Hell,” their big disco hit, is extended to almost seven minutes.  The crumbling of the wall at the end of “The Trial” sounds massive in this recording.  During “Outside The Wall” Waters hits a couple of bum notes on the clarinet. 

Home, Piggy Home is packaged in a cardboard gatefold sleeve favored by the Tarantura label.  Thankfully they use the wall motif on the front cover with numerous photographs from the New York string of shows.  The discs are adorned with the hammer sign.  The title is limited to one hundred copies and is proving to be very popular.  It is good to see a silver release of this tape since it has been more than a decade since it has been seen.  And although Tarantura use the best available source, their mastering and boosting of the volume might not be to everybody’s taste.  It might have been better if the volume were left alone and this is nothing more than a wasted effort.