Alternative and Live Versions
It was a popular live piece, regularly included in the band's concerts. It appears as the first track on the live side of the album Ummagumma, released in 1969. This version reflects the band's now more progressive style. The song has been extended to include the first verse twice, and the instrumental in the middle, before getting louder again back to the last verse. The lead vocals are shared between David Gilmour and Richard Wright, and is chanting the names of the planets at the beginning of the song. The Ummagumma version can also be found on the American release of A Nice Pair, a compilation album released in 1973.
It was dropped from the live sets in mid-1971, but eventually reappeared as the first song in some sets on the band's 1994 tour. The last time the song was ever performed with Roger Waters was on 20 June 1971 at the Palaeur, Rome, Italy. A version from a concert in Miami appears as the B-side on the band's "Take It Back" single, and a version from one of the London concerts appears on the live album Pulse. Gilmour played the song at some of his appearances during his solo 2006 tour, again sharing the lead vocal with fellow Floyd member Richard Wright.
'Yes, and it needed a bit of dusting, I can tell you! I don't think we'd played it since 1968.' — David Gilmour,- The track is also featured on the 2001 Floyd compilation album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.
- The Pulse version reverts to the original 4-minute length, with Gilmour again taking lead vocals as in Ummagumma.
- The song was also played by Gilmour and his solo band (which includes Richard Wright with Guy Pratt on bass and Steve DiStanislao on drums) at the Abbey Road Studios sessions, which has been released as part of a CD/DVD On an Island package. "Astronomy Domine" was performed during the last few dates of Gilmour's On an Island tour, and features on his Live in Gdańsk DVD.
Read more about this topic: Astronomy Domine
Famous quotes containing the words alternative, live and/or versions:
“If you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another mask?”
—Graham Greene (1904–1991)
“I live in my wooden legs and O
my green green hands.
Too late
to wish I had not run from youpollo,
blood moves still in my bark bound veins.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The assumption must be that those who can see value only in tradition, or versions of it, deny man’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances.”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)