Ummagumma was an expensive proposition (those premium double-CD prices!) for this high school/college student fan of Pink Floyd, so I danced around it for years, not really giving it a proper listening until just a few years, when a friend was nice enough to loan it to me and I entered it into my music collective.
There are no big hits, no gotta-have-it tracks, nothing landmark. Disc one is the live four-song set of Floyd at their most aloof, space-rock, prog-centric best. Even the somewhat jaunty "Astronomy Domine" has turned into a ponderous meandering track. The standout of the set is closer, the title track from A Saucerful of Secrets, sporting some seriously uplifting vocals by Gilmour and a soaring bass line by Waters.
The studio section is even more detached from the ordinary, featuring an experimental approach to studio music where each band member takes the reins. As usually happens when the band lets the individuals call the shots (a time-honored tradition datable back to at least the White Album), you end up with a lot of weird stuff and no real consistency among songs. The band would try it again on Atom Heart Mother, with significantly more cohesive results.
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