"Ummagumma" marked Pink Floyd's 4th album, first official live recordings, and their first double album. The first half of "Ummagumma" was devoted to live material from their current tour. Although the album sleeves mentions the recording dates of the live album as June 1969, the live album was recorded at The Mother's Club in Birmingham on April 27, 1969, and the Manchester College of Commerce, May 2, 1969
The other half of the album was studio work which was the result of Rick's suggestion that each member should be allowed to stretch their individual wings a bit and not be so tied down to such strict formats. The live section was produced by the band, and the studio work was under the production of Norman Smith. Nearly 20 years would go by before the band would put out another live album, "Delicate Sound of Thunder", after Roger's exit. "Pulse", released 1995, was Pink Floyd's 3rd and most recent live work.
"Ummagumma" was the first Pink Floyd release on Harvest, the newly formed offshoot of EMI. Due to space limitations, the cassette version does not include "Careful With That Axe, Eugene", "Saucerful of Secrets", "Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun". from the Live Album.
"Baby Blue Shuffle in D Major", written by Dave, was an early
version of "The Narrow Way, Part One". It would become "The
Narrow Way, Part Three" as part of "The Man/The Journey" suite.
He then decided to rework it for his solo on the album.
It was one of the first pieces to be recorded for the new album.
"Ummagumma" was the first Pink Floyd album to break the top 100 album chart in the United States...at #74. It reached #5 in the U.K.
The Picts were one of the non-Celtic people who once occupied Great Britain. They were continually involved in border wars with the Romans, and somewhere around the 9th century became amalgamated with the Scots.
A hidden message can be heard in "Several Species"... at 4:32-4:33. To hear it, play the album at half speed and in the right speaker, you will hear David saying: "This is pretty avant garde, isn't it?"
The American version of the album cover differed slightly from the U.K.'s in that the U.K. edition features the album "Gigi" propped up against the wall. A question of copyright infringement had the "Gigi" album removed from the U.S. album cover versions, leaving a plain,
white cover in its place.
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The album’s title is supposedly slang for having sex...a term used by Cambridge students of that era. Some band members, since then, have sworn that in fact the word 'ummagumma' was totally made up and means nothing at all.
Biggin Hill airstrip in Kent, was the location shot for the back of the
album cover...with van, equipment, and two of their roadies,
Pete Watts and Alan Stiles. The latter's name is of course immortalized in Pink Floyd's next album's track "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast".
The "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" version heard on the album was the 6th version of the song, but only the 2nd to be released.
The version of "Saucerful of Secrets" was divided up into 4
titled parts. It was a composite with the 1st half taken from
the Mother's gig, and the 2nd from concert in Manchester.
Rick's four part solo piece "Sysyphus", was named after the mythical Greek King Sisyphus, who after being condemned to Hades had to roll a heavy stone up a steep hill where it repeatedly would roll back down once he reached the top.
The strange rambling monologue in "Several Species" was improvised live in the studio, according to Peter Mew. Some have interpreted it as a comment on the civil unrest among the Scots during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. Ron Geesin, was thought to be the man behind the vocalized narration. "It certainly wasn't me". [Geesin]
Grantchester Meadows is a real park in the city of Grantchester just outside of Cambridge. It's a favorite place of students of Cambridge University to go and spend their free time. Opening with more bird song, one of Roger Water's two pieces, "Grantchester Meadows" is a simple song about the beautiful unspoiled area of Cambridge where he and the other band members played as children. Roger's tale of larks, foxes, and kingfishers captures the essence of the English countryside in the summer. The song seques into the next piece with an insect buzzing back and forth between the speakers.
Nick recorded the cash register effect at Abbey Road for "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party". He gave the piece the title after a reference to a news clipping about a garden party given by the Queen and combining it with the title held by the supreme leader of the viziers who once ruled the Ottoman (former Turkish) Empire.
"Ummagumma" is the only instance where "Saucerful of Secrets" is broken down into four separate pieces:
The album originally contained "Interstellar Overdrive" but was
dropped because of space...along with "Embryo", which was dropped
when the decision was made to divide Ummagumma's 2nd record into
four solo sections.
"This was absolutely not a band album. The live stuff sounds incredibly antiquated now, although the fact of Pink Floyd playing at Mothers in Birmingham was considered a bit of an event at the time. We were looking for new ways of constructing an album, although I think what this demonstrates is that our sum is always better than the parts. EMI was very hidebound in those days. It was still run by guys in white coats. I was prevented from editing my own tapes by a studio manager who told me I wasn't a union member." -Nick
"I'd never written anything before. I just went into the studio and started waffling about, tacking bits and pieces together. I rang up Roger at one point to ask him to write me some lyrics. He just said, No." -David
"I think the main criterion at that point was that it was weird and different. I remember them really pondering about how they could get it to sound new and different." -Peter Mew
"We all believed it was going to be one of the best things we'd ever put onto record, which I think it was at that time, but the stuff on the album isn't half as good as we can play." -Rick
"I learned a lot about what constitutes good music, or rather music that people really want to heart" -Rick, about Part IV Instrumental
"For me, it was just an experiment. I think it was badly recorded,
the studio side could have been done better. We're thinking of
doing it again." -David