Here's a nice exercise in irony for y'all -- 'Nassau' looks fab and has probably the best sound quality of any 87-88 VOIO I have ever picked up, yet it is also the most superfluous title of the lot since a good chunk of the performance shown here was officially released in far superior form on the band's first-ever official live video, 'Delicate Sound Of Thunder' (which was filmed over this same run of appearances at this same venue).

Unfortunately, being nominated as one of the premier ootlegbay apestay of the 'Momentary Lapse' tour does not mean that 'Nassau' is perfect -- shot from a very high angle near stage left (which results in various Pink Floyd personnel being obstructed by those evil roving lighting pods at odd times), this tape is a little *too* dark too often to qualify as any better than a "B" rating. It's only when the stage is lit up, however, that this VOIO becomes a real beauty to watch. Luckily, the sound quality here makes up for the visual downtime -- blessed with a startlingly high level of clarity that is sadly rare for a recording of this stripe, 'Nassau' actually sounds better than most 87-88 ROIOs ever did.

Before I go any further with praise, there are four technical/editing snafus that drop this VOIO from "holy shit, a must get" to "mmm, recommended" status ...

* The cameraman was obviously scared silly by the thought of being pinched by security as there are many occasions early on (particularly "Shine On You Crazy Diamond") when the camera is quickly (and jarringly) ditched out of sight for a few moments, leaving us looking at a field of black while the sound degrades to a distant muffled roar

* Perhaps because of the above, most of the first half's set list is missing from this show.

* While the lights and lasers show up just fine, 'Nassau' is (as noted earlier), a pretty dark recording -- enough so that the films shown behind the band are almost completely invisible throughout the evening. While the above-average sound makes this problem at least tolerable, one is forced to wonder why the cameraman felt the need to leave in film-dominated songs like "On The Run" and "Welcome To The Machine" (which have very little to look at aside from Mr. Screen), when all we can see is Mr. Bed crashing into the stage (complete with stupid inflatable rider on top) during the former and the indistinct figure of David Gilmour during the latter. This problem also nearly sinks "Us And Them," during which hardly anything can be seen at all until the choruses start. At least such missing tracks as "Sorrow" and "Yet Another Movie" offered some twirly lights and all ...

* Most irritatingly (and the sole reason for the Cheese Factor of "7"), the cameraman shooting this video felt it somehow necessary to flash the huge, multi-colored words "PINK FLOYD" -- in 'Wall' font, of course -- over the action at various key instances when a well-known chorus is sung or a particularly rad lighting effect is triggered (Christ, it's not like we're forgetting what band this is, ya know). Once or twice with this stunt would be fine (perhaps with the word FUCKIN' dropped in the middle for comedic effect), but when nearly EVERY SINGLE SONG on this recording has this damned logo flashing onscreen, it very quickly loses it's novelty value.

Once these problems are dealt with, there are plenty of interesting bits to this video for the discerning 1988 tour geeks to enjoy, such as a look at Jon Carin triggering a lot of the noises during the drum-powered coda of "Learning To Fly." The cameraman gets some great shots of a very-active Mr. Pig bouncing over the audience during a well-filmed "One Of These Days," a few pans across the arena with it's extra VariLite rigs hanging low over the audience (in order to better light the venue for the 'Delicate Sound...' filmmakers), some glimpses of cameramen slinking around on stage getting close-ups of the performers, and good coverage of extended-beyond-normal guitar solos for "Comfortably Numb" and "On The Turning Away."

As a little bonus, after the concert is over, we are shown the video for "Brain Damage / Eclipse" reviewed earlier in the 'Video Anthology 2' post in slightly degraded quality (and this one sounds even *slower* than the 'Anthology' version, heh heh).

Overall, 'Nassau' is a fairly nice view for the money -- it's just too bad that a lot of the lasers and stage lighting effects look rather unremarkable when seen from so high up and close to stage left. If this had have been shot from a similar POV as, say, the Toronto VOIO collection (or even the second portion of the "11/17" St. Louis recording), we'd have a surefire winner here.

'Learning to Fly'	'Wish You Were Here'
'Comfortably Numb'	'One Slip'