A companion compilation to the sprawling 2019 box set
The Later Years 1987-2019
, this 80-minute collection distills that luxury item into something handy and affordable. In the winnowing process, it's revealed that the box indeed consists primarily of live material: all but five of the 12 tracks are live recordings, most taken from either the remixed version of the 1988 live double-LP
Delicate Sound of Thunder
or the full-length
Live at Knebworth
, which was recorded in 1990. Two cuts from the rejiggered
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
-- which was revised to sound more like a classic
Floyd
album, a la
The Division Bell
-- are here, along with an early rendition of "High Hopes" and the unheard instrumental "Marooned Jam," which also dates from 1994. None of this newer material is earthshaking, but it fits well next to the live versions of classic
songs and, in turn, helps make a case for the merits of the
Waters
-less
, even if it doesn't necessarily act as an enticing endorsement for the lavish accompanying box. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine