Yet we've been given music. It can make us contemplate our future lives and fondly recall the past, it can make the hairs on our neck stand up and it can make us want to jump up and down.
I was thinking, if I was going to prison to spend twenty years in solitary confinement, if I was allowed to take one album with me, which would it be? Which album would I never tire of listening to, day in, day out? Which album has so many layers that I would spot something new every time I listened to it? Which album is so beautiful and perfectly composed that you wonder how it was possible to create such a perfect piece of music?
There are 8,500 tracks on my iPod, but for me there is no doubt, there is only one group of songs which come together to form my winning album. And it's the winner by a clear mile.
What's the album? It's Pulse, by Pink Floyd.
Recorded at Earl's Court in 1994, it was part of the Division Bell tour and is now known as one of the greatest live recordings of all time. Without a doubt in my mind, I think it is the greatest. It's a towering work of art in musical form, and when you watch the DVD you can appreciate it along with the incredible laser show which accompanied it during Pink Floyd's fourteen night residency at Earl's Court.
Why is it victorious? Well firstly, it's two discs, so that's pretty good value if you were only going to be allowed one album in prison!
For me, everything about it is perfect. It's missing nothing from the original album recordings, all of the sound effects are there in full stereophonic glory. The songs are faithfully reproduced and there is no self indulgent tampering or messing around to show off, as so many bands do when playing live.
It takes me back to my childhood, specifically a holiday in France in 1989 when I was five. I remember sitting in the back of my Dad's Ford Granada, caravan on tow listening to Breathe, from The Dark Side of the Moon.
I reckon if an album can impress you when you're five, then it must be doing something right. The sounds of that album have stayed with me ever since, so whenever I listen to Pulse it takes me back to my childhood, which I loved.Some have slated Pulse, saying that was borne of a middle aged band who had become 'comfortably numb' after years of touring, and after Roger Waters had departed. They had become accustomed to playing only their hits, and apparently displayed a startling lack of passion considering their auspicious careers.
These critics are wrong.
I think that quite the opposite is true. I don't profess to being a 'Floyd' expert by any means, but you can feel the blood of The Dark Side of the Moon pulsing through your body as the sounds and sights wash over you. For example, Us and Them sounds aspirational, yet it's about conflict, differences of opinion, apathy and misunderstanding. Why make a song with depressing lyrics sound depressing? With this Pulse song in particular, Pink Floyd did quite the opposite.
I've said enough. Get the DVD, plug in a decent amp and some speakers, turn the lights down and the sound up, and decide for yourself if you agree that Pulse is indeed one of the greatest albums of all time.
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