bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 12, 2020 14:18:23 GMT
I listened to A Momentary Lapse of Reason for the first time this morning on my way to work, and I really enjoyed it. Learning to Fly - I remember that song! No idea when the last time I heard that was. Anyway, I’ll wait until I’ve heard the album a couple more times before I say anything else. But it turns out I might actually be a Gilmour fan.
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Post by kds on Feb 12, 2020 20:55:45 GMT
I listened to A Momentary Lapse of Reason for the first time this morning on my way to work, and I really enjoyed it. Learning to Fly - I remember that song! No idea when the last time I heard that was. Anyway, I’ll wait until I’ve heard the album a couple more times before I say anything else. But it turns out I might actually be a Gilmour fan. I think the fact that Gilmour's guitar and voice are so synonymous with so many classic Floyd songs is one the reasons he, Richard, and Nick were allowed by the courts to keep the Pink Floyd name after Roger tried to stop them. Listen to The Final Cut and AMOR. Which one sounds more Floyd-ish?
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 14, 2020 15:24:04 GMT
I listened to A Momentary Lapse of Reason for the first time this morning on my way to work, and I really enjoyed it. Learning to Fly - I remember that song! No idea when the last time I heard that was. Anyway, I’ll wait until I’ve heard the album a couple more times before I say anything else. But it turns out I might actually be a Gilmour fan. I think the fact that Gilmour's guitar and voice are so synonymous with so many classic Floyd songs is one the reasons he, Richard, and Nick were allowed by the courts to keep the Pink Floyd name after Roger tried to stop them. Listen to The Final Cut and AMOR. Which one sounds more Floyd-ish? Yeah, I agree that AMOR, even in all its synthy 80s glory, sounds more Floydian than The Final Cut. Even though they both share a fondness for themes of madness, death, and dystopia, Gilmour’s take on things always seems to have at least a glimmer of hope, some kind of silver lining. Whereas Waters tends to be much more bleak and sardonic. There is such a fantastic balance when they’re together, but separately I think I can only handle so much of the latter.
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Post by kds on Feb 14, 2020 15:39:28 GMT
I think the fact that Gilmour's guitar and voice are so synonymous with so many classic Floyd songs is one the reasons he, Richard, and Nick were allowed by the courts to keep the Pink Floyd name after Roger tried to stop them. Listen to The Final Cut and AMOR. Which one sounds more Floyd-ish? Yeah, I agree that AMOR, even in all its synthy 80s glory, sounds more Floydian than The Final Cut. Even though they both share a fondness for themes of madness, death, and dystopia, Gilmour’s take on things always seems to have at least a glimmer of hope, some kind of silver lining. Whereas Waters tends to be much more bleak and sardonic. There is such a fantastic balance when they’re together, but separately I think I can only handle so much of the latter. I agree, and I think when Gilmour gets political, it doesn't sounds like he's badgering the way Waters does (especially lately). And for all the synths on AMOR, I think the album has aged far better than many other releases of that era, in particular the Roger Waters Radio KAOS album, released around the same time.
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Post by kds on Feb 18, 2020 18:48:06 GMT
THE DIVISION BELL (1994)
After spending a few years on the road promoting AMOR, the Waters-less Pink Floyd proved it could fill stadiums. Also, with the number of shows, Richard Wright and Nick Mason had each regained confidence in their respective playing.
When David, Nick, and Richard got together in 1993, there was a far more team oriented approach to recording new material. For the first time in almost two decades, Wright was contributing musical ideas. The band apparently wrote and recording about 90 different pieces before deciding on the 11 tracks that would make up The Division Bell, released in 1994.
The result was a far more Floydian sounding album than AMOR, especially with Nick and Richard's playing front and center. While the album may have lacked a Learning to Fly style hit, the album sold very well in the time in which grunge was king. And while not a major hit, the video for the U2 esque Take It Back was in pretty heavy rotation on Vh1 in the summer of 1994. And even without a song on heavy classic rock rotation, The Division Bell has aged better than the preceding album.
Many of the arrangements are somewhat sparse, most notably on the opening atmospheric instrumental Cluster One, A Great Day for Freedom, Coming Back to Life, and perhaps the album's best track High Hopes. Gilmour's voice and guitar really carry the later three. High Hopes, in particular, is a brilliant and moving track about lost childhood (with Gilmour's now wife Polly Samson providing lyrics). Listen closely for samples from sound effects from Grantchester Meadows, Fat Old Sun, and Young Lust. The song ends the album with a stirring Gilmour slide solo. The album has a central theme of "lack of communication." Never more evident than on the track Keep Talking, making effective use of Stephen Hawking dialog. This track is followed by the acoustic Lost for Words, which seems to address the ice between Gilmour and Waters. Also, What Do You Want From Me, a guitar driven mid paced song similar to Have a Cigar.
Never a band afraid to write autobiographical songs, Gilmour sings to both Syd Barrett and Roger Waters in perhaps the album's most ambitious track - Poles Apart. Marooned is a beautiful instrumental piece.
The album's biggest surprise comes halfway through, on Wearing the Inside Out. Not only does it feature the return of Dick Parry on sax, but it features Wright's first lead vocals on a Floyd album since 1973. Again, autobiographical, it addresses Wright's falling out with Floyd.
A warm and wonderful album, it might even be my pick for best album of the 1990s. Floyd were back. The only downside is that they would never really follow it up.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 19, 2020 2:23:55 GMT
I don't have The Division Bell album but I think "High Hopes" is an all-timer.
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Post by kds on Feb 19, 2020 13:09:04 GMT
I don't have The Division Bell album but I think "High Hopes" is an all-timer. I agree. It would be nearly impossible for me to rank my all time favorite Floyd songs, but this one is pretty high.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 19, 2020 13:43:46 GMT
I've only heard High Hopes one time so far, so I'm not sure where it lands in my overall appreciation just yet. But I have been keeping track of the songs that have made a lasting impression on me and I'm going to eventually try to narrow them down to a top 20 list.
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Post by kds on Feb 19, 2020 19:11:40 GMT
I've only heard High Hopes one time so far, so I'm not sure where it lands in my overall appreciation just yet. But I have been keeping track of the songs that have made a lasting impression on me and I'm going to eventually try to narrow them down to a top 20 list. Maybe I'll try to list a top 20 when I wrap up the discussion on Floyd's catalog. I think High Hopes is at least a Top 20 song.
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Post by kds on Feb 24, 2020 17:26:32 GMT
THE ENDLESS RIVER (2014)
As the 1990s wore on, very little was heard from Pink Floyd. David Gilmour and Richard Wright performed when Floyd were inducted into the RNRHOF in 1996. Perhaps sensing an opportunity to reclaim his legacy, Roger Waters toured in 1999 for the first time in 12 years, and became a fairly prolific touring artist in the 2000s in Floyd's absence.
Then, in 2005, the classic lineup - Gilmour, Waters, Wright, and Mason - reunited for a one off performance at the Live 8 concert in London. Despite numerous offers, the band didn't tour.
Syd Barrett passed away in 2006 from pancreatic cancer. Richard Wright passed in 2008 from cancer. Seemingly any hopes of a Floyd reunion died with Wright.
Then, in the summer of 2014, it was announced that Pink Floyd were releasing a new album!! As it turned out, the new album was cobbled together from the 1993 sessions that birthed The Division Bell, with David and Nick adding some bits when needed. The album would also be mostly instrumental.
Released in November 2014, the posthumous Floyd album, The Endless River, brought the Pink Floyd story to a close. When it was first released, I honestly had mixed feelings. I thought these pieces could've easily been included on a deluxe Division Bell reissue rather than passed off as a new Pink Floyd album twenty years later (at least Queen got their posthumous albums on the shelves fairly quickly). But, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the resulting album, and I'm glad it's a part of Floyd's canon rather than part of a pricey reissue.
As a complete piece, the album feels almost like a funeral procession at times. Apparently, that was Gilmour's intention as a tribute to Wright. It was refreshing to hear new music from Gilmour, Mason, and Wright again, even if it was mostly 20 years old (or even older in the case of Autumn '68, which features pipe organ by Wright from 1968).
While the album does work far better as a complete piece, there are a couple standouts. It's What We Do is somewhat reminiscent of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, but less structured. Anisina, a piano based instrumental, is breathtakingly beautiful. The sequence of Allons-y 1, Autumn '68, and Allons-y 2 is a great work of contrast with the Allons-y pieces being two of the only uptempo tracks bookending a funereal piece by Wright.
While many of the pieces lack any real structure (the album is almost ambient or New Age-y at times), Gilmour and Wright's playing is nothing short of brilliant.
The album closes with the lone vocal track - Louder Than Words. It's a decent song, but I would've hoped Polly Samson could've come up with better lyrics to close out the career of one of the great bands of all time. The opening lines "We bitch and we fight, diss each other on sight" are downright embarrassing, and actually caused me to hate the song on first listen. But, I've softened on the song. The song brings the album, and Pink Floyd, to a close with a good, even if not overly memorable or special, Gilmour solo.
Even if it doesn't have the impact of The Division Bell, I have to applaud Gilmour and producer Andy Jackson for putting together the numerous pieces from the 1993 sessions into something cohesive. The album will probably be remembered as more of a footnote than a proper album on par with some of the masterpiece albums released by Floyd, but at the end of the day, it's there, and as a Floyd fan, I'd rather it exist than not.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 24, 2020 21:11:21 GMT
Hmm, I'm not quite ready to move on from The Division Bell yet, I'm just getting into it!
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 24, 2020 21:42:05 GMT
Hmm, I'm not quite ready to move on from The Division Bell yet, I'm just getting into it! Figured I should follow this up with some thoughts, do my part and all of that. There isn’t a dull or unsatisfactory moment on The Division Bell. It’s so consistently good all the way through. Highlights for me include What Do You Want From Me, Poles Apart (wow – so gut punchingly truthy, and that circus section kind of destroys me), A Great Day for Freedom (achingly beautiful), Wearing the Inside Out, Take it Back, Coming Back to Life (might be my favourite track on the album), Lost for Words (another one that gives me the oofs) and High Hopes, which is as fantastic as described upthread. That’s like all but two songs that I’ve listed as highlights. Not to dismiss the instrumentals, they are wonderful too. But the lyrical songs are where it's at on this album. I’m finding it pretty hard to narrow them down. I love the rawness of emotion of the lyrical content that is perfectly enveloped in the equally emotive music. It’s hard not to be affected by it. I can imagine it must have been quite cathartic to record, and albums like this can have the same effect on the listener, which is immensely satisfying. A great album.
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Post by kds on Feb 25, 2020 13:41:23 GMT
Hmm, I'm not quite ready to move on from The Division Bell yet, I'm just getting into it! Figured I should follow this up with some thoughts, do my part and all of that. There isn’t a dull or unsatisfactory moment on The Division Bell. It’s so consistently good all the way through. Highlights for me include What Do You Want From Me, Poles Apart (wow – so gut punchingly truthy, and that circus section kind of destroys me), A Great Day for Freedom (achingly beautiful), Wearing the Inside Out, Take it Back, Coming Back to Life (might be my favourite track on the album), Lost for Words (another one that gives me the oofs) and High Hopes, which is as fantastic as described upthread. That’s like all but two songs that I’ve listed as highlights. Not to dismiss the instrumentals, they are wonderful too. But the lyrical songs are where it's at on this album. I’m finding it pretty hard to narrow them down. I love the rawness of emotion of the lyrical content that is perfectly enveloped in the equally emotive music. It’s hard not to be affected by it. I can imagine it must have been quite cathartic to record, and albums like this can have the same effect on the listener, which is immensely satisfying. A great album. More than any other Pink Floyd album, my appreciation for The Division Bell has grown over the past several years. I used to think of it as a really good later era album. But, now I see it as just a great album PERIOD.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Feb 26, 2020 13:54:46 GMT
More than any other Pink Floyd album, my appreciation for The Division Bell has grown over the past several years. I used to think of it as a really good later era album. But, now I see it as just a great album PERIOD. I love that it very much has the Floydian personality in tact and the songs hold up extremely well. Listening to them for the first time with 2020 ears, it’s not dated, which is an achievement considering a lot of 90s music has it's own personality. It just sounds like a Pink Floyd album. The songs are a lot more straightforward, which is perhaps to be expected at that stage in their career. But all the songs are so good. Just good rock music, period. Timeless. Even though the songs tend not to stray too far away from a more straightforward structure, that’s not to say there isn’t anything new there. One of the reasons I love Coming Back to Life (and there are many) is the note that Gilmour hits in the chorus, the last note in the “I knew the moment had arrived” line. He always sings so deeply, and it’s really wonderful to hear him go into a higher voice. I can’t think of another occasion where he does that. Perhaps there is one and I just missed it. But in this instance there is such a vulnerability to that note, like a plea for the listener to understand his point of view. It’s breathtaking. I’d say I wish he did more of that, but then maybe it wouldn’t have the same impact that this one note has on me. (Sorry to jump back to this when you were moving ahead... I'll be moving ahead soon too).
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Post by kds on Feb 26, 2020 14:37:18 GMT
More than any other Pink Floyd album, my appreciation for The Division Bell has grown over the past several years. I used to think of it as a really good later era album. But, now I see it as just a great album PERIOD. I love that it very much has the Floydian personality in tact and the songs hold up extremely well. Listening to them for the first time with 2020 ears, it’s not dated, which is an achievement considering a lot of 90s music has it's own personality. It just sounds like a Pink Floyd album. The songs are a lot more straightforward, which is perhaps to be expected at that stage in their career. But all the songs are so good. Just good rock music, period. Timeless. Even though the songs tend not to stray too far away from a more straightforward structure, that’s not to say there isn’t anything new there. One of the reasons I love Coming Back to Life (and there are many) is the note that Gilmour hits in the chorus, the last note in the “I knew the moment had arrived” line. He always sings so deeply, and it’s really wonderful to hear him go into a higher voice. I can’t think of another occasion where he does that. Perhaps there is one and I just missed it. But in this instance there is such a vulnerability to that note, like a plea for the listener to understand his point of view. It’s breathtaking. I’d say I wish he did more of that, but then maybe it wouldn’t have the same impact that this one note has on me. (Sorry to jump back to this when you were moving ahead... I'll be moving ahead soon too). No apologies needed. The 1990s saw a lot of classic bands shed the 80s gloss and make more grounded albums. For whatever reason, it took me a long time to really appreciate A Great Day for Freedom and Coming Back to Life. Probably because they don't contain a ton of bells and whistles. I see seeing live versions of Gilmour's concert releases really got me into those songs.
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